G2: Building the Next Generation

CHAPTER 1Who Are G2s?

There were about 30 people in the room. They were gathered for a study‐group meeting and half of them were founders who years ago had started some of the largest and most successful advisory firms in the country. The other half were younger. They had joined the firms in the last 10 years as employees and had over time risen to become owners and leaders in their respective organizations. This collection of firms was called the younger group G2, short for second generation, to signify that they were not founders but rather the next generation.

A founder by the name of Richie Lee stood up. He spoke slowly and his words were rather poetic. “If a business is like a painting,” Richee said, “I want my business to be a beautiful painting that people can see even after I am gone. I want it to be a painting that lasts and endures.”

Becky Krieger, one of the G2 participants, got up to respond and what she said, to this day, best illustrates for me the dynamic between the generations of leaders inside advisory firms. “Richee,” she said, “You have to remember we are artists, too. We are not here just to preserve your painting. We are here because we want to create our own works as well. We want to add to your painting and we want to paint our own!”

Rebecca represents the G2s whom this book is about. They are talented, ambitious, and driven. They are experienced and accomplished in their profession. They are young but not youngsters; they have one or two decades of achievements ...