Why Rick Wurster is our Next CEO at Schwab

Recommending a new CEO at Schwab is one of the single most important actions I have undertaken during my 16 years as CEO. The process is thorough and done with care. With the exception of a 15-month period, we have had only two sole CEOs in the 50-plus years since Chuck Schwab founded our firm. Although there are many factors that go into making a recommendation, five key traits have significant weight. These five are: Intellect, Humility, Courage, Self-Awareness, and Character. In the next few paragraphs, are more specifics on why our next CEO, Rick Wurster, excels at each of these traits.

Rick is obviously a brilliant businessperson. From his formal education at Villanova University (undergraduate) and Dartmouth College (MBA), to his extensive professional credentials as both a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and CMT (Chartered Market Technician), Rick’s intellect is beyond question. Simply spending a few minutes with him makes it clear that he possesses the intelligence and quick thinking needed to excel as our next CEO. That said, intellect is probably the single easiest trait to find when evaluating prospective CEOs.

Too often, superior intellect crowds out the critical trait of humility. And yet, humility is the perfect counterbalance to superior intellect. Humility enables a person entrusted with significant decision-making authority to maintain a balanced perspective, including an open mind to the viewpoints of others who might see things differently. Rick possesses true humility and a willingness to not only listen carefully to others, but also to make adjustments in this thinking when presented with facts and alternative viewpoints.

Courage is a critical trait for senior executives. Every leader wishes each decision they are faced with could be resolved in a manner that makes everyone happy and ensures their personal popularity. And that is impossible. A CEO is constantly balancing multiple constituencies—clients, employees, stockholders, regulators, and the communities we operate in, to name a few. And although over time, any wise decision maker strives to find a balance between all constituencies, sometimes decisions must be made that will be seen from the lens of one or more constituency as negative. In the face of criticism, courage allows a CEO to move ahead, make the required difficult decisions, and strive for the best balance among all constituencies. Rick’s courage meter is very high, as is often the case for those with superior intellect balanced by true humility.

In my experience, self-awareness is probably the single trait that more often than any other separates one executive or one employee from another. All one has to do is scan anonymous internet message boards to see the extraordinary lack of self-awareness present in today’s world. Self-awareness manifests itself in many ways. Two of the most important are: (1) the ability to evaluate how our spoken words will be understood by various constituencies—before even speaking, and (2) the ability to see the world through the eyes of others. Constituency awareness is a critical element of self-awareness. Every time we speak, the words we use are heard differently by each listener. And yet, the excellent leader must understand this and use the correct words so that each constituency hears the message in a manner they will understand. As a key contributor, we might have few constituents. As a new manager, we have a handful. As a CEO, there are dozens and dozens each time we speak—again, clients, employees, stockholders, regulators, but also the press, politicians, short-sellers, bloggers, and many more. The ability to see the world through the eyes of others takes real effort. It means being aware of the challenges faced by others. It means being slow to judge, and slow to accuse. It means looking introspectively at our own shortcomings before speculating on others' possible shortcomings. And it means being the positive person in the room who looks to lift up others. Nothing great was ever accomplished by anyone who spends their time criticizing the efforts of others.

And last, but absolutely not least, is character. Character can be easily summed up in one sentence. Does the person do the right thing—even when no one is watching, or no one is likely to find out? Character is what we do when we are anonymous. Character is how we treat those who can do little or nothing for us. Character is our ability to care deeply for everyone—not simply those who like us or agree with us, but also those who dislike us or even attack us. Character is making decisions like the one Rick made to step off the fast track at Wellington Investments and move to the west coast because that is where the best care was available for his daughter. In the face of what was best for his family, career was not important to Rick. That is true character.

As many of you have heard me say over the years, no one is perfect—and, of course, I am far from perfect. I know Rick well enough to know he would say the same about himself. But when it comes to Intellect, Humility, Courage, Self-Awareness, and Character, Rick is exceptional. My legacy is not simply the growth of the company from $1 trillion to $10 trillion in client assets, or the market capitalization growing from $19 billion to $150 billion during my tenure as CEO. My legacy is also the choice of Rick Wurster as our next CEO. And I have zero doubt in my mind, he will prove to be a superb CEO for our firm for years to come.