Maybe we need more intellectual doping in financial services?

Today in The Times there were two articles about Bradley Wiggins and the Sky Team's dominance of the Tour de France. Most of the article was about the team's response to adversity, ie their poor showing in 2010, the selflessness of many team riders who put their team leader's interest ahead of their own, and the power of doing the right thing; in this instance Wiggins slowing the whole field down to allow the victims of a sabotage attack time to catch up and join the race. These are all great advertisements for what can be so good about sport.

This is more exceptional for this event given that it was riven with the scandal and the prevalence of illicit performance enhancing drugs just a few years ago. It shows how one can clean up an event if one really wants to and the necessary leaders emerge. There may be parallels with banking here, but only time will tell.

Of course there are critics ready to pull apart the work of Dave Brailsford and Team Sky. The most prevalent has been the suggestion that they have the deepest pockets and have just bought "talent". Here I am thinking of Manchester City, Chelsea and many banks. In truth it appears that four other TdF teams have spent more than Sky, yet trail them in the event.

Brailsford attributes the success to "intellectual doping" and reports that while almost all the cost of other teams goes in salaries to riders, he has invested a £1 million pounds more than others on researching and supporting his team. It is reported that he looked at the salary levels and structures of other teams and the correlation with success. He also pays more on technology, coaching, sports science and high performance support.

The results currently speak for themselves and remind me of what (Sir) Clive Woodward did with the England rugby team in 2003.

If one looks at the other parallel, it could be argued that much of financial services is guilty of just applying the blunt instrument of more money in salaries and bonuses in the chase for commercial success. Some would say that we are now seeing the limitations and risks of that approach

While undoubtedly many involved in financial services have high IQs, maybe the industry could benefit from its own form of intellectual doping, ie spending the money in the right places, not just on high salaries to match huge egos. Just a thought.

Footnote. I have just re-read this post and find myself chuckling at the idea of one of finance's "masters of the universes" selflessly sacrificing his (or her) success so that another could succeed - it just isn't in the current set of DNA.


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