The Growth Mindset

Chapter 9Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent

“The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.”

—Steve Jobs

Leaders with a growth mindset recognize the need to recruit, develop, and deploy the talent of others. Such leaders are hyper‐focused on attracting and retaining top talent. They don't just look for advisors with a big book of business. They look for talent that will grow with the firm and add good energy while doing so. The best place to start looking for leads is right in your own office.  These are the people you know and who know you.  You should always be looking for new advisors. That's the only way to have a sense of control over your own destiny and to ensure that you are not being held hostage by those who are a poor cultural fit.

Over the past 10 years I have asked managers in every channel what percentage of their advisors they would replace if they could wave a magic wand. Their answers run a range from 10 to 30 percent. No matter how you look at it, that's a lot of advisors. One of the ways I interpret those percentages is like this: those teams, departments, and firms are 10 to 30 percent less efficient and successful than they can be. My point is that you have room to build the type of culture that you envision; you just need to attract those advisors who will better serve the client and your overall strategy.

When I was a manager, I offered my team members an incentive of 2 percent of their trailing ...