Danny Popescu is the founder and CEO of Harbourfront Wealth Management, a number one Canadian investment firm that’s committed to opening up opportunities for clients beyond traditional asset classes.
Popescu and his team are focused on bringing pension-type investment vehicles, akin to private real estate, to retail investors in Canada, which large financial institutions have traditionally preferred to supply cookie-cutter options. Since its founding in 2013, Harbourfront’s enterprise value has grown from $11 million to $425 million and the firm desires to take that value to $1.5 billion in 5 years.
Recently, Danny Popescu shared his insights with Entrepreneurship in a conversation focused on how a positive work environment contributes to his company’s popularity and success.
Q: As a Leader, What are Some of the Ways You Create a Positive Environment for Your Team?
Danny Popescu: I believe step one is to acknowledge that we’re, in reality, a team. Harbourfront is a bunch effort: We share in successes, and we contribute to that success as a team. We play to the strengths of every individual, and meaning taking the time to grasp the unique talents of every person, and identifying the optimal role for each worker, every manager. That’s the way in which you create broad satisfaction, a positive environment, and a productive one.
And a part of that’s, as a pacesetter, you are taking the time to acknowledge and rejoice the work your persons are doing. You can’t be a blue-skies manager on a regular basis, but you could try to intensify the positive wherever you possibly can, every time you possibly can.
We allow advisors and employees the pliability they should succeed. We give them space to be proactive and to decide on the most effective path to realize a selected goal. And we emphasize the importance of helping one another at every stage. When you possibly can balance all these principles effectively, your organization’s prospects are limitless.
Q: Is Transparency Part of the Process of Assembling a Winning Team?
Danny Popescu: Yes, absolutely. We put an important deal of emphasis on transparency, collaboration, and relationship-building. I even have an open-door policy, and other people know they will bring issues on to me without following a rigid protocol. I encourage our whole leadership team to take this down-to-earth approach. When you don’t have that kind of management style, you rarely get the kind of results you would like—or think you’re going to get.
Q: Does a Positive Work Environment Make it Easier to Recruit Qualified People?
Danny Popescu: Definitely. The higher the workplace environment, the greater the prospect that individuals will wish to be just right for you—and work with you.
There is a balance, after all, and I wouldn’t want to depart the impression that a pacesetter must turn the office right into a spa. And the boss can’t be your best friend. There are times when shortcomings should be identified, in order that the underlying issues may be addressed, and mistakes don’t recur. But there’s a right way and a incorrect technique to try this.
In addition, an excellent leader must sometimes vary the leadership style based on the situation. The collaborative approach has its limits.
Q: Are There Some Other Ways you Attract and Keep Top Talent?
Danny Popescu: Beyond doing our greatest to create a positive company work environment, we also imagine in investing in people. One example is our Employee Stock Option Program, which we call the Grow Together Program. We grow together, achieve together, and have a good time setting goals and surpassing them.
There’s an entire range of comparable things we do to support our people and set them up for achievement. We know we’re on the appropriate track after we hear colleagues say they need they’d made the move to Harbourfront years ago. That tells me we have now succeeded in giving advisors and employees the tools they should thrive.
One other key factor that I definitely wish to mention is that we reward ideas. We encourage our people to create recent and progressive ways to realize goals—to think outside the box or outside the bank.
We are a financial services company, but greater than that; we’re an idea factory. I’ve learned that by producing more ideas, the upper likelihood that an organization can nurture those ideas into something great and increase the corporate’s level of feat. Beyond that, it’s just more fun to work in a spot where creativity is valued, and each idea has the potential to remodel not only our company, but additionally the financial services industry as an entire.
