Do Something New: Be Bold

One thing is for sure: time flies when you’re having fun!I

It’s hard to believe I am completing my second year with ConvergenceCoaching. I have learned a lot over the past two years working with our clients to help them achieve success. In this blog I’d like to share a selection of my newly attained wisdom.

  • There is no success without succession. To be effective, succession planning must be part of the day-to-day operation of your firm, not a “life event” that occurs once every generation. Succession needs to be planned, so that client relationships can be properly transitioned, new roles can be learned, and the financial aspects can be adequately covered.
  • Trust is a critical success factor in high performing and successful organizations, and fundamental to achieving sustained success in business and life. The lack of trust is like an additional tax burden on your firm, while an increased trust level is like a dividend. The bottom line: We must all get better at trusting and being trusted.
  • Success is a “team sport. Many firms operate like a collection of sole proprietors sharing a common name, office space and administrative infrastructure. Rather than banding together for collective success, the focus is often on “doing it my way,” internal competition, and maximizing personal success. In such firms, we find little happiness or satisfaction. We are meant to succeed together.
  • Most people, given the option, do not engage in any sort of personal or professional goal setting process.This often stems from the false belief that staying put is somehow “safer” and less risky than taking the bold action needed to achieve success. Those who do set goals often do so in an ineffective and uninspiring way, by aiming at “minimum performance,” setting too many goals, or setting “squishy” goals that lack specificity and measurability. Step 1 -Start setting goals. Step 2- Stop behaviors which “sabotage” your success.
  • Goal setting is only an interesting mental exercise if you don’t transition to Step 3 - Goal achieving. Those who are really serious about achieving their goals willingly submit to a process of accountability, which includes: putting your goals in writing, sharing your goals with others, establishing a “return and report” process with interim action steps and milestones, and getting better at skills needed to achieve your goals (e.g., delegation, time management.) Achieving your goals still takes hard work and effort. Nothing worthwhile is easy.  
  • The real value of a firm is in its people rather than its clients. The most successful firms succeed by developing and nurturing their people to become future leaders. Emphasizing people development addresses the “ripple effect” often caused when roles change as part of the succession process, along with increasing the capability, commitment and “bench strength” of the firm’s next generation of “rising stars.” And firms that provide a clear “path to partner” have a competitive advantage over those who chose not to take on this challenge.

All firms that I’ve had the privilege to work with are facing these challenges. This struggle is common and “normal.” But I have to ask, “Why be satisfied with “normal?” I don’t know about you, but my excitement goes through the roof when I think about the possibilities for the firm whose leaders choose to take on these challenges to success. So, as we end another year and prepare for the next, I strongly urge you to: Do Something New: Be Bold!


I look forward to beginning Year 3 with ConvergenceCoaching, to even greater learning, and above all to taking bold action in helping our clients succeed. If you have any BOLD ideas or experiences to share, please post them so others can benefit.

Best regards,
Jack