E + R = O
Cook, like most people, entered the industry "by accident". He had bumped into an old school friend who was working for what was then the Standard Life Assurance Company, a mutual, which he ended up joining in sales.
"Looking back I had fantastic training and development. And it's interesting to note that a lot of my peer group at that time are still very successful in the financial services community.
"And every now and again when we talk, we do reflect back on the fantastic development and training that we were given at that time and we're very lucky to have it."
He says he came from a fairly ordinary background, his father had left school at age 14 with no qualifications, so "aspirations growing up seemed to be fairly limited to 'get a job'". All he wanted was "get a house, get a family and succeed", he says.
But his upbringing taught him self-reliance and a conviction that he is the maker of his own fortune.
"Events plus your reaction equals the outcome, so the only bit you can control is the reaction bit. So stuff happens all around you all the time and the outcome sometimes you can't do anything about. But often you can."
When it comes to building a business, for Cook the sun always shines. "When you're trying to drive something forward, you know, a business unit, a team, whatever it happens to be, you get roadblocks, you get problems.
"And it's having the adaptability to say well, let's assess this calmly and logically and think how we're going to deal with it."
This involves an appreciation for different ways of thinking within the team.
His outcomes-focused approach also spans to dealing with regulatory changes such as the Financial Conduct Authority's consumer duty, he says.
Cook has experience with having to adapt to the consumer duty as a wealth manager. He says "I feel their pain", but adds ultimately the work should lead to higher quality firms and service.
Despite the FCA's focus on value, Cook does not think it will ever go as far as to prescribe a price, even a level of acceptable price.
"What they're trying to highlight is they're saying well look, if you are charging, as a fictitious example, 250 per cent higher than the average fee for a similar service, it's right that the FCA is saying well, that's okay but you need to demonstrate why that's good value.
