The Common Mantra that the Private Banker Advises Against - Dinner with Vivien Webb, Managing Director, Private Wealth Management Asia, Morgan Stanley

Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures.

As Managing Director and Head of Sales for Private Wealth Management Asia at Morgan Stanley (Hong Kong & China), Vivien Webb is one of the most respected leaders in Asia’s private banking industry. Following her own advice to step out of her comfort zone and willing to take risks, Vivien successfully rose to the industry’s top leadership positions, which have long been under-represented by the female demographic.

Recognizing this workforce imbalance in the financial industry, Vivien is a strong advocate for promoting diverse and inclusive work communities — co-chairing the Asia Diversity Council and the Hong Kong Women’s Business Alliance of Morgan Stanley. She also chairs the board of a local NGO.

Over dinner, Vivien shared with us what lead to her successful career and the common mantra in her field that she advises against.

What are the bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

“Stay in your comfort zone — I hate listening to that.

Staying in your comfort zone means that you are building walls around yourself and you only want to live in this space. I think the worst thing that you could do is to stay in your own comfort zone and afraid to venture out.”

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

“If you think that you can’t focus, there is no point carrying on.

Do something else and come back to it. Sometimes, when I have a problem, I want to work on it first thing in the morning. Some people would be like, “I can’t think in the morning”, “I need to have several cups of coffee just to wake up”, etc. I have my coffee too, but for me, I am a morning person. I can think more clearly and accomplish more in the morning. But if you want me to do it late at night, I just cannot.”

Why do you support volunteerism?

“I am very proud of people who do community work. It is most commendable to start giving back to the society when you are still young and feel that warmth in your heart.”

There are two charities that I mainly support — “PathFinders” whose motto is “Every child matters” and the CEO is my ex-colleague Kay McArdle. They help migrant mothers (current or former foreign domestic workers) in distress and their Hong Kong-born children. The other one is “More Than Musicals” which was founded by my friend and ex-colleague, Rumiko Hasegawa. Their mission is to make opera more accessible and relevant to the younger audiences in Hong Kong by presenting it in a modern and intimate way.

What is the one thing that you wish we can take away today?

“Not everyone knows what they want to do when they finish school, unless you study to be a lawyer or doctor etc. Even if you study to be lawyer, how many people actually practice? We have a lot of lawyers in the firm, doing finance.

So don’t be afraid to try new things, and you have to do a KYS — Know Yourself and Know Your Strength.

Instead of KYC (Note: Know Your Customers), it’s KYS. Try to understand yourself. “Am I good at meeting people? Am I good at numbers? Am I good at analytics? Am I artistic?” And try to think about how you can actually look for a discipline that you can build around it. Knowing yourself is very important, but don’t be afraid to try something that you don’t know about. I didn’t start with private banking, I was in merchant banking. I could analyse balance sheets, I understand how to raise funds for my clients, what project finance involves — I felt that these are all good source of skills for me to build on when I went into private banking.

Very often, your clients will talk to you about their businesses, and for some traditional private bankers elsewhere, everything their clients say may go over their head, because they don’t try to understand what they are saying. They are selling products but not providing customized solutions, which is not what a good private banker should do. So different disciplines and experiences will add diversity in your knowledge to look at things from different angles. That is something that I want you all to think about:

To expand, and always be challenged.

If you are in a job which you feel “I’m not learning anything, I don’t want to go to work, I don’t want to do it anymore”, it’s time to move on. I don’t move from firm to firm very often, but you always feel that excitement when you start a new job or a new school. I am meeting new people. It’s always energizing, and you should have that feeling all the time. That’s how you would do well. If you don’t do that, you’re just carrying on the day-to-day and are complacent about it. It’s not a great way to live.”

Thank you Vivien for raising 132 volunteer hours to ImpactHK, HandsOn Hong Kong and more!

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