SIMON LYONS

The former army officer and chicken de-beaker tells Ben Harvey a varied life gives him an edge as the WA head of fixed-income specialist FiiG Securities.

Biggest career break?

I think there were two notable events that were very influential on my career development. I was fortunate to be selected to train as an army officer, and spend six years in the army before injuring my knee badly. I looked like being banished to a desk job for life. I made the decision to leave the military, a job I really loved. I was lucky enough then to be given a role as a trainee in commercial real estate with Jones Lang Wootton back here in Perth. I met some fantastic people and they really helped me build relationships here. If not for the fantastic grounding I was given in the army I am not sure where I would be today. My military training taught me a lot about leadership, coping with pressure and gave me the discipline needed to pursue goals. Then JLW was a great start for my life out of the military, and allowed me to build a career in business.

Describe your leadership style?

I think my leadership style changes depending on the situation I find myself in. I have largely been a business builder, and much of the work I do is around bringing teams together. Building and developing teams requires a different set of skills to running an existing business. Some of the work I did in my ten years with Macquarie Bank was around change management. I think this is a huge leadership challenge There is always strong pockets of resistance when things change, understanding why this happens is really important and then recognizing who you need to influence to allow change to progress is the key. I really like working with people and see myself as pretty inclusive, but I don’t think anyone would call me democratic. No one has a monopoly on good ideas, so making sure people get heard is important. I try to consult widely but sometimes decisions need to be made and I execute with a logical thought process. I am happy to take responsibility for my actions, and I want others to be accountable for their actions. I call a spade a spade, and I expect people I work with to be honest with me. Problems shared are solvable, but you need to know about them first.

First or most unusual job?

My kids laugh when I tell them I used to walk up and down Hay Street screaming “Daily News final” as I used to sell the afternoon newspaper after school. I did a round from Spencer’s Newsagency in town which was then opposite the law courts. I managed to grow the round to include the King’s Hotel and the Anzac Club. I used to make more in tips in those two venues than I did from paper sales on the whole route. It also became the first business that I sold, albeit to my brother Michael. The most unusual job was a weekend job I had with Drew’s Poultry services. I learnt to vaccinate and de-beak chickens. Like a lot of the skills I was taught in the army I haven’t used these skills much since.

Best way to improve productivity?

I think people like to achieve things. I am a big believer in setting goals and have always written down my own goals both on a work and personal level. I like working with people who are generally well motivated but everyone sometimes needs help with the disciplines required to achieve their goals. People often don’t like it at the time, but being held to account pays dividends. If you say you are going to do something you should do it. It is important to listen out for roadblocks or distractions that stop people from achieving their goals and to clear these for them — this to me is one of the most important roles of management.

Most influential mentors?

I have been really lucky to have lots of terrific mentors over the years. My parents were fantastic role models. I grew up in a close family. Six boys and one sister plus the folks. Each of them have had an influence on me. The army provided excellent leadership training, and I was mentored by both commissioned and non-commissioned veterans who taught me a lot. In business too I have been lucky enough to meet with and get help from some terrific people around Perth. I learn a lot watching how people handle themselves and really admire people who are successful in business or in a profession but remain in touch with reality and then give loads back to the community. Nigel Satterley, Kerry Stokes, Rod Jones, Stan Perron, Dr Fiona Woods, Tony Howarth and David Flanagan are all great ambassadors for Perth and are people I admire greatly. I am also lucky too to be great mates with Russell Gibbs and I think he is a fantastic role model, as are many of my friends. I have to say I have learned a lot from my kids and my wife too. They have a unique way of influencing you and I think I am a better person for having them around me and listening to them.

Do you make use of social media?

Yes I try to. I have lots of friends from my Army days and from working over east and overseas. I use Facebook to keep up with many of them. My older kids have travelled a lot too so it helps to stay in touch. I have been using Linkedin as a means of finding out who is where but rarely post material to it. I often send market commentary to my network but try and do that more directly. Beyond that I don’t have a clue…absolutely no idea what Twitter is or does, and as I ask my kid’s what is WhatsUp? Only to be told its WhatsApp and I don’t need to worry about it.

How do you spend your spare time?

I love hanging out with my wife and family. My wife Jenni and I have four kids so a lot of time is spent with their various sporting activities and running people around etc. I was a bit of an “adventure nut” when I was younger and loved to abseil, go canyoning, scuba diving, surfing, motorbikes and skydiving etc. I had my knee replaced with a titanium one some years back as a result of an army injury, so I have slowed down considerably but I still love to scuba dive with my kids. I love my fishing (although it is a very unlucky fish that gets caught by me) and I love boating. I try and cook for the family on weekends so that is always a bit of fun too…luckily they help clean up the mess.

What was the last novel you read?

If John Grisham writes it I read it. Maybe I should have been a lawyer, but I love his stories for entertainment. The last non-fiction book I read was “Never Follow The Wolf” an autobiography of Helao Shityuwete who was a Namibian freedom fighter imprisoned with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island. The book chronicled his time on Robben Island as well as his trial for involvement in the Namibian War of Independence as commander of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia. A friend of mine introduced me to Heleo and he arranged a private tour of Robben Island with him. He is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. How anyone can spend so much time being so poorly treated by people and yet forgive them and move on to bigger and better things amazes me.

Favourite holiday destination?

“I love My Rotto”. The truth is I love being anywhere in WA. Broome is a favourite, but I love the Kimberley’s especially the Gibb River Road. The Abrolhos Islands are truly unique, as is Karijini, Esperance, and Exmouth. I would love to travel around Australia and spend time getting to know all the brilliant places we have here.

Worst investment decision

There has been plenty of bad decisions over the years. Normally it has involved selling good assets too early in a cycle, those aren’t too bad though. Plenty of people have said you never go broke making a profit. I used to put money into small cap stocks on the stock market, and have to say the win loss ratio on my own decisions was very ordinary, but the win loss ratio on others recommendations was a lot worse!

What can the wealth management industry do to help rehabilitate its image?

I think there is less of a problem with the industry than people make out. There is certainly a few people that give the industry a bad name. Part of the solution would be for industry participants to make sure that they out the bad apples, rather than just moving them on. More professional education and better training for advisers across the industry would also help. Lots of senior advisers have left the industry as the administration of compliance is all too hard. Too often now clients are relying on novices for professional advice expecting the advisor has been appropriately trained by the licensee, unfortunately that is not always the case.