The Five-Step Framework for Growing Your Business Through Deliberate Practice

David DeVoe, founder of DeVoe & Co., appropriately nicknamed the "RIA M&A Guru," has spent 15 years helping advisors buy, sell, and merge their firms. With so much to consider in a deal, how are advisors avoiding analysis paralysis when preparing for a transition? Hear from the expert on why you should get purposeful and have a succession plan in place today, what might affect a firm’s value in the current landscape, and how to retain your talent and culture, all while continuing to grow.

Dr. Moira Somers, founder of Money, Mind and Meaning, is a financial psychologist, family wealth consultant, executive coach, and author, specializing in areas like neuroscience and behavioral economics. Her body of work helps financial advisors facilitate follow-through on recommendations and advice to clients. She poses important questions to identify true client priorities, mitigate procrastination, and ensure your firm can operate at a high level without compromising the client experience.

Daron Roberts, founding director of the Center for Sports Leadership & Innovation at the University of Texas, is a Harvard Law School graduate turned NFL coach who now guides students, athletes, and business leaders on stepping outside their comfort zone, practicing discipline, and hiring and managing teams. In this special live episode, hear insights honed on the gridiron that translate to how advisors can approach their own firm’s goals.

Arabella Macpherson, director of Resonate Communications, turned a passion for acting into a career coaching, mentoring, and training leaders and teams to overcome communication obstacles. She shares her experience in influencing, negotiation, and conflict resolution; ways that advisors can manage difficult conversations with clients and employees; and the impact that communication styles can have on your business. 

Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work®, has found data-driven ways to connect the dots between human-centered leaders and good business. He shares how a focus on trust in the workplace correlates with business performance, what leaders can do to enhance the employee experience, and insights from his own 30-year career that have had a lasting impact on how he’s approached new roles and leadership positions. 

Lisa Salvi, Managing Director of Advisor Services at Schwab, manages advisor benchmarking studies that have collected data for over a decade on key business metrics for financial advisory practices. Listen as she shares focus areas for firms to measure and what actually matters for performance. She also discusses how firms differentiate when it comes to those areas with the greatest impact, such as talent, succession planning, referral programs, and value propositions.

Lisa Salvi, Managing Director of Advisor Services at Schwab, manages advisor benchmarking studies that have collected data for over a decade on key business metrics for financial advisory practices. Listen as she shares focus areas for firms to measure and what actually matters for performance. She also discusses how firms differentiate when it comes to those areas with the greatest impact, such as talent, succession planning, referral programs, and value propositions.

Ben Slater of Buckingham Strategic Partners works closely with advisory firms that are near critical growth points and considering outsourcing or partnering to manage the expansion. As you approach the next level of growth, you may ask questions around when to hire, what functions to outsource, and how you can thrive as you grow. Hear how to evaluate cost vs. time, determine where you can relinquish decision-making, and return to the areas of the profession that bring you joy.

Shandel Sutherland and Liv Olson share more than four decades of combined experience helping build highly effective teams. In this episode, they define key characteristics of those teams, ways to identify gaps in your own firm, and actionable steps to enhance performance. Learn why they believe investing in employee and team development is an essential aspect of achieving long-term success and creating an exceptional client experience in your advisory firm.

Robin Wigglesworth, editor of FT Alphaville and author of Trillions, describes his career as “geeking out” on all things finance, writing to great depths on investing and markets. Hear how he connected with some of the greatest minds in finance to tell the origin story of index funds, his take on integrating corporate cultures through M&A, and what’s next in the evolution of financial advice and incorporating AI. Trillions is included on Dimensional’s 2023 Summer Reading List, which you can view here.