Jonathan Westhoff, CEO at West Bromwich Building Society: How this one building society does things differently

My Duvet Flip by Jack Parsons

Jack Parsons

Business, Careers

4.2 • 5 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Check out the latest careers at West Brom Building Society:

https://www.westbrom.co.uk/careers

Episode Guest

Meet Jonathan Westhoff , CEO at West Brom Building Society.

Initially starting his career in banking, and undertaking a wide variety of roles, from customer facing ones in branches across the Liverpool area to senior strategy and finance roles, Jonathan moved into the mutual building society sector where he has now been for over 24 years. Having specialised in strategy and finance, including operating as Finance Director at three societies, he moved to Chief Executive Officer of West Bromwich Building Society in 2011.

With a passion for true purpose led business, Jonathan has overseen the transformation of the Society, refocussing its activities on its founding principles of 175 years, which means getting people into the security of their own homes.

In addition to his role as Chief Executive, Jonathan also is a trustee and chair of the Society's charitable foundation, and chair of its residential letting subsidiary. He is also a past chair of the building society sector's representative body, the BSA.

Episode Timestamps

00:00 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome02:49 Navigating Early Career Choices06:10 The Importance of Confidence in Job Interviews09:04 Understanding Mortgages and Home Ownership11:50 Financial Preparedness and Savings14:54 The Role of Credit Scores17:56 Challenges in the Housing Market21:11 Creating a Positive Workplace Culture24:04 The Future of Mortgages and Housing Solutions

Episode Partner

At the West Brom Building Society, we know solid futures don’t happen overnight. So, we help you build the life you want – bit by bit.

Whether you’re looking to own your first home or having savings you can rely on, we’ve been helping make it happen for 175 years. We’ve navigated our fair share of rainy days, and we still refuse to let a setback hold us back.We don’t use a one-size fits all policy. Instead, we dig deeper into your circumstances to really understand what you need. We’re always happy to chat – that’s just who we are. And we know everything we do adds up.So, we don’t just celebrate the end result. We bring job to every bit of the making. The first homes in the making. Nest eggs in the making. Confidence in the making. Life in the making.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Posture syndrome, we all get it. How can you get ahead of it?
0:03.0	Any way of business is successful in my mind is if you reflect what your customers are.
0:07.0	Employers are always looking for great people because it makes their business better.
0:10.0	Don't let yourself be intimidated by your profound beliefs of what you think limits you.
0:15.0	Not every job's for everybody. You won't be successful all the time, but going there confidently
0:19.0	and you're not there to demonstrate you're
0:20.8	somebody else.
0:22.5	My name is Jonathan Westoff.
0:24.0	I'm Chief Executive of West Brom Building Society, which employs 750 people, and this is my duvet.
0:30.4	If I'm a young person, deep down, I know I need to save.
0:33.7	Where do I start?
0:34.5	The first stage for my personal view is, are you okay for a couple of months if there's
0:38.8	an interruption?
0:39.8	What keeps you going for a couple of months so that you don't have to panic?
0:42.3	You say a couple months, what would your advice be?
0:45.0	How many months?
0:46.0	If you are fortunate, if you can get to a quarter, eight three months, you'd be unlucky
0:50.3	to have interruptions that went beyond that.
0:52.3	What's the first thing that needs to change with mortgages?
0:55.0	The problem that a mortgage has is a sheer price of houses.
0:58.0	Now we have a government that says they'll do $400,000, $90,000 into social ownership.
1:03.0	I really admire the intent. It needs somebody to work out how that happens.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -110 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jack Parsons, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jack Parsons and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.