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Speaker 1:

This is The Ultimate Advisor podcast. The podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful, and scalable practice. Each week, we'll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals, your team, your marketing, and your business operations. Helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets, and create the advising practice that you've dreamed of. You'll be joined by your hosts, Bryan Sweet, who has more than half a billion dollars in assets under management; Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to hire, improve their operations, and company culture; and Draye Redfern, who can help you systematize and automate your practice's marketing to effortlessly attract new clients.

 So, what do you say? Let's jump into another amazing episode of The Ultimate Adviser podcast.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Hello, and welcome back to The Ultimate Advisor podcast. Again, I am Brittany Anderson. I have got Draye Redfern and Bryan Sweet with me today, and we are continuing on the topic of conversation that is all about leadership. Again, as a refresher, if you did not listen to last week's episode, you absolutely need to. You need to tune in to last week's episode for the simple fact that we kicked off the topic on how you can be an effective leader during times of adversity. So again, addressing the big elephant in the room right now is the COVID crisis, but in reality, there's going to be more adversity in the future. There's going to be things that pop up in your business. There's going to be trying and challenging times, so leadership is truly a timeless topic that we cannot stress enough. So, that is the whole point in why we're focusing on this for a few key weeks and how we're going to spin it.

 Today, with all of that being said, we are going along the topic of confidence and how confidence in leaders is felt versus even seen or heard, more than anything else. People can actually feel confidence as it exudes from you. When you feel strongly, and especially when it comes to your business in general, you need more than confidence in order to get your team on board, you need conviction. When you feel strongly about something, okay, when you are like, "Yeah, I really believe in this," that may constitute passion. Okay. So, if you're like, "You know what, I believe in feeding the hungry. My business, I believe in feeding the hungry. I'm really passionate about that." But if you've never been a starving individual, it's really hard to have that conviction.

 So there's a big difference here. There's a big difference between passion and conviction. You can stand on a pedestal and shout to the moon about how you're super passionate about something, but until you've actually lived it, you cannot have that energy that exudes from you. So, an example of this: I want you to think about a time that you have gone to a presentation. Whether it's live or it's virtual, because virtual is our world right now, but think about a time that you've gone to a presentation and you can literally feel the burning energy from the person speaking; where you are nearly or have been moved out of your seat because of their energy. You have been brought to tears because of what they're saying. You have felt laughter because of their being. That is conviction. And that's what you need to be for your team. You need to have so much confidence, and trust, and faith in what you're doing, the business that you've built, who you serve, and how you do it, that you have to show up for your team with the utmost confidence that you are unshakable. Right?

 You might be a little bit afraid. There might be things going on in your head that you're like, "Oh my goodness, this is a lot to handle." But when you're able to show up in front of your team members and have that confidence and that conviction, they can feel that. All right. Even though you might have some fear, you might be a little bit scared, they're going to feel if you still have confidence and true conviction behind what you're doing, and on the opposite end of that spectrum, you show up in front of your team... We shared some really alarming statistics last week. We talked about how only 60% of the workforce that is returning to work from this whole COVID crisis, only 60% is excited. The rest of them are absolutely not. They don't want to go back. Okay?

 What does that mean? That means 40% of people are going to be disengaged. They're not happy, their attitudes are not in the right space, and they're thinking about everywhere else that they should be besides in your office. That's alarming and that's scary, and the problem is that if you don't have confidence and conviction in who you serve, how you do it, and where the business is going, they are going to feel that. On top of all of that, this doesn't just apply to your team members, this applies to clients as well. So, that's where there is... There's a lot of danger there, but there's also a lot of opportunities.

 Bryan, I would love for you to talk about how leading with confidence, how that's really helped the dynamic with your clients. And I want to shift that gear a little bit because yes, this leadership component is really about your team and your business, and the internal workings; the point that we need to make here is that it reflects into the outside stuff too. It reflects into clients. So, Brian, I'd love to have you talk a little bit on that.
 

Bryan Sweet:
 Yeah. Thank you, Brittany. It's really more important than ever to really trust your process and when you speak to clients, speak with conviction and confidence. Matter of fact, I think everybody, if you get one thing out of today, at least from my section of this today, is I think everybody just needs to make sure that they have some kind of a system where they can, if they're having a bad day or something's happening and you're going to be speaking with a client, you have some way, or some word, or some phrase that you can read where you can turn a switch and make sure that whatever was just happening is gone and now you're in client mode and you exude confidence and happiness and all of those things. That's a really great skill set to at least be aware of before you entertain a client meeting. Especially if you've had something negative go wrong. 

 Because they, like Brittany alluded to, are going to absolutely be able to tell whether you're having a good day or a bad day. During really crazy times and stressful times like today, you need to be that guiding force and that pillar of vision of, "I can get through this. It will be better. You don't need to worry." If they sense that you're worried, they absolutely will be worried. I can't stress enough, you need to be that pillar, and they have to understand that you truly do believe whatever it is that you're saying, and it's really easy to tell if you're not.

 Another thing that I think is really, really important is, and for lack of a better term, I would say don't be wishy-washy with your clients. When they come to you and they have a question: "Am I going to be okay? Or should I be doing this? Or should I be doing that?" Don't say something like, "Well, this might be a good solution for you." Or, "This could be an okay thing." Say things like, "We would recommend you do X." Don't give them a choice. Because when you give them a choice all that's going to lead to is indecision. They come to you to help them make the right decisions, so take that upon yourself to tell them the right answer and make sure that they implement that from that point. Because clients, when they don't know, don't do anything. And as we all know, most times when you have indecision and don't take action, it leads to something bad. Sometimes even a bad action is better than no action. So, a really, really critical point.

 And then, I think the other big point is that during these times of uncertainty, it's really important to hold out your company vision. So, what do you stand for and how do you exude that during these times? Because that in and of itself will help build confidence and it gives something for clients to actually know that they're striving for. I'll give you a great book I just read that... And we talk about this all the time, but it gave a different framework than I've seen before and it turned on half a dozen new light bulbs, which Brittany probably isn't real happy about. But anyway, they're all tied in with stuff we've been working with. But the book's called Your Stand is Your Brand, and clients just need to know what you stand for.

 We've talked before, you want to get to a point where you either attract or repel people. You want to attract people that feel and want what you're good at and what you're passionate about, and you want to repel those that don't have that interest. Because ultimately, we all know, those aren't going to be very good clients. When you stand for something and you have like people join you and you follow that path, they're going to see nothing but confidence. When you and your firm don't waiver from that stand, even during negative times, so impactful. So impactful.

 So, Draye, I'd love to maybe get a little more of your thoughts on team members and confidence, and also even with dealing with clients. Because I think it's probably one of the most critical things that I can allude any success to is I really always feel like I'm positive. When I speak to clients, I speak with confidence and it shows through, and that's why people do what I say. So anyway, Draye, I'll turn it over to you.
 

Draye Redfern:

I love that. There's so much truth to that with the team, with clients, the whole nine yards. One of the things, at least for my team, that we try to instill confidence in, is give them something they don't think that they can handle. That challenges them. That, as in the last episode, that causes... That's like lifting a bicep curl. That is a cause or a catalyst for growth. And the other side around that is I only want A-players around me. I don't really want B or C-players because B or C-players will bring me down. I consider myself an A-player, and if I'm hanging out or spending time with people who are less than that, then I'm bringing myself down.

 Now, that doesn't mean that you don't bring someone on who may not have the skills or the qualities yet. I'm talking about positivity. I'm talking about aptitude. I'm talking about the insights or the willingness to work. That's what I mean by A-players. They want to take on more challenges. In order to do that, in order to prove that, I give my team a lot of things that they don't necessarily know or think that they can handle them or not. But here's what that does. If you give them something that doesn't... that helps to instill some confidence in your team, and then you help walk them through that process and you help show them how they can find success in this, it builds tremendous amounts of confidence in your team. The fact that they realize that, "You know, I didn't even think I could take this on. But now where I am 30 days later, or 60 days later, I'm not even the same person that I was. I want more."

 When they want more, they take on more. They take more ownership. They do different things on certain projects, as far as actually seeing things through and executing them. Whether that's an incredible level of client service, like the Sweet team does. Whether that's implementing projects, if someone is the doer or the implementer in an office. It doesn't matter who that person is, I like to make it challenging and then show them the path to success. And once they do that, once they have the confidence, they can take that and keep going with it. But then, I don't want to micromanage. I don't want to be the one to handhold them every step of the way or feel like they're being controlled, I want them to take ownership of that sort of stuff, and we've found that one of the easiest ways to do that.

 But going a little bit deeper into that is that, as a business owner, as a principal, or as a advisor, or whatever title that you relate to, it's important to show up every single day. Every day. Now, some days are better than other days. Some days are your highs. Other days, your lows. And believe me, I've had all of those and in between, across the board. I get it. But regardless of whether you're ups or downs, or stresses or not, energy and emotion is contagious. I think there's some old quote like, "Is your attitude worth catching?" And that's really something that I would question you on. Because I knew a lot of people that feel like they're great leaders, but they show up to the office and when something goes wrong, they're throwing stuff, or they're slamming stuff, or they're yelling at people.

 That's not a great way to lead the team and foster growth as a whole because they're probably taking outside emotions, or even inside emotion, inside the business and making that amplified because then the team picks up on that. And then the team has extra levels of uncertainty or frustration, or, "Am I getting axed?" Like, "Am I going to lose my job?" Or all of the things that could go along with that. So, showing up, keeping a level head, because we all recognize there's good days, there's bad days, there's ups, there's downs, but having that as an emotional fence that you keep contained to a certain degree. But the other side along that, I guess, the amplifier to that, that can help you overcome challenges, problems, so on and so forth, is the vulnerability.

 No one is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has screw-ups. Everybody has blunders. I'm not perfect. I got plenty of them. I am vulnerable with my team. I tell them what's working and what's not. I tell them where I'm excited. I tell them where... Like, "Let's not do it that way because I'm not excited about it, and if I'm not excited about it, I'm not going to buy into it. And if I'm not buying into it, then my energy is going to show that. And if my energy is going to show that, then you're going to pick up on that, and you're not going to do that." That's essentially the flow. That's a lot of stuff right there, but that's essentially the flow. Because I want to show up with confidence every single day. And that's what the team buys into. That really is important to be that leader and have that vulnerability and the confidence of showing the good days and the bad days, but this is what we're doing to make it right.

 That's why, in the last episode, I shared the fact that at the end of every week, we write all of our wins down. We also talk about things that don't go well. And that's just being open and being vulnerable, but leading with confidence. Knowing that whether it was good or bad, this is what we're doing to move forward and showing up every day to really embody that.

 So, Brittany, there's a couple of things I think that you probably have to probably maybe round that out. But that's my take on showing up as the leader with confidence.
 

Brittany Anderson:

I love it. I love all of it. There's a couple of things that I want to push on a little bit here. One of the things being that people often think that vulnerability and confidence are opposites, right? But they are not. But actually, they are congruent and they're one and the same. Because when you can be vulnerable with your team, they're seeing that, saying, "Wow, that person is confident enough in themselves to know that they can show these vulnerabilities and know that it's still going to be okay."

 Like Draye said, we're not asking you to show up and pretend that there's rainbow and sun shines every single day, but just showing up with the mindset of, "You know what, I have enough confidence in myself, I have confidence in the capability of my team, and I have confidence in who we serve and how we do it, that we are going to get through this. This is a challenging time. Today maybe sucks. Today's not wonderful, but it's all going to be good on the other end. I know that and I'm confident in that, and I'm going to reflect that and resemble that as a leader."

 I think that's something that is so important. And Draye, I think you laid out some really great points in that line. The other thing that I wanted to push on, and we've been talking a lot about analogies internally because we follow Mr. Don Connolly. We had him at a summit awhile ago. He's been on a podcast interview. He's just an exceptionally great guy. But I like in this analogy, when it comes to confidence and it comes to your clients, I want to shift back to this for a minute. When you think about how you communicate with your clients, think about this. If you went to a doctor, you go to the doctor, you're not really feeling well. You don't really know what you don't know. It's like, "I don't know, something's going on." And the doctor comes to you and says, "Bill, you have cancer. You might want to take advantage of some of these opportunities. But you might not. Let me know."

 "What?" You're going to sit there as the patient and be like, "Well, what the heck was that?" You want a doctor that comes in and says, "Bill, you have cancer. Here's what I recommend. Here's the course of action that can help you. And here's what we could potentially do." It's the same thing with how you advise your clients. If you come to them and you're wishy-washy at all, and you're like, "Well, this might be something that we could maybe explore," because you don't want to feel salesy.

 We hear this a lot. I mean, this is a common conversation. We have this conversation in the mastermind too. You don't want to come across as salesy, and you don't want to be pushy. A lot of advisors have gotten to where they are because they're kind and they build relationships, and they've gotten referrals, and they've done it without asking, and all of those good things. But the thing is, is that you have to be direct in your recommendation because your client or your prospect is going to look at that and say, "Wow, they know what the heck they're doing." Right? Confidence overshadows competence any day of the week. Which can be dangerous for some because there are some that take advantage of that. But in reality, it truly does. Confidence overshines competence. And you want to be and show up in that confident manner for your team, for yourself, and for your clients. It's just so darn important.

 Draye, I think, brought up a really good point about how he said that confidence is built. Right? Confidence is built by stepping outside of your comfort zone, and so that can be something that you apply to yourself. This is something that... We just kicked off week one of the accelerator program. We just started a new 90-day sprint. And we talk a lot about this, is that you know what, people who commit to programs, people that commit to growth, people who commit to, "I'm uncomfortable. I don't know what the heck I'm getting myself into. But I do know I want to grow, and I do know I want to enhance my business, and I want to make my team even better, and I want to make myself even better."

 That's how confidence is built. It's when you show yourself what you're capable of, that is where the magic lies. This is something that we stress and that we talk on a lot, especially... I mean, I look at our mastermind program and I think one of the things that comes out so often is that the only thing that really blocks us from showing up as an authentic leader in our business for our team and for our clients is the six inches between our ears. Right? And that's where we get in our own head. When we doubt ourselves, it shows on the outside. It shows when you're interacting with your team. It shows when you're interacting with your clients. It shows when you're interacting with your family. I mean, man, my kids are the first ones to sniff me out if I'm not confident on something I'm saying. They're like, "Ooh, I'm going to push that bar and see how serious mom is."

 It's the same thing when you're managing people, when you're managing a team, and when you're in front of your clients and your prospects. It is the same. So, I really want you to hone in on what confidence means to you and what you can do to enhance it so that you can show up with true conviction, so that you can show up and know without a shadow of a doubt that you're going to succeed because darn it, you are not a failure. You're not a quitter, right? If you're listening to this, you're an ultimate advisor. You're somebody who's like, "Hey, I'm going to take advantage of resources around me that are going to help me grow and that are going to help me become even better." That's what it is. That's what confidence is. It's choosing to put yourself outside of your comfort zone so that you can scale yourself, and in turn, scale your team and your business.

 Before I get into the few key takeaways, Draye, Bryan, anything else that you would care to add? Anything that you want to plug or say?
 

Draye Redfern:

No, I think, Brittany, you did a great job covering a lot of the basics of this and really diving deep to tie it off with a pretty bow here. So, no, well done.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Awesome. All right. Well, the top takeaways from today, and these are things that I want you to take seriously; I want you to really decide how you're going to take action. Number one, like Bryan alluded to, is to decide what you stand for. What is it that makes you spring out of bed in the morning; that makes you feel so confident? It might be in a service offering that you do. It might be in the shape of who you serve, like certain clients that you're like, "Man, I have so much confidence in front of them because they're delegators. They trust me. They make me feel good, and I know that I can serve them." So, decide what it is that you stand for, and then make a point to work on that every single day.

 Takeaway number two is decide where you can actually be a little bit more vulnerable to your team. Is there something that you want to say that hasn't been said? A great episode is episode 51. We interviewed David Wood, who built this whole framework on tough conversations. Maybe there's something that you want to say that you don't know how to say it, but it's going to help you be vulnerable. It might be kind of hard. It might be tough. It might push you outside your comfort zone... Which, hello, we just talked about that's what builds confidence... but decide where you can be a little bit more vulnerable for your team so that you can experience that breakthrough and that growth on the back end.

 And then, finally, decide what you are going to do to really push yourself. And like Draye said too, decide how you can push your team because that's going to build confidence all the way around. If you're giving projects to your team that makes them push outside their comfort zone and they're nailing it, what do you think that's going to do for you as the leader? That is going to absolutely give you confidence, knowing, "Wow, I don't have to be glued to my business. I don't have to be the Jack of all trades. And I now have confidence in my leadership ability because I was able to delegate and do it well. And I could probably do more of that. Let's do more of it because it's working."

 That's something that I really want you to focus on, is how can you push yourself? How can you push your team to step outside your comfort zone, to really look at how you can grow in your capabilities, how you can grow in your service offerings. I mean, I'm giving a shameless plug here, but you could send a note. Send us a note to support@ultimateadvisor.com or ultimateadvisorcoaching.com. I'm sorry. I goofed that again. Support@ultimateadvisorcoaching.com. And let's talk about how we can support you. We've got an accelerator program. We've got a mastermind program. When you look at growth... I'm saying this because I know we can help you, and I know a huge part of what we do is building the confidence and building effective leaders.

 So, that rounds out today's episode of The Ultimate Advisor podcast. We're going to catch you right here next week, as we round out how you can be an effective leader during times of adversity.

 Hey, there. Brittany Anderson here. If you are loving what you're hearing on our Ultimate Adviser podcast, don't keep us a secret. Share us with other advisors that you think would benefit from the messages that you are hearing. The easiest way to do that is just simply send them to ultimateadvisorpodcast.com. And if you want to learn a few other ways that we could potentially serve you as an advisor, go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com. As always, we are so happy to have you here with us as part of the Ultimate Advisor community, and we look forward to a continued relationship.