Our Motivations

To Our Clients:

We all operate in a volatile, competitive, ever-changing and complicated world where the challenges are numerous, the pace non-stop and the pressure constant. A logical question to ask is why, after a combined over 60 years in business, including 39 years at Jefferies, do the two of us continue to do this when there are so many other options and career choices? We won’t speak for anyone but ourselves, but we do feel that the start of another year is as good a time as any for some self-reflection and to share with each of you, our clients, “why we do it.”

1. You. It is a truly competitive world and every trade or deal you do can be executed at a bank holding company with a well-recognized brand. The fact of the matter is that we believe we have proven to our clients that we can do it at least as well, if not better, and you have rewarded us with loyalty that is very rare in today’s financial world. Granted, we have to earn your trust every day and can never take anything for granted, but we believe you are rooting for us and want us to win. It is a great feeling and we feel an incredible responsibility to never let you down.
2. Our Team. We cannot fully express how much motivation we get from our Board of Directors, fellow Jefferies Executive Committee members, the leaders of our various businesses, the sales, trading, research and investment banking professionals around the firm, and our infrastructure and support folks who keep the bandwidth flowing and make so much possible. We so appreciate how much each of them cares, how dedicated they are to doing the right thing and the sacrifices that each one of them constantly make. Knowing that the entire team is giving their all compels us and yet makes it easy for us to do our part.
3. Our Shareholders. Prices will go up and prices will go down. We are driven to do our best to create long-term value for our shareholders. This is partially out of personal self-interest, since our own money is where our mouths are, but it is also because we personally know so many of our shareholders, and greatly value the trust and confidence they have put in us. We do not want to let them down, and it is a long race that requires stamina and persistence.
4. The Importance of Jefferies. Our firm does good and important things. We help companies raise money to build factories. We help companies grow by acquisition. We help troubled companies get healthy. We help raise capital so companies can hire people and, in turn, do productive work. We help mutual funds invest money for families. We help hedge funds invest money for retirees, endowments and pension funds. We provide liquidity on a global basis, which helps the capital markets function better. Granted, we are not policemen or firemen saving or protecting lives, teachers educating our kids, or soldiers defending freedom. We all know those people are the real heroes. That said, we do important work at Jefferies and want all of our people to be as proud of what we do as the two of us are.
5. Competition. We have no ill will towards any of our competitors as they too are good people, and they and their families also need to succeed. That said, it gives us enormous pride to go head-to-head daily with trillion dollar bank holding companies and win fair and square based on our competence. We take pride that we did not ask taxpayers for even a penny of bailout money. We don’t shy away from being the underdog and it sure makes winning all the more enjoyable. When competitors underestimate our brand, capability or team, that is the best time to shine.
6. Pride. We take great pride in building our brand, competitive position and firm. For those who know us, you are probably aware that for the two of us this is very personal. That is why it is so painful when there is a stumble, a setback, or an embarrassing situation. We cannot promise that these will no longer happen at Jefferies − where there are people, there are complexities, and none of us are perfect. We won’t tell you that our bad spots should be ignored, but if you look at the totality of our unwanted experiences versus those of our competitors, we measure up great. That said, we believe this is an absolute business and we take no pleasure in being better than anyone on a relative basis. We can tell you that we feel incredible personal pain whenever something bad or unwanted happens under our roof. We will also tell you that we will always be honest about our blemishes. We will always strive to do the right thing once all facts are learned in a calm and methodical manner. We will do our best to always learn from these experiences. We will also do our very best to never repeat them. Finally, when we do have the occasional setback, nobody is more motivated than the two of us to proactively deal with it, and get back on the horse and start charging again. We are not shrinking violets, the stakes are high and we are motivated to help lead the winning team.
7. Our Culture. The collection of all 3,915 of us is Jefferies’ culture. The two of us draw strength and motivation from our collective culture. Honesty, transparency, directness and no bureaucracy mean that each person at Jefferies has the right to tell either or both of us what we are doing wrong and how to fix our problems. We love this. It also means that if we are asking each of them to lead by example, then we must follow the same playbook. That means if anyone needs help making an investment banking presentation, fixing a problem trade or recruiting a key hire, our answer is always yes. We are not bothered by this, but rather we are motivated by it. If we can help any one of our people win, we are making a difference and ultimately helping all of us and our clients win.

We could go on and on with this list, but we will leave it at seven. The two of us are at work and fully charged for action, and now you all know exactly why.

All best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2015,

Rich and Brian