There’s a reason why we’re introducing this conversation at the start of the year. It’s because the beginning of the year creates a rare opportunity for firm founders and controlling owners to pause and reassess.
The urgency of past year fades. The next chapter comes into clearer focus. And beneath all your growth targets and strategic plans sits a quieter question. What responsibilities still flow through me that no longer should?
This is the place where internal transfer of trust plans should begin – not with exit planning, but with an honest appraisal of how authority and responsibility are distributed inside the firm.
For many founders, ‘succession’ is a loaded word – conjuring up feelings of decline rather than progress, and images of being forced out to pasture. As a result, the concept tends in turn to heighten anxiety amongst clients and team members.
Not surprisingly, conversations around the topic are all too often put off until far too late in the game. The true issue, however, lies in the frame more so than the actual word itself. If you merely reframe succession as ensuring continuity, suddenly everything changes. After all, continuity is stewardship. It signals confidence, not retreat.
Internal transfers of trust describe the deliberate and visible movement of leadership responsibility from founders and senior advisors to the next generation.
This includes authority, decision making, client leadership, strategic ownership, and cultural stewardship. Don’t think of it as delegation. Think of it instead as leadership development.
And remember, until this shift occurs internally, any efforts at conducting external transfers of trust will remain incomplete.
However, founders often resist letting go – not because they distrust or lack confidence in their people, but because their professional value has long been defined by being needed. This is where the concept of ‘strength to strength’ can be instructive.
In his incredibly thoughtful book From Strength to Strength, Harvard professor Arthur Brooks describes the evolution from success driven by execution to success driven by wisdom and judgment. Leaders struggle when they cling to roles that no longer require their highest value.
Internal transfers of trust allow founders to evolve rather than diminish. From operator to steward. From problem solver to context setter.
First and foremost, firm leaders must understand that trust does NOT transfer well under pressure. When responsibility shifts abruptly, clients sense instability and teams start questioning their own readiness.
Orderly transfers work far differently. Responsibility moves before titles change. Authority is granted before it is tested. And confidence builds through repetition. That’s why the beginning of the year is an optimal point in time to design this transfer intentionally.
It’s a behavior-driven transition that becomes visible through the leader’s behavior. Next generation leaders are allowed to drive client conversations. Decisions they make are supported rather than quietly overridden. And their authority is reinforced publicly – even when outcomes may be imperfect.
Trust moves internally the same way it moves externally: through exposure, experience, and regular reinforcement.
Many firms have capable next generation advisors who struggle to earn client trust. The issue is rarely technical skill. Instead, it’s credibility. Trust is experiential. Clients trust what they see repeatedly, not what they’re told once in passing. If you truly want to develop leaders clients already trust, it’s going to require intentional design.
Like day follows night, external trust follows internal trust. When next generation leaders are trusted internally to lead conversations, make decisions, and represent the firm, clients sense it immediately. When authority is partial or inconsistent, on the other hand, clients hesitate. The simple fact of the matter is that visibility matters.
The second chair is the proving ground for leadership credibility. Clients must experience their second chair advisor as someone who thinks, leads, and contributes insight. This requires structured opportunity. Leading agenda segments. Owning subject matter. And being accountable for outcomes. Trust is compounded through repetition.
And credibility always grows faster when advisors are known as specific subject matter experts. Next generation leaders earn trust by developing expertise in areas that matter deeply to clients – from multigenerational planning to retirement income strategies, estate and tax coordination, or specific life transitions. Expertise creates relevance. Relevance creates trust.
When founders visibly trust their next generation, clients feel confidence rather than concern. Teams see a firm and a future that’s worth committing to. Continuity isn’t a sign that you as a founder are leaving. Rather, it’s a signal that the firm is strong, sustainable and enduring.
Trust transfer shows up in client behavior. You’ll know you’ve been successful when clients start calling the next generation advisor first, when they defer to that individual’s judgment, and when they reference prior conversations with them confidently. These are the leading indicators of leadership readiness.
As we transition into a new year, take a few minutes to think about your day-to-day responsibilities. List the top ten recurring decisions that fall onto your plate. And identify the 2-3 of those you will intentionally commit to transferring to others this year. Then define what evidence you will draw on to tell you that the trust your placing in others is working.
Letting go, done well, is not loss. It’s leadership in its absolutely purest form. Always keep in mind that leaders are not anointed, they’re developed through exposure, responsibility, and trust.
Internal transfers of trust describe the deliberate and visible movement of leadership responsibility from founders and senior advisors to the next generation. This includes authority, decision making, client leadership, strategic ownership, and cultural stewardship. It is not delegation, but leadership development.
Until trust shifts internally, any effort to transfer trust externally remains incomplete. Internal transfers establish continuity, reduce anxiety for clients and team members, and ensure leadership credibility is already in place before formal succession occurs.
When responsibility shifts abruptly, clients sense instability and teams question readiness. Trust built under pressure lacks reinforcement and confidence, whereas orderly transfers allow credibility to compound over time.
Internal trust becomes visible when next generation leaders are allowed to lead client conversations, make decisions without being quietly overridden, and have their authority reinforced publicly, even when outcomes are imperfect.
The second chair is the proving ground for leadership credibility. Clients must experience second chair advisors as thinkers and contributors through leading agenda segments, owning subject matter, and being accountable for outcomes.
Credibility grows faster when next generation advisors are known for specific areas of expertise that matter deeply to clients. Expertise creates relevance, and relevance creates trust through repeated client exposure.
Founders can list their top ten recurring decisions and intentionally commit to transferring two or three of them this year. Defining the evidence that will indicate success helps reinforce trust through behavior, not intention.