CEO insights

Andrew Schlossberg: Yeah, I think the strengths of Invesco being a truly global international organization, being relevant, being on the ground, knowing what those clients’ needs are, and then working backward from them, I think has always helped keep us in front of trends and help keep us relevant with clients. And that absolutely will continue. I mean, that's the DNA of the company. The other thing is, from a cultural standpoint, collaboration, teamwork, building on each other's ideas, that that's a hallmark as well.

And so having the global, international and the collaboration and teamwork is a pretty special recipe. How you apply that to clients’ needs, how you take that to different market conditions or economic changes is what we constantly and you've constantly done in your leadership. And something I know myself and the leadership team are excited about taking forward and continuing that evolution.

Marty Flanagan: And I think just on that point, you're bringing out something that's really important today. There's constant change in the industry, but as we know, it's $100 trillion global industry is going to continue to grow. And those firms that are nimble enough, thoughtful enough have the resources to invest on the right things for client success, they are going to be the ones that are winners.

Andrew Schlossberg: Marty, you should be amazingly proud of the culture that's been created and in particular your comment about engagement with one another and people that are proud to be here and also like their colleagues. I mean, that's not typical always in our industry, and I think it's pretty unique about us. What we do with that is critical. And so the core of our culture with collaboration and teamwork and having a global framework of different opinions and diversity of opinions has to stay throughout any environment.

But as you said, times evolve and change, and you've done that through your tenure. How we take it to the next level for time and place today, things like operating with even a greater execution edge, simplifying decision making and accountability so that we can move both with pace and with collaboration is something we're going to be extremely focused on. And that's just an evolution that's not turning the ship left or right hard. It's just evolving to time and place today.

Marty Flanagan: And look, I think that's so, so important and I'm sure it'll be embraced by the organization. And you're back to what are you most proud of after 18 years? What you're supposed to do as a CEO is have a great team in place. When you move on to different things, you come in as CEO. I could not be more proud of; the leadership team is superb. It is the best leadership team Invesco has ever had. And so you look to the future, the organization looks to the future. No doubt our clients can be better off, our employees can be better off, and our shareholders are. 

Andrew Schlossberg: One of the things I'm most proud of at Invesco has been the opportunity to work globally and have an impact in many of our different businesses. I'm one of the people that really wanted to run to a fire in some instances and find places where I could learn from others, and I've had those opportunities throughout my time in Invesco. Whether that was applying it to the ETF business or combinations of acquisitions we've done in North America or to our next leg of growth in Europe.

I've always had an opportunity to learn from others and try to have an impact in places that were of high opportunity for the company.

Marty Flanagan: And I just pick up on that and I remember when I came 18 years ago and I knew nothing about the organization, obviously externally I did not internally, and I didn't know how to get down the hallway. And I asked a couple people who are the sort of rising stars and let me grab a couple of them to help me figure things out. Andrew happened to be one of those people. He jumped into the fire and really helping me just assess what, in fact, is Invesco today, where the strengths, where the weakness is in evolving your role from strategy and to all elements of the business, the retail business, ETF business, the international business.

But frankly, every acquisition along the way you've been a part of and you can have many careers at Invesco and you're a perfect example of what's possible and you've been incredibly impactful. And the way you develop people, the way you bring people along to get through challenging times is really hallmark of what you've accomplished. 

Andrew Schlossberg: I think one of the things that gets me excited about the future as well are some of the same things that I learned from the past, which is we have all of the ingredient here at Invesco, whether it's across our investment teams or our client-facing teams operationally, enterprise, the right geographies, it's how do you bring all of that together again for the day and the time and deliver for clients and shareholders and for each other as employees. And a big part of doing that is engaging with our colleagues, listening, being curious and continuing to prioritize the many opportunities we have to the right few that are going to create success.

Marty Flanagan: And you're right. And you just stay on those elements. When you talk about understanding where we are, what are the strengths or the weaknesses and being open minded to feedback, right? And where we're challenged and where we need to improve. And that's tough for people to do generally. But embracing the idea that facts are friendly facts really are helpful to knowing where we might need to move. And no doubt you're going to continue that for many years to come.

Disclosure: This interview has been provided for educational and informational purposes only. The opinions expressed are those of the speakers, as of June 5, 2023.

Andrew Schlossberg: Over the last several years, we've been putting a lot of attention towards tightening our strategy. And I, we as a leadership team feel very good about the strategic priorities and the direction of the firm. We're going to continue down that path, whether it's deepening our business in the US and in China and another important developed markets around the world, or it's building out capabilities around our client areas of client demand, whether that be private markets or multi-asset strategies or indexed and ETFs, or it's thinking about new innovations in the way that we bring differentiation to our clients. These strategic priorities are going to remain the same. What we're going to be doing differently and evolving is how we project those to the marketplace, how we get sharper in our execution of them, not because it's just good for business, but because our client's needs are just moving at such a different pace than they have historically. And we need to stand out and differentiate ourselves from the competition.

Marty Flanagan: I think that's right. And I think where you and the team are going right now on

the strategies. Right. But as I've been fond of saying over the years, many firms in our industry have very similar strategies. The winners and the losers are the one that can execute. And the attention that you guys are putting on confirming the strategy, but driving it forward for the benefit of clients is really exactly the right thing to do. 

Andrew Schlossberg: Innovation has always been a lifeblood of business and for the asset management industry in particular. But innovation is moving to a whole other level, be it technology, be it demographic changes — just the speed and the use of innovation is critical. We need to continue to make this a core focus for Invesco in the way we deliver investments, the way that we get closer to clients, the way that we operate more efficiently and effectively, no better place to start and to use all that has to offer.

Then here in Atlanta, where we have a great community of technologists for all different sorts of industries and some of the things you started, we're going to continue, whether that's with Engage, where you're going across industry and startup communities or whether it's things like Venture Atlanta, where it's bringing together people from all over the country and in particular the Southeast where ideas are generated, investment opportunities can be seized, but just community can be taken advantage of.

And being the largest money manager here in Atlanta and one of the biggest financial services companies, even just here in the Southeast, we have a unique advantage in that we can see the field globally and apply it here locally and take ideas from both. 

Marty Flanagan: In challenging times, what do you do? And you've been a part of all of it. And if you look back over the years, this absolute focus on clients has driven us to create change. And we're always going to change. And it's an exciting thing, an important thing. I say that where I know it's uncomfortable for many employees, but in 2006, when we bought the ETF business, a $3 Billion business is now almost $500 Billion.

The opportunity in China, which we always knew was there. The joint venture is 20 years old today. We're now the largest foreign money manager on the ground in China. Those are really important elements. And there were moments where can you continue with this investment as a right investment? And again, you've driven many of these things and focus on private markets. So it was a combination of where clients evolve and where our clients’ needs evolving to. Can we make the investments behind it and can we stay committed to it during periods of change?

Andrew Schlossberg: Yes, and I think those are important lessons that many of us have learned over lots of years. Have conviction in your ideas, you know, not waver from that unless something materially changes. Be willing to listen to evolve those ideas. You know what we started off thinking in the ETF business in 2006 and how we think about it today are pretty different. But we were we had conviction about the vehicle, for instance. And the same is going to be true today around things like private markets where we have a deep background in private real estate or private credit that we've had great success in.

But how do we now bring those to other markets? How do we continue to challenge ourselves? So this notion of. Of trying to peek around the corners. You can't see the end, but you just stay on the path. I think the other lesson learned through financial crisis and other disruptions that that were major like that is really run a disciplined business, as you said before and have financial strength because you know, when you need it, you need to make sure you have it. And being able to take advantage of opportunities that come from disruption and change is paramount.