Firm President explains why supporting Canadian culture matters now, outlines the unexpected links between the arts and financial advice
In troubled times, the arts can feel frivolous. Cultural institutions can seem unimportant in the context of grave economic challenges, market sell-offs, and rapidly changing politics. In an industry like financial services, it can be easy for the intangible value of art to be dismissed. Nicola Wealth is refusing to do that. The wealth management firm recently announced its sponsorship of the National Ballet of Canada’s production of Swan Lake.
Chris Nicola, President of Nicola Wealth, explained why that sponsorship matters to his firm and to Canada’s cultural institutions as a whole. He drove home the importance of supporting arts and culture and drew out some of the less explicit connections between artistic endeavours and the work that advisory firms do. In doing so, he highlighted how a more positive view of the arts and arts backgrounds can help the whole industry capture some of Canada’s best talent.
“The financial services industry in Canada has been very successful. We do great work for our clients, we do great work for the local economies and for markets, but I think it's also important that we are giving back to the community,” Nicola says. “I think it's important both for our employees and our teams but also our clients, that we're supporting the community with some of that success. Artistic expression and the arts in Canada are really one of the key cultural pillars that underpin any community. I think in particular in Canada right now it's clear on how important these national cultural institutions are for us and why we need to support them.”
Nicola emphasized his firm’s track record of community and charitable involvement. He noted that the organization’s charity Nicola Gives Back has donated over $10 million in its history. Nicola employees have given thousands of hours of their time to causes they support. The firm, he says, is on the constant lookout for causes and organizations that align with their values. In the National Ballet, he says, they found a true partner.
The National Ballet of Canada, Nicola explained, is a source of national pride through its world-class performances. Perhaps more importantly, though, it serves to educate young people across the country. Nicola explained that this commitment to education is one of the core shared values between the National Ballet and his firm. They value bringing new talent up from the university level, giving them training, mentorship, and a path forward, in a similar mould to the education offered by arts institutions.
While Nicola himself is an engineer by training, with a background in mathematics and software development, he highlights the value of a liberal arts educations for the financial services industry. His own childhood exposures to music through guitar and piano were formative in his own life and career.
“There’s a huge value to creative expression at all levels, whether you make a career of it or not,” Nicola says. “These things are important in terms of what they contribute to culture and in creating the inspiration for future expression. I think people across any industry can benefit from support for and investment in arts and creativity.”
Nicola pushes back somewhat on the supposition we sometimes have that a background in the arts means you can’t be analytical, or a background in STEM means you can’t be creative. He sees how the creative thought processes honed in the arts can help engineers solve tough problems. In the context of the financial services industry, he sees value in bringing advisors up with artistic backgrounds.
Nicola Wealth, he explains, tries to recruit directly out of educational institutions and seeks to avoid putting people in a ‘pigeon hole.’ His organization has an internal development program that can bring people from different educational backgrounds up to speed on the financial services industry. He has seen many hires with creative and artistic backgrounds become fantastic professionals when guided by the right development programs.
“You want a diverse set of backgrounds and talent if you want to create high-performing teams,” Nicola says.
While his firm’s support for the ballet is not a plank in their recruitment efforts, Nicola highlights how a commitment to community and support for artistic institutions can play a role in helping financial services firms thrive.
“We fundamentally believe that successful organizations have an obligation to contribute to the communities they're in, to make them a better place for everyone,” he says. “These are the communities that we live in, that we work in, that our clients are part of, that we recruit from. And it's important that we have these strong communities, and they do require this level of support.”
