Root Ready
A podcast for growth-minded financial advisors
Root Ready
Root Ready Intro Episode: A Podcast for Growth-Minded Financial Advisors
What does it truly mean to be an exceptional financial advisor in today's world? The answer goes far beyond technical designations or sales ability.
The Root Ready podcast tackles a critical gap in advisor development. While the industry often laments talent shortages, the real issue lies in how we're preparing advisors to excel. James Conole, founder of Root Financial, shares a compelling vision for what advisor excellence should look like, drawing parallels to institutions like Mayo Clinic and McKinsey—places where saying "I work there" carries immediate weight and meaning.
This show serves multiple ambitious purposes. First, it provides a development pathway for growth-minded associate advisors seeking to become truly exceptional at their craft. Second, it addresses the evolution of financial advice from a sales-focused profession to one centered on meaningful client impact. Perhaps most importantly, it explores the overlooked skills that transform technically competent advisors into outstanding professionals—the communication abilities, emotional intelligence, and client relationship management approaches rarely taught in traditional curriculum.
What makes this podcast unique is its focus on defining clear standards of excellence for the advisory profession. While many firms claim to be "the best," Root Ready establishes specific benchmarks and development frameworks that give substance to that aspiration. Whether you're an associate advisor looking to grow, a lead advisor seeking to sharpen your skills, or someone considering this profession, this podcast offers practical insights to elevate your impact.
Have questions about becoming the advisor you aspire to be? Submit them through the link in our show notes and join us every other week as we explore what it truly means to be Root Ready.
Submit a question here 👉 Root Ready Podcast
Welcome to the first episode of the Root Ready podcast. My name is James Canola. I'm the founder of Root Financial and this podcast is designed to be different. It's not a show about how to build a business. It's not a show about how to market. It's not a show about how to deal with things that a lot of other advisor-focused shows are already about. This podcast is intended to add value to all advisors, but it's specifically tailored to growth-minded associate advisors who are on a mission to be the absolute best advisors they can be.
James Conole:I speak a ton with our lead financial advisors and associate financial advisors internally and I get a really good sense for the growth challenges that exist, as well as the growth opportunities that exist. I also get a number of messages from newer advisors in the industry not even newer advisors, just maybe younger advisors in the industry saying we want to be the best. We want to be the best advisors we can be. What tips do you have for us? What can we do to continue to develop and to learn? And it's occurred to me that there's probably a lack of resources out there for people to develop in the way they want to develop. Sure, there's a certified financial planner designation, which is wonderful. Sure, there's things like Kitsiscom, which is wonderful. Sure, there's a lot of things like that.
James Conole:I also think, though, that there's a little bit of a gap in terms of what people are looking for and what exists out there, and on top of that, you probably hear people talk all the time about a talent shortage in the industry. You see so many things, and there just aren't enough good people to fill the seats available. There's going to be a shortage. There's not enough people to do the work that's required, and, to an extent, that's true, there are not enough people maybe coming into the industry to keep up with the demand of new people wanting advisors. But I think the problem is actually deeper than that, and I say that because I see a ton of really sharp, really driven, really caring younger people, even older people, getting into the industry for the first time, saying they want to be the best they can be, but there's not a lot of training around that, there's not a lot of development around that, and that's due to the fact that this used to be very much a sales-based organization. You didn't get to be successful because you're necessarily great at planning. You got to be successful because you learned how to be a great salesperson, and while that was what used to be the defining factor that made a quote unquote great advisor, was really you were a great salesperson. That's no longer the case. Yes, there's still absolutely a sales component to it, but a lot of people are getting into situations and they're drawn to this industry because of the impact they can have, because of the way they can help, because of how incredible this career is in terms of the transformation that can be made. And there's not a lack of people in that extent, but there is a lack of development. We have a lot of people wanting to be the best. They know they can get their designations, but what else? They know they can read blogs online, but what else? How can they be the best possible advisor so they can serve their clients in the best possible way?
James Conole:This podcast is our team's way of addressing that problem, at least to some small extent, and there's a reason we called it Root Ready. The reason it is called Root Ready is because to be a lead financial advisor at Root it means something. It means there's rigorous standards, there's a high expectation that we place on our advisors, and in order to have that, we have a lot of development that needs to be done. We want to do a lot of training, a lot of development, a lot of coaching to make sure that this is a place where our advisors can be the absolute best, so that our clients can get the absolute best service and the best experience when they work with advisors here at Root. So what we're going to do is we're going to go over the standards, the skill sets, the ways of working all those things that we promote here internally at Root to help develop the best possible advisors. So we've gotten a lot of experience in that, because in the last four plus years, we've grown from one person to over 40 team members as of this recording.
James Conole:And one of the ways in which we've done that is we've invested a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of money even into the development of great advisors, and I'm not going to take credit for everything with these advisors here, because we have just awesome people the one they showed up here, they were already incredible, so that is a testament to them not to root. However, we have also invested a ton into when people do come to us. How can we continue developing, how can we continue coaching. When associates come to us and more entry-level positions come to us, how can we create an environment that is just rich with opportunities to become not just a better advisor but a better person, a better team member, a better coach, a better leader? Starts with the development of great associate financial advisors that will ultimately, in a very organic way, grow into being incredible lead financial advisors that will serve the clients that are coming here to Root.
James Conole:So there are three goals, three high-level goals, with this podcast. Number one I want advisors at Root to be the absolute best. I want it to mean something to be a financial advisor at Root Financial. So this podcast is first and foremost designed to be a part of our internal training and development for associate financial advisors who want to develop and become the best possible lead financial advisor they can be. So what do I mean when I say that I want it to mean something to be a Root advisor? What I mean by that is if someone were to come to you and say they were a physician at the Mayo Clinic, that means something. The Mayo Clinic is known for its exceptional patient care. If someone were to come to you and say they're a consultant for McKinsey. That means something.
James Conole:Mckinsey Co is a top management consulting firm with a reputation for an intellectual rigor. It means something to work there. If someone comes to you and says they work at Pixar, that means something. They're an animation studio with a very strong track record of creativity and innovation. So these are companies where, if you say you work there, that means something to the people you talk to.
James Conole:In the RIA world I'm not sure there's currently a firm where working there carries that same weight. That's not to say there aren't great people or even great firms. I know plenty of them, but I don't know that there's any firm today that carries with it that gravitas, that weight of oh, you work there. That means something, and that's because, in large part, this is a very fragmented industry with thousands and thousands of firms, some of which have great processes and great ways of serving clients, and others that don't. So if you're a consultant from McKinsey, I can assume something about your intelligence or your work ethic. If you're a consultant from a little boutique consulting firm across town, you might be America's best consultant, or you might be someone that does this as a sidekick but knows nothing about what you're talking about, and it's impossible to tell because there's not that brand recognition. It doesn't mean something to be where you are. So, as I look at advisors at Root, I know they are among the best in the industry, but I want it to mean something to be an advisor at root, and some of the factors that contribute to that sense of gravitas for that weight is a very selective hiring process, so companies that have a rigorous interview process and high standards for applicants that's going to start to mean something.
James Conole:There needs to be a strong work culture. So these firms where they carry some weight, there's typically a lot that they expect from their team and they also tend to provide a tremendous amount of opportunities for growth and for development. That's what we want to do internally, and this podcast is a part of that. There's a strong brand reputation, so they've created a strong reputation for excellence in their respective field. For it to mean something, you need to be doing impactful work. So when you talk about Pixar, when you talk about the Mayo Clinic, when you talk about McKinsey, they're solving big, important problems. I think we as financial advisors are solving big, important problems, and those problems are how do we help people get the most out of life with their money. So how do we create that environment?
James Conole:This podcast is one way in which we are helping to create that strong work culture. It's one way in which you're trying to create that strong brand reputation. It's one way in which can we develop people to do even more impactful work in the lives of our clients. So number one that is what we want to do is we want to make sure that we're developing the people at Root, the awesome people at Root, to already hold themselves to high standards, and giving even more opportunities to continue to develop and to grow. Number two, the second reason we want to do it so I do want to make sure this is value-packed. This is a resource to those of you who reach out asking what can you do, wherever you are, to continue developing, to continue to become the best advisor you can be, to serve the clients that you have. So, yes, this is an internal resource first and foremost, but we're also wanting to make it available to anyone so that all of you can continue on that journey to be the best possible advisor you can be. And then, number three, the final goal of this podcast is we don't want to be shy about the fact that our goal is to attract the absolute best and the brightest new associate financial advisors to Root.
James Conole:We're growing fast and what that means is we will have a number of associate financial roles to fill. So our general growth philosophy when it comes to who do we want to hire is ideally, we hire people at more entry level or associate roles. That gives us a chance to almost feel like a baseball, instead of going out and getting free agents that may or may not be a great team fit or may or may not fit well on the team. Do you develop a farm system? Can you get the best people in terms of the draft class, in terms of getting people who are newer to what you're doing, newer to the field, but incredible in terms of their ability to connect with others, in terms of their ability to empathize, in terms of their ability to have a high capacity to learn, in terms of their ability to communicate? How do we get those people who are hungry to be the best and then have a development program for them, starting at the associate financial advisor level and very organically developing them to become incredible lead financial advisors?
James Conole:So this podcast is our way of attracting you out there, those of you listening. I hope a lot of you one day end up at Root. So this podcast is kind of a way to say how can we help to train and to develop and to attract future Root team members before they even join the team. So, as part of this podcast, what we're going to do in the next handful of episodes is define what it means to be root ready so when people do join, they're ready to hit the ground running as a key part of our team's mission. Other things we're going to be talking about include things like how do we at root define what it means to be the best advisors in the industry? It's a very vague term. Anyone can claim to be the best. How do we specifically define that?
James Conole:We're going to talk about what skill sets are required that go beyond technical competencies that you might learn with a CFP or other curriculum. This is not a knock on other resources that exist out there. Certified financial planner designation Wonderful. You learn a lot of great stuff there. Just having that designation isn't going to make you prepared to be the best advisor possible. Lots of wonderful blogs, lots of wonderful resources, lots of other wonderful designations. None of them single handedly are going to give you what you need to be a best advisor, and some of the things that I find are lacking aren't the technical competencies. There's more than enough resources out there. It's going to be other skill sets that you don't think about but are very much required to be the best advisor you can be. And then, finally, we're going to talk about how do you take your career and your life to the next level by becoming the type of advisor you know you're capable of becoming.
James Conole:So my hope with this podcast is that, first and foremost yes, this is designed to be a resource for us internally at Root Financial to say how can we, as associate financial advisors, as financial advisors, as lead financial advisors, how can we continue to develop, how can we continue to sharpen the saw? How can we continue to be the best version of ourselves? Can we continue to sharpen the saw? How can we continue to be the best version of ourselves? But also, how can we put this out there for all of you who are reaching out and asking these same questions, because they know there's a hunger for more information, for more guidance, for more context to be the best advisor you can be. So some quick details before we wrap up this initial episode is this show will start out with episodes released every other week.
James Conole:A few will be available right away, but then every other week going forward. We may increase from there depending on how things go, but three will be released right away than every other week going forward. Some episodes will be solo episodes, it'll just be talking. Other episodes I will be bringing on guests, so it'll be a little bit of mix of both and this will start out as a podcast, so audio only podcast. But if any of you only consume content on YouTube or really think this would be more effective as a YouTube show, and if enough of you reach out, then we might turn this into a video podcast on YouTube down the road.
James Conole:Lastly, and most importantly, the goal of this is to answer specific questions. You have yes, I have a lot of ideas for episode ideas and what we can talk about, but I also want to get feedback from you all. You all internally at root and you all externally in the industry. I want you to send in your questions, and sometimes the more specific the better, because what we want to do is take specific questions and unpack the principles, unpack the frameworks, unpack the ways that all of us can learn from the specific question that you have, when it comes to working with clients, when it comes to working with your team, when it comes to learning and development, whatever the case might be.
James Conole:So if you have a question you'd like answered, there is a link in the show notes of this episode. You can go. You'll be taken to our website. You can submit your question. I will compile those and respond to those on future episodes. So I'm really excited for this. I've done a lot of content, specifically around financial planning topics. I have not done much as it pertains to becoming the best advisors. It pertains to the things that we, as advisors, need to know so that we can be the best possible vessels of this technical knowledge we have, of this guidance, of this wisdom that we have, and my hope is that this show will be the resource to provide that. So thank you all who are listening, excited for the journey ahead of us, and I'll see you on the next episode.