EP01 - Would you hire yourself as CEO?

Most independent advisors hit a wall — and it's rarely a market wall. It's a complexity wall. The work of running the business slowly crowds out the work of serving clients.

In this episode, Steven Watts and Founders Financial CEO Brad Shepherd unpack the paradox at the center of growing an independent practice: the more you grow, the more complexity you create, and complexity is the silent killer of growth. They look at the 53-hour advisor work week, why most independent advisors are "accidental business owners," and what it actually takes to step into the CEO role of your enterprise. The conversation closes with a challenge advisors can sit with: would you hire yourself as the CEO of your own firm?

A partner-to-partner conversation for any advisor whose enterprise has outgrown how they were running it.

More from Founders Financial:

Strategic Enterprise Program (leadership development for advisors): https://foundersfinancial.com/strategic-enterprise-program/

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/founders-financial

© 2014-2026 Founders Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC and Registered Investment Adviser. All Rights Reserved.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

From founders financial. This is the build five and four public houses. Partner to partner conversations for independent financial advisors. Today host Stephen Wells, Chief Grove Officer and Founders Financial, to sit down with private efforts, the CEO of the Founders Financial, to discuss complexity, leadership, and the CE of the mindset every advisor eventually needs. Most independent advisors hit a level, not a market level, a complexity level. The work of running the business slowly crowds out the work of serving clients. Here's the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

All right, good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us today. I think we have a really exciting topic that's going to hit home for many of you joining us, or many of you watching this. It's it's for many of you who are beginning to face growth challenges for the first time in your business, or maybe you've been feeling the pains of stagnant growth for a while, and you're looking for solutions to get the practice and yourself back on the right track. I think we've got an incredible topic here for you today that's really going to give you some great insights in terms of how to move forward. My name is Stephen Watts. I'm the chief growth officer here at Founders Financial. And I am super pleased to be joined by a friend and colleague and mentor, uh, Brad Shepard, our chief executive officer. Uh, thank you, Brad, for joining us. Uh Brad has been the CEO of Founders since 2017. He served as our president prior to that. He spent close to three decades in the financial services industry as both an advisor, but really a leader within the organization. Uh, in addition to driving strategy for founders, uh, Brad is really deeply committed and focused on directly serving uh the members within the founders' community. Uh, he spends a large portion of his time working with advisors to help them build up their practices and achieve the dreams that they have for it. Um, Brad, let me kind of tee this conversation up today in this way. Um, we live in a world today where complexity and progress, they are they're they're they're buttonheads, right? They are constantly at odds with one another, right? With so many things that are designed to make the work we do simpler, to make it more efficient, to frankly just make it easier. It's the way it's often packaged and sold. A lot of advisors find themselves still saddled with the weight of everything going on around them. And it's awful, it often stifles the growth of the individual and of the practice. You and I have both spent a lot of time with advisors prior to them coming to founders. And one thing that we almost always hear is that they are just weighed down by inefficiency. They're weighed down by urgency, and they find themselves doing a lot less of what they really enjoy doing, which is working with their client relationships. And they spend a lot more time on the things that you know we might consider less value-driven. Doesn't mean not important, but less value-driven, less fulfilling in many ways, right? So to kind of get things going, um, why is the topic of complexity and its impact on growth important for advisors today? And why is it going to remain relevant for the years and time ahead?

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Yeah, no, it's it's a it's a great question. I thank you for the very kind introduction. Uh, I am equally thrilled to be uh having this discussion with you today. Uh, I'm hopeful that those who have chosen to listen and and kind of lean into this topic uh get some real benefit from our from our discussion and and uh you know and an overall presentation today. So, you know, why is this important? Uh because it's about impact, right? And so advisors, as they grow practices, uh, they inevitably hit ceilings of complexity that uh they didn't necessarily probably plan for. And we'll talk about why that is as we go through that today. But but fundamentally, it's about impact. And the more uh the shiny objects of our industry challenge their time, uh they promise efficiency, but don't necessarily deliver it. Uh, we find that advisors get to this moment where they've been successful. Um, they are attracting relationships, they're doing a good job, all the things that our industry would measure by, but they're waking up consistently, frustrated, unhappy, and not sure what to do next. Um, and we'll talk a lot about that today. But why is it important? Um, because uh it's about the happiness of an advisor and their ability to continue to lead an organization that represents their heart and why they got into all this in the first place.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah, it's that's that's that's a great kind of overview. So let's let's kind of jump right into it, right? So we know that advisors are doing a lot these days, right? They're they're involved in so many things, things they want to be involved in, some things they wish they could maybe push to the side. So let's kind of look at the numbers of it, right? So, what does the average work week for an advisor look like? And how does that impact and affect their ability to quite frankly grow their business?

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Yeah, so it, you know, it's interesting. Prior to me being blessed to become the CEO of founders, uh I sat in the chair. So I understand what advisors do. Uh, and there's many times where I wish uh that this fact that we're looking at here was actually the only number of hours I worked in a week. Um, but it's interesting. The average number of hours worked per week by an advisor is about 53. Uh, and when you break it all down, what the facts tell us is that a lot of that 53 hours is spent doing things that actually aren't about growth. They are actually not about growing client relationships, aren't about the things that frankly give advisors uh fulfillment and happiness as to why they started doing this in the first place, uh, to care for relationships and help people achieve their goals and dreams. Uh, and so when you when you look at this kind of this slide slide here, you'll see all of the myriad of things that advisors in theory have to do on any given day. And the majority of those which are in orange are things that aren't about growing, enhancing relationships and growing their business. And so they're saddled with um effort, work, and efficiency that takes away their joy candidly, takes away their ability to grow. And so the complexity of owning a business and not just being an advisor uh means they're wearing multiple hats often uh and they're challenged every single day with what to do next. And so when you then look at the amount of time they're actually spending statistically on the things that are most impactful uh to uh their business, to growing their business and to their own happiness and joy, uh about 20 hours a week is spent actually working with developing relationships, growing uh their practice because of all the other things they have to do as business owners.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Man, when you look at the context of all that, right? And 21 hours and you know, the course of an entire week and how that builds up over a month, it's it's not a lot of time, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:11

And it's it's uh and oftentimes it's it's distracted time as well. So 21 is a generous number, probably. Uh, but even in the question there is is it 21 hours a focused time or is it distracted time because of all the other things they have to do that are rummaging around their minds uh to live up to the promises that they've made?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah, that's that's that's exactly right. So um so Brett, what are some of the common challenges advisors face when they're trying to move from this and trying to balance this operating of their business to finding more time to to growing and enhancing those relationships? It's it's tricky, right? I mean, you you got to keep the business running, you got to do the things you got to do, right? But at the same, we know that growing and enhancing relationships is the key to growth, right? And it's it's one of the the you know the thing you have to do.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

And I'll say this, especially, especially in a what I'll do what I'll call a saturated market, you know, the massive fluent, which most much of us serve as advisors, even in the high net worth space, um, there's there's plenty of advisors to serve that. And so growth is even more challenged because the the opportunity for growth is is challenged. But you know, ultimately, you know, what does it suggest is that um advisors have an incredible ceiling of complexity. Um, and and that what they struggle with is how to they allocate their time. Uh time is their most precious commodity, it is something they can't get back. Uh, and every minute they spend time doing one thing is a minute they can't spend time doing another thing. And so that ceiling complexity is very challenging because um, as I said a minute ago, they've got many hats they wear, they've got many promises they have to live up to. Uh, and so what we find is that the the need to operate uh kind of overtakes uh the opportunity to grow. Um, because again, you can't not do what you've said you're gonna do. Um, and the more you have responsibility to do that as your business grows, uh it gets harder to find the time uh to grow relationships. Um and so there, what we've what we've learned over all these years, working with all the the advisors that we work with, is that advisors are in constant conflict. Um how do they allocate their time to focus on what they want to do, which is impact lives, grow relationships, help people's dreams and goals be met, versus what they kind of have to do, which is operate an enterprise, right? And so um what we what we tend to see is those firms that are really challenged by this complexity, that they become very reactive to growth. They're not proactive in things. Um they're kind of on their back foot all the time. Um, and and this combination of factors, then it's what causes growth to stall. The things that they were ramping up with in the early days, they're suddenly they're they're no longer green lights, they're yellow and red lights because they have so much to do to simply care for the relationships that they've already been blessed to begin to serve.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yeah, I think there's um there's this this idea of the paradox, right? The paradox of growth. And it's it's it's it's illustrated in books that you and I have spent some time talking about and we've shared with other members, but this idea that that growth creates complexity, right? The very nature of growth itself creates complexity, and complexity ultimately becomes that silent killer of growth, and it's the recognition of complexity and how it's forming in your business, which is really one of the first steps you have to take. And you know, I I you know I'll tee this next thing up for you because I think it's something that you're very passionate about. But um, you know, what if? What if I'll turn it over to you?

SPEAKER_02 11:04

No doubt. Yeah, can you imagine for for those of you that are listening today? Uh imagine if you could spend 60, 70, who knows, maybe even 80% of your time uh doing what you love, the reason you started to do this in the first place, uh, growing and enhancing relationships. And and the that the that previous comment about uh you know growth creates complexity, and complexity is the killer of growth. It is this wicked cycle that advisors find themselves in. Um, and that's ultimately because they're they're not just advisors. And and understanding that, and that's what we're here to talk about today, um, is really, really important to break through those uh those challenges.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, so all the next stuff I want to get into on this this this discussion today is how do we unlock that? How do we go from the the 21 hours, right, to to getting closer to this this 50, 60, 70 percent threshold where you can really focus on the thing that matters most, which is which is your client relationships and and growing and nurturing them into to new ones. So um so I'll I'll tease the next thing. So why is this predictable, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Yeah, no, it's it's uh it's a great question. Um and this is the crux of the conversation today. Uh, I promise you, uh any advisor who's getting going, running and building their own independent practice is going to arrive at this moment. It is completely predictable. Uh, and the reason it's predictable is because advisors are excellent technicians of planning and investment management, and their expertise as technicians ultimately does attract um enough client opportunities, enough relationships, enough business opportunities, uh, and their ability to then lead those relationships creates an environment where they continue to have more and more and more to do, uh, more responsibility and obligation to live up to as they're now making this positive impact in the lives of those they serve. But the the reason it's predictable is because I believe, and maybe this is uh unfair, but I just believe that most independent advisors became independent because they wanted to serve clients' goals and dreams more objectively, more effectively. They wanted to not be constrained by a product mix or a platform mix or a technology need or whatever. And they wanted to do a great job of helping people in that way. But the outcome of that, I do believe, is that most independent advisors are kind of, and I'll say it this way, kind of accidental business owners. They didn't wake up like, oh, I want to go be a business owner, and oh yeah, I want to be the business owner in financial services. Um they they arrive at a place where because they've chosen the independent path, they now have they have to be a business owner. And this this um this clashing of responsibility of what it is to own a business versus what it is to operate a business crash into each other all the time. And so this complexity that we're talking about is utterly predictable and hits with advisors that are probably, you know, the first time it hits we see is they're doing two, three, four hundred thousand of GDC. Their clients and households they're serving have grown above 100 or 200. And all of a sudden they're going, wait a second, I I don't have enough hours to grow anymore because I literally spend every wake an hour taking care of those uh promises I've made.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, it's funny. I don't I don't I don't I wonder how many advisors have thought of it, thought about it like that, that they became accidental business owners. Because I think probably different than other entrepreneurs, right? Where the entrepreneur might have a business they wanted to start, they wanted to be an entrepreneur, they wanted to be to open up a bakery or a restaurant or a store, right? So they start out that way. Advisors are probably a little different, right? They wanted to serve clients, but they had to build a business around that, right? And that they maybe weren't as prepared for the complexity that is gonna come naturally through that evolution, through that process. So it's interesting in the way to think about it. It's not negative, it's just the reality of the situation.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

And I I'll say I'll say this way I'm hopeful that uh those that are that are listening aren't offended by that statement at all. It's not intended to be that way, it's just the experience. It wasn't the primary reason to go independent. Uh, it's the outcome of going independent. And what we see often is firms that are are are struggling for growth, dealing with complexity. It's this again, it's this crashing together of the needs of what it is to run a business versus operate as an advisor in a business. Oh, beautiful. Yeah, so you know, yeah, let's get to the punchline, right? What is the solution? Um, and I don't think I'm gonna say anything revolutionary here, but I do think I'm gonna say something probably hasn't been said a whole lot. And that is I fundamentally believe that advisors to to break through this this complexity, set the road right, is they have to become the CEO of their enterprise. They kind of have to, you know, Steve, they have to kind of unlock their inner CEO. And and the and the shift that takes place when that happens is I think well described here. It's the idea that their most important responsibility is to lead, is to empower, is to engage, and is to pursue growth. And that and kind of in contrast to what I think most advisors who are dealing with this stuff are doing, which is managing doing it themselves, reacting to the things around them, markets, clients' needs, all that kind of stuff, and kind of existing and and struggling with and not really knowing what to do, because they've been trained as advisors, great advisors, um, but they've not spent time uh kind of in the school of business uh understanding how they can make change, the kind of changes that a more strategic thought process would bring to the table uh that CEOs tend to tend to focus on.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yeah, Brad, let me jump in over a second because I want to throw this back at you. You know, I I think naturally when people think about growing their business, it it's really easy to look at the stuff they need, right? I need more capital, I need this new marketing automation tool, I need this these things, right? They're gonna help me grow, right? But really what we're saying here is what you're saying is it's it's a mindset shift, right? It's what you think differently. That is the most important stuff. That other stuff is is is important in its own context, but thinking differently and thinking like a CEO and being cognizant of the things that are weighing you down, that is the the first initial big step that if you really want to grow, you have to cross that barrier. Does that sound right?

SPEAKER_02 18:01

I would say that's that's right. I would also add to that, it's what and how you allocate your time. Back to the earlier point of the discussion today, time is that precious commodity we only have a finite amount of. And so it's also the allocation of time. So you have the space to do what you've just described and and do the work of a CEO and think differently and push your push your boundaries a little bit there. And so uh, yeah, and and so why is this so important? Um, uh it's so important because if you don't do this, in my opinion, um you will be stuck, you will be stagnant, you will be trapped in this in this web of complexity that uh it gets really hard to unravel. Uh and and our and our industry will promote to you that the solution is the next technology, the next this, the next that. And it really isn't. Those are the commodities. And so why is this so important? Because if you can't understand that your role is to lead something versus do something, um, you're kind of missing the boat. The impact of commoditization are industry is profound. Um, you know, investment models, technology, the shop that you're competing against down the street has kind of the same tools that you do. Um, financial planning as an art is is still alive, but the science of how you deliver it with planning software, how you trade trading software platforms, how you custody, you know, there's only so many choices. And so that that that commodization, which is really healthy uh for our industry, actually, because it means that those that are going to spend this time properly think about how to grow strategically, about how to change and and build, um, they can they can leverage that uh the commodization of the tools powerfully to create a mechanism in their organization that will drive growth ultimately. Um, and so it's also important because uh it's about mindset, as you were talking about earlier, about inspirational stuff, right? The inspiration of growth. And what does it mean? Uh at founders here, what we promote to our advisors, our member partners, is that growth isn't about um AUM and GDC. It's about the impact, the growth of impact in the people's lives. And as you do that and you unlock those chains a little bit, uh, it's incredible the testimony that comes back and how they become ambassadors to your organization. Um, you know, just it's it's for advice, it's advisor passion. I can't tell you, Steve, how many advisors I speak to in the course of a year over the last 10 where they're just tired. Um, there's so much to do uh and they've lost their joy a little bit. And so it's why is it so important to this CEO mindset? Because it's just gonna help them get their passion back. And and and I've watched it happen. Um, and and and that passion then directly leads to this idea of protecting from decay. Um, and you know, again, it it's it's about stagnation or growth. If you're not growing, you are decaying. And that's just a fact. No one no one says it like that, but it's the truth. And so this passionate inspiration to grow um begins and and then think differently as a CEO drives um the ability to kind of protect from the the emotion of decay that takes place as you feel overwhelmed by things. Um, and then, you know, my my favorite two points why is this so important for advisors to begin to consider what it means to be the CEO, not just the advisor, is these last two points. It just renders everything better, renders everything easier. Um, the most effective practices are the ones that have built the right systems with the right people to support growth and unlock uh the passion of a of a leader now to um you know make everybody's world better. Uh and then it's the gift of time, you know, as we open with uh hours and hours get spent in the in the kind of I'll say the more mundane of our of our work, the important, important work, but the more mundane versus the growth focused work of impacting lives. And so it's just it's just a super important topic we're talking about today.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah, I think the thing that always sticks out. To me, and in conversations that we've had, and I know we've had with other other of our members and advisors, is this idea that growth isn't just an economic quotient, right? Yes, we we all want to grow our businesses to make it more valuable and gain in those economic areas, right? But growth is more to it, right? And and really that that mindset shift, right, is is is important, right? Because it gives you new perspective on things, gives you new perspective of what growth looks like. And that helps you get through some of those tough times of growth, right? Where maybe you're not seeing the financial growth right away, but the business is growing. The stakeholders are growing, right? The your passion for the business is growing, right? And eventually those things stack up and they lead to the economic growth because you start doing things the right way for the right reasons. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Well said. Yeah, no, I think, and certainly the advisors that I've come to know the best in this industry are the ones that don't focus on growth for growth sake. They grow, they focus on growth for impact's sake. And so it and so this idea then is what's the outcome? Well, you know, making this shift from manager to leader. Um, to us, it's it's a it's a it's actually a a process you can follow. And it starts with you know documenting, considering, um, assessing and and and writing the guiding principles of your firm of what you do and how you and and why you exist. Uh, what the outcome of that then leads to, if we go kind of kind of clockwise around this this circle here, once you've got resolute guiding principles of what the your firm is all about, you then have a perspective to then build the right rituals, the right processes, the order, uh, kind of the I'll call it the factory a little bit, you know, uh, and and and the things that will make you successful that are the rinse and repeat things, um, so that you can drive intentional outcomes and objectives. Um, and and and this process of principal guiding principles to process and order to intentional outcomes. Intentional is a really important word. Again, that means you're out of the reactive mode. You're into a more thoughtful, uh proactive way to think about where you are and what's important. And then the outcome of that is for you, for your people, for your client relationships, it's this idea of infinite rewards through discovery, which then all of that wrap around, wraps around your ability as an advisor to now own and have an authentic relationship with the people that you're blessed to serve. And so this shift from manager, advisor to leader is critical. And so the the question that I ask advisors all the time as we're exploring common ground with them and founders and helping them understand why founders as a partner might be a little bit different than the utility advice, you know, utility partner they're probably connected to, is this incredibly important question. And that is, can they evidence that their leadership efforts, not their advisor efforts, not their build better technology efforts, those kinds of things, but their leadership efforts as the CEO of their enterprise, are they impactful? Are they measurable? And are they felt by those under their care? Uh, and if the answer is yes, as we'll as I'll show you at the end, that points to a certain uh competency in their practice, in what it is to own and run a purpose-rich, servant-led financial planning enterprise, and not just being an advisor to a client who needs help.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

I'm gonna do a shameless plug here for everyone. You know, we we've got at founders the the strategic enterprise program, right? Which which really encapsulates everything you just talked about. That that that circle as you went around it. That's the biggest thing I see at advisors when they come to founders is they start in this area where all these things we're talking about, complexity and and thinking about growth maybe in the not most productive way, all these things are weighing them down. And they get into strategic enterprise, and the thinking, the way they think begins to transform. It begins to change, right? So we've just seen incredible results, right? Not just anecdotal, but in terms of actually businesses growing as a result of the advisors who get into strategic enterprise and how that's allowed them to really just grow their business in a way they've never seen before. And so again, it's chainless plug, strategic enterprise, I think is one of the biggest benefits that we see in advisors. And and we've just seen it work so many times. So I just wanted to throw that out there because you're talking about it. And this is one thing at founders we've really focused on because we we know this works. And if people start thinking like this, whether it's through founders or another firm, if they start thinking this way, this is going to set them up on the right growth path.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Without question. Yeah, without question. The bottom line is the outcome of this effort to be the CEO, not just the advisor in the practice, is you work on it and you actually build a practice that truly represents your heart and as a true representation of what you believe is most important to serve a relationship.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

All right, Brad. Um, you know, one thing that that we see in all the top performing advisors, and you I've seen a bunch, you've seen a lot more, right? Is they all have their own unique rituals, right? They all have super clear processes. These are the people who are really performing at a super high level, right? And they've all had this overall sense of calmness and order, right? It's almost a little bit eerie how like calm they are in the in the most tense uh situations, right? So can you elaborate more on the guiding principles for working on your business and why these pieces I just mentioned are such an important part of that process?

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Yeah, no, that's that's uh it's it's an excellent kind of next step, right? So so why? Why do this? Why spend time uh working on your enterprise versus your in your enterprise? Why make the effort to allocate time this way? Um, you know, hopefully we've just created a pretty compelling perspective on uh another way to think about it. But my my uh seeing advisors do this, there's eight notable impacts that I've seen in their practices where that they can attribute back to now being an effective CEO versus being an effective advisor, if that makes sense. So, yeah, let's let's take a few minutes and go through that. So the first is it gets back to this idea of balance, harmony, happiness. Um, you know, and this isn't just true for for an advisor, it's true for anybody in their life, right? But but what I what I see is advisors that begin to think strategically like a CEO is they begin to consider now their their human quotient in all of this, their heart, their soul, and it brings to them a work-life balance that's gotten out of whack a little bit because they're now running an enterprise, they're they're delegating responsibility, they're empowering leadership of others, they're properly uh engaged and investing in their business the right way. And what it brings back to them then is a work-life balance that that, frankly, in many ways, is driving the lack of it, was driving some of the complexity, driving some of the unhappiness, you know, all those kinds of things. And so the first impact of being a really great CEO is you begin to get work-life balance back because you're you're you're thinking about things differently and you're investing in things differently and you're running things differently. Next is is profound, and it's understanding what it is to focus as a leader versus an advisor. And that's it's a different mindset. And so, this impact of a CEO mindset is understanding that CEOs are leaders of things, and the outcome of thinking as a leader, not as a doer, not as an advisor, is powerful then, and how it allows you to focus on you know really um considering the problems differently and and then building solutions differently because now you're seen not just as an advisor to a client, a leader of a client relationship, but you're a leader of an organization, and and the dynamics of relationships shift because of that. Um, you know, what what do good CEOs do? They've they've thought about structure the right way. And so as they continue to drive the leadership mindset, part of the outcome of that is assessing is their business operating effectively? And good CEOs build great structure into their businesses, which then drive efficiency, workflow, process, rinse and repeat. We can count on things being done the right way all the time. Uh, and so great CEOs, the impact of that of that commitment to that work is what we find is advisory practices become much more effective and efficient because they've got the right mix of people, technology, workflow, process, and structure to support uh the relationships that that that organization serves.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah, I mean, without a good foundation and good structure, I mean, you're just that that is the chaos in many ways that's being bred, right? It's just you you can't, it's it's uh it's like the old ad, right? Uh a good house starts with a great foundation, right? So you've got to have that foundation in a good spot.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

And if you think about it this way, you know, and then it's a good segue to here. It's about seeing the big picture, right? So I think CEOs tend to be top-down thinkers, um, whereas untrained business leaders tend to be bottom-up thinkers. I've got the problem, how do I solve it? Once it's solved, I'm good, versus the more strategic thinker that sees the big picture of kind of how the problem arrived in the first place, if that makes sense. And so the impact of being a great CEO is shifting from this bottoms-up, solve the problem, reactive approach to things to more strategic, see the big picture, top-down thinking. And it's the marriage of those two that make, I think, really make great advisory practice. And it's interesting, if you think about the whole point of financial planning, financial planning, the work that great advisors do every single day is about seeing the big picture on behalf of their client relationship. Um, but you know, just like I guess cardiologists don't always take their own uh advice about heart health, advisors don't always take their own advice about how to see the big picture the right way. And the time they can spend thinking about their big picture of their organization and operation is powerful in the context of uh making the necessary change investments and all that in people, process, technology that will drive um the uh outcome and make the need for bottoms up thinking you know less important because the stuff just works because you've thought about through the right lens, you've you've seen the big picture the right way. That that then moves to um this really important point continuity and sustainability. Um if you've built the mechanism the right way, um, you can count on it to continue to work. Doesn't mean you're not gonna need to tweak it, doesn't mean you're not gonna need to continue to enhance it, you know, tweak it here and there. But the the stability of this seeing the big picture the right way, building your process the right way, means that you, your team and your clients have something to really count on that's sustainable and drives continuity, uh, such that um your team and relationships always know that what's been promised will be delivered and be delivered with excellence, which is an important point.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Yeah, maybe a side point on this is that this this seems super relevant and super important in the context of succession, right? And the idea of you know, your your practice and getting maximum evaluation for and all that, this seems really important. All of it's important in that regard, but this stands out to me as look, I mean, it's it's only going to help you when you get to that point in time when you're you're moving from a growth-minded standpoint to more of a succession and got to have this stuff in place.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Without a doubt. You know, there's certainly more value to a business where when the new owner steps in, um, the client relationship continues to be served in the same manner with the same care. That's a more valuable enterprise that than one that's that that's not got this for sure. Yeah, and so so then as as this business is now getting more consistent, sustainable, uh, all of these things are driving the outcome that the CEOs thought about. What does the CEO now have more time to go do? Cultivate, I think, what is the most important thing, and that's the culture of this organization, helping to make sure that there's an ownership mindset in its team, um, that that their focus, this team and this business is now focused on its mission, its core values of leadership, and it's able to articulate effectively to its client relationships so that they become raving ambassadors of the work that's being done on their behalf. Um, because ultimately, at the end of the day, as we kind of said earlier, uh the uh the shiny objects, you know, all the firms, we've got it. And so the planning software, the investment strategy, those kinds of things are kind of commodities. And so what differentiated an advisor in the marketplace today isn't those things we have, that's table stakes. It really is how do you cultivate culture and how do the people you serve feel uh what you do for them every single day, not just not just experience it, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Yeah, and and culture is something you got to live, right? It's something you gotta live every single day. It's not like your mission statement's super important, right? But if you're not living it, it's just words on a paper, right? So it's something that it needs to be driven into your team, right? It needs to be practiced in your team, needs to be evidenced in your own actions that other people can follow. That's part of being a good leader, is and that's how great cultures are developed. You know, we always hear people complain about the culture isn't what they said it was, right? Well, that's because it's generally not lived each and every day and every single action, every single moment, very intentionally, very purposefully. So thinking that way and living that culture, cultivating it throughout all your team, it's just an it, it's gonna have transformative effects. It's gonna have long-lasting impact for advisors as they progress through their careers, through their tenure.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Yeah, well, without question. I mean, the bottom line is this great CEOs build and cultivate and lead great cultures. People are bought in. Um, they therefore their effort, their energy, their passion comes out, and and the those that are served by that organization, they feel the heart of the people, uh, driven by the mission of the organization that's been created by the CE again, the impact of being a great CEO, cultivating culture in the company. Yeah, we just kind of just said that, right? So then what the outcome of that is stakeholders grow. Uh their their passion, um, who they are comes out more, uh, and that is directly then impactful to the to the uh client relationships that are served by their organization. Um said differently, uh the CEO, the great CEOs help stakeholders become stewards. Stewardship becomes a grant, a great theme of the work that's done. Um yeah, there's still a practical, tactical, technician's work that has to be done. We still got to make sure income's paid. We still have to uh assess can we fund college? Can we protect families if someone were to die prematurely, all these things. But this leadership quotient under the CEOs, the great CEOs care of growing stakeholders, that becoming an important focus for that, for that uh CEO, that uh that advisor who's taken on the challenge of growing their ability to lead is then felt and and rewarded uh tenfold, twentyfold, you know, infinitely, uh, because the care of the stakeholders of the organization um become full force. And then why are we on the call today? We're on the call today because we want we want to talk about growth. Um and so the the ultimate impact of being a great CEO is is growth. And I would just I would say, yes, it's the growth of AUM, GDC, revenues, profits, all the things that everyone wants to focus on. But actually to me, it's it's much more um it's much more intangible than that. It's the growth of spirit, it's the growth of relationship, it's the growth of an organization's reputation, it's the growth of the principles that this organization stands for. And so growth under great CEOs gets measured in lots of ways, not just economically. And the outcome of of the right-minded CEO's growth, um, you know, it's just it's just just just it's just a beautiful thing to see the growth of people, relationships, and impact, uh, the outcome of which ultimately then is the growth of the economic factor as well.

unknown 39:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

So I'm gonna throw you a curveball then on this, then we didn't we didn't we don't talk about this ahead of time. So you you you're a CEO, right? You've been in this position now for a long time. How have you seen your own personal growth from you know 1997, right? To 2017, to 2017 to 2025. Like g give me in a short summary where your growth has taken, what's that path look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 39:33

Yeah, no, it's it's a thank you for the curveball, by the way. But uh um, yeah, no, I uh when I was was I when I was named CEO by our chairman and founder, Michael Brooks, um I made the decision to go interview other great CEOs I had a lot of respect for. Uh it was the first month or two on the job. That was my my action. I hadn't been the CEO of something before. And what I heard in spades was uh that if you stay focused on growing the spirit of the organization, its people, um, you you think properly and build the right plan around the strategy of the business, then empower people to lead the technical, tactical aspects of the business. Um, but you you maintain focus on the spirit, um, you will succeed. And so I think you know, that's been my focus over the last, you know, almost eight years now. How do we help people feel empowered? How do we help our people here that work at Founders feel like they're CEOs of their own areas and have the same opportunity for growth that I've had? Uh, and I'll just tell you that as I sit here today, blessed to be on this call with you, on this webinar with you, um, what I feel is an incredible sense of balance, harmony, and happiness. Um, as I've been empowered to unlock and work through the complexities of what it is to build a partner practice, a partner business, two great financial advisors. And so that's that's been my experience as CEO. Um, yeah, there's obviously things that we got to consider capital and and markets and risk and all that kind of stuff, which we do intelligently. Um, that's part of a strategic vision plan. But ultimately, um my the blessings of my of my journey so far have been I'm in balance um personally because I know that we're in balance because we are we're tackling this thing the right way.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Yeah, I'm a one thing I'm gonna hone on there, hone in on there real quick is you ask for advice. And I think that's uh often a misnomer that CEOs know everything, right? Or they they're they should know everything, is maybe a better way to put it. Uh CEOs are often the best listeners, right? They're the best people who who are able to digest all the information coming at them. And they seek out great advice. They seek out mentorship from other people because they're they just want to collect all this wealth of not just knowledge, but wisdom, which are two very different things. So I think it's a great point you call it out there. I didn't want to let that slip past everyone. The seeking of advice, the humbleness to do that as a CEO of your practice or your your your your business, that is a critical element that I think is super important for all advisors.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

I'll I'll also just say to that point, um, and then we can move on, you know, that um great CEOs understand that nobody works for them and that they work for everybody else. It's kind of an inverted leadership model concept, a servant leadership model concept. And so, as advisors are considering um what it means to be the CEO of their enterprise, not just an advisor in their enterprise, I would I would encourage you to think about that as well. Understand that that while everybody might report to you as a manager, you actually are the key in the sense that you work for them and your efforts, your intellect, your energy, your passion, your spirit will drive so much. Um, and the more you empower them to uh let them lead you, I think you'll you'll be wonderfully surprised by the outcomes of that. And so then, you know, to kind of summarize this this part of our discussion today, what's the ultimate outcome of being a great CEO? It just renders everything easier. Uh, and I'll just I'll leave it at that and invite anybody who's listening today. If you want to have that conversation more in spades, please reach out to us and we'd be happy to have that conversation with you. Uh, I love this quote uh from Hebrews. It it's it says, No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who've been trained by it. And that's to me the the ultimate way to summarize what what the commitment to being a great CEO is. It is it takes a discipline, it takes a shift of mindset, it takes a reorganization of time and a commitment to doing the things that CEOs need to do. But I promise you that while it feels uncomfortable, maybe even a bit painful, uh, that ultimately what the outcome is is a production of. of uh of an organization that truly represents your heart, your spirit, and brings then to that advisor a sense of peace. Um that uh yeah that's what we're all fighting for, I think. All right. So this is this is kind of I think a really key important point. So then what's the outcome of that? Uh what we find, Steve, and you know this very, very well, is that most of the advisors we talk to, small independent planning shops, one, two, three person shops, the businesses are advisor-centric. Everything's built around the knowledge, the skills, um, the relationships of the advisor. And everybody kind of reacts to that. And so that and and so what evolves then over time is that that gets difficult. And so the practice moves into more of a client centric model where now we've got some process baked in because we can't keep doing things one off custom for everybody focused on the advisors the center of everything. And so we begin to build as a as an owner of a business some process, but everything's customized to the client outcome and it doesn't consider then that is impossible to manage and and lead ultimately because you've basically got you know you got 100 clients you got a hundred different processes a hundred different promises a hundred different commitments. And so what we find is that as advisors take up the challenge of working as a CEO that that these wonderful small independent advisory practices become process centric. The approach to each client is is personalized in many ways but it's also standardized so that the advice they feel is all about them but the work to get that done has uh has scale and perspective to it that drives efficiency, profitability and impact most importantly and so the this this transition from an advisor centric model to a client centric model which is the natural first step um the only way someone gets past that is working I think as a CEO and then building a process centric organization that then can be personalized, customized to each client relationship, but it's got a standard impact to the team and how things are done. And so what we see then is that those that don't take up this challenge they lack this kind of we'll call it you know a CEO operating system they just they just never realize their full potential that's just the truth that's just the truth. And by that um I mean the impact in people's lives and the ability to grow an organization. And what they get ultimately is a is a bunch of stuff they don't like. They get undocumented steps underdeveloped people employees advisors owners leaders um you know they've they've got reduced capability candidly um because they're just stuck all the time they can't actually go benefit from the things they've tried to put in place because they don't have time to learn how to do it and they don't have the mindset to scale it the right way um and so they just lack the technology the systems the price the the processes their those capabilities are reduced because they've not thought about the right way which then can as I said at the very beginning here they just never realize their potential and so there's lives that aren't impacted um and there's there's people don't get served completely and thoroughly by the organization because they're just they're chasing their tails all the time.

SPEAKER_01 47:43

Yeah I think there's probably a a a bunch of you listening to this right now who can look at those what six bullet points sit over there and and find a bunch of them that probably you're experiencing right now. Right. And that's why you're on this call it's why you're on this webinar you're listening this this you're you're you're thinking about these things because one of these six or many of these six fit your world today. So it's and you're not alone not at all it is it is a common theme uh of independent advisory so Brad before we wrap up um I think there's one question that you and I seemingly always we talk to advisors we always seem to throw back at them right in a nice way we kind of we kind of give them this question to to really get them to think hard about their role as a CEO and their role as a leader um I'm gonna let you tee it up for the audience today.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

Yeah no thank you so here's the point and if there's if there's any moment where I'm gonna like you know really kind of push you to think hard um and and that's this question. Given everything you know of yourself, your organization etc, your strengths your weaknesses, would you hire yourself as the CEO of your enterprise? Or would you just stay as an advisor in your enterprise the lead advisor in your enterprise? And only you can answer that. I can tell you that those that if you go back a slide for me please Steve, those that answer this question yes, they'd hire themselves and they commit to doing the work of being a CEO, a great CEO, those organizations they're fundamentally different than those that are comfortable just remain in that role of lead advisor. And so you know when you think then about your organization and what you aspire to in growth and impact um I would really challenge you to take up this question. And if the answer is yes don't just say yes and be good. Ask why and if your answer is no, what's missing and really dig deep in all that and of course we'd be more than happy to help you you know navigate that question as well if you if you're interested in in some time with uh myself or people here founders that we spend a lot of time helping advisors think about this question.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Yeah and and an and an honest no is a good thing right because it's a recognition of where you are so that so for everyone listening if you say no to this that doesn't that's not a bad thing. It just means you're understanding where you are and you're now primed and ready to take the next step. So next time you ask yourself that question it can be a heck yes right that that's the goal. Right.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Yeah well said uh again it's the difference between being the leader of something versus an advisor to something and that that's a fundamental difference that that many don't understand perfectly and that's why this question you take this question up you get to go explore that pretty aggressively so so before we kind of you know talk about wanting to connect um you know I I I would just say this um that as an owner of an independent advisory practice you know good on you um what a remarkable choice you've made to to serve and care it's an incredible noble profession we serve and live in uh the people that that we get to touch um someday they're gonna they're gonna have nothing but testimony about the incredible work you did to help them retire, protect their families, educate their children, all that kind of stuff. And so um yeah so I I but I do I challenge you to take up this idea um what does it take to be the CEO versus just the advisor in it. And we certainly stand ready to to have that conversation with you. I think what makes founders special Steve is we understand that um our job is to be a partner to that conversation versus versus just be a utility to an advisor to to to you know maybe help them do the work of advising better if that makes sense. And the outcome for our member partners is much, much richer businesses I don't mean economically just richer businesses about um what they do how they serve and and and then the growth that we've seen there's a reason why uh we're one of the faster growing organizations out there because it's the work we put in helping them think about this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 52:01

Yeah well said Brad great job today uh and great discussion uh thank you for letting me kind of lead it with you and uh let me participate uh I hope everyone listening is has gotten a lot from this but in the meantime thank you all again for coming have a great rest of your week and we look forward to seeing and talking to each of you again here soon. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

Thank you very much everybody and for podcast if this conversation resonated follow the show on Apple Podcasts Spotify or YouTube and share it with an advisor in your circle who's thinking about what comes next. To learn more about Founders Financial and their solutions for independent advisors visit foundersfinancial The Built by and for podcast is produced by Founders Financial. The opinions expressed by hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Founders Financial content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment legal or tax advice securities offered through Founders Financial Securities LLC member FINRA and SIPC registered investment advisor copyright founders financial all rights reserved