Calum Brewster – the new chief executive of Brown Shipley appointed in January – is full of energy. He is passionate about his job and is excited to go to work each day.

“I love what I do. There is always something different to do,” he tells Katie Royals.

He believes it is important convey this enthusiasm every day. “If we are not enthusiastic about what we do, how are we going to attract talent and clients?”

Mr Brewster applies the “Sunday night and Friday evening” philosophy. Simply put, he wants his employees to be excited about the working week on Sunday nights and satisfied on Friday evenings that they have had a productive, successful and enjoyable week.

He is well placed to facilitate this. Having joined the wealth management industry upon leaving school, Mr Brewster has done just about every possible role in wealth firms and has worked in a number of locations including Edinburgh, Birmingham and London.

The key to moving up the ladder? “Just keep asking why.”

He worries that people are becoming too task orientated and are in danger of missing the bigger picture.

“The job is not to be busy. It is to add value.”

Looking after colleagues and making sure they are buying into the firm’s values and aims is a top priority for Mr Brewster. Simply put – colleagues look after clients and clients are at the centre of the whole business.

Helping colleagues progress and develop their skills is a key part of this. However, it is “critical” all staff are supported regardless of their career ambitions.

“We must continue to train people in the role they choose to do,” Mr Brewster stresses.

Being part of Quintet helps with this.

“Of course, the relationship is not always easy.” But overall, Mr Brewster only sees advantages.

With over 70 nationalities represented within its parent company across 50 cities in the Europe and UK, there are so many experiences and skillsets to draw on.

“We need to make sure we are leveraging this as much as possible to benefit clients.”

As part of this, Mr Brewster applies the “sprint methodology”.

The idea is to find one small thing to change that will have an immediate positive impact. This way “we feel like we are winning,” he explains.

When colleagues see the improvements, they start wanting to get involved.

An example of this is the firm’s onboarding process. Brown Shipley started publishing its “right first time” rates internally. Very quickly, these rates started improving, Mr Brewster says.

Diversity & inclusion (D&I) comes into this as well.

Mr Brewster recalls the very different experience his twin sister has had to him in banking and acknowledges the industry is still “failing massively” in this regard.

Brown Shipley has created a female leaders programme as part of its D&I initiatives.

Mr Brewster believes it is essential to consider unconscious biases within business and therefore to be inquisitive and to understand diversity at a deeper level.

“We need to be educated constantly and keep the issue at the forefront of our minds,” he explains.

D&I is not a “one size fits all” policy.

As a result, Mr Brewster meets everyone who joins the firm, either in person or online.

“Wealth comes in all shapes and forms. Why would you not replicate that across banking and professional services,” he asks.

Brown Shipley is committed to diversifying its talent base too.

“Our reputation is critical,” he stresses.

Gordon Scott – the firm’s head of client solutions – is focused on aligning Brown Shipley’s proposition to certain client segments.

This has resulted in lots of internal referrals. “Previously, we often thought about clients one dimensionally. We need to make sure we utilise our whole proposition.”

As a result, Brown Shipley is performing well.

The wealth manager reported a 13 percent increase in pre-tax profits in the full year 2021.

Underlying pre-tax profits increased from £4.6 million to £5.2 million in the 12 months ending 31 December 2021.

Despite economic headwinds, Mr Brewster remains confident this performance will continue and that the firm was ahead of plan at the end of half one.

Overall, he remains upbeat and enthusiastic regardless of the macroeconomic conditions.

“Banking is a wonderful career and a wonderful life,” Mr Brewster concludes.