Recurring market commentary on what’s happening in the crypto markets, summarized by the Crypto Broker team at Crypto Finance AG.
Market commentary
I have been in COVID-19 isolation. Thankfully, my wife has had everything under control, including our two kids, and I have not felt too guilty just sitting and working in my designated room (“home office”). However, just two days before my isolation was due to end she tested positive (she probably got it from our son who also tested positive, but is not old enough to “lock-up” for 10 days). This means we now get to do this all over again but for her isolation. I will still be working, but also doing the household chores and looking after the kids. The next seven days may be a challenge for everyone involved.
Teamwork in professional and personal life
Now that I have set the scene, let me get to my point... During my isolation, I have been thinking a lot about teamwork, and how it relates to both company and family culture. I worked for nearly 20 years for a large investment bank where ranks, titles, and headcount were very important. When in a discussion with a Managing Director, you always thought twice before disagreeing with them. This always felt fundamentally wrong to me, but I could never help myself and disagreed anyway. More often than not, this was entirely inconsequential because those higher-ranking individuals were not listening anyways. Nevertheless, it did often mean that there were negative consequences for me.
After my investment-banking career ended, I had had enough with titles and ranks. I was looking for a job with no management duties. I just wanted to trade, and be responsible for my own actions and performance figures, plain and simple. As a trader in the Crypto Finance team, I was able to do this. When I joined, the company was very young with only a few employees. There were no ranks, titles were not that important, and everyone helped wherever help was needed. A few years passed by, and I was promoted to run the trading desk and sit in the executive committee of the Crypto Finance (Brokerage) business. The company grew very quickly, and with our new majority shareholder, Deutsche Börse, we are now part of a much bigger organisation.
Working culture in traditional finance
My concerns have not changed: if we integrate into a larger organisation, will I return to the same culture and spirit that I know from my old investment banking days? During the integration process, most of the management team has been busy making sure that we align with the processes and structures of our new majority shareholder. I have, of course, also found myself in discussions, which I felt were not always directly about how to solve a problem but deciding on who should be responsible for solving it. This was a déjà vu moment for me, and I knew I had to have a talk with my team.
At the next staff meeting, I wanted my team to understand the culture and spirit I wanted to continue seeing in our company. I told them that everyone is a revenue driver. It does not matter if you are in HR, Risk, Legal, Sales, Trading, or Facility Management. Everyone needs to have the same team spirit and drive to ensure company success: we need to be efficient, always put the customer first, and never accept a workflow just because someone says that it has always been done like that.
We have the opportunity to be a workplace where people want to work. And this kind of company culture embraces opinions: everybody should speak up if they have suggestions for improvements. Ranks and titles have never mattered to me – and still don’t – and I hope my way of seeing things encourages my team never to be afraid of approaching their line manager or the CEO if they have an idea that they think could improve a process or accelerate our revenues. Now, to loop back to my current private family situation: I believe we need a similar spirit and teamwork to get through this. Everybody has a vote at the family table, but everybody needs to help where help is needed to make things work.
Have a good week!
P.S. This market commentary has been inspired in part by a tweet from Sam Bankman-Fried.
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