Back of the Napkin
Director, Strategic Insights Grant Shorten
Leading your advisory practice Reverse engineering the leadership formula If you are an investment advisor or financial planner, you most likely have a box of personalized business cards in your desk drawer or in a filing cabinet somewhere. Included on those cards are your name and the title that seeks to define your role in this fascinating world of investing.
The reality is, as long as you are employed by your current organization, you essentially have a contractual obligation to fulfil the duties and responsibilities implied by that printed title. In other words, you are expected to do the “things” that investment advisors or financial planners do. Furthermore, you are expected to engage, manage and oversee the players in your virtual franchise. These individuals will include your team members, assistants, associates, marketing specialists, estate planning colleagues and, ultimately, your trusted clients and prospects.
Most readers would agree that there is a big difference between being an “overseer” of your practice… and being a “leader” of your practice. An overseer, advisor or planner fills an important function on a flow chart, but a leader, by definition, is somebody who is followed. There is much debate on the subject of “why” a leader is followed, but I believe that it ultimately comes down to one thing. A leader is followed simply because they embody the substance worthy of being followed! The ultimate quest, however, is to gain a deeper understanding of that “substance.”
With that in mind, I would now like to ask you a more important question: Are you the leader of your advisory practice and your virtual franchise?
Reverse engineering the leadership formula When we read books on leadership or attend a leadership training program, we often walk
away with a fairly standard list of the qualities and attributes of great leaders. The list will likely contain descriptors like charismatic, confident, intelligent, courageous, visionary, focused, inspiring, etc. Upon receiving this list, we are tacitly instructed to “go and do likewise.” Unfortunately, knowing the qualities of a leader does very little to help us to become one! Such a list might help us identify a leader somewhere out there in the world, but it does nothing to help us instil those qualities within ourselves. We need to drive the learning process much further by actively modelling the deeper structure of leadership — the mindset, habits and rituals of great leaders.
Any time we find excellence, in any area of our experience, we have the wonderful opportunity to model its structure and to accomplish four important things: 1. Unpack the underlying components 2. Analyze how each component functions 3. Install the findings within our own neurology 4. Replicate the results When it comes to unpacking leadership excellence, I have found it beneficial to model no less than seven critical elements. Notice how they build upon each other
in a sequential fashion, moving from deeply internal and then outward to the external evidence.
The Seven Components of Leadership “Substance” 1. Values In order to effectively solicit a person’s values, we simply need to ask them the question, “What’s most important to you about (fill in the blank)?” When the listener hears the question, it quickly will change their brain chemistry and force them to formulate a response (whether it is spoken or not), and to clarify their deepest-held values in a given area. Most of us operate with only a vague idea of what’s most important to us, in so many areas of our lives.
The Leaders’ Distinction: Great leaders have developed massive clarity around their values — what’s most important to them in the environment in which they lead. There is no doubt about what they hold most dear to their hearts. 2. Beliefs If our values are “what” is most important to us, our beliefs are “why” those things are so important. Once we have discovered a person’s values, we can efficiently elicit their beliefs by asking the question, “Why is that so important to you?” The answer to this question provides us with their religion — the belief system that supports their deepest values.
The Leaders’ Distinction: Great leaders carry a powerful set of beliefs that back up and embolden their value system. They know exactly why they do what they do, and can articulate those beliefs without wavering.
successful future. The image is bold and bright, it is placed in a central location within their minds, it is dynamic and it is vibrant! 4. Mission Our mission is our step-by-step process to actualize our vision. “Mission” includes the stuff of business planning, marketing planning, goal setting and project management. The Leaders’ Distinction: Great leaders have developed a documented, living roadmap to achieve their vision. Their mission is outcome-oriented, contains no wasted steps and is geared solely around the rapid manifestation of their vision.
5. Thoughts Our thought-life is the first piece of the all-important “decision triad.” The decision triad is comprised of our thoughts, words and actions. Any time we have achieved a
“Great leaders… know exactly why they do what they do, and can articulate those beliefs without wavering.” 3. Vision Our vision is our constructed image of a successful future. The word “vision” gives us clues as to the nature of this component. A vision is something that we can see in our mind’s eye. Most of us have never taken the time to proactively create an image of our desired, successful outcome. The Leaders’ Distinction: Great leaders have constructed a crystal clear image of a
meaningful accomplishment in our lives, it has always followed along the decision triad. The idea is first conceived in our thoughts, it is then articulated in words and then it is played out in our actions. The Leaders’ Distinction: Great leaders operate with the understanding that we can control our directing thoughts and that we have the power to take our thought-life captive. They challenge the thoughts that
7. Actions While our words are the auditory evidence of our deeper structure, our actions stand as the visible evidence. Ultimately, actions speak louder than words. Our predominant actions will provide powerful clues as to the nature and quality of the prior six components. These are the behavioural rituals that will define us in the eyes of others. The Leaders’ Distinction: Great leaders behave like leaders. They “do” certain things consistently — actions that flow naturally from the work done at a deeper level. Here are some examples of the predominant actions of leaders, as they engage their teams.
> Leaders inspire their teams > Leaders empower their teams > Leaders encourage and uplift their teams > Leaders include their teams > L eaders teach, coach and mentor their teams
> L eaders give credit to their teams for successes
> L eaders speak highly and often about their teams
> Leaders reprimand softly, but praise loudly
“The predominant thoughts of a leader are positive, creative, constructive, uplifting, empowering and inspiring.” come into their minds, they reject the thoughts that fail to serve them and they nurture the thoughts that inspire and empower them! The predominant thoughts of a leader are positive, creative, constructive, uplifting, empowering and inspiring. 6. Words As the second piece of the decision triad, our words give life to our thoughts. They affirm our thoughts and they subsequently install the action program. As the proverb says, “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Therefore, if we want
to understand the nature of an individual’s thought-life, all we have to do is to listen to their words! The Leaders’ Distinction: Great leaders speak from their hearts and they choose their words wisely. At this stage, we now get to experience the first “external evidence” of the deeper structure of leadership substance. As must happen, the predominant words of a leader are aligned with their predominant thoughts. Correspondingly, their words are positive, creative, constructive, uplifting, empowering and inspiring.
> Leaders are accountable to their teams As with any other discipline, strategy or process, we can successfully model the mindset, habits and rituals of great leaders. Using the framework above, take the time to apply the seven components of leadership excellence to your own experience. Mindfully and proactively seek to gain tremendous clarity under each of the elements. As you do so, you will automatically begin to install the substance worthy of being followed. To learn more about the concepts in this article, please book an appointment with your Renaissance Investments representative.
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