3. Do the next generation of firm leaders fit culturally with current and future leaders? We talk a lot about culture in our firms, but the culture of the leadership team demands that principals know how to disagree behind closed doors and present a unified force once they step out of the boardroom. After all, business partnerships are really about learning how to make relationships productive.
4. Should G2 entrepreneurs be clones of the founders? This is one myth we must dispel: They will not look like you! They should not look like you. As the world and your business evolve, leadership, too, must bring new skills and vision to the business. When we started 25 or 35 years ago, who would have imagined our dependence on technology? Who would have thought that the next generation of clients would want a client service model that looks so different from that of their parents? The next generation of firm leadership brings a new and necessary perspective that the last generation cannot and will not have.
Entrepreneurship, paradoxically, emerges in an environment of safety. Much like babies who would venture out to explore their environments, entrepreneurs “crawl” their way through ideas. But they can only do it when they feel “safe.” Safety does not mean without risk, just that there is no risk of catastrophe. Entrepreneurs won’t take risks that are fatal.
Both of us have started and own businesses. Both of us consider ourselves entrepreneurs and are proud of that T-shirt. But we also cultivated our experience and careers in large, established corporations. Being an entrepreneur is like skiing a black run—it is an awesome experience, but you can’t start there.
Entrepreneurs emerge in the greatest numbers in an environment where there is risk but where that risk is not overwhelming. This is what G2 needs—an environment where their mistakes will not end their careers and destroy their firms.
Care and Feeding of G2 Entrepreneurs
If you want G2 professionals to flourish, it’s imperative to mentor them and help them develop those “entrepreneurial skills.” That means they should understand what it means to be an entrepreneur, they should develop sales abilities, they should be able to envision the future, and they should be able to innovate. These are all skills that the next generation of firm leaders can acquire. But doing so requires an investment of time from both them and their mentors. We recommend formal mentorship programs in firms for G2 leaders through one-on-one development. The founders should put an individual development plan in place. This is not a job performance improvement plan, but a “developing entrepreneurial skills” plan. The up-and-comers need to hear all the stories—the good, the bad, the ugly—and learn from the current leaders’ previous experiences.
The magic of an entrepreneur is that he or she can observe the world around and constantly ask “Why?” or “How?” and what it means for business. For example, how will the service models change over the next five or 10 years to meet the needs of a changing client demographic?
That observation also requires some dreaming about the future.
Firm founders do this when they first start. They see a future where clients will pay for objective advice. They anticipate clients turning to them for help with all financial decisions.