After graduating with a degree in economics from Yeshiva University in 1984, Goldberg worked in life insurance sales and then as a cost and productivity analyst with Bowery Savings Bank. He then took a job as an analyst in 1989 with Integrated Resources Equity Group, later renamed Royal Alliance when it was bought a year later by SunAmerica. He arrived at the company just about the time it had declared bankruptcy. Goldberg stayed on, however, and was part of a core of executives that was able to turn the company around in four years. It was during that recovery period that Goldberg, whose responsibilities gradually grew, was put in charge of starting up a fee-based advisory services division.

By the time he left in 1995-to go on hiatus in Israel with his wife and children-Royal Alliance had been restored as the largest independent broker-dealer in the business. "We were a firm that was regarded as a business that soon was going to end," he said of the early years right after the bankruptcy.

Over the next several years, Goldberg worked as a consultant out of his home in Israel. Royal Alliance, meanwhile, was caught up in the events surrounding SunAmerica's merger with AIG and regulatory actions stemming from scandals at a couple of its branch offices. Both proved distracting.

He maintained contact with SunAmerica, however, and in 1999 he agreed to take on the job of setting up a SunAmerica broker-dealer in Tokyo. After nine months, he was asked to return to become an executive vice president with SunAmerica Financial Network, the predecessor of what would become the AIG Advisor Group. Then, a little over a year later, he accepted an offer to return to Royal Alliance as president.

"As ironic as things turned out, I saw it as an enormous opportunity," he says. "It has been my goal from the day I accepted the job to make it number one again."

Out With The Status Quo

Goldberg's first few months at Royal Alliance must have been reminiscent of his childhood days at the family dinner table, because he spent that time getting opinions-from just about everyone. He went on road trips during which he spoke to the firm's reps. He spoke to many of the 250 employees at the firm's midtown Manhattan office. He spoke to many of the 325 managing executives who head Royal Alliance's branch offices.

What he found was pervasive uncertainty on all levels. "With change, people have a lot of reasons to have doubt," he says. "There were a lot of questions about where the organization was headed. Were we going to grow again? Were we going to deliver more value-added services than we had in the past?"

The first thing Goldberg did was ensure that a communication system was in place that kept everyone fully informed as changes did happen. So he asked for a copy of every communication that had been sent by the home office over the previous six months. What he got back was a six-inch thick stack of papers, memos and notices.

The firm's advisors, it turned out, were being bombarded with so much paper they were missing some important pieces of information buried within. It resulted in a total reorganization of the firm's communication system, including a streamlining of mailed materials and the expansion of Web-based communications that could be accessed at any time.

He also emphasizes face-to-face meetings, and spends 20% of his time visiting the firm's field offices. At headquarters, he holds quarterly employee meetings and runs a monthly "breakfast with the boss" with employees who are celebrating birthdays in that particular month.