You Started Your Own Advisory Firm. Now What?

You’ve realized your dream and opened your own registered investment advisory firm. You’re the chief executive officer. 

But do you know how to execute the responsibilities of a CEO?

Entrepreneurial leadership, Gordon Ross, chief client officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, says in an interview with ThinkAdvisor, “is, in particular, thinking about the shadow that you cast as a leader — how your behavior as a CEO dictates behavior within the organization.”

Since 97% of Dynasty’s network of independent advisors are first-time CEOs, the firm coaches them through its “Advisor-to-CEO” program, launched two years ago.

This features, in addition to year-round, one-on-one coaching, an annual three-day event at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where partner firms’ CEOs take classes with Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors.

At last month’s event, one session about the client experience had the CEOs putting themselves in the client’s shoes starting with their first engagement as a prospect. The most popular segment turned out to be about artificial intelligence.

“The professors went around the room and helped each CEO use AI,” Ross, who oversees Dynasty’s relationship management team as well as its training and coaching programs, noted in the interview. 

ThinkAdvisor recently spoke with Ross, who was on the phone from St. Petersburg, Florida, where Dynasty is headquartered. Here are highlights of our interview:

THINKADVISOR: Why did Dynasty start its “Advisor-to-CEO” program?

GORDON ROSS: The one thing that unites 97% of firms in Dynasty’s network is that the person in charge is a CEO for the first time.

So they often come to us with coaching needs and look upon us as an advisor to help them become the best leaders they can be. 

What’s the program’s specific goal?

To provide our RIAs with a lot of entrepreneurial, leadership and strategic planning coaching, and transition them from being [a top advisor in a large firm] to the CEO of a top RIA. 

What’s the biggest feature of the program?

A three-day event at MIT Sloan School of Management, where classroom work is done with professors focusing on a variety of topics.

Year-round, we have webinars and one-on-one coaching provided by Dynasty’s relationship management team.

What do Dynasty’s RIAs need most from the program?

If you were to ask all the CEOs, I think many would say [coaching on] their own personal role and responsibility around client management.

They’d say, “Many of the biggest clients are here because of me. And perhaps I’m nervous about that. Maybe the bulk of the business development comes through me. And all the new clients are coming through me.

“So if I were to focus on executive tasks, would that mean that growth would fall off?” 

What was the most popular session of the event you held at MIT last month?

How AI will be used in the wealth management world right now.

ChatGPT is available on the open market. Anybody can log into it, and it’s free to use.

How did the professors use that?