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Practice Management > Building Your Business > Leadership

Leaders Need 'Micro-Knowledge' to Achieve Big Goals

By Jane Wollman Rusoff

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For many, great leadership begins with being a people person. But among other essentials, you need “micro-knowledge” about the work that your teams perform.

That’s the perspective that Scott Golde, enterprise chief ethics and compliance officer of Jackson Financial, offers in an interview with ThinkAdvisor.

“You have to … dig in and spend time with your teams. If you don’t understand the systems they use, you can’t be their effective leader,” says Golde, a 2023 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries award winner for executive leadership.

“And you need to have an execution focus,” he argues.

Golde, a senior vice president, is head of compliance for Jackson’s parent company, which includes a broker-dealer, three insurance companies, two investment advisories and other units.

Golde, who earlier worked as a federal prosecutor, said that background has helped him in his current position: “I understand how regulators think” and “can identify risks” that others might miss, he says.

In the interview, Golde delves into how insurance products — especially annuities — can help advisors with clients’ retirement planning. With the flurry of Americans reaching retirement age and those already retired, annuities scored record first-quarter sales this year.

Here are highlights of our conversation:

THINKADVISOR: Are financial advisors recommending insurance more for retirement savings?

SCOTT GOLDE: I don’t know about more, but I think it plays a significant role in what they’re recommending because people heading toward retirement are scared of outliving their money. 

How are annuity sales going?

They’re doing really well. The first quarter of the year was the strongest first quarter for annuity sales ever. 

It’s not an accident; there’s a need for these products: More retirement savers and investors are reaching or surpassing 65, so that’s driving a lot of annuity sales.

What types of annuities are most popular?

You’re definitely seeing sales of fixed and fixed indexed annuities, which typically have 100% protection. You can’t lose, and you have gain — limited gain — because of the rise in interest rates.

You’re also seeing sales of registered index-linked annuities, such as our Market Link Pro and Market Link Advisory, which are doing well. 

As people approach retirement, they offer the opportunity to have some investment protection; but they also have growth.

What’s happening with variable annuities?

That’s another product that’s done really well for us. It gives you the opportunity to invest and grow In the market over time, and it also has options for living benefits, lifetime benefits and guaranteed income.

What should advisors emphasize to clients when selling annuities?

That they can give you protected, guaranteed income over time.

[Further], depending on the product, there’s an opportunity for growth and for tax deferrals. With a lot of annuities, you can have legacy benefits and leave money to the next generation. 

You won a 2023 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries award for executive leadership. What makes a good leader?

First, you have to like people and want to engage with them. You need to listen effectively. You have to engage with your teams and understand what they’re working on to help them.

You need to have what I call micro-knowledge: You really have to understand, dig in and spend time with your teams. If you don’t understand the systems they use, you can’t be their effective leader.

And you need to have an execution focus. You have to help your teams achieve their goals. If you can’t execute on your goals, you won’t be a successful leader.

How has financial regulation affected retirement planning?

It provides guardrails for financial professionals who are trying to recommend an investment or an insurance product that most closely matches what the client wants to accomplish.

But a challenge is the complexity. We have so many regulatory [bodies] that we’re covering or overlapping the same ground: There’s the Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, Department of Labor, and insurance and securities regulations in 50 states.

All those approaches really have created a challenge for firms that are trying to develop policies, procedures and controls.

So we’re trying to help the companies that sell our products — distribution partners — with their processes for overseeing compliance and sales supervision.

Our compliance teams are working with field supervision teams and compliance teams at companies where financial professionals work. We’re talking to them about how our products fit and the areas where they best make sense.

You collaborate with key legislators. On what?

We’re advocating for what’s in the best interest of our customers mainly through education.

A great model is that there was no SEC form for the registered index-linked annuity. So investors had to use a different form, which was really complicated to understand.

Along with other industry players, we urged Congress to pass a law that directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to develop a form that’s customized for that product.

Can any of the work you do with legislators be called lobbying?

Yes, sometimes. But lobbying has all kinds of interpretations. Typically, when we’re lobbying, we’re providing education in areas where we think investors and retirement savers would benefit.

What are your thoughts about insurance for retirement planning in the future?

We definitely have retirement challenges in this country. There’s great opportunity for insurance products to help people if you’re doing it in the right way.

Jackson is providing what we call “Financial Freedom for Life”: guaranteed income and products that help people invest and save for retirement. 

You were a federal prosecutor earlier in your career. What did that job entail?

I prosecuted crimes in the eastern division of Missouri — everything from bank robberies to complicated criminal organizations — essentially, money-laundering cases, and tax related as well.

My job was to meet with federal agents, get the information and evidence they had, seek an indictment and prosecute the case.

Sounds exciting. Why did you leave it?

I was ready to do other things. It was a great experience and something I had really wanted to do. But it wasn’t the last thing I wanted to do. 

I wanted to help companies figure out what the regulations were and protect customers.

Does your background as a prosecutor help you in your current job?

I think it does. I have the perspective of a regulator, having been a quasi-regulator. So I understand how regulators think and can communicate effectively with them.

Internally, I can help identify risks that someone who maybe wasn’t in that role may not see. I understand how the SEC, Department of Justice and other regulators might view a certain situation or problem.

Jane Wollman Rusoff

@jrusoff2

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