• The opportunity to innovate. Most of all this means innovating in client service. The definitions of “wealth management,” “advice,” “planning” and “family office services” have yet to be written. Innovative leaders look ambitiously at what their firms are doing and think beyond the preparation of financial plans and balanced portfolios. As technology changes the basics of the business, G2 can create a service model that combines the power of data and relationships and create a new idea of what it means to work with an advisor.

• The opportunity to expand. Most young firms still have the survival syndrome—in other words, they have a hard time thinking past mere surviving. G2 can envision new markets to cover, can expand to new demographics or address new services.

• The opportunity to improve. Innovation can also be incremental. There is so much to improve in a firm—from its marketing and business development to its technology, operations and financial management. Henry Ford did not invent the car. He improved the method for its production.

All of these are avenues for entrepreneurship are available to G2 professionals as long as they can find their entrepreneurial gene.

Are Entrepreneurs Born or Raised?

Which raises an important question. Is it a gene or a skill?

Entrepreneurs are so rare that many people think it must be the former. But having worked with thousands of business owners and G2 professionals across many industries, we strongly believe that most professionals have the capacity for entrepreneurship. They just need to develop it.

To do so, we would invite business leaders to ask the following questions about their colleagues:

1. Do your future entrepreneurs have the potential to be “rock stars” in their current roles? Do they demonstrate a desire for expertise and view learning as a journey that never ends? Entrepreneurs don’t have to all look alike, but they all must be intensely curious about their business and the world around them.

2. Do the next generation employees contribute to the business beyond their job functions? We have all heard before that the business owner is the chief cook and bottle washer. But advisory founders must understand much more than just investments, planning, client service, reporting, billing, etc. The real test of whether they are entrepreneurs is their ability to look at their business in its entirety and understand how it might achieve success in the future.