This past year, Waldron Private Wealth was the only Pittsburgh-based firm listed in Barron’s Top 100 RIA Firms in the country and is one of the smallest firms on the list. What kind of culture would need to exist within a firm to make that list? It’s a given that very talented and industrious people work here, and it’s easy for one to assume our firm has an intense, cut-throat, bottom-line driven environment. How else could a firm be competitive enough to attain a spot on Barron’s Top 100 RIA Firms[1]? Right?
Wrong.
Waldron’s culture does not fit into the typical finance stereotypes; we do things differently. Camaraderie, entrepreneurship, and innovation are at our culture’s core, which translates into our outstanding client service.
We believe our culture is directly tied to our success as a firm. When coming to work is exciting and rewarding, it makes it easier to power through the challenging times everyone inevitably faces at work. Everyone is equally committed, and it is not unusual to see people from interns to directors to partners volunteer to take on additional tasks so the firm can accomplish or exceed set goals. We are a team, and we work together to conquer and exceed any challenge brought our way.
Others in the industry often ask what the “secret sauce” is behind our amazing results, and the answer is: the investments made into our culture. One such example is our Culture Committee, whose sole objective is to provide social, meaningful, fun and collaborative internal events for Waldron team. New faces join each year, bringing along a plethora of fresh ideas on how to build on our strong foundation.
In just this past year, the culture committee has organized a multitude of events, including cooking challenges, St. Patrick’s Day bingo, a Pi Day celebration, cookouts, a Fantasy Football draft, an employee Blast from the Past event, a five-month long TopGolf tournament, and several additional appreciation events mixed in-between. Through these events, team members bond and learn about each other’s passions, interests, and areas of expertise inside and out of wealth management.
By connecting to each other, we are able to connect with and understand our clients on a deeper level. For example, a Waldron team member brought up having a knack for gaining and utilizing credit card points at a Culture Committee event. He works in our Business Development department and is not directly client facing, but since learning of that information, he has been tapped multiple times to assist clients select the best credit card to accomplish their various goals. Through our focus on teamwork, we came up with an innovative approach to conquer and simplify the unique needs of our clients.
So why dedicate the time, resources, and manpower to developing our culture? The honest answer is if we didn’t put as much emphasis on and effort into our culture, we would be just like everyone else. But when our focus is placed on developing our teammates and culture, we derive results that benefit the client and the firm overall.
Waldron’s culture is truly unique, and it is the driving force behind everything we do. We pride ourselves on having a workplace where people are actively planning ways to make the day-to-day more enjoyable and tackling client challenges as a team.
Sounds fun, right? Then join us! We would love to welcome self-motivated and talented individuals into our fun-loving culture that we share at Waldron. Visit our careers page here.
Barron’s factors included in their rankings: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record, quality of practice and philanthropic work. For more information about Barron’s methodology, click here.
