I spend most of my time listening to advisory leaders.
In my role leading practice management, I have the privilege of sitting across from founders, next-gen partners, COOs, and team leads who are all trying to solve some version of the same problem:
How do we build a firm that lasts — through growth, succession, and whatever the markets (or life) throw at us?
In my recent conversation with Ryan Halls on M&A Confidential, we talked about what I’m actually seeing across the RIA landscape right now: in rooms at conferences, in leadership offsites, and inside the data we gather from firms around the world.
A few themes keep showing up.
1. Great rooms are built, not accidental
I’ve been part of a lot of events over the years — both the ones we host and the ones our teams attend. When I think about the gatherings that genuinely move the needle for advisors, they have a few things in common:
They attract people who see themselves as students of the industry. The investment philosophy is largely settled, which frees up space to talk about business building, people, and client experience.
There’s a culture of generous sharing. Firms are willing to talk candidly about what’s working, what isn’t, and what they’re still figuring out.
The experience is intentionally designed: from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you head home with a notebook full of ideas.
When I think about how advisors can apply that to their own worlds — whether it’s a client event, a team retreat, or a working session with next-gen leaders — my advice is simple:
Be clear about who’s in the room, why they’re there, and what you want them to walk away with. The quality of the conversation usually follows the quality of that intention.
When I think about the gatherings that genuinely move the needle for advisors, they have a few things in common:
They attract people who see themselves as students of the industry. The investment philosophy is largely settled, which frees up space to talk about business building, people, and client experience.
There’s a culture of generous sharing. Firms are willing to talk candidly about what’s working, what isn’t, and what they’re still figuring out.
The experience is intentionally designed: from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you head home with a notebook full of ideas.
When I think about how advisors can apply that to their own worlds — whether it’s a client event, a team retreat, or a working session with next-gen leaders — my advice is simple:
Be clear about who’s in the room, why they’re there, and what you want them to walk away with. The quality of the conversation usually follows the quality of that intention.
2. M&A shouldn’t start with a term sheet
One of the biggest shifts I’m seeing is when M&A and succession conversations start.
The firms that end up in the hardest spot usually show up late. There’s a retirement date, a health issue, or an unsolicited offer on the table, and all of a sudden the clock is ticking.
By contrast, the firms that tend to navigate transition more smoothly start much earlier.
They’re asking:
What could we look like in 3, 5, 10, 15 years?
If we did pursue a transaction, what paths would be on the table?
What would internal succession look like versus partnering with someone external?
You don’t have to carve anything in stone, but having a shared picture of possible futures changes the tone of the conversation. It gives your leadership, your next-gen advisors, and your team more time to react, contribute, and align.
My encouragement to firm leaders is always the same: start earlier than feels comfortable. The cost of being “too early” is small; the cost of being late can be existential.
3. Advice is becoming experiential, not just analytical
Another important trend: what advisory firms actually do for clients is expanding.
Every year we look at the services advisors are offering. Every year, that list gets longer. On average, firms are now providing well over a dozen distinct services.
The areas where I’m seeing the most movement are often:
Estate-related guidance and coordination
Tax preparation and planning support
Family-office-style offerings that deepen the relationship beyond the portfolio
On a P&L, some of those services can look like loss leaders. In real life, they tend to:
Make relationships stickier
Pull the advisor closer to the whole family system
Position the firm as the central thinking partner, not just “the investment person”
So a question I’m putting back to advisory leaders is:
If you looked at your service model today, would a client describe it as a list of tasks… or as a cohesive experience?
4. Fun, friction, and who you hire next
Ryan and I also talked about something more personal: the tension founders feel between the work they love doing and the work they’re pulled to do as they grow.
As firms add services and complexity, it becomes harder to stay in your “fun zone” as a leader. You know what needs to get done to support clients and the team, but it’s not always the work that gives you energy.
One response I’m seeing is a shift in hiring.
Yes, technical comfort still matters — someone on your team needs to enjoy being in a spreadsheet. But increasingly, firms are optimizing for:
High EQ and soft skills
The ability to communicate with people wired very differently
A kind of hospitality mindset about client experience
That’s leading more firms to look beyond traditional career paths, and to seriously consider candidates from other people-focused industries. They’re asking, “Who will make our clients feel understood and cared for?” not just “Who checks the technical boxes?”
It’s a subtle but meaningful shift in how advisory practices think about talent.
5. Five lenses for building a more resilient firm
When I think about how we organize our work with advisory firms, I tend to come back to five core areas. Regardless of who you partner with, these are useful lenses to look through:
Strategic planning
How did you get here? Where are you now? What could the future state look like?
Taking the time to answer those questions with your leadership team pays off in every other decision you make.
Human capital
People decisions are usually the biggest line item in the budget and the biggest driver of culture. When to hire, who to hire, how to structure roles and compensation — those aren’t “HR issues,” they’re strategic ones.
Operations, technology, and workflows
The invisible systems behind the scenes determine how easy (or hard) it is to deliver on the promises you’ve made to clients.
Client experience
From the first meeting to major life transitions to family involvement, how intentional are you about the experience clients are having with your firm?
Growth and channels
Referrals, COIs, centers of influence, strategic partnerships — what’s actually driving new relationships, and how consistent is that engine?
When firms step back and look at their practice through these lenses, they usually see both strengths and gaps. That’s where the real work begins.
History, people, and the next chapter
One of the things I mentioned to Ryan is that we can’t escape the history of our firms.
Every advisory business carries:
The story of how it was founded
The sacrifices made to get here
The culture that’s formed over time
The aspirations of the people who want to own and lead it next
Any significant change — especially a transaction — touches all of that.
For me, that’s why values, clarity, and communication matter so much. Whether you’re thinking about internal succession, exploring outside partners, or simply trying to build a stronger firm where you are, it’s worth the effort to start from that foundational level.
Because at the end of the day, this isn’t just about numbers on a page. It’s about people, their lives, and the firms they’ve trusted with their futures.