A CEO Walks Away: What's Next for Eric Clarke, Orion

Over the past few years, we made seven acquisitions. They allowed us to take the integration of technology to [a higher phase]; for example, to facilitate moving data from our portfolio accounting system into a CMS [client management system], into financial planning systems, into all the other technology advisors use.

What are the implications?

We ultimately capitalized on an opportunity to take that integration to a whole other level, which is what we're still working on.

We were able to make significant progress toward integrating the core components that advisors use to run their businesses because we not only had an open architecture framework but we executed a series of acquisitions that allowed us to aggressively expand our capabilities more broadly to the advisors we serve.

Who most helped you in your career?

I worked side by side with my father, Patrick Clarke, founder and CEO of our family RIA. for over a decade.

I learned so many great things from him — from the type of attitude and approach you [need] to always looking forward to future-proofing your business, and above all, the importance of building strong relationships and appreciating your clients.

Any other leadership lessons that you've learned over the years?

Being a servant leader is incredibly important. Here's a piece of advice my father gave me years and years ago: "Never ask someone to do something that you wouldn't want to do yourself."

On everything I asked our team members to do, I was always willing to roll up my sleeves, jump in and work side by side with them. 

The way I looked at it was that I had 1,400 team members that I was there to help and support in any way I could with resources and skills to be successful in serving our clients.

Have you made any leadership mistakes?

Lots of them! One was that I probably didn't get a coach early enough in my career. I afforded myself the opportunity to work with a coach only for the last 11 or 12 years. 

I should have done that a lot sooner because it would have not only helped develop me as a leader but helped our company grow faster.

When I became a member of Vistage International, I got together for discussions with other CEOs and met with a coach on a monthly basis, who really helped me see that challenges were actually opportunities to correct course.

And the quicker we could correct course, the more competitive we would be.

What are financial advisors doing well nowadays, and what do they need to adjust?

When you look at behavioral finance being integrated into the processes, it really shows that advisors have a deep interest in helping clients feel understood.

That's very exciting because it presents an opportunity for us in the advice space to expand past people with finance, accounting and economics degrees and start incorporating those with social sciences or psychology backgrounds, which will help us drive connection with the clients.

One of the most important things an advisor can do is help the client feel understood when it comes to all things financial and money-related so they feel they have a trusted resource to go to in order to bounce questions off and rely on to get answers that are in their best interest.  

Trust creates a catalyst to accelerate progress. That's what's happening right now in our industry because we're integrating all aspects of behavioral finance into the [client] relationship.

Folks have helped you in your career. Are you helping anyone right now?

I'm serving on some boards, including the Orion board. I'm also a volunteer helping student entrepreneurs who want to start businesses. There's nothing more exciting than starting a new business.

These college students are exploring different ideas — some crazy — to see what might be possible. 

I'm looking forward to doing more volunteering in the future, helping to move young entrepreneurs' ideas into success.

How does volunteering help you?

I've only been retired for a couple of weeks now, so this is new for me. But it's something I got involved with a month or so ago, and it really elevates my energy level, for sure.

Pictured: Eric Clarke