Seven Characteristics Of CEOs
In my experience and research, here are seven characteristics shared by leading CEOs of RIA firms.
1. They allocate their time on CEO-level activities.
This one seems obvious but many advisors who want to build a billion-dollar RIA find their days still filled doing review meetings with clients. Generally speaking, CEOs don’t have prime responsibility for meeting with clients and making planning recommendations. They do, however, meet with key clients frequently as part of their relationship-building role—more on that in a moment.
So how do CEOs allocate their time? On my podcast, United Capital CEO Joe Duran said, “I allocate a third on communication, a third in idea creation and a third in just allocating resources.” Interestingly, he said as the company has gotten bigger, “The work that I do is more and more fun because I have people around me doing the stuff I really dislike.”
As your company grows, you have to be willing to let go of much of the plumbing. “If a business hasn't grown beyond a certain level, it is always because the guy or gal at the top simply will not expand the base of decision making,” said Duran.
Bring in sharp people that you trust, separate the functions of business development, advising clients and investment management, insert key functional leaders, then you, as the CEO, can be the orchestra leader, visionary and poet.
Marty Bicknell, CEO of Mariner Holdings, said on my podcast that he relishes the time he spends on the leadership aspects of being a CEO. For example, he said his unique ability is, “helping people understand what their unique ability is and helping people understand how to get from point A to point B.” This is part of the “poetry” of leadership and Bicknell said, “I really enjoy doing and get a lot of satisfaction out of helping people accomplish things that they're not sure they can accomplish.”
Action Step: On a regular basis, start asking yourself, “Is this what a CEO would do?” If it’s not, then stop it!
2. They’re talent attractors.
The success of your business is positively correlated to the quality of people in it. As a CEO, if I was forced to spend all of my time on just one activity, I would spend it on hiring and developing my team.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to get the absolutely best people possible on your team. Looking back on past companies, I can clearly see how the right people made a huge impact on the success of those businesses. They made my job easier by allowing me to spend more time focusing on my highest and best use instead of watching over the work of weak performers.
Top CEOs keep a running list of people they’d like to hire, and they network constantly to keep the list fresh. Then when the time arises for a new hire, they have an immediate list of potential candidates.
In addition to being a talent attractor, CEOs have to make the tough decisions to let people go who are no longer a fit. The old saying, “What got you here won’t get you there” is often true when it comes to the people in your company. The operations manager you hired when your firm was at $100 million likely won’t be your COO when you’re at $2 billion in AUM.
Action Step: Review your key team members and make the necessary changes to ensure you have no weak links.