Unleash your Dear John letters. Tell them what they need to hear and air that dirty laundry.
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Dear PP KJ KC LD and other high level GPs who have been here more than 5 yrs. How does it feel to have given the keys to the kingdom to outsiders? Were there changes needed- you bet! Was Jones perfect in the past.. NO way. I've been here a long time and know some things needed to evolve. HOWEVER, the biggest issues being addressed with ER are issues that were created by YOU in the past 5-6 yrs. You overhired and over complicated this place to the point that you had to do this ''reminagining'. While on one is perfect and tenure is no guarantee off one's value and contribution---- the reality is you have turned the firm upside down and successfully divorced it from all of the good that built the firm in the first place. Most of the firm's future leaders have no idea what this place was al about and haven't benefitted from strong executive leadership- when did we lose sight of the basics like responsibility based management, servant leadership, role clarity, talent and performance development, being a good day to day leader?! I have seen dozens if not hundreds of people brought in and moved up swiftly into director/senior director roles the past few years that have little to no people leadership experience and it doesn't appear their GPs, ELT or the firm as a whole values strong people leadership anymore. as a result the firm is no longer different from anyone else 'on the street', talent loyalty and tenure will continue to plummet, and FA attrition will continue to go up. Good luck branches. Good luck clients. Good luck to those home offie associates and leaders reimagined into the next version of the firm. it's EJ part 2 which h as nothing to do at all with the EJ of the first 100 years. and one last rant.. PP what the h_ll happened to you? I saw you in your home office early years and was struck by (in a positive way) your willingness to challenge the status quo..to think differently. You have taken that to the utmost extreme...and I keep hearing rumors of all the consultants you've surrounded yourself with. You have delegated leadership of this fine firm to outsiders- consultants, NY based execs from the industry etc. you made a conscious trade off decision I hope you and all your millions can live with. Makes me so sad that your first female MP has lead us into this debacle. I am sad and today I am very angry. very angry. S__w you EJ! That box of EJ memorabilia at my house which I moved from cube to cube for 25+ years.. it no longer has any meaning for me other than tears...mourning what once was.
Dear ELT,
How does it feel to fire associates and ship jobs to India to make slightly more money? How does it feel to get to where you are because you are all yes men and women? How does it feel to know you lost the trust and respect of thousands of associates? We thought Edward Jones was different. You proved us wrong.
Dear ELT,
Please stop quoting Ted Jones. Please remove all references to the "Richest Man in America" letter. Please stop doing "Toasts to Ted". Please stop pretending that you hold any of the same values as Ted Jones. Please stop pretending that Ted Jones would not despise you and what you did to his company.
Dear ELT,
No one needs to make 29 million dollars a year. Not a single person on this planet. Money is not my god. Is it yours? I think about how much my life would change if I just received 100,000 dollars a year, let alone 1 million. It's an unfathomable sum to me. I cannot even picture 29 million dollars or how someone has any need for that. How anyone can even use it in a way that isn't just greedy. I was talking to my spouse the other day about what we would do if we won the Powerball. We only buy a ticket occasionally when the jackpot spikes above 500 million. So much of what we said was "Give it away. Send underprivileged kids to college. Fund the arts. Donate to groups that help the environment. Spend our time we would have spent working volunteering". But we can do those things without 500 million dollars. We can do them without 29 million dollars. Or even 1 million dollars. No one needs to be unfathomably wealthy. Do you sleep well at night, knowing you have more money than you could ever truly spend on your needs while others lose their jobs to fund it? Whether you say so or not. Greed sickens me. This is just greedy. Enjoy your money. I will be enjoying trying to survive.
Dear ELT,
Greed is a powerful force, isn't it?
- An unimpressed associate