First Friday Feedback: September 2025

We’re kicking off fall with a packed episode of First Friday Feedback! Phil is joined by returning guest Sarah Jones, Associate Director of Marketing at Cannon, for a fun and thoughtful conversation reflecting on recent episodes and what’s ahead at Cannon. They dive into a candid, behind-the-scenes conversation that covers everything from a heartfelt farewell to a college football legend, an unexpected leadership lesson learned at a live music performance, and why great leaders sometimes have to let go to level up. They also share a first look at Cannon’s newest initiative launching in Austin this month, and why it could be a game-changer for future leaders in the industry. If you’ve ever wondered when it’s your moment to step up, or help someone else rise, this is the episode you need to hear.

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Please send Comments, Questions, and Feedback to: mojo@cannonfinancial.com

Please send First Friday Feedback submissions to: mojo@cannonfinancial.com

Transcript

Hi, I am Phil Buchanan with Cannon Financial Institute. We produce the podcast series Monday Morning Mojo, the Cannon Curve, and Cannon Connect. Each of these podcasts invites listeners to email or text their feedback, comments and questions. They are all answered right here on First Friday feedback. If you're new to our podcast, go ahead and subscribe to all four and get engaged by sharing your perspective. Life is about the journey, so let's go for the ride.

Greetings Cannon Nation. It is Phil here with First Friday Feedback for September, 2025. Well, we're past Labor Day. Uh, we are in the final four months of the year. I trust that, uh, your summer concluded with a fantastic Labor Day weekend, and, uh, hope that, uh, your businesses are going well and that you are hyper-focused on the final four months of the year.

One of the things that I love to do is have entertaining and engaging guests, uh, on all of our podcasts, but, uh, especially for first party feedback. And, uh, today I am very excited, uh, to have, um. And oldie, but goodie, uh, back in the chair, uh, next to me, Sarah Jones, associate Director of Marketing Communications for Cannon, uh, is joining me.

Sarah, welcome back, uh, to the podcast. It's good to be back. It's probably been, I don't know, maybe a, a good part of a year since I've been on. Well, this is, uh, this is a lot of fun, especially considering the fact that you are the czar of all things, uh, podcasts. And I've said many, many times. Uh, you make all of our podcasts, uh, better, uh, often from behind the scenes this time in front of the mic.

So, uh, looking forward to your observations and your feedback, uh, from, uh, the various episodes that, uh, we have talked about over the, uh, the preceding months. Um. And let me just ask the question. Did you have a great summer? Did you have a great labor day? How are things I did, I had a great summer. Um, you know, professionally here at Cannon, we have a pretty intensive internship all summer long.

And so we had, uh, five interns for 40 hour weeks and yeah, we had a lot of fun around here. Um. Took a vacation with my family. Yeah. Yeah. So had a good summer. Well, good stuff. Good stuff. And uh, for those of you that don't know, um, we at Cannon are very active with, uh, with interns, not just in the summer, but, uh, but throughout the year, and, uh, in addition to her role at, uh, uh, running the marketing communications for Cannon and heading up the, uh, all of the podcasts.

A litany of other things. Uh, Sarah directs our, our internship program. And, uh, actually you've gotten many calls, uh, you may say, unfortunately directed by me, but many calls from, uh, business leaders across the country about our intern program, how we recruit, uh, how you manage that program. Uh, you do a fantastic job with that.

So, uh, from, uh, from my chair, just thank you for all the work that you do there. Uh, let's, let's unpack a little bit. You had, uh, you had two or three podcasts, uh, that you got comments on and that you had some specific observations on. Uh, you want to, you want to ask any questions or offer any summaries of, uh, some of the, the various things that stood out to you from, uh, the past few weeks of podcast?

Yeah, I think we'll, we'll end with obviously Corso episode because here in the south and, and really all across the, you know, United States, everyone's excited that college football is back and. Most of us spend, you know, our Saturday mornings, um, for the last decade or two with Lee Corso is, um, in one of the chairs.

And so that was a bittersweet farewell to him, um, and just honor of his career. And so, I mean, yeah, actually we'll just start with that one. Um, what do you think. Is the, uh, I heard, um, I've seen a bunch of things about Corso. Is there anything that has stood out to you in his kind of legacy that he has left with fans or, um, the people that he sat with beside the chairs?

Well, you know, it's, it. Y you think about Corso and the job that, that he did in front of a mike, and he did an incredible job, uh, from the 1980s on, uh, with, uh, with, uh, college game day. It's important to remember what he did before that, right? Mm-hmm. Uh, so he was, um, he was a all star athlete, both baseball and football.

Um. Went into the coaching ranks, uh, was a fantastic assistant coach and was a beloved head coach. Now, he did not enjoy tremendous success as a head coach. Um, did, did some fantastic things, but, uh, you know, he, he never would be mentioned in the, uh, uh, in, in the likes of. Um, uh, a Nick Saban. Mm-hmm. Um, he would never be mentioned in the likes of a, uh, John McKay when he was at USC, uh, a Bo Schembechler, uh, at Michigan.

Uh, you know, he, uh, uh, bear Bryant also at Alabama. He, he wouldn't be mentioned in those ranks in that role. But it's, it's the learnings that he took and the perspectives that he brought with him, both as having been an athlete, uh, having been a coach, assistant coach, and head coach that made his contributions.

Uh, I, I, I think so incredible on, uh, on college game day and then. You know, as, as he matured in that role, he brought a certain level of levity, a certain level of humor that, uh, people just got really excited about. And then of course it was, you know, the, um. Uh, the, the, the, the, the final, uh, deal on, on every show was him, uh, dawning the headgear of the, uh, of the team that they were covering that week, who he thought that, um, you know, would, would be the winner.

And, uh, I can tell you, uh. In, in early years, every time he seemed to pick the team that I wanted to win, uh, that team didn't win. Yep. Although, you know, his, his record was, was the curse. Incredible curse, of course. So, yeah, the curse of Curl, uh, we, we talked about that around, uh, around, uh, the University of Georgia quite a bit.

Mm-hmm. Because in early days when he would pick Georgia, we were, uh, uh, we were destined to lose. Uh, he was, he was. His record with that was, you know, really, really good. Uh, 67%. Yeah. Uh, of the teams that, uh, that he picked went on to win. I mean, if you do that in stock picking, if you do that in, uh, in, in any endeavor, you know, 67% of the time, uh, short of, you know, maybe surgery or flying a plane, uh, 67% of the time that you, you get it right.

That's pretty good. Uh, but, uh. You know, you just, he was, he was a beloved figure. And, uh, you know, he, uh, he, he just did a great job and it'll be different. Uh, but, uh, it'll be great. But, you know, to me, the, and I think I mentioned this on the podcast, the key lesson right there is that at every stage we. We take, you know, what we've, we've learned, we take our insights and, and we add on to that.

I think he even did a, uh, a separate podcast on that in the, in the last few weeks that, uh, all of our earnings are cumulative. And he certainly, uh, as he evolved as a, as a host, as a, uh, as a pundit, uh, it was just fun to watch. And, um, it's, it's one of the things that I really hope that our, our listeners think about, you know, there are.

A lot of fantastically gifted wealth advisors that are out there, that are transitioning, uh, roles, uh, maybe retiring. And, uh, there's always a way to continue to contribute. And I, I hope that, uh, organizations find ways, uh, that, uh, you know, these, these, these great mentors, these great leaders, can continue to, uh, contribute the way ESPN found a way for, uh, for Corso to do.

Absolutely. And I think the thing about Corso is. You know, most of us are gonna miss him picking up, picking that mascot head, you know, that's what we most recently remember of him. But like you said, he has a whole career arc of success and just, you know, uh, a great mentor as a, as a teammate, as a coach, as an analyst, you know, all those things.

And so I think the bigger, the bigger thing to just always remember is like, how do you wanna be remembered and what's the legacy you're leaving? And. And also the consistency in that because there is a lot of power for someone that knows somebody, you know, and, and we've talked about the opposite. It's never too late to change that tra trajectory as well, but for corso that consistency in that legacy and is the same.

And I think that's a really powerful thing to, you know, celebrate and you don't see too often. Um. But that I really enjoyed just hearing all of the stages of his life and people reflecting and reminiscing on that. And you, like you said, I mean he will, it game day will not be the same without him, but onward and upward.

Onward and upward. Love it. All right, so something else that I feel like stuck out to listeners, um, is the episode, sit in with the band and. Or sit with the band. Sorry. Um, wanna make sure I get that title right. But this is kind of, I think, something that maybe people struggle with. And if you've ever been in that role of, um, tapping that person in, how do you decide when it's, when that person's ready to, to for their sit-in moment?

Um, do you wanna talk a little bit about that? I would love to go a little deeper. Uh, I, I will give you one observation. Uh. The person needs to sit in before they're perfect. They need to sit in before. They even think they're ready. Um, that's, that's, that's how we learn. That's how we grow. That's how we find that, that inner strength that allows us to be able to persevere later when, uh, you know, times may get rocky and, and times may get challenged and, um.

For the listeners, and I can't imagine that there's a listener to first variety of feedback that would not have listened to that episode. But just to, just to summarize that episode, uh, I had the opportunity to, to see a fantastic musician in essence, relinquish his chair, uh, to another musician who is, is definitely up and coming.

Definitely got, got skills, but certainly doesn't have the reps, doesn't have the experience. It doesn't have the, uh, the, the bandwidth of, of, uh, just repetition of, uh, playing music that, that this particular, um, top musician had. And when it came time when a group of people wanted this in, uh, the, the, the very skilled musician to, to, to play a few songs.

Took a step back and said, no, this, let's let the other guy do it. And the most shocked individual, uh, at that, uh, at that event was that musician that got tapped to sit in with, uh, with the band and, uh. The look of, uh, of amazement, of wonder, of sheer terror, uh, that was on his face as, as that emerged, uh, quickly turned into absolutely beautiful music and, um.

You know, I, I glanced over a couple of times. As, as the quote unquote new guy was playing, I glanced over to the more experienced musician and he had just the most wonderful smile on his face. Um, did the new musician perform at the level that the talented musician might have done? I probably not, uh, yet.

He's infinitely better for the experience than 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 50 more hours of practice could have ever given him. And the, the lesson for me in that was this, that as, as leaders, it's important for us to take a step back occasionally and to allow those individuals that maybe they don't. Maybe have the skillset or the, the, the talent yet, uh, that we could bring to the table to let them get, uh, live reps, uh, to, to let them get the opportunity to, to be the the point person.

Um, a, they're not going to grow in capacity if we don't, uh, don't give those opportunities. And it affords us an opportunity to sit back and to observe in real life situations, uh, how a person is going to act and, and react. And, um, candidly, as I sit here looking at you, Sarah, you know. Did the same thing with you many, many moons ago, uh, on podcasts.

Um, I ask you to, to sit in as a, uh, a guest and, uh, you know, this is a, uh, this is a family oriented environment, so I can't repeat the words that you used that day to me behind the mic, or excuse me, uh, off mic, uh, about why you shouldn't, uh, do that. But, uh, dang, if you, you didn't nail it. And, uh, as a result, you know, I've, I, I've, I've.

Watched you grow in, in incredible ways. So, uh, it, it's always important to do that. Yeah. And I think, so you just unpacked what it means to the person that's being tagged in. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think we've all experienced that and, and what, just like a beaming honor and you're, you know, the mixed emotions of fear and afraid.

And, but also on the other end of that fear and being afraid of what's about to happen is. Like joy and proudness and what an honor. Um, let's talk about it from the, the leader's perspective, because there is those same emotions from the leader getting to, to see that person, you know, in their spotlight moment and growing.

But is there not, is the leader also not growing because you know. That's essentially what a mentorship or what a internship is. I mean, every single, you know, day, we're choosing to sit in moments for these people because these are sit in before their real, you know, their their real first real job. Um, I know for me personally, you know, it is.

Not only is that person ready, but is it, am I ready to let go of that control and to not know what's gonna happen? So I think it's a gr, it's a growth moment for both sides because it's, it, it has made me a better, a better leader having to discern when and watch for those moments because I. Understand that I don't have the control all the time, and that's okay.

And also that perfect is not the only, you know, answer. Yes, we want everything to be as great and as perfect as it can be, but also is there not a more reward when it comes for a little less than perfection. Um, so I think if you wanna talk a little bit about that, like what, what other emotions is the leader gonna experience in that and how do you navigate those. And, and sometimes when that sit in moment doesn't go well, what do you do where, how, how do you grow from there? So there's a dirty little secret that, um, only comes with, with experience in the leadership chair that, uh, that we don't probably talk about enough. And that is, and, and there's some exceptions to, to what I'm about to say, but, um.

By and large, most of our careers, um, and again, there are exceptions, but most of our careers aren't dealing with life and death moments. Mm-hmm. Alright. And so, yeah, I take the world of, of wealth management or I, I, I take the role of professional development, the, the, what we do here at Cannon. It is important that, you know, as, as a wealth manager, that we provide the very best and advice and counsel to our clients.

It's important that we represent our organizations in a, a very, very effective and, and professional way. Um, if we occasionally. Stub our toe. If we, if we make a mistake, not out of intent, but because we're really trying, those are recoverable moments and those are learning moments and we grow from them.

And, and, and hopefully we reduce those. And so one of the things that, uh, from a maturity standpoint, I guess as a leader, that that. I keep in mind is individuals, the, the growth opportunity that comes from an individual being in a, uh, a live fire environment. Mm-hmm. You know, and, uh, being with the band in, in front of live audiences, that in itself, that, that experience is going to pay so many dividends long term.

And if it doesn't go perfect. That's okay. Mm-hmm. Because we can work on that. Um, you know, that's the, that's the thing, uh, as leaders, you're, you, you really are working on the, the smaller things. It, it's not the, it's not the big, big issues because you're developing people to, to actually mitigate the, the real significant risk that, that face a business.

And so, um, as a leader, I don't, I, I, I'll be blunt. I don't think you're doing a good job as a leader if you aren't putting your people out there, maybe a, a, a, a minute or two before they're perfect, uh, in that environment because you're not giving them those, those growth opportunities soon enough, you know, one of the.

One of the big complaints that, uh, that I hear from leaders today is that, uh, they've got a lot of, uh, a lot of young people in their organizations that, you know, are, are, are wanting more and more opportunities, and they're wanting to be pushed and they're like, you know, they've got to, they've got to quote unquote, earn their stripes.

Uh, well, well, yes, that is, that is true. You do have to earn your stripes. But I can tell you this, the interns that we've seen at Cannon over the past three to five years are so significantly advanced in their knowledge and their capabilities and their skill sets. Then certainly I was at age 19, 20, 21. Uh, I think young people today are, are more knowledgeable.

I think they are better prepared for, uh, business environments now. You know, we, we can talk about all the things that, that, that always come up too reliant on technology, don't know how to communicate. Uh, I, I haven't really witnessed that with now. Maybe you're just doing a fantastic job of recruiting Sarah and, uh, maybe you're, uh, you know, maybe we, we we're just getting the cream of the crop.

But, uh, you know, young people today I think are, are more prepared to thrive at a, at an earlier age. And so we're, we're really being silly as leaders to, to not find ways to get people, uh, into positions and into opportunities quicker. You know, the, the, the upside of that is we're growing the capacity of our organizations to be more impactful, uh, longer term, uh, the, the deeper and wider our benches.

Yeah. Well, and that's what I, I try to always think about, you know, we're not necessarily gonna keep all these interns that we get the pleasure of, of spending time with over, you know, semesters. But what we do get to do is, is better prepare them for that next step. And so how are they gonna earn their stripes if no one's willing to give them those opportunities to, to learn and grow and be uncomfortable?

Um, you know, and, and, and that's all the, the things that we can teach them, um, in this safe space because, you know, and I think that's a lesson for everyone too, is. I mean, even you have, you know, been in your role for how many years now. You're still learning and, you know, making mistakes and, and doing all the things.

I mean, that's, that's all, that's life. So I think if we remember that everyone is, you know, it, it may maybe in a, maybe in a sit-in moment, I mean, we don't know, like the first time you flew a plane, you were. New and green and as proud as you could have been, but you were only gonna, you had to eventually take the autopilot off and fly solo and figure it out and hope for the best.

But it was because someone had encouraged you and, you know, and gotten you that confidence to that point that you were able to soar truly Well, yeah. You're, you're, you're hitting on something really important right there. Um, you, you can't. You, you and, and I'm not suggesting this is all, you can't overlook the preparation.

Mm-hmm. That goes into that. I'm not suggesting that that. You know, we don't invest a tremendous amount of energy in prepping people for their opportunity. That that musician and the example that we were talking about earlier, tremendous amounts of prep, tremendous amounts of practice, lots of things had gone into getting ready for that moment.

Um. And pull the moment off in a, in a beautiful way. And that's what happens when you've got good development, when you've got good coaching, when you've got good leadership, um, you get people to a point that, you know, they may not know that they're ready, but you know that they're ready. Yeah. And, um, you know, that's the, that that's the thing that would encourage all leaders to, to, to really be cognizant of, you know, trust in your development process.

Um. Trust in your, your mentoring and in your coaching, and give people opportunities. And then recognize if, if it doesn't go perfect, then you've got more development opportunities. You've got more coaching opportunities. That's all it is. Um, but it's, um, yeah, it, uh, that it was a fascinating. Fascinating thing to watch.

Uh, it was a lot of fun. Uh, everybody got a lot out of it and it just like you working with the interns, we all get a lot out of it. Yeah. It's a, it's a mutually rewarding, uh, relationship and experience for everyone. So, Phil, we have something coming up. Obviously we talked about, we've got four months left in the year.

Um, rounding out Q3. Um, for Cannon specifically, September's a busy month. We're heading to Austin, Texas in two weeks for our final in-person school of the year. Um, and there we're actually going to do the first that we've done of, um, this. Forum called Next Gen, or Not Next Gen, um, next exec, um, industry Forum.

Mm-hmm. Do you wanna talk to listeners a little bit about like, why we feel like that's important? Kind of how, where we got to where we are now and actually doing it? Well, this is, this is actually in line with what we've been talking about, right? Uh, for. What, 64 years now, Cannon has been in the business of, uh, providing educational opportunities to individuals in the wealth management space.

A lot of concentration in some of the, some of the technical areas, personal trust, family office, you know, investment management, et cetera. One of the things that we find is, um. The trust industry specifically, uh, is very dependent upon deep technical expertise. You, you gotta know the, the, the laws that, that govern the trust business.

You gotta know the regulations that govern the trust business. You gotta understand the taxation issues, uh, you know, all of the administrative functions. And so, um, as an industry, I believe our, our, our. The, the companies that, um, that, that we have an opportunity to work with do a fantastic job of developing the, the technical expertise of their professionals.

And at some point along the way, those professionals move into, into leadership roles. Mm-hmm. The leadership development opportunities, um, are, are varied across the industry. They're, you know, you, you can go and get an MBA, you can go and, you know, get a law degree or get your CPA and things like that. But when it comes time to, to be in that leadership position, to be the senior trust officer, to be the chief fiduciary officer, to be the, the, the head of trust or the head of wealth management.

There are a lot of things that, that go into that transition from being the, the, the, the technical administrator, the the person that's managing relationships to the individual that's, that's managing the, the overall functionality of that group. And so, um, we are bringing together individuals who are, uh, arguably three to five years away.

From being in that chair, from being in position to, to assume that leadership role and, uh, providing a forum, providing a community for them with other like kind individuals, people that are on a, on a similar track, uh, to talk about some of the developmental issues, some of the knowledge issues, some of the leadership issues that, uh, need to be bridged in order to effectively make that transition.

Uh, from, from that role of. Um, uh, of, you know, relationship director, manager of, of client relationships into, uh, into the leadership, uh, role. And, uh, we've got, uh, a lot of great clients that have nominated, uh, individuals to, uh, to participate in this. We're going to, uh, gonna have our first, uh, first round table, uh, the University of Texas at Austin.

And I am, I am really, really looking forward. We've got, uh. Great, uh, great presenters that are going to be from, uh, from Cannon and, uh, from other strategic partners that, uh, that we have in the industry. But, uh, we're also going to have these individuals making presentations themselves. Uh, they're going to, uh, they're gonna be tackling some of the, the challenges and issues that, uh, they have faced, their organizations have faced.

And, uh, it's gonna be a good, uh, community conversation around, um. Ways that we can elevate the overall industry. So I'm, I am really looking forward to, uh, to, to what this turns out to be. And, um, I, I can tell you that the, uh, presidents and CEOs of the organizations that are sponsoring these individuals, they, uh, they have been very bullish, uh, and their comments both about the, uh, about the program, but, uh, more importantly about the participants that, uh, that they're sending.

So, uh, it should be, uh, should be both intellectual, uh, stimulating, but uh, also a lot of fun. Yeah, I think it's gonna be great. Um, I'm excited to get it rolled out. Finally. We've been, like you said, we've been talking about it for a while and to actually have our first group and, and just see all the pieces and get everyone together and, um, you know, always learning.

So it'll be, well, you're exactly right on something. There is always something to learn. Um, and I have, I have said this numerous, numerous times that, uh, the moment you think you've got. A handle on what your profession is, what your industry is, what your subject expertise is, when, when you believe you know it all, when you believe you've, you've conquered it, that's probably the moment that you need to exit the industry you need to exit whatever role or responsibility that you're in. Um, and it's not that I, I, I'm encouraging people to leave their wisdom behind, but curious people mm-hmm. Are successful people, curious People are always searching for an additional perspective and additional insight. And, um, I, I know that these, uh.

20 or so individuals are, are very curious. I've, I've read, uh, you know, some of their, uh, some of their writing, some of the things that they wanna work on, where they wanna development, where, uh, they think they've got, you know, opportunities for personal and professional growth. I can, I can tell you, they're very curious people.

So, uh, I am, uh, I'm looking forward to that. It's gonna be great. Yeah. All right. Well, I think this has been a great episode. Oh, well it has been. And I would encourage people to, to go back and take a look at, uh, uh, a couple of other episodes. If I could just, just very, very briefly comment on this. Um, we had a great, great, great Cannon Curve guest, uh, this, uh, this past month, uh, for, uh, for August.

Jessica Turner. Uh, Jessica is an air traffic controller. Uh, she's former military. Uh, she was an air traffic controller in, uh, in the Air Force. And, uh, she told a fantastic story, not just of her own personal development, how she got into, uh, to military and, and air traffic work, but, uh, some of her experiences in the Middle East, uh, in an environment where, uh.

Females were not particularly in, in countries where she was serving, uh, females were not, um, well bluntly respected, uh, or held in high regard to, uh, the standards that, uh, uh, others would've anticipated that, uh, that males in her. Her role, uh, would've had. And, uh, she tells the story of how that evolved and how by the end of her tour, uh, it was a completely different environment and how she has taken those learnings, uh, applied those into, uh, leadership roles.

She, she runs, uh, uh, an air tower, uh, here in Athens, Georgia, uh, as a matter of fact. Uh, and just those lessons of, of leadership, of perseverance of. Uh, professional growth and there is something to learn for everyone, men and women alike, uh, from that episode. And so if you did not get a, uh, uh, a chance to listen to that, it is the, uh, the Cannon Curve, episode 1 0 5, uh, that we did in, in August.

So I would, uh, I would certainly highlight that and, uh. You know, big picture, uh, stay tuned. Thank you for, uh, being part of, uh, of Cannon Podcasts. And these podcasts don't exist without you, the listener. Uh, this is a, uh, uh, this is a, uh, uh, a program of, uh, of passion of interests. Sarah, for you certainly, certainly for me and the entire team here.

Uh, but what really is, um. Is rewarding are the comments and the feedback that we get from, uh, from you, the listeners. So, uh, thank you listeners for being, uh, a part of what we do, and Sarah, thank you for, uh, being part of today and, and summarizing some of your thoughts. It is, it, it, I, I get, uh, a tremendous amount of personal fulfillment, but I also learn something every single time about, uh, things that resonate with you and things that, that you take away.

And, uh, so yes, I'm always learning as well. So thanks for being part of this. Well, thank you for having me back. Absolutely, we're gonna do it again and much sooner, uh, than you may anticipate or even want. Uh, so with that, we'll wrap up. Uh, first variety feedback for September of 2025. First variety feedback is a production of Cannon Financial Institute, executive producer today, my guest, Sarah Jones.

Editing and mixing of the Cannon curve is done by, excuse me, editing, mixing of first Friday feedback and the Cannon Curve. And Monday Morning Mojo, uh, is all done by Danny Brunner. So until next month, we want to thank you for being part of the Cannon family. Enjoy your September.