An interview with Derek Zissman

The Simple Secret of Success

“There are only two important things in our business, then and today – clients and our people. If you get either of those things wrong, you may as well put the key in the door."

Derek Zissman is a man who believes passionately in client service – and treating people with respect.

“Clients and our people are the lifeblood of the firm – if you don’t look after both, you don’t have a business. The principle of it is the same around the world. They want the same thing - they want to know they’re being looked after properly.”

Derek's Career Path
1971	Newly-qualified auditor in the Birmingham office of Peat Marwick Mitchell
1977	MadePartner
1980s	Set up first Sales team in the UK
1988	Co-founded Corporate Finance department
1990s	UK Client Care Committee , Chair of KPMG’s European Client Care Group and a member of the International Client Care Group
1990s	Chairman of KPMG’s UK and International Partners’ Conferences
2001	Co-founded first Private Equity group
Early 00s	Alumni Chairman and Chairman of the Marketing Group
2004	Co-founded Private Equity group in US firm’s New York office
2004	Vice Chairman of the UK firm

Golden win

Success is something that Derek knows a lot about. Having spent his career in Birmingham, the late 1990s brought a major change to Derek’s life when he was asked to lead the proposal for the accountancy services of a major Private Equity House. Winning the proposal meant a move to London.

“One of the client's partners asked me how I would be able to service the client from Birmingham, and I told him that if we won the work I’d move – not thinking that we’d win the work!”

It was as Derek was boarding a plane to South Africa to chair the International Partners' Meeting that a call from the client's Managing Partner came through letting him know that the final place in the second stage was between KPMG and one other firm.

“He told me that the partners wanted to meet with me for 20 minutes on Monday morning and then they’d make a decision,”

Derek recalls.

“I told him I was about to leave the country on business and he told me to send my number two instead.

"After I hung up, I realised that I’d made a mistake and so called him back and promised to be there. This meant flying to South Africa, opening the conference and then flying back to London for a 20-minute meeting!

"I did it, we went through to the second stage and I flew back to South Africa. We ultimately beat the competition, which only reinforced my strongly held belief that, when we field a strong and dedicated team, we win every time.”

New challenges

Since retiring from KPMG in December 2007, Derek continues to be very busy as Chair of the Advisory Board of Alchemy and is on the Advisory Board of the Wealth Division of Barclays Bank.

“I’m on the Board of Seymour Pierce, a firm of brokers, and The Wesleyan Assurance Society, which is a small mutual based in Birmingham. I really wanted to get back to my roots.

“I’m now in discussion with the Chairman of Ashmore, a fund manager specialising in investing in emerging economies, to take a number of directorships on their portfolio companies, which will of course take me to some pretty far flung places around the world.”

Leadership training and coaching

“I’ve done a lot of coaching in my career and I’ve always said that no relationship was ever built by sitting in front of a laptop. A former executive of Alchemy and I have set up a leadership training and coaching business together, which will be fun.”

Sense of humour

“I’ve never been a great one for hobbies,”

he explains.

“Work has always given me the adrenalin and humour I’ve needed.

People with a sense of fun are much easier to work with and I place a lot of emphasis on that. If you have a good sense of humour, you manage to deal with a problem, no matter what it is.

And we shouldn’t forget that humour also releases stress. To be honest, I’ve never taken life too seriously."

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