Leadership Lessons from INSITE

'The Infinite Game'

For advisors who want to grow their businesses, best-selling author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek suggests asking what game you want to play and why you want to play it. If your goal is to beat the competition, you're playing a finite game; if your goal is to outlast rivals, you're playing "The Infinite Game," which is the title of his latest book.

"So don't bring a finite mindset to an infinite game," Sinek at during an interview with Pershing Advisor Solutions CEO Mark Tibergien at INSITE. "In business, organizations that do this have met their demise."

Sinek gave the example of Microsoft having a finite mindset when its focus was limited to beating Apple. Meanwhile, Apple has been looking at ways to improve education and other fields, rather than what's happening in the short term. "Again, the goal is to outlast the competition and not to beat them."

Small businesses, like those of advisory firms, "have huge opportunities," according to Sinek, "because they have the flexibility and agility to really explain to someone what is important [about their work for clients] and why this is so important that you went into the industry." If the focus is on making money, then the business is being driven by ambition and "the core of the business can't have [much] client loyalty," he said.

Sinek also pointed out the critical role referrals play in professional services, like wealth and health care. "I asked people I know, 'Who do you work with? What do you listen for? And who do you trust?' We trust friends around their [work with] professionals. That says a lot."

Advisors' opportunity for success depends on treating clients well — the way non-financial firms like Southwest Airlines and Ritz-Carlton do. The advisors he met and chose not to work with "did not ask about who I am and about my mentality [about money]. Talk to me differently and in metaphors, not a spreadsheet," Sinek explained. "Now I have an accountant who talks in pictures and metaphors. He listens."

Overall, the wealth industry "can do a lot better job at explaining its purpose and cause," he said. "Don't just say you'll help my retirement. That's transactional."

Janet Levaux is editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor. She can be reached at [email protected].