By Ashford W. Meikle, Staff Reporter
"We've increased the executive leadership team and that is where I can make a difference in the organisation this year by orientating the new executives ... in recognition of the fact that we're a big company and we have a big vision."
"THE FACT of the matter [is] when you are the CEO of a company, you're always thinking about the company ... and all the issues associated with it and where you want to go next ... so now I have more emotional availability for my children -- they are young," reflected Donna Duncan-Scott.
RECENTLY, THE effervescent Donna Duncan-Scott, chief operating officer and managing director of Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB), sat down with the Financial Gleaner to speak about her decision to take a one-year leave of absence from JMMB, effective January 1, 2005.
Like many career women, she "balanced the company needs, against my personal needs ...
basically because I've had two children in two years." However, she feels the time is opportune for her to step aside from the day-to-day operations of the company and channel her passion in a
different area, by deepening the JMMB culture.
"My area of passion is culture, people and marketing ... so I am going to be focusing on these areas," said the financier.
During her 'gap year', she'll "focus on the more long-term
culture ... the long-term elements of JMMB, building the culture (and) transferring the culture.
I'll focus on building certain
systems at JMMB to reinforce
and deepening the culture around performance management."
EMOTIONAL SPACE
Described by her as a win-win situation, she emphasised, "it gives me the emotional space to be with my children right now -- that's very important."
A strong senior management team is in place to ensure
continuity and a seamless
transition of responsibility. Specifically, deputy managing director and chief operating
officer, Keith Duncan, will
assume the managing director
and CEO posts which, essentially, will be a formality since he has been acting in Mrs. Duncan-Scott's stead for sometime.
"Keith has been shouldering a lot of my responsibilities from before -- I'm very comfortable with how he's been handling that," said Mrs. Duncan-Scott in
endorsing her brother. In fact, it was his success and competence at the helm which propelled her to see the "opportunity ... to play a different role which would allow me to satisfy some of my personal goals as well as for JMMB."
PHENOMENAL GROWTH
The company growth under Donna Duncan-Scott has been
phenomenal. As managing
director for the past five years,
she has steered JMMB towards a successful listing on the stock exchanges of Jamaica and
Trinidad and Tobago. The
company also has a regional
presence in Trinidad and
Barbados through Caribbean Money Market Brokers (CCMB).
Locally, JMMB Securities Limited (a full-service stock
brokerage company) and JMMB Insurance Brokerage Limited are the newest additions to the JMMB group, along with other branches in the rural areas.
"We've increased the
executive leadership team
and that is where I can make a
difference in the organisation this year by orientating the new
executives ... in recognition of
the fact that we're a big company and we have a big vision,"
Mrs. Duncan-Scott explained.
She emphasised that it is very important that managers live the JMMB culture.
"The JMMB culture is based on love. It's embodied around what we call the vision of love. It is really based on unconditional love, respect for everybody, we value everybody, so we can have high performance team and having fun in the workplace. We want our team members to see this job as part of their dream-to see it as stepping stone to where they want to be."
The managing director insists that they have not strayed from the vision of her mother, JMMB founder, Joan Duncan. But she did admit that there have been some salient changes under the management of herself and her brother.
"We have shifted to a more performance-based culture. We still focus on love, but now we are trying to really have people focus on their performance. And part of my role next year is to put in the structures to support that vision (of the company's future) so that what people are doing is consistent with the strategy we are articulating."
Another significant change pertains to the company's hiring policies. "As we grow - we have developed a more rigorous selection process-we want to make sure the culture is perpetuated. You have to make sure you get the right people with the personal values already aligned with the values of the company."
She says that at the end of the year, she expects to see "a more cohesive senior leadership team that is living the vision of love such that people in the organisation -- team leaders (and team members) are fired up and excited about the work they are doing more so."
