Don't Become a Clone: How Associate Advisors Develop Their Own Style

Most associate advisors start the same way — trying to say things exactly right. Exactly like their lead. Exactly like the CEO would want. Like running a script instead of having a conversation.

The problem isn't effort. It's the wrong goal.

In this episode, James sits down with Root associate advisor Eden to talk about what it actually looks like to learn from the advisor you're supporting — without losing yourself in the process. They cover the difference between passively absorbing a lead's style and actively studying it: what's working, what isn't, and why both are worth your attention. Eden shares what she's learned from watching Naomi's calm, centered presence with clients — and how she's starting to fold that into her own delivery without copying it.

James also breaks down why staying fully engaged in meetings you've seen a hundred times still matters. Because watching and doing are completely different things. You don't find your voice by observing forever. You find it by asking for reps, borrowing language early, and letting your personality shape it over time.

Your voice won't be perfect when you get promoted. That's okay. Neither is your lead's.

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Transcript

Team Structure And The Real Goal

0:00

Back to another episode of the Root Ready Podcast. At Root Financial, we have a structure, a team structure, where every lead has a dedicated associate. So if you're an associate advisor, you're not working or supporting three leads or five leads, as may be the case in some firms. You have a dedicated lead advisor who you are learning under and supporting. So the topic of today's episode, what Eden and I are going to talk about, is how can you, as an associate advisor, both learn from your lead to see what they do really well and adopt that and incorporate it into how do you do things, but also develop your own voice and develop your own way of being as you are on that path to becoming a lead advisor.

Script Trap Vs Authentic Voice

0:40

So, Eden, as we as we jump into this, what do you like, what's the natural temptation? So you see associates at root, you've seen associates elsewhere. Do you get the sense people feel like I have to be exactly like my lead advisor if I'm going to make it? Or do you see people on the flip side of, you know, when I'm a lead, I'm going to do things way differently than my advisor does them? I would say in my experience, and it is kind of company to company, there's this tendency to ensure you're explaining things exactly the way either the company would want you to, the highest level person at the company, or your lead advisor, and it has to be perfect also. I feel like that's the general feeling as an associate. I have to say this perfectly and exactly the way the CEO would want me to say this. What's an example of that? Of just that feeling of I want to say that. Like is it specific words, Eden? I want you to say these specific words at this specific time, or is it more a general say things from this framework and kind of modify within it? I think it is kind of an exact script kind of feeling, especially early on. I need to say this and remember exactly how my lead answered that question, exactly how my lead presented this, and I need to repeat that exactly, kind of like a script, like rehearsing. Yeah. Yeah, interesting. It's and you know, I I know you have experiences. I've I have experiences with that. I remember my one of my first jobs, the advisor I was working under, hyper, hyper, hyper relational, like awesome, nice guy, easy to connect with, really struggled to uh say things directly. You know, I was like, I think it was such a great experience for me because I am way more analytical. What's the math? What's the answer? How do you solve the problem? And what my weak spot was, especially getting into this industry, was the connection piece, the relational piece, the how do you not just have the right answer, but connect that to the real world scenario that's going on that's messy and sticky, and it's there's human emotion involved, and there's all that stuff. And so it was such a formative experience for me of going to work under someone who, in many ways, was the complete opposite of me, of um really strong at the relational piece, asked great relational, like personal questions, made people feel seen, made people feel understood, made people feel like, hey, I'm really liked, like this person really likes me. Amazing qualities. And on the flip side, there was areas where, like, hey, struggled to deliver direct feedback, struggled to tell people like the right answer, struggle to, hey, if the markets are falling, I can't be disliked by my client. Like James, you called them back, James U sent the email, James. And and it was a great experience, like one of the absolute, I could not imagine a better experience for me because I was able to observe it and say, okay, what are the things this advisor's doing really well? How can I learn from that? What are the things this advisor's not doing well? And and I think are frankly counterproductive. How can I learn from that too? You know, it's kind of like when you're a kid, you're like, man, I would never do that if my, you know, that thing my parents do. Like I wouldn't I have it all figured out, I would never do it. And it's, you know, as you know, I have two young children now. And as you start talking to other peers and people who also have kids, like it this conversation kind of comes up a lot of it's so easy to look at parents and see, what did they not do? It's like, well, you have to ask yourself the other side of the question. Like, what did they do really well that I just failed to appreciate because I took it for granted? And like it's just part of what I received without ever knowing it. And I think that there's a similar element here with advisors of as you're an associate, you're not gonna have the same exact style as your lead. But how can you look at what they are and say, wow, what could I like? How can I be like this is an active act. This isn't just a sit there passively and absorb it via osmosis, but actively look at what I could learn from this individual because they do it so well. And also, what are the areas that either just because it's personality difference or I just frankly think like that they're doing it incorrectly, I could do better. So we're gonna talk today, Eden, about some of the principles around that and how associates can do it. But curious, you know, as you are working with Naomi, what what what experiences do you what do you see as like, man, I could learn so much from you fill in the blank. Yeah.

What Great Leads Model Daily

5:18

So first and foremost, I just have to say it has been a tremendous learning experience just watching her practice, watching how she manages her clients. Um, and I think I've learned a lot from her about how to be calm and confident. She is so calm, so collected, very confident with her clients. And, you know, you can learn any of the technical stuff. You can learn how to present the Sequoia process. We got, of course, we're gonna learn all of that from her. But I've been really impressed with her, and I kind of am striving now to be more of that calm-centered and collected person. She's just, I think that's been something I've seen that I can really take from her, is just any question that comes her way. It's never this frazzled freak out. She's really great at taking a pause, taking a beat, staying centered, focus on the question. And the client feels that too. And I think it just builds a lot of trust. So I think that's what I've learned the most from her, just in observing over the past three months how she handles her meetings. Yeah. Yeah, fantastic.

Three Buckets For What You Observe

6:24

And I think I'm gonna break this down into three pieces, or at least I think of it in three pieces. Anytime when an associate is learning from their lead, and this is not just an associate lead principle, like this could just be a life principle. But I think there's gonna be behaviors that lead has are gonna fall under three buckets. One is exactly what you just described. Wow, that's awesome. Like that behavior is awesome. I want to adopt it myself. Two is hey, what they're doing, it's it could be good, it could be bad. It's just it's like a personality thing. It's not like you're doing it right or wrong. It's just that's a personality thing, but it's not me. Three is I don't think they're doing that right. Like I think there's actually a better way to do it, and I'm gonna actively try to see how can I develop in that area so that when I become this person, um I do it really well. Like I just shared, I shared with my previous experience with a previous advisor I worked under. There were some things that I actively worked to try to get better at because I was not good at them. There were some other things that I said, um you can do this, can be done better. I'm gonna do this better when I become a lead. This is not how I want to do it. But then there's that middle area of it's not good or bad. Like it can be a really good thing. I'll use Ari as an example. You know, when Ari joined root, he was my associate advisor, amongst many other things. He was like, James, I'm just gonna copy word for word exactly what you say while I find my own voice. And now, like you would have no idea because you, if you look at Ari, you look at me, in some ways we couldn't be further apart in terms of like personality, how we engage, how we interact. He's high energy, energetic, funny, stories, all this stuff. I'm a little bit more of that call it steady, collected, calmer, deliberate. And it's like he didn't become Ari overnight. He said, I'm gonna learn by doing this, I'm gonna learn by copying, and over time develop my own voice. So I think of that as like category number two of what I'm doing isn't right or wrong. It's just my personality. What Eden's observing in Naomi, some of these things aren't right or wrong. It's just Naomi's personality. Eden has a different personality. So do you do you see things in your interactions with Naomi even? They're like, wow, she does really well with that. That's just probably not me as I where where do you see your personality and how you want that to be more developed as you come into your voice as a lead advisor as you're developing? Yeah, I definitely see some similarities with what you just described with your dynamic with Ari early on, because I am a little bit more in that kind of Ari space where my voice goes up and down a lot. I do get excited, and that can sometimes be a little abrasive, though. So, but it is still my personality. So I think you're striking the right tone here with it, it is a balance of they're hiring you for who you are as well as your knowledge. And so it is important to be your authentic self and find a way to make your voice your own. Um so I think we do have kind of a similar dynamic there where she's just generally a little bit more of an even-tone person, but I see the way that that resonates with clients, and that also depends on the clients, of course. We could do a whole other episode on how to relate to your clients based on their personality types, but I feel like sometimes being a little bit, you know, too excitable, amped up can kind of scare clients off. And I've just noticed it really has resonated well when I've been watching her be that kind of even, calm presence for clients. So it's not really about it's not changing your personality, but sometimes it's even just your tone, just adjusting how I deliver things. And I think that's been really valuable, just watching her tone, how she senses the emotions in the room and kind of adjusts her energy accordingly, which is something I have a lot of room to develop in. Yeah. Yeah, awesome. Well, I think that awareness

Study Everything Message And Delivery

10:22

piece is big. Because I think the the first principle that I would make, or the first thing is adopt this mindset of studying everything. And that doesn't mean that everything in life is now all of a sudden work, but it's just develop this curiosity. Did you see someone deliver a speech that you thought that was really good? Like enjoy it, but also ask yourself, why? What made that good? What was it a story they told? Was it their pacing? Was it something else? Um, maybe a friend told a strike. Like, that was really funny. Like you, people's, you captured everyone's attention. Why? Like, as you start to develop this curiosity, I'll give a couple of examples. I was at an altruist conference uh, I don't know, a month ago. And one of the keynote speakers, her name was Jenna Lang, I believe. She had incredible stage presence. Like beyond what she said, take take her words out of that. If you were just watching video of her giving her speech, you would have been really impressed. And and I I noticed it because if you've ever given a speech in front of people, the first thing that goes through your head is like, what the heck do I do with my hands? Do I stick them in my pocket? Do I fold them? Like it's just this awkward thing if you're not holding a microphone. What do I you just you're so self-conscious about what are my hands doing? They're almost like have this life of their own and um it's distracting. And so I was like, wow, she is real, she's got this amazing stage presence. And so I was just, I was curious, like, okay, how is she standing? What's she doing with her hands as she moves across the room? She's doing it with intention. And it became this thing of, okay, I'm not just gonna enjoy what she's saying and take that in. I'm also gonna be observing why is she so effective in what she's doing so I can learn from that. Um a couple weeks ago or a few weeks ago, I released an episode on this podcast. And it was something about how to speak with authority as a young advisor. And it wasn't just the words you say, it was the way in which you say them. Speaking low and slow, ending on a downward inflection. Uh, you know, a few other uh things like that. And Grace messaged me after and she said, Hey, thank you. Like that was an awesome podcast. You know, we've been doing a lot with Carl Richards. He came and he spoke at our team event. He we've been part of the Society of Advice, it's been awesome. And she sent me out. She's like, I've been trying to figure out what makes Carl so compelling when he speaks. And she's like, that podcast helps so much because it kind of puts some it it framed, oh, that's what Carl's doing. He's speaking low and slow. He pauses for what can feel like an uncomfortable amount of time if you're the one pausing. But when you see someone else do it, you're like, oh my gosh. Like every pause, I feel like I'm getting a little bit closer. Like I'm drawn a little, like I'm on the edge of my seat with what am I going to hear next? He's not ending his sentences like a question. You know, he's ending his sentences with authority. And so I really appreciated Grace reaching out because it showed me, yeah, she's actively seeing, like, not just am I enjoying the content and taking it in, I'm studying what makes someone great. And I think that that's a mindset all of us can take, especially as we are in these conversations or sitting in these meetings with our late advisors. What makes Naomi so great in that situation? On the flip side, hey, maybe something happened with the client. Why was that? Maybe it didn't go exactly as Naomi was intending. Eden, I'm I'm, you know, I'm probably in a unique seat here. Well, I get to observe when you're Naomi, or you're the client, you're actively in it. You kind of have that 30,000-foot view of, okay, I can I can watch the client, I can I can perceive what they're feeling in a way that Naomi might not be, because she's the one delivering the message. And it's hard to be in the message and observing the message at the same time. But I think that's the first principle is adopt this curiosity, adopt this mindset of when I see things are going well or not well, I want to be curious and lean into that a little bit. Does that resonate at all? Does that connect anything that you see with that, Eden? I would absolutely agree with that. And I think we are in a very unique position as the associate for that exact reason. We're absolutely there to help. We're taking some notes down, we're paying attention to everything that's going on, but it does present a very unique opportunity because we are essentially a fly on the wall sometimes, especially early in your career. And I think early on as an associate, when you're observing the lead advisor presenting, you're probably most fixated on the content. How are they answering this question about the investment philosophy? How are they presenting the Monte Carlo? Those are things you maybe haven't even seen before when you're very early on in your career. But what you just said really resonates with me because I have seen this stuff before. I have exposure to this industry. And so I'm not necessarily sitting in these meetings. Of course, I'm interested in the content, what we're talking about, but there's this whole other area that you can learn from that almost has nothing to do with the content. It's about the delivery. And that's a whole secondary learning opportunity as an associate being a part of these meetings. If you know the investments, if you know the content, great. What else can we learn? And I think this is exactly it. It's the delivery, the tone. I took golf lessons maybe a decade ago because I was so bad at it. I said, maybe I'm going to try to get better. I don't like golf. I'm not great at golf. So someone who's actually into golf is going to listen to this and say, what you're saying is wrong, James. And I acknowledge I'm about to probably say a bunch of wrong stuff. But I remember that lesson, it was it, it wasn't a great instructor, I don't think, because it was like, here's what you do with your hips, and here's what you do with your wrists, and here's how what you need to do in the back swing, and here's where your eyes should be. Like I need to focus on one thing at a time. Like if you're trying to correct this total amateur's golf swing in one lesson by telling me how to do everything, it's gonna be horrible. So, in the same way as an associate, I do think that there needs to be this um start with just absorbing what they're saying. I think that's what you're talking about, Ian. Like, I'm starting by absorbing how are they explaining investment cons, or like, you know, what specifically are they saying it here? What are these? Then step two, layer two, is observe how they are saying it. So there's both the content, and I I say this all the time of as the advisor, you are both uh, you know, what matters is both the message and the messenger. So either when you're an advisor sitting across from someone, there's a message that you are delivering, but that message can only be effective if the messenger is effective. You could say the same words as the next person. The words are the exact same. They're not gonna come across the exact same, depending upon your. I say, like, you know, if you take Tony Robbins, for example. You know, everyone knows Tony Robbins, I don't know, the, you know, life coach, speaker, all these amazing things. The words he says, I could get up on stage and say the exact same words, they're not gonna land the same because we're different messengers. There's different lived experiences, there's different ways in which it's articulated and expressed and the tone and all those good things. And so I think that step one as an associate is yes, understand what it is said, what is said. Learn that, learn the technical aspect of it. Then really try to absorb how it's said because that becomes equally important. So I really like the point that you're making

Stay Fully Present On Calls

18:13

there. Um the next thing I would say, Eden, is actively engage. We work in a remote virtual environment here at root. When you're sitting in your 50th investment meeting or your 100th security meeting or your 75th kickoff meeting, it can be easy. Like, yeah, I know how this is gonna go. Yeah, I'm gonna be on the meeting, but I'm gonna be scrolling Instagram or I'm gonna be scrolling email. I'm gonna be scrolling Slack and you know, I'm gonna keep my eyes with them really slowly as I scroll so no one can see. But one, you're not gonna learn. There's always something we can learn. And the better we can adopt that mindset is stay engaged. Like that is such a good life skill to learn to stay fully engaged. Number two, like you're just you're you are conditioning your mind to need to be uh satisfied. I need new dopamine, I need new experience. I need to learn to calm down, like learn to just sit with something that's frankly can be boring at times. Vicky, I know how this is gonna go. I've run this a million times. But third, um, you're not gonna learn. If you're not, if you're just there, there's no point in you being there. Tell, you know, talk talk to your lead advisor and say, I know, like, can I just not I'm not doing anyone a service by being on this call if I'm just here actively scrolling other stuff. And this, I mean, this is a real thing in a virtual team environment. It's so easy to say, yeah, I've got my screen pulled up. But here's the other thing. As soon as you get quote unquote caught of Naomi says, hey, Eden, like I my internet just broke up. Could you could you step in here and say that? And Eden's like, oh geez, I have it, I've not been paying attention for 10 minutes because I've been responding to. All it takes is quote unquote getting caught once for that client to lose confidence or that lead to lose confidence. Oh, that person's not really here. I see their face, but they're they're not actually present. So that active engagement is a muscle all of us need to train because it's so easy to switch tabs, to switch context, to be here but not be here, it can very quickly erode trust when it becomes evident someone wasn't paying attention. And not to mention, you're not learning anything if you are just doing something else while that's going on. Um I've got a few more points, but what are the, I know you had some good thoughts on this too as we were going over the outline. What is in your experience, what should an associate be actively looking to do to both learn from their lead but also develop their their own voice as they are progressing?

Ask For Reps Then Embrace Discomfort

20:48

Yeah, I I would say just one point that piggybacks off of what you're just talking about. Maybe you have seen a hundred kickoff calls, and I'm gonna expand on this in a moment, but sitting there and feeling like, oh, I know exactly what they're gonna say, great. If you were then in the position where you had to run a kickoff call, it may not go very well, even though you've seen a hundred of them before. And that speaks to exactly what you're saying. Stay engaged, watch. Maybe it feels boring because you've seen it before, but being the one who has to be in the seat and lead the meeting is extremely different from sitting there and being like, oh well, I know exactly where they're going with this, I know what they're gonna say next. Great. What would you say? How would you run the meeting? And I think that is a huge part of helping your own development is first of all, just thinking about that. How would I answer this question? How would I present that? And then asking your lead for opportunities to practice and for opportunities to present little pieces of the meeting. Doesn't have to be the whole thing. And it can just be practice at first. Just, hey, do you mind if I pretend that you're the client and I I present this piece, your lead advisor will likely love that because they also want to coach, mentor, and develop you. So I think that's a huge thing you can do for yourself. Is first and foremost, like you said, stay engaged, listen, absorb how we do things here, absorb how your lead does it. But there has to be step two. How do I do it? How would I explain that? And there's really no way to get that unless you're hungry for it. You want it, you want the practice, you want the reps, and you do want to try it with clients too. It's very safe to practice with your lead, which I think is great. That's a great starting point, but it's gonna be you someday. So you have to get more comfortable with that. And it's good to do it early. That's not gonna come later. It it starts now. How do you and Naomi do that? Do you have a structured time? Do you just is it one-off practice sessions? It depends. Early on in the relationship, you know, the first month or so, she was like, let's just settle into root. Let me just show you. Let me just have you observe everything, take it in. And then our first client that I was gonna be a part of, the kickoff income, investment, the whole Sequoia process was the first time that I started to get the opportunity to be more engaged. And she was great about giving me that little nudge. Yes, you can present the net worth page and write capital. You're well equipped to do that. You know this client, you've been here from the start. Let's have you do that. And she's been great about checking in to make sure I'm not uncomfortable. She's pushing me to a point where it's going to be a complete failure and I will feel no confidence going forward. She's been great about making sure I am comfortable and confident. And part of that is giving me enough heads up. Hey, let's have you present this next meeting so that I can look at it, practice, practice with her. And then, you know, she checks in before the meeting. How are you feeling? Any last minute questions, nerves, anything you're feeling? You know, we'll meet 15 minutes or so before the meeting, just make sure we're all good. And I felt great and it went really well. And it's because she gave me the space, made me feel confident in my abilities, and gave me enough time to practice and feel comfortable with it. And it was a total win, an absolute win. And now I'm kind of eager to participate in future meetings and keep expanding my own voice. Well, I'm going to add to that, you were willing to do something that was a little bit uncomfortable. I think that's the part people miss of, oh, I can I can just sit in enough of these meetings and through the principle of osmosis, I will be able to do it. No, that will never, there's only so far observing can get you. But I think back to my own experience, the first time I actually met with a client. So my my old boss was a firefighter at full-time. So he would work, you know, two days a week or three days a week and be at the station, the drive down, you know, from the station to the office to actually take meetings. And one day, and I forget how long it was in, maybe a year in or two years in, he was supposed to take a meeting and I was going to be sitting in it just to observe in that associate role. Like, hey, James, there's there's tons of traffic. I was like, okay, cool. I'll call the client and tell them that we have to reschedule. So, no, why don't you just take it? And I was like, oh, like I, you know, like hated it. Like it was so nervous, was so felt so unprepared. But then I did it. And like the client, they had nothing but good feedback. I was like, oh, okay, cool. And then a couple years later, you know, he one of the ways that we would get clients is he would go teach social security seminars at local community colleges or different places. And I forget what I forget what it was. I think he was like, it was like a Friday night. The class was on a Saturday. I think he said, Hey, I forgot my son's flag football game is tomorrow morning. Can you go teach this class? He told me this on a Friday night and it's like the class was Saturday morning. And I was like, Teach a class. I'm 25 years old. What do I know about social security and this? And but again, it was like did it and it went well. And it's like, okay, cool. Like so it's you start to learn this lesson that um discomfort's a good. Like if you're feeling discomfort, good, it means you're growing. It's like running, you're you're trying to train to, I don't know, run a marathon, run a 5K, whatever. If you start running, you feel discomfort, good. Like, welcome to the game. Like that's that means you're getting stronger. That means you're developing, that means that you're going to be stronger for it. And we can fully appreciate that easily on the physical side, just because, yeah, you can see what running does or working out does or whatever. But I think we need to embrace that same mindset as professionals, that the emotional pain or the uh the discomfort. Good. That like that should feel like you know, you're on mile eight of a 10 mile run. And like that's the thing that's gonna propel you forward once you do it. So there's no uh what I think that you I would add to what you said is your willingness to embrace that discomfort is gonna be that additional thing, not just observing, but being able to say, now I'm gonna step into the game and actually do it. So I love that. Anything else you would add or any specific examples you'd give before we move on to the next point? I do just have a quick story, kind of similar to you getting thrown into things. But um, so that that first example I just shared was maybe a month, month and a half into me working here. You know, just very simple, basic net worth page and write capital great. And we had a more recent client who's been going through the Sequoia process, and I did the full prep for the investment meeting, and Naomi was asking, Hey, you you did this prep. Do you want to walk them through through reserves and portfolio analysis conversation? You built this, you did this. And my knee-jerk reaction was, uh, I don't know if I'm ready for that. And this was days in advance. She let me know. And she was, you know, again, encouraging, instilled confidence in my abilities. And so I went ahead and did it. And during this meeting, her internet completely went out. She dropped off the call. I didn't even notice. I was so into this presentation and connecting with the clients, I didn't even notice that she had dropped off the call. And it went great. It it was awesome. And I felt awesome after that experience too, just knowing, hey, if she does drop off the call, it's okay. It's okay to be a little nervous, a little scared, but you got this. And she really instilled that in me. So just one of those moments where things happen. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. Amazing. Very, very cool to see that you're doing that. And that Naomi's been so just great and supportive and coaching around that. Um, a couple other things that I would add.

Principles Vs Personality Plus Feedback

28:30

So, one, there's this concept of separate the principle from the personality of there are certain advisors that have habits that are effective because of who they are, not because like this is some universal principle that needs to be adopted. I'll go back to Ari for an example. He does some things that are really effective. I I would, they would not be effective if I did them with my personality. They would not be effective if other advisors did them with their personality. So separate the things that you know from your C Eden, what is Naomi doing that this is a good principle. The way that she speaks, the way that she sets an agenda, the way that she keeps money meetings running on time, the way that she articulates. These are principles that she does so well. And I, not just me, like all advisors could do well to adopt these. Maybe there's other things. Like this is really effective, but it's a personality thing of Naomi's. And I can realize that that's just gonna be different. That means it's neither good nor bad. It works for her, but I'm not gonna try to emulate that exactly as I step into the lead advisor role. And then finally, study where your advisor not just wins, but where do they lose? None of us are perfect, none of us are gonna bat a thousand. I don't just mean lose in the sense of, you know, didn't get that client. Well, that's certainly part of it. I mean lose, you know, that the way that that was explained, it was a miss. I think it could be better. I think that this is actually a great opportunity to do a couple of things. One of which is develop the ability to give feedback in a place like Root, where everyone is so positive and so encouraging and so helpful, that's fantastic. But the downside is sometimes people are like, man, if I'm giving feedback, I feel like I'm the one that's am I being negative? Like, am I drawing this, like am I bringing the mood down? So I think that we've gone, I don't want to say too far, like things are really positive. Like it it makes it sometimes harder to say, like, yeah, uh, you know, um, Naomi, would it be okay if I give you some feedback on on how that that call went? Like feedback's a gift. There is no chance that Naomi says, Eden, how dare you? How but it's scary to ask it because, man, you've been so supportive and all this, and that can create an environment where it's a good positive environment in general, but learning to give that feedback is gonna be super effective. It's gonna help you because sometimes you might say, Hey, and I'm just obviously using Naomi because she's your she's the lead advisor that you're working with of Naomi. I noticed when you, you know, when the client said that, you responded this way. I would have like you make the assumption deliver this because sometimes she might say, Hey, Eden, like great point. I said it because of this. And you might be, oh, I didn't consider this. Didn't like you're right. I think that actually was the right thing. Or she might say, Eden, you know what, you're absolutely right. Like I didn't even realize, I was thinking they were coming at it from this perspective, but from your vantage point and kind of being able to read their body language and read how the meeting had been flowing. You're absolutely right. They're coming at it from that vantage point. So it's simultaneously developing your learning as an associate. It's giving good constructive feedback that's gonna make your lead better. And it's just develop like the ability to deliver feedback is such a gift and such a skill set that as advisors, we need to have that because not every interaction with clients is gonna be sunshine and rainbows and butterflies. If everything's perfect, sometimes it's gonna be hard. Sometimes you're gonna have to tell people things they're not wanting to hear. And it takes courage to actually be able to say it directly. So if you can practice that as an associate, that is one of the best things that you can do to learn the print, like push back on the principles that you see to see where are the gaps and where is this just showing the limits of my own ignorance? Because when I push back on this, Naomi says, no, that's that was actually the right way to do it because of this. And okay, cool. That accelerated your learning in that aspect too. Any thoughts or pushback on any of that that you would give? No, I think you're you're spot on. And personally, I've always learned something by giving or receiving feedback. It's almost never unless it's you know delivered poorly, which is a separate issue. When constructive criticism and feedback is provided or given, I always learn something and improve because of it. So I think it's very important to be open to giving feedback and asking questions about why your lead does things a certain way. It's also important as you start presenting and taking on these pieces at the meeting. Every time I presented afterwards, I asked Naomi, how was that? Did I sound natural? Was it clear? What feedback do you have for me? And it's been great. Everything that she has given back to me has been super useful and things that I can take with me going forward. So I think that's really important. And we actually did practice that in the garden too. One week we each had to record just a take at our own advisor intro. Pretend you're a lead advisor, do your intro. And we were partnered up, sent them to each other, and the whole assignment wasn't to do your advisor intro, it was to give feedback on the other person's advisor intro. And it was very uncomfortable, but so important and so valuable, and we all learned from it. So you're spot on with feedback is a gift, both directions. Yeah, I love it. Once again, shout out Jeff and Paul for the garden. The garden's been awesome.

Your Voice Comes From Practice

33:58

Um, I think the last point that I would make, and I want to check to see if there's any other you would make, is I think that as an associate, you are not gonna know exactly what your voice is gonna be, Ashley. Like the way I speak now, I did not know this as an associate. Like, this is what I'm going towards. So don't feel like you need to know exactly who you are, how you're gonna sound. And by voice, I don't just mean like the tone of your voice. I mean like everyone's got their own unique voice. Like you could just the way they say things, the analogies, the metaphors, the the little quarks in what they say. Like, yeah, that's what makes you unique. So I think that there's a sense of earlier on focus on not just being a parrot, but being more like your, like, don't be afraid. So, yeah, if they say this, this is I'm gonna say it, because this is just, I'm starting to build the reps. And in the same way you can observe how your lead is interacting with clients, try to observe the way you are. Like the the a great skill set is to be able to be both first person and third person at the same time. You know, as I'm talking to Eden right now, can I both have this conversation and also be somewhat disconnected to say, how is this landing? How is this going? What could be better? Where am I rambling? Where do I need to add more context? And that just happens through repetition. So for people who are saying, Yeah, do I copy them? Do I for those just starting, the more likely you are just to say what they're saying as you're starting to deliver. As you give reps, as you start presenting, you'll start to say, okay, there's a different way that you do it, there's a different order that you do it, there's different stories that you tell, but that's gonna come over time. So you're not gonna think your way into your own advisor voice. You're gonna work your way into it through enough reps and practice attempts at doing this. Anything else, even that you would add in your see where you are that you think that associates would find constructive as they learn best practices from their lead, but also develop their own way and own voice as they go. Yeah. Um I think just kind of expanding on your last point there, it's so okay to borrow language early on. It's like borrowing metaphors, borrowing how things are said. That's how you start. You gotta start somewhere, and it'll just naturally kind of mold to your personality over time. I've even noticed it in my very short experience that I say things now differently than I did when I first started getting repetitions and practicing. And I would also say that's not gonna be perfectly fine-tuned by the time you you get that promotion, by the time you're ready to be a lead. It's not like, okay, I'm done. My voice is developed, perfect. Even Naomi has said to me, I'm still working on this. I'm still working on how I present this, I'm still working on X, Y, or Z. She's very open about I'm not perfect. I'm a human and I'm still developing my voice, even though I am a lead now. It won't be perfect. You're not gonna wake up one day and be like, that's my voice. Done. Work is done. It's kind of like just this whole industry. There's always more to learn and always more to develop. And I think your voice will continue to develop as long as you're an advisor. So that's something I just add there. Yeah. Love it. Well, thank you, Eden. Thank you, everyone, who is listening and watching. This has been another episode of the Root Ready podcast. That's it for today, and we'll see you all next time.