Advisory Leadership: Using the Seven Steps of Heart Culture to Create Lasting Success for Any Wealth Management Firm

Afterword

When I met Greg Friedman early in 2001, he already understood the value of having an executive coach. He’d worked with several to help with his own growth previously, and was now looking for someone to facilitate a retreat for Friedman & Associates. But before I met his team Greg wanted the two of us to work together and build a relationship that would allow me to look from the outside in at how he ran his business and to give him unbiased feedback. He was—and is—very thoughtful and paid great care to due diligence. We spent three months working together before his retreat to get to know each other, and this gave me great insight into who he was as a leader and as a person.

That first retreat included a small group of people, and in all honesty I felt a little (expected) apprehension from the group. It’s always a bit strange to have someone at a company event who is not really part of the team.

But Greg quickly set the tone that I was there to help, not critique, how the firm was doing. We got on really well that first time out, and years afterward people became more and more comfortable with me, even making me feel like one of the gang. That easy camaraderie is part of how Greg makes people feel included, and it is really a testament to how well he chooses the right people for his team.

At Junxure, Greg brought me in very early to help facilitate its company retreats. There were maybe six or so people back then, and Greg was really focused on how he could run two ...