Mentoring talent

00:00:05 – LESLIE:
Hi everyone. I'm Leslie Tabor, Managing Director of Business Consulting and Education for Schwab Advisor Services, and this is Schwab @Home. 

At Schwab, my team focuses on creating programs and resources that help advisors attract, develop, and retain the best talent at their firm. We believe that talent is really what sets companies apart. In fact, we believe this so strongly that it's represented in one of our five Guiding Principles for Advisory Firm Success. That principle states "Your people are your most important asset."

00:00:41
Now joining me today to talk about the importance of mentorship and to attracting and retaining talent to build a sustainable firm is Allan Boomer, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Momentum Advisors. Hi, Allan. It's great to see you again. Thanks for joining me today.

00:00:59 – ALLAN:
Thanks for having me. It's always a pleasure.

00:01:02 – LESLIE:
Awesome. Well, Allan, can you tell us a little bit about your firm and your own leadership style?

00:01:08 – ALLAN:
Sure. So my firm is Momentum Advisors. We're based in New York City. We have clients all over the country. We started out with me, just by myself, in my parents' basement. And I'm super proud today, we're in two offices, we have about 10 employees, and we're managing just under $300 million. I started the firm after leaving Goldman Sachs, and my goal was to create a firm that would, number one, give you the caliber of advice that you get from a bulge bracket firm, but, number two, to do it in a fiduciary capacity, and, number three, to do it with people who are really on par with Wall Street, on par with any other kind of major firm, or maybe even a little bit better. Who knows?  You know, that… that was pretty much the emphasis of the firm.

00:01:54
My leadership style is leading by inspiration. I think that you can like show people what to do, you can tell people what to do, but you really need to inspire them because we're in a business that it's very subjective, it's very much a business that's about feel, not necessarily just about numbers. And so if we can inspire people to help people, and to really listen and inspire them to help these clients to express themselves through their money and their financial decisions, while making sure that they're hitting their financial goals along the way, we can't help but be successful.

00:02:33 – LESLIE:
I love it. That is so great to hear. It really sounds like you've created meaning for your employees. 

You know, a Deloitte study shared that retention is 25% higher for employees who have mentors that are actively engaged in supporting their development, and we know that highly engaged employees report finding meaning in their work, and it's those same employees that tend to be more productive and more creative, and, honestly, they just stay longer. Now, you and I have talked about mentoring a couple of times. Can you say more about your approach to mentoring and coaching and the lessons that you've learned?

00:03:12 – ALLAN:
Absolutely. Well, for one, I'm sitting here as the product of some great mentoring and coaching. If it weren't for the folks that were helping me throughout my process, I would not be here right now. And so I think, number one, mentoring is a great opportunity to just give back just for the sake of the other person, even if it never benefits you at all. You know, I think the definition of mentoring, in my mind, it's to give someone advice and guidance in a way that benefits them with no benefit back to you at all. It… it's very similar to the fiduciary relationship that we share with our clients. If you can help people, you'll be rewarded.

00:03:51
Also, it's sort of a way of recruiting, if you will. Like there are… when you're mentoring someone you really get to know them really well, they really are grateful for the advice and guidance, and even if they don't join your firm one day, they'll probably have such a great experience with you that they'll tell a friend and you'll recruit in that way. But at the end of the day, mentoring is all about giving back. It's all about the other person. It's not about you at all.

00:L04:17 – LESLIE:
I love that. Sign me up. So… you know, we're so lucky to have you, Allan, joining our new DEI Advocacy Board to help select the recipients of our RIA Talent Advantage Scholarship, and to serve as a mentor to one of the winners. 

00:04:32
Speaking of new talent in the industry, how have you found ways to bring in new and younger talent to Momentum Advisors?

00:04:40 – ALLAN:
First of all, I'm really excited about joining this effort because I think our industry really needs diversity. You know, when you think about the world, you know, talent is evenly distributed throughout the world, but opportunity is not. And opportunity is what these folks need and our industry needs, and I'm super excited to be a part of that.

00:04:59
Our approach to recruiting and bringing in talent really centers around just exposure. We constantly are in the public and we're just attracting both clients and also people who want to work for us. We have a very popular podcast called The Momentum Advisors, where we talk about financial literacy, and wealth, building and entrepreneurship. And we do it in a very kind of kitchen table-type of way, and it really attracts a ton of people. We're also really active in the financial literacy community, writing for magazines, such as Financial Planning magazine. We go on TV a lot on places like CNBC and Bloomberg. And by elevating the profile of our firm, it also helps to bring in more eyeballs and more people who want to work here.

00:05:43 – LESLIE:
I love it. I've had a chance to catch a couple of your podcasts and it is very much the kitchen table conversation. And what I love is it's a chance to get to know you personally. You're bringing forward a lot of critical topics, but getting to know you and your partners at your firm comes through, as well. 

00:05:59
So thank you so much, Allan, for joining me today and sharing your insights. I appreciate you and all that you're doing for your firm and our industry, and I really look forward to speaking again when we start working together at the DEI Advocacy Board.

00:06:13
And thanks to everybody for listening from all of us at Schwab Advisor Services. I'm Leslie Tabor, and this has been another edition of Schwab @Home.  Be well, everyone.

The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Winning over the next generation of leaders
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