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Being Successful!

by Aidan Vaughan

Question: How many hats do you wear? Logic says only one at a time! But many of us wear many and want to be successful in all avenues. But we need to focus- remember the 'Urgent verses the Important' matrix- effective people know where they should spend their time.

As a Christian wealth manager and business owner I have to constantly prioritise. Is family, church or business number One? Each responsibility needs clear thinking about how we can contribute and then benefit from. To help our thinking many will have guiding ideas or principles. At ACFA we have 8 principles for advising (Christian) clients, which range from ‘Ownership’, God owns the whole universe- yes, everything-, through to God given ideas for own good like ‘Borrow Cautiously’. They all fit together but they can be a tension- for instance a terrific older missionary couple recently stayed with our church for 9 months with possessions that would fit into 2 suitcases (no exaggeration!) as they some years beforehand had sold up and given all their wealth away! Needless to say such radical discipleship spoke powerfully to us all, vicar included, and they needed the generosity / hospitality of one couple in particular!

What are my business objectives then? In a linked basis they are to ‘Create Wealth’, ‘Focus on the Customer’, ‘Develop team and individuals’, and keep it all together. By that last one, I mean enjoying a balanced lifestyle which is sustainable and fulfilling over the long term. Being a Christian is immensely fulfilling and you can be a successful businessman too- deep down clients and colleagues quite like it! One of the organisations I admire is CABE (Christian Association of Business Executives) which has 31 different principles, but only for a longer month(!), focusing on 6 Priority Aims, 6 Corporate Values, 5 Responsibilities to Stakeholders and no less than 14 Personal Qualities to aspire to! Some are slightly obtuse but immensely powerful like ‘Prudence’ ie only taking carefully calculated business risks. If only Governments and Bankers had taken more notice of Christian thought and principles over the past decade!

In retail financial services much of our business life is dominated by a principle regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). They have priorities given under statute- it has 4 objectives and no less than 11 Principles for which ‘firms’ must adhere to. The protection of the public is their real driver along side stability and market confidence which is laudable indeed. ACFA shares a common principle- that of integrity. For members it is the touch stone of dealing with our clients but also much wider than that as encompasses the way we would wish to deal with staff, suppliers, regulators, shareholders etc.

So, I would suggest that we all consider what a ‘balanced score card’ of our lives should really look like. Put God in the middle and then see how the others relate to that. Success may be quite different to what you might have thought it was!

Aidan Vaughan 8th February 2011

Useful sources - www.cabe-online.ord, www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Library/Policy/CP/1998/13.shtml