Should we be worried?

This month, the Commons Defence Committee published a sobering report. Britain’s armed forces are unprepared for conflict with a ‘peer adversary’ such as Russia. They are ‘increasingly overstretched’ and ‘hollowed-out’.

Furthermore, it concluded that the government ‘will never achieve war-fighting or strategic readiness’ without urgent reforms to increase the number in the armed forces and ‘boost Britain’s stockpile of weapons and ammunition’.

Furthermore, the UK has lost its capacity to manufacture weapons, armoured vehicles and ammunition.

The Government’s response is to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP as ‘circumstances allow’! This is woefully inadequate,’ says the Financial Times.

The concern is that the war in Ukraine could tip over into a wider conflict between Russia and Europe. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has said that the UK is ‘moving from a post-war to a pre-war world' and must start to prepare for it.

There are also deep concerns about the commitment of the US to supporting Europe, especially if Trump gets re-elected. Trump was quoted as saying that once in office, he would encourage Russian assailants to ‘do whatever the hell they wanted’ to European allies that do not meet the Nato commitment to spending 2% of GDP on defence.

In other words, the US won’t foot the bill unless Europe takes more responsibility for its defence.

According to the Economist, although Britain spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, this is misleading as a fifth goes on nuclear weapons, and the conventional forces have been underfunded ‘to pay for nuclear cost overruns’. Richard Barrons, former head of Britain’s armed forces, says, ‘The risk is that we get drawn into a conflict and can’t sustain our presence, which exposes a strategic weakness.’

There is also a recruitment crisis in the armed forces, with five people signing up for every eight who leave. This is hardly surprising; the skills taught to the armed forces during training in collaboration and communication are excellent. Former members of the armed forces are in demand for their man-management and communication skills, and many of them move from the army to work with wealthy clients as bankers or investment managers because they know how to work with and for people.

As a former trustee of the Museum of the Household Cavalry, situated on the Parade Ground just off Whitehall - (and well worth a visit), I got first-hand experience of the impeccable manners of our armed forces and exceptional behaviour towards their superiors, fellow soldiers and visitors. These are vital skills to have as a client-facing professional.

Jonathan Norbury is my podcast professional of the week. He was lured away from the army after five years at Sandhurst to be an investment manager. He is now the head of Key Clients at Lloyds Bank. I asked him how soldiers learned courteous manners and excellent communication skills. I got the impression that if they behaved badly they would be bollocked - but Jonathan only alluded to this.

Jonathan also said they were taught how to communicate with one person, ten people and one hundred. I asked him how this was drilled into them. His reply was that they learned by making mistakes.

Communication and collaboration are essential skills for the armed forces without which their fellow soldiers could be injured or killed. Jonathan admitted that his five years at Sandhurst had shaped his effectiveness as a private client banker.

Maybe we cannot stop members of the armed forces quitting, without some form of government intervention, but we could make our existing private client professionals more skilled in what is taught at Sandhurst

This is one of the reasons I set up Caroline’s Club and put together a CPCP training program. Most of us have had to learn communication and collaboration skills through trial and error. This is deficient. Private client practitioners need to be on the same page when it comes to networking and cross-selling so that they don’t waste time on stuff which does not work and can get down to business with other members straight away.

If you would like to join our Club, learn how to do this and meet with like-minded professionals you can sign up online right now.