Guest: Amit Dogra, President and COO of tru Independence. tru offers an open architecture platform that provides a full suite of services that advisors need to manage and grow their business effectively.

In a Nutshell: In 2022, I crunched the numbers from Charles Schwab’s 2022 RIA Benchmarking Study and spotted an alarming trend: net organic revenue growth is almost non-existent in our industry. Solving that problem isn’t just a matter of running a better marketing campaign or asking clients for more referrals. It requires an understanding that every facet of your organization is interconnected and must be thoughtfully designed to support and reinforce your ultimate aim.

Amit Dogra and I discuss:

• Six specific areas that leaders need to focus on to build a highly functional, growth-minded firm.
• The relationship between total client experience and organic growth.
• Using your Why Story to enhance your culture and deepen your connection to employees and clients.
• The question tru Independence is asking itself as it redefines its purpose.
• How leaders and entrepreneurs should think about their responsibilities when it comes to driving growth.
• Why it’s worth investing in relationships even if there isn’t a direct “dollars and cents” ROI.
• Why Amit believes advisor technology is heading toward what he calls “experience as a service” that’s part of a “single source code” instead of best of breed or integrated but separate applications.
• Building excellent service around your team’s unique skillsets.
• How Amit fosters a curious spirit that helps him see the big picture and connect some surprising dots.

Resources Related to This Episode

• Elliot Weissbluth on building $30 billion RIA HighTower Amit chuckled when I mentioned Elliot’s habit of “firing” himself at the end of every year — turns out he encouraged people who worked for him to do the same!
• Elliot Weissbluth on management: Fire yourself every year I dug into Elliot’s methods and philosophy a little deeper in this article I wrote for InvestmentNews.
• Deconstructing Amazon’s Massive Growth by Working Backwards with Bill Carr Amit is an admirer of Amazon’s leadership principles, and I talked to one of the company’s key executives about the insights, stories, and secrets that propelled Amazon to the top.
• Building an Interconnected Technology Future Ainslie Simmonds, President of Pershing X, talked to me about how an interconnected suite of financial applications could help advisors spend more time doing what they do best: delivering human-to-human interactions.
• The Digital Money Advisor Podcast Amit says you don’t have to believe in Bitcoin. But you do have to have an informed opinion when your clients come to you with questions. In this year-long podcast series, I talked to leading thinkers in the crypto space.

Guest: Leslie Y. Tabor, Director of Business Consulting and Education at Charles Schwab Advisor Services.

In a Nutshell: Most successful RIA leaders have been very intentional about hiring top talent in this competitive jobs market. But the best of the best are now being just as intentional about diversifying their talent to create a more dynamic culture capable of delivering more value to clients.

Leslie Tabor explains how Charles Schwab is helping RIAs build diverse cultures based on four pillars:

1. Cultivating an inclusive workplace culture.
2. Attracting, developing. and retaining a diverse workforce.
3. Serving the needs of a diverse marketplace.
4. Supporting diverse communities.