Financial Advisors: How do Comparisons (to Others) Serve You?

This recent post by Jaime Navarro, of the Fierce Conversations blog, Question Your Comparisons, struck a chord.

She observes the tendency for us, i.e. humans, to observe others with a judgmental eye and do one of two things:

• Judge them
• Judge ourselves

In response to this altogether human characteristic, she asks the question, “How does our comparing ourselves to others help us reach our full potential?”

For financial advisors, drawing comparisons to others can be a reflexive habit. In an industry where assets under management (AUM) and revenues are widely known, it is similarly easy to make judgments about others (or our self) on the basis of these statistics alone.

You may ask, “So what? What does it matter if I judge others?”

As Marilee Adams points out in her intuitively insightful book, “Change Your Questions. Change Your Life”, the judging mindset can easily hijack our future in that it can limit our future to simply being a recycled, rehashed version of the past.

Alternatively, one can adopt a more inquiring outlook. Ms. Navarro’s antidote to the passive and condemnatory outlook is one of curiosity and directness.

1. She suggests that if you are consistently comparing yourself to someone who you admire or envy, why not invite them for coffee or lunch? Ask questions and engage in a conversation that gives you insight into how they developed their skills.
2. On the flip side, if you compare yourself to someone because you feel superior, use your curiosity and ask yourself how this context serves you? Additionally, you might even engage in a direct conversation with this person, and ask if they’d like to receive feedback that might be helpful for their own growth and development.

For financial advisors, this approach might have many applications that could lead to learning and growth.

• Pick up the phone and connect with a peer in your office, firm or industry who you greatly admire. 
• Or there might be a center-of-influence or thought leader in your community who you’d like to reach out to?

We trust this helps.

Want to connect with other successful financial advisors who are forward-looking and growth-focused? Come to the ClientWise Business Builders Workshop™ September 19, 2013. See below for more information: