Special Episode: Women in Wealth - Part 2

This month, The Cannon Curve looks a little different. Each year, to celebrate Women's History Month, we put together our Women in Wealth Series - a collection of conversations with women who have paved the way and continue to shape the future for women in the financial industry. We have assembled a powerhouse team this year: Terri Kallsen (Rise Growth Partners), Jenny Franta (Fifth Third Bank), Elizabeth Wagner (Bryn Mawr Trust), and Melissa Holding (Huntington National Bank); each representing a different corner of the industry yet sharing a common goal to evolve the very definition of high-level leadership in finance today.

Resources:

Terri Kallsen: Full Episode Here

Jenny Franta: Full Episode Here

Elizabeth Wagner: Full Episode Here

Melissa Holding: Full Episode Here

Transcript

Each March, the Cannon Curve puts a spotlight on the voices, perspectives, and leadership shaping the future of wealth management. The Women in Wealth series is about more than representation. It's about influence. It's about how women show up for clients, lead teams, and help move the profession forward.

With clarity, empathy, and conviction. As the industry continues to evolve, so does the role women play in defining what great advice is all about how strong leadership sets tone, and how long-term impact really plays out. As we enter the fifth year of this series, this episode invites reflection and momentum.

At the same time, it's a chance to recognize progress. Honor, experience and continue the conversation about where the industry is headed and what it takes to build what's next. We are in the people business. At the end of the day, we are individuals or, or team-based advisory practices, providing advice and counsel to individuals and families to help them dream, hopes, wishes, dreams, you know what?

Whatever it is they're, they're, they're seeking to achieve. And tools and resources, how we get there. I mean, all, all of that is, all of that is great, but. At the end of the day, you have to be skilled in the conversation. You have to, you have to be able to show the empathy. You have to, to be able to demonstrate the, the awareness of what's really important.

And for that reason, I encouraged both of my daughters when they were thinking about careers to. Look very heavily at, at financial services because they, you know, this is based on their, their mother's influence, certainly not mine. They are very empathetic individuals. They, they, they, they have a, a, a a love of friends and of family and of, of clients and, you know, I'm, I'm.

Proud that both of them are, are in the industry. Let's, let's talk about that from what I, I, I'm just gonna call the, the, the next gen pipeline. You, you have mentioned, you and I have talked about this in, in, in prior conversations that while our industry has made tremendous strides in attracting up and up and coming females into the industry.

There is still a long way to go there. There is still a story to be told, and I, I don't know that a lot of young girls, unless they have parents that are in the business, consider financial services. Consider the wealth management industry as a, as a career option. What, what's your guidance? What's your advice?

What do you tell young women when you have a chance to, to have a conversation to mentor them about the industry and, and why? It's, it, it's such a great, great place for aspiring young women to, uh, to call home. Well, first of all, I think this is a great career for everyone, males and females. I think it lends itself to both of the characteristics, but for, for women in particular, and the CFP board has done quite a bit of studies.

On this, if, if there's an opportunity to serve people and help them achieve their goals, that is very, very high on the list for a lot of women. Number one, they want to be with people, they wanna help them, they wanna serve them, and they wanna have impact. They want to do what's right. So this is a great career.

The second area is they want flexibility. They don't wanna be necessarily, you know, be in the office by eight and finish by five. Go home and, and do your, you know, chores at home and kids and everything else. They want the flexibility. This is an awesome career for that as you build your book of business as you're serving your clients.

What I found as a female in this industry, and I was working with clients and teams. That they wanted to be a part of. My family events. We, we all shared that together. It was a very close knit community and clients are happy for you when you have to take a vacation or take a sabbatical, but that flexibility is key.

And then three, you have a lot of opportunity to increase your abundance in your life. And what I mean by that is the income, you really are limitless. In terms of what you can make and what you can do while you're in different phases of your career, if you wanna take a step back and go part-time or go full-time or build a team within your team.

I mean, I know a lot of women out there that have excellent financial practices and they have women. Working for them. And they are all just growing 10 to 12% a year net of market because they really understand their brand and they understand their mission and they are hard workers and they make it happen.

So that's what I tell them. If you want a great career to serve others, if you wanna make as much money as you'd like to, and if you want the flexibility, there are very few careers that do that. Now, where I think we've gone wrong in two areas is that a. Women can't see what they can't be or what they can be.

So if they can't see someone like that, that's thriving in a top leadership role, it really hurts the firm. And again, this isn't nice to do. This isn't a. This isn't a DEI initiative. This is about representing the consumers of which we serve. And some men prefer to work with women, and some women prefer to work with men.

So you gotta have both. You have to have choices when you have a prospect or a client with you. So that's number one as well. And so we've gone wrong that we don't have enough women in those roles, showing other women how to go there. And then the second area is, you know. As a structural issue, women, they enter the career.

They don't always see the advocates in the room for them. I mean, I, Phil, I can't tell you in the 30 years I've been in this industry, I've actually been a part of meetings where I'm the only woman. For years. Like, it doesn't change. Like I, I, I gotta tell you, I shared this with a couple people. One of my goals when I, when I'm done working, is I've taken pictures throughout the years in meetings of me with like a colored blouse on, and about 10 or 12 men around the room with, you know, a blue suit, a blue tie.

That's it. And there's only like one colorful shirt in there and the, the actual contrast is amazing. Now, that wasn't a bad thing. It certainly would've been nice to have a few more females in there, but it, I hope your daughter's generation and my daughter's generation see a much more balanced boardroom.

They see the value of having a different perspective in the room because it's striking how many times I was the only woman in the room and that that really doesn't always lead to the best outcomes. No, it doesn't. And those organizations that, that. Do lead with that example. It, it pays dividends in ways that you, you, you talked about a couple, but I'll, I'll just give a a a a real simple plug.

My youngest daughter is about to begin her second year with Bessemer Trust and January one of this year new CEO is a female. And when that announcement took place last year, my daughter immediately called me. She said, this is so. Cool. This is such a great organization. She had not met Holly at the, I, I don't think she had met Holly at that moment in time.

But it was the simple fact that, you know, I've, I've got a leader that, you know, I can relate to if nothing other than by gender. Maybe not by education and experience and things like that, but it, it does, it makes a, makes a tremendous difference. And that, that's one of the things that, that we wanna highlight through this, this focus series on that.

You know, I, I heard an interesting statistic, and I, I'm gonna be off a few percentage points, but it's relatively, relatively close. Roughly 80% of men pass away. Married. Mm, roughly 80% of women pass away. Alone. Mm-hmm. Either widowed or, or divorced or, or never, never married, never, never with a partner. So that means that, you know, at some point in time, the vast majority of the control of, of financial decision making is in the hands of, of the female.

And how does, how does that, you know, as we're living, quote unquote, longer, not necessarily better, how do you take. Stats like that and, and forecast out what this industry is gonna need to look like as it grows forward. Yeah. I mean, I, I have not heard the stat put that way, framed that way, but that is, that is not surprising to me.

And you know, a lot of times when training our advisors or, or, or helping them to get better just because. The man may be the, the decision maker, the perceived decision maker for, for the household and, and the finances and the, and the planning and, and all of those pieces. You have to engage the partner and the the woman because oftentimes if the husband passes away and there's not that level of relationship built with the wife.

She picks up those assets and, and that relationship and moves on to another provider, so. Going back to a lot of times in this space, it's all about trust. It's all about the connection you have with your customer and the advisor. And so having, if it's, if it's a woman making the decision, a lot of times they want a strong woman on the team that they feel like they can trust.

That's guiding them along that path. Doesn't mean the whole team has to be women, but I think it's just really important. That people see themselves in, in the team that they're working with. And they, they, they get that they will understand their unique needs and priorities. So their will, as you put it, continue to be opportunities for, for women in this space.

And you know, now one of the things was just in meeting around this. Talking about longevity planning and the new generation living over a hundred years. So just take the stat that you mentioned and kind of multiply what that will be. 'cause women do typically live longer and how we'll have to think about planning in a different way.

'cause you said it living longer, not necessarily better. We're talking about ways where, you know, when we give advice, how do we incorporate both? That continues to differentiate us as a provider if we're not just talking about your portfolio, if we're thinking about all of those pieces. So it's not just about living longer, it's living better.

Yep. Now I think you're, you're, you're spot on right there. One thing I wanna highlight that, that you mentioned just a moment ago, because this is important not just for the, the, the gender makeup of a team. Yeah. But, you know, people wanna, they wanna see themselves and the professionals that they work with, they, they wanna be able to, to relate, not not just about money, but about ages, stages.

Genders across the board, you've been very active in ensuring that the teams that work with the families that your organization advises that the dynamics of that team, again, from an ages and stage to gender represent families. So it, you can't just have the. The, the, the sage that has been around for, you know, 35, 40 years in the meeting, if you're gonna be advising families, you need to have professionals at, at all different ages and stages so that Gen Next can look at that team and say, well, you know, this is, this is our families wealth advisory team.

It's not my, my parents or my grandparents. This is a team that looks for, looks out for all of us. How have you seen that evolve? Because that was not the, the business model when you got into the business. You, you are exactly right. When we started, it was hard for me as, as a young professional because the makeup of a great team quote.

Quote was no hair or gray hair was what we looked at, you know, very clearly had been in the business for a long time. And, and I think that's always important. It, it's, it's great to have that perspective, but as you're as, as we're all doing this trying to engage, especially in the high net worth and ultra, ultra high net worth space, you want to be able to make inroads with the entire family.

And to do that with the younger generation, you have to be relevant. So if you have somebody that's been in the business for a long time, and let's just say they're not comfortable with digital currency, so that's not something that they want to bring to the conversation, you're not going to be relevant for that next generation.

And that's one of of many examples. And so as we think about. Navigating, there's a shortage of great advisors looking for that top tier talent that's really smart, that knows how to leverage technology that's open to leveraging ai, and then they bring that into the team that has the deep expertise that has, you know, helped clients through multiple cycles.

You, you bring a powerhouse team together for a family when you can cover all of those dynamics. And so it's just really important. I, I think about this as I'm interviewing for roles. I push on my leaders for this. Whenever you have an open opportunity and you are recruiting for that, if you don't.

Interview at least a few people that have incredibly different background and experience as you or the rest of the team. You're really failing in that standpoint because we all have that biases on that. It's, it's a little more natural to, to bring people on that, that maybe think like us. But the, the challenge and great leaders and great team builders understand is.

That is a pitfall and being incredibly intentional there just really makes a, a, a fantastic team. And the, and like I said, the clients feel that, and it makes you more relevant to, to whatever they're navigating. You have been able to shape a rising generation of, of leaders that you've inculcated them with, with your thought processes.

You have helped them to grow and develop their skills. Why? Why is that, that that nature of leadership so important that you, you don't have to be abrasive, you don't have to be aggressive, you have to, a, a term that you use is help people feel valued, help people to grow to their full potential. Why, why is that so important in your opinion?

Yeah, I, I was very fortunate. Early in my career, I worked for an organization that invested heavily in leadership development. As I've grown in my career, I realized how rare that is to, to have that opportunity. But one of the sessions, and I remember this so clearly, it was not just with people from the bank.

It was with people from many different industries and back. Backgrounds and the, the, the push of the facilitator was you have to develop what is your leadership purpose. Leadership is sometimes lonely. It is very challenging, and you need to make sure you have that center of, at the end of the day, whatever the noise is, whatever the priorities are.

What is it that you're trying to do as a leader? And, and, and, you know, there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot to unpack with that, but really narrowing it down and, and you hit on this where I came down to, how will I go home at the end of the day and know I made a difference today from just a pure leadership standpoint.

And it is every day striving to help others feel valued and grow to their full potential. I don't know anyone in any relationship of their life where they're investing time and energy where they don't hope to feel valued and appreciated. And, you know, from a, from an organizational standpoint, if I feel valued, that that helps create a, a culture of mutual supportiveness.

It creates psychological safety. When there's periods of intense pressure, intense change, it will make me. More likely to take risk or, or put a differing opinion into the room, which gets us to better outcomes. So I think from, from my standpoint as a leader trying to be full. Fully present in the meeting I'm in or who I'm talking to because you know, with the phones going, the watch is going all these, all these competing priorities, but make sure that they know that that moment matters.

It matters to me. It matters to them. I care about what they have to say and I think that is very important. But also as a leader, I want to help people continue to grow. You know, your, your focus, it seems throughout your career has had the word growth attached to it in some way, shape, or form. If I am a, a, a boutique, RIA growth is inherent in, in everything that I'm looking at.

You've been part of some very large organizations that were focused on growth and, and experienced growth under your, your tutelage and leadership. How do larger organizations today need to be thinking about the, the growth continuum? The growth challenge? I, I think we, we talk about growth at scale, right?

What are some of the, what are some of the keys that they need to be focused on, and maybe. Some of the areas that they're not paying enough attention to that a little bit more rigor should be placed there. Well, that was a great question and for me, the firms that grow the fastest and the longest, remember, 'cause this is an endurance game.

This is about the long-term, not the last year or so. And so for me, it always starts with the client experience. It's about leadership and creating the operating model that facilitates the best client experience and ultimately in the RIA space. I believe clients want consistency in their service, and with that consistency comes simplicity.

Like no one wants to go through a very difficult process to be able to achieve their financial goals. So as an advisor, as a certified financial planner, my job is to make things simple for my clients and do it consistently so they have the clarity of the action plan that we're taking. The confidence that they will ultimately achieve those goals.

And this, this is then supported by every layer of the organization, including the advisors. The systems and technology and the communication with clients. And so the, the client experience is where it all starts. And then from there, as I mentioned, endurance. Endurance is all about pacing and really being a leader in, in the pacing.

And, and, and this is, they, they can't teach you this. You know, when, when I went to grad school, we talked a lot about leadership development and growth. Pacing is an intuitive process that you understand where your clients are with your, where your team is, where your shareholders are, and ultimately where your future is.

And it means really understanding, pacing and teaching people pacing is so important because in a long-term process, you really shouldn't be sprinting all the time. There will be sprints, there will be then. Longer term runs, and I know you're a runner fill, you know I've run 21 marathons. But you have to know when to push, when to recover, and how to stay focused on that over time.

And so, so many firms will have a great growth year or two or three years, but they fail to deliver on that consistently over time. So those are some of the things that I think about that I've worked on over the years. It doesn't always happen. On day one, but it reinforces for me as a leader how important consistency is over time versus just bursts of short-term activity.

Yeah. I love that the, the phrase patiently persistent is coming into my mind right now. When you, you talk about pacing, actually, if I could rewind tape to my, my early career, I needed a, a, a Terry to talk to me about pacing. I'm not sure I was a, a, a great pacer at that point in time, age, and maturity give you that.

You, you don't have a choice as you get older, but you also have the, the experience that comes with that. So you are part, and I made reference to this just a few minutes ago. You're part of a, an incredibly effective, efficient, and recognized female leadership team within the, the, the trust and wealth management group.

That is it a something to be celebrated, but b at the same time, it's, it's something that, you know, within the financial services industry. Still is looked on as, wow. That's, that's unique. You don't, you don't see that as, as much in, in organizations. What is it about the culture of, of Fifth Third? What is it about the culture of your leadership team?

You all were recognized a couple years back by American banker for, you know, top, top performing, most recognized leadership group. What, what makes that dynamic so special? That was a special group. That is a special group. And that was a really cool experience and a huge accomplishment for our leadership team to be able to represent the bank on that stage.

And when I think about that team, I, I really think that we embodied, like the collective group is way bigger than the sum of its parts. And that's what made us successful. We didn't worry about who got credit or whose idea something was. We challenged each other, and I would say fiercely at times, but we also supported each other.

And I think the thing was, most of all, whenever a business decision was made with that leadership team, we linked arms and we moved forward to execute. Because it was our collective decision. And I think that's so important. And I think that's rare sometimes is we all brought unique backgrounds and experiences to the table.

No two paths, quite honestly, or perspectives were the same, which sparked some lively debate, but it, it also allowed us to accomplish some pretty major transformation and change management initiatives. And I think the other thing is. Our collective goal was, you know, we, we said whatever we do, we wanna improve the client and the advisor experience all while managing risk.

And when we kind of had that, that core baseline that we were all working towards, it was fantastic. And I, I think it's really neat that, you know, that leadership team has, has, many of us have gone on to do different things in different roles. And so I'm really excited about some of the ripple effects that we see as we kind of go off into some of the other areas.

I, I received a backhanded compliment when we were together. It was a large, large group activity, and I made the comment to a certain individual. I said, I'm going to, I'm gonna pull Elizabeth into, into this part of the conversation. And the gentleman looked at me and he was like. Cheater and I was like, cheater.

Wh what do you mean cheater? He said, well, you've, you've, you've taken, you know, the, the number one person who can engage on that in the company, and you're gonna use them as an example. And I was like, what? Yeah. You know, absolutely. You have. You have developed a level of confidence and a level of trust among your peers, among the planning community, among your clients.

And you know, we, we, we talk about this word trust. Trust is inherited in the name of your organization. But we, we talk about this issue of trust, the people that we place, our faith and our, our confidence in. You know, you've gotta have the intellectual chops obviously to do that, but there are a lot of smart people in this business.

But, but. Trust Is it, it, it's, well, the, the part of the brain that controls, that has no power for, for language. Sometimes we say it's intuitive, you know, I gotta trust my gut, et cetera. When you think back on your career, you know, the, the people that you place faith and trust in, the professionals that clients pay, place, their faith and trust in, what are the key attributes that, that you look for?

What are the key attributes that you think clients are looking for? Phil, that was so kind. Thank you. I, I think that word, I'm not a kind person. I call it as I see it, so thank you. But that's it. It is what it is. Well, so I think trust is always earned. Right. It's funny because people say, trust me, and I always think when, if I have to say, trust me, well, it's never gonna work out.

That's right. Trust is, trust is always earned. How do you get there? You do what you say you're gonna do. You genuinely care about other human beings. You invest in the people and the world around you, confident that it will come back to you in some form, but not because it will come back to you in some form and you stay true to your lane.

There's stuff I, I love and I'm good at. That's what I do, and those are the people I've gravitated towards over my career. The people who have been, my mentors in particular, to whom I've gone when I'm trying to solve a problem have been people who aren't necessarily passionate about the same stuff I am, but they're people who I know will keep a confidence, who have my best interest at heart and are willing to put themselves.

My shoes and help me think through something together. A lot of times the people I trust the most and the person I try to be for our clients are people who are in it with you. They're not 10 steps ahead. They're not telling you how it's gonna turn out. Instead, they're mulling over the options with you.

They're thinking through, if you do this, what might come out of it. If you do that, what might come out of it? What feels good to you? Right? So the in the moment. I think that's funny 'cause a lot of times they are the ones with a deep competence, right? They, they have the closest thing to a crystal ball, and yet they're not rushing to the answer.

And when I see clients come to us, especially around family philanthropy, they're asking deeply personal questions. What's gonna happen to my family when I'm gone? Will they still love each other? Will they still appreciate the values I've tried to instill in them? Did I do a good job? As a parent or a grandparent, what will my legacy be?

And there are no deeper or more personal questions than those. And it's funny 'cause in other parts of our work. As financial advisors, those questions are in there, but they're not at the surface in philanthropy. They're staring you in the face, and so to be gentle and thoughtful and honest and reliable and deep in it with people right where they are in the process, I think it makes a huge difference.

That's how you earn the trust and that's how you keep the trust. Melissa, you lead all of wealth management for Huntington Bank. You've got almost 30 years experience in the industry. But I, I wanna go back if we could for a moment to, to, to your early days of leadership because, and. Prior conversations you've shared with me that you know many times you were walking in in a leader role and you were the only woman in the group.

What was that like and how did that help shape your leadership style today? Yeah. Well, thank you Phil. That's, that, that is a great question and that that is throwback. Thank you for putting out the 30 years in the industry. I said all those 30, I didn't say a full 30. Just all those 30. Yeah. I remember advocating for myself for a, a regional leadership role in wealth management that hope had opened up.

And being so excited about that opportunity and going into the first leadership team meeting and being, as you said, the only woman in the room and just an immediate awareness of that. And I was, I was really young at the time and I, I just immediately felt small. I would say it took me some time to, to find my voice and, and navigate the dynamics of the room.

But it's interesting though, when you, when you think about that and you're in any new role, you, you want to look for people kind of like you that are successful, that you can emulate, that you can, that you can learn from, that you can ask questions and you know, that just wasn't available. And as I looked around the broader organization, not always, but oftentimes when I saw women in more significant leadership roles, I noticed their styles were a bit more abrasive.

You know, not assertive, but more aggressive, abrasive. And, you know, I was really taken aback by that because that's just not who I am. That's not my style of how I want to influence and, and get results, but. I could see how they had developed those skills to survive in those rooms and get their voice in the room and, and get attention to their ideas and thoughts.

So, fortunately, we have evolved a long way since then, but it was, it definitely shaped me early on. Now when I have a new leader in a room. I am incredibly intentional about making sure to pull their voice out, whether they're the only one like them or not. Still remembering that moment of I'm different, I'm new.

What am I going to be able to contribute? And so now I have that opportunity to, to pa pave that way a little easier for new leaders. You had an experience in being a leader of, of your group where your organization, the, the Wealth Group, posted some fantastic results and you were in a, uh, business review meeting and it came your time to, to share the results and you, you shared those results.

And you were, I'm gonna, I'm, I'm gonna use the term, you didn't use this term, but, but you were almost dismissive. Yes. We, this is what we did. This is, these are the numbers. And your CEO stopped you. Take us back to that meeting. Tell, tell, tell our listeners what happened and what you learned from that. And, and this was pre Huntington.

So this was at a, at a different organization. Um. So to, to just kind of frame, frame the context of, they, they were quarterly meetings, CEO, very, very senior leaders, I would say. They were very tense meetings. Overall, or the organization had some challenges that we were working through and, and we really had Phil, we had crushed it.

The team had showed up and you, you just, sometimes you just have those moments where everything comes together and it's beautiful and we, we did really great things. I did, I went to that meeting, like I was checking a box and I rattled those results off. Like, we did this, this was up, this was up, and, and then I just was done.

And, you know, the, the, the, the leader that spoke up was not one that was known to, you know, overly flatter anyone for their results. Okay. Because it was always like, well, how could you do a little more? How could you do a little more? And he said, we need to, we need to pause a moment. And honestly, I had this thought of, oh, here, here it comes.

It's not good enough. It's not good enough. And he said like, you just rattled that off like you rattled off your Starbucks order. Let's take a minute and celebrate. I want you to kind of roll back through. And he had a couple points that he really wanted to to hone in on, and it was. One of the biggest sort of aha moments because that, that role was my first role where I was interacting with that level of leadership on a regular basis and being thoughtful to, well, one, celebrate the success, don't, you know, diminish it.

Don't come with a mindset of, well, of course that's my job to do that, but think of myself as I've gotta be the chief marketer for the team and for the business. But even more importantly, as, as we kind of went back through it, I was a little more intentional of connecting some of the strategic initiatives that we had executed on to the priorities and just talked a little more, really more high level about how all of that came together as, as we think about.

Young women who don't have that view on what their career aspirations, you know, really, really could be. Right. So maybe she's, she's 16, 17. She's, you know, thinking about college. You know, she's thinking about what majors might be. Maybe she's, maybe she's in college, she's, you know, second year at the college of University, and now it's time to, to really get focused on majors and, and, and things like that.

What, what would you say to those young women about our industry, about their opportunities, things that they, they really ought to think about that make, that has made your experience, so I'm gonna call it purpose driven. What, what advice, what council would you offer those young ladies? You know, the first thing that I would say is kind of going back to the get comfortable with the uncomfortable, do things that push you outside your comfort zone.

I remember, you know, public speaking for me, oh my gosh, I was terrified. I made myself take every public speaking presentation course I could in college. It wasn't fun at the time, but looking back, you know, 24 years later, best decision I ever made. So, doing things like that, you know. What, what it really interests you.

You know, if, if you're passionate about something, follow it. That's really what's going to make the difference in your, in your, in your future success. And, and I think we talked a little bit about the emotional intelligence, the iq, the fiduciary knowledge. That's table stakes. Those are things you can learn as long as you're someone that can learn, but really leaning into the emotional part is really important to be successful.

If you had the opportunity to go back and have a conversation with the 22-year-old version of Elizabeth Wagner, she has just graduated with this liberal arts degree, the world is her oyster, but knowing what you know now, if you could go back and offer one piece of counsel, one piece of advice to that young lady, what would you offer?

There's this great book called Unapologetically Ambitious Phil, that I love and it's, it's the thing I offer to every one of my mentees, and in it talks about building, I call it your kitchen cabinet, but it's talking about mentorship. It talks about picking up mentors and the idea that if you ask someone you trust for some advice.

They answer your question and you go off and try out their answer, and you come back and report on the outcome and they engage with you further. You've built a relationship with someone who's invested in you, who's gonna support you, who's gonna be a mentor, whether you call it that or not, it doesn't have to be formal.

It's funny 'cause that advice only showed up in book form. Oh, I don't know, 5, 5, 6 years ago. Early in the pandemic maybe right? But that's, that's what I've done my whole life. And it's funny to see Shelly Embo wrote the book. She wrote it down. But I have found that to be the most powerful, useful thing I've ever done.

And I wish I'd started it earlier. And so it's the one thing I offer up to all my mentees. Find people you trust, admire, want to be like. Ask them for one small thing, if they respond, you react. You come back and the conversation continues. That's someone who will be in your corner as long as you maintain the relationship.

And if you have a lot of those people, you'll have so many opportunities that you could not even dream of. And so go find those mentors, those informal kitchen cabinet people. Ask them for a little bit, see if they'll engage with you, and be really ambitious in where you go with those relationships. You have been a tremendous mentor, a tremendous sponsor to, to scores of men and women throughout your career.

The, the, the idea for a young lady today, okay, go get a sponsor. Go get a mentor. Do I look online? How do I go about doing that? What, what would give a, give, give our listeners one or two ideas on, you know, establishing a, a, a relationship with an individual that may eventually lead into a sponsor of mentorship.

Well, if, if. People are in this industry first and foremost. I'd like them to consider getting their CFP. I think that's an important component. It's a designation. If you are A CFP, go to the CFP board website and there are mentors that volunteer to help you there. They're, they may not work for your company, but they are there and they want to help and they wanna support, and that's both men and women.

Now, if you're, if you're not a CFP professional and you want to have a mentor, you know, really think about what. You want in a mentor that that's the first place to start. Do you want someone to help you with your technical capabilities? Do you want someone to help you with your communication style? Do you want someone to help you maybe provide a shadowing opportunity so you see what they do on a day-to-day basis?

Or someone who can just, you can confide in and they can help you think through challenges, but think about what, what is it you want in a mentor? And then in your firm, start asking around, like start asking by asking your boss for who could be a good mentor for me or who could go to hr. But there's, there are people within your firm that are more than willing to help you, but the most important thing.

Is, you have to ask Phil. It's just like being an advisor. The most important thing you can do to grow your business is to ask for a referral. Like, you just have to ask. Most people will wanna help you, but we, we actually are a little hesitant to ask, and I just encourage you to do that. If, if you still can't find anyone, you know, just go to mentoring.com and it just, it's harder to find someone outside the industry.

I, I can tell you what I did when I was young. I remember, I, I was at Thrivent Financial. We had one woman on our board, and I read about her. I was in grad school, and I, I sent her an email and I said, here's what I'm looking for. Would you mind mentoring me? And she said, yes. And she was the best mentor I could have ever asked for at that point in my life.

So you had the tober to reach out to someone and ask for help. Amazing. I I it, you, you, you are, you're so right on that. When you ask for help, there will be somebody there, it comes, comes together. The canon curve is the production of Canon Financial Institute. Executive producer of the Canon Curve is Sarah Jones.

Editing and mixing is done by Danny Bruner. Until next month, I'm Phil Buchanan. Thanking each of you for staying ahead of the curve. I.