Books we think Buddy would definitely love
Take it from Buddy, the happy-go-lucky elf played by Will Ferrell in the 2003 movie Elf, “there’s room for everyone on the Nice List!” Use this guide for last minute gift ideas or look ahead to the new year and add them to your own TBR (to be read) list. Happy new year and happy reading!
For the advisor who is: always game to innovate their approach
Being wrong is awesome! Don’t believe us? Then believe Grant who talks all about how great political forecasters love being wrong in the short term because it means they can get on with being right in the long term. Think Again asks us to revaluate how we approach everything we do because we may just find that there’s a better way. Discover concepts like the Dunning-Kruger effect and learn how incorporating practices like confident humility and leading with curiosity can flip the script of your practice, for the better.
For the advisor who is: interested in keeping up with increasingly diverse client needs
If you’ve been in the industry a while, look at your clients today compared to thirty, 20, or even 10 years ago. Consider our increasingly globalized world and then think ahead to thirty years from now. How might your client pool change? What have your clients historically cared about and what might their kids care about in the years to come? Diversity is about everyone, not just a specific group or minority. Each of us is unique which means we’re all diverse. Building a House for Diversity can help you increase the longevity of your own practice, as well as that of your clients by bringing you back to the basics: people!
For the advisor who is: looking to excel in complex environments
Simple problems are often solved with simple solutions. This idea calls to mind Occam’s razor, a mental model which, in colloquial terms, stipulates “the simplest explanation is preferable to one that is more complex.” But does this logic hold fast in a world facing increasingly complex problems? Problems which, according to Garvey Berger, are biologically difficult for us to adapt to because our instincts are suited for “a more predictable version of the world”? Learn about the five mindtraps responsible for tripping us up and how to avoid them. Let Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps be your guide to the VUCA galaxy.
For the advisor who is: curious about how gendered experience can impact entrepreneurship
More than 11.6 million women-run U.S. firms generated over $1.7 trillion in annual sales as of 2017. When you consider these stats in the context of North America’s looming business disruption crisis, you get a sense of how economically important it is for women entrepreneurs to have access to good exit planning and advice. Poised for Exit is an invaluable resource to all advisors looking to round-out their services by better understanding how gender can affect being an entrepreneur.
For the advisor who is: making client discovery a priority in the new year
Advisors commonly get caught up in a solutions-based approach when it comes to client discovery because they are eager to solve problems and demonstrate professional expertise. But according to Murphy, “to be a good listener is to accept pauses and silences because filling them too soon, much less pre-emptively, prevents the speaker from communicating what they are perhaps struggling to say. It quashes elaboration and prevents real issues from coming to the surface.” Better discovery starts with better listening and You’re Not Listening will show you what that means and how to do it.