investment banking
Meet the team
What'sNewS Issue 9 September 1998
terms. But I've always argued that our
biggest achievement in that year was
making this a stable working
environment, a place where people want
to work. Once you establish that, you
start to create stability in your
organization. You have to remember that
in our short existence, we've already dealt
- and dealt successfully - with three
different cultures. If people come to
believe the enemy is inside, then as a
manager you have to do sorne very quick
talking because you have a potential
^disaster on your hands. The enemy is
">utside - always remember that.
Eliazov Andries is right. People need a stable
environment. We've worked hard to build
that. Now, people have gained so much
confidence that they like to be here. They
see the business is run along rational lines
and it makes sense to them. So they like to
come to work and they can see a future.
What about Rabobank cultureIs it so very different?
Eliazov Actually, it is selling point when
you're hiring people. They think they can
do better business here than elsewhere
because it is relationship oriented.
MakvanWaaylt all comes down to discipline.
Eliazov You can be decisive without
necessarily being hierarchical. The two are
not mutually exclusive. If you're focused
and you make a decision, then it has to be
implemented and people understand that.
Mak van Waaylt's my impression that
business decisions and cultural differences
are sometimes wrongfully associated. For
example, the euro and the millennium
problems have nothing to do with our
decision to adopt a customer focus
strategy. For some inexplicable reason,
people link these phenomena to RI's
development. We've got to get rid of that
idea somehow. It's another example of
how people can emphasize difficulties.
What we need is more corporate pride. If
people are proud of their organization,
they will always emphasize the positive.
Eliazov One thing we really lack is good
communication, both internal and
external. If you do both well, then you
I Celebrating the launch of a new 'reverse convertible' product in cooperation with
Rabo Securities for the Dutch market, the GED team watch the birdie: pictured are
(left to right) Cees Smit, Job Leuning, Valerie Schlegel, Diederik ter Rahe, Rik
Ghijsels, Geert Toebast, Hans Peter van Ketwich Verschuur and Teym Eliazov
Teym Eliazov working effectively through
cooperation
build corporate image. Ultimately, that
image reflects back on the organization
as a whole and contributes to corporate
pride.
Anything else?
MakvanWaaylt is all about building
confidence. If people have confidence
that the organization has a strategy and
is following that strategy in a disciplined
way, then they will have confidence that
the organization is moving forward.
You have to have that kind of stability.
Eliazov And to get that stability, you have
to put in place the infrastructure that
allows you to create a disciplined
environment where you can do business.
And that means budget discipline, risk
management, financial control - all of
these aspects. And you must not keep
comparing what we have in terms of,
say, systems with those at Goldman
Sachs. Of course they have different
systems at Goldman Sachs and things
are done differently there. That's not
surprising. We are not Goldman Sachs,
we don't want to be Goldman Sachs.
We are Rabobank International.
