FP+Careers - Part 6

#FA Success Ep 358: Accelerating Growth By Asking For Referrals After Celebrating Shared Success With Clients, With Veronica Karas

November 7, 2023 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Veronica Karas Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome back to the 358th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Veronica Karas. Veronica is a Senior Financial Advisor at CAPTRUST and works from the RIA's Lake Success, New York, office, where she oversees $360 million in assets under management for about 200 client households.

What's unique about Veronica, though, is the unique 3-question approach she uses to generate referrals not only from clients, but also from centers of influence as well, and even uses it to get referrals from prospects… all without being too pushy or salesy.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Veronica developed her 3 referral questions – which first ask clients (and others) to reflect on what else she could be doing from them that would be valuable, then what are the services she and her firm provide that are the most valuable, and then whether there is anyone in their lives that could use help with those same services they just said are so valuable – and to please facilitate an introduction to those individuals in need, how Veronica built this 3-question approach because she didn't have a natural network of friends and family to give her referrals and had to figure out how to comfortably ask the existing clients of one of her mentors, and the way that Veronica follows up with the introductions she receives to turn them into new business opportunities!

We also talk about how, amidst onboarding 52 new clients in a single year (due to the success of her 3-question approach), Veronica developed a blueprint that all new clients would go through in their 1st year with the firm that leverages a more modular approach to planning and stretches out the planning work (for the client, and her own team) over the span of 12 months, how Veronica's firm structures associate advisors to work with multiple senior advisors at once to not only offer high-touch service to their client households but give those associate advisors more intentional opportunities to learn what they can by being in meetings with many different experienced advisors of the firm, and how Veronica's firm structures its advisor compensation to both empower associate advisors to take over client relationships and still have the incentive to learn to build their own book of business as well.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Veronica shares how she overcame her early-career feelings that she was too young to serve as a lead advisor, how a commitment to talking about her work with at least 5 people each day for 2 years, from strangers at Target to fellow advisors, helped Veronica to overcome her fears and generate a rising flow of prospect leads and introductions to key referral partners, and how Veronica has maintained her focus on doing the right thing to navigate ethical dilemmas that have arisen over the course of her career, even when it meant leaving a job after less than a year to start over somewhere else.

So, whether you're interested in learning about a structured approach to generating more referrals, how to create a systematized process for a client's 1st year, or how to overcome the challenges of starting out and creating your own book of business, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Veronica Karas.

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (October 21-22)

October 20, 2023 02:00 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that a recent study from Fidelity Institutional highlights the growing popularity of the RIA model and the success advisors have had after going independent. The study found that 1 in 6 advisors have moved firms in the past 5 years, with the majority opting for the independent channel. Notably, this decision has provided both qualitative and quantitative benefits for these advisors, as 85% said they now have more control over their future and 80% saw their assets under management subsequently grow, with a median increase of 42%.

Also in industry news this week:

The latest update on the status of the Department of Labor's proposed regulation related to fiduciary advice on retirement accounts and why the agency is referring to it as a "retirement security rule" rather than a "fiduciary rule"
A report suggests that RIA M&A surged in the 3rd quarter, as large acquirers resumed their brisk pace of purchases

From there, we have several articles on employee benefits:

Why high-deductible health plans with paired HSAs could be the most cost-effective and tax-efficient health insurance option for many clients
How financial advisors can help clients better understand their employer-sponsored healthcare options and make the best decision for their needs
How advisors can potentially save clients thousands of dollars by reviewing their elections for disability insurance, workplace retirement plans, and other benefits during the annual open enrollment period

We also have a number of articles on advisor marketing:

How to follow up with a prospect who 'ghosts' an advisor after the initial discovery meeting
Questions that advisors can ask prospects before and during discovery meetings to reduce the chances that the prospect will fall out of contact
A 2-part discovery meeting 'close' that can encourage prospects to take the next step to becoming a client

We wrap up with three final articles, all about technology and security:

While the increasing use of facial recognition technology could increase security and reduce wait times in a variety of areas, it also comes with potential privacy concerns
How the shift from passwords to passkeys could make logging into accounts more secure and convenient
Why encouraging consumers to focus on getting the 'big' things right, rather than trying to address every potential threat, could be a valuable practice for both cybersecurity and financial advice professionals

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

#FA Success Ep 355: Scaling Worksite Financial Planning As An Employee Benefit For The Average Worker, With Brad Arends

October 17, 2023 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Bradley Arends Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome back to the 355th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Brad Arends. Brad is the Co-Founder & CEO of Intellicents, an independent RIA with 12 offices across the country and headquartered in Albert Lea, Minnesota, that oversees $6 billion in assets under management for more than 3,000 client households.

What's unique about Brad, though, is how he built a multi-billion-dollar advisory firm not by moving 'upmarket' to gather multi-millionaire clients, but instead leveraged his 401(k) retirement plan advisory firm to begin offering comprehensive financial planning to the employees of large companies as an added employee benefit, and in the process scaled his financial planning business around the mass affluent American worker.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how, after realizing that his 401(k) plan participants were not being advised after they retired (and were being poached by brokers and agents trying to sell them on high-commission annuities), Brad decided to expand his business into wealth management so that he could offer advice to his mass affluent clientele into their retirement years, how Brad struggled to transition his retirement plan advisors into wealth management advisors because of the different mindset it takes to service an ongoing financial planning relationship but was able to acquire-hire the advisors he needed by finding a firm that had already established a business model working with the clientele Brad wanted to serve, and how Brad ultimately evolved a multi-pronged model of retirement plan advice, group insurance benefits, and personal financial planning to reach the $3,500 of revenue per client that he needed to be able to really scale the business.

We also talk about how the approval of the Pension Protection Act and the backlash against revenue-sharing agreements amongst retirement plan recordkeepers led Brad to decide that a flat fee would be the best way to provide their initial advice offering, why, to avoid the fee compression as a 401(k) recordkeeper (and reinvesting in expensive technology to keep scaling), Brad decided to sell the recordkeeping offering that was 80% of his business at the time to create more bandwidth to offer personal wealth management for their clients instead (and use the profits of the sale to help fund the new initiative), and how Brad leveraged the data he already had access to from providing 401(k) advisement for companies to create personalized one-page financial plans for its plan participants to illustrate the value of financial planning and connect them more directly to the firm's advisors.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Brad shares how even though he experienced multiple false starts with his business transition, with multiple failed hires, he stayed committed and ultimately found it was better to acquire a firm to get the talent he was seeking than to just try to hire it directly, how Brad now wishes that he got into wealth management sooner and believes that younger, newer advisors would benefit from acquiring their CFP designation as it can help them broaden their career opportunities in wealth management, and why Brad feels that even though he has built a sustainable firm with great talent that can live on beyond his leadership, he has no intention of selling his business and plans to continue his journey of expanding his firm to provide more affordable financial planning for more mass affluent American workers.

So, whether you're interested in learning about how Brad structures fees for worksite financial planning, how, when Brad sold his recordkeeping business, he was able to ensure that the 120 employees he would have to let go found a new home with the new owners of the business, or how, by combining group insurance, 401(k) planning, and wealth management, Brad was able to dramatically increase his firm's revenue, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Brad Arends.

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (October 7-8)

October 6, 2023 02:00 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that a recent survey found that clients across several countries who work with a CFP professional have better outcomes on a range of measures compared to those working with other advisors or no advisor at all, suggesting that the potential benefits of gaining CFP certification can accrue not only to the advisor themselves, but also to their clients.

Also in industry news this week:

A new advisor benchmarking study indicates that high-growth firms are excelling in 3 areas: client acquisition, "relationship alpha", and strategic scale
A recent survey indicates that while advisors increasingly are leveraging home office investment models to save time and scale more efficiently, they often customize them to meet their clients' unique needs

From there, we have several articles on retirement planning:

Why "unretiring" does not necessarily have to mean going back to work full-time or in one's former industry
The motivations for individuals who have reached 'traditional' retirement age to keep working and how advisors can support clients who are considering this decision
How volunteering offers a range of mental and physical benefits to retirees and where they can find opportunities in their community

We also have a number of articles on client communication:

Best practices for advisors in handling tricky client communication scenarios
How advisors can add value to clients by helping them overcome "choice overload"
The benefits of proactively informing clients about changes to an advisor's business and how advisors can structure and deliver these messages

We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about defining wealth:

How defining wealth in terms of what an individual "can do" rather than as an arbitrary number can help clients better understand the "why" of their financial decisions
How wealth can be thought of as one's ability to control their time
How thinkers over the centuries have defined "enough" and what their conclusions mean for individuals today

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (September 23-24)

September 22, 2023 02:03 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that the Investment Adviser Association has petitioned the SEC to ask the regulator to change how it defines a small adviser from one with less than $25 million under management to a firm with 100 or fewer employees. The group argued that this change would help more small firms, which tend not to have the same staffing and resources compared to their larger counterparts, as the SEC contemplates a growing number of new and amended rules.

Also in industry news this week:

A survey suggests that wealthy individuals across all generations are interested in engaging with advisors on social media, with YouTube being the top platform chosen by respondents
Amid an avalanche of claims for the pandemic-era Employee Retention Credit, the IRS is halting the processing of new claims until 2024 and plans to closely scrutinize those that have already been made

From there, we have several articles on financial choices:

How advisors can help clients see that there usually are more than 2 options when it comes to making financial decisions
While clients might be frustrated when their advisor says, "It depends," advisors can add significant value by helping them make the best decision today while working with them to make adjustments over time if circumstances change
Why having "enough" financial independence might be a better goal than a myopic focus on being able to retire early

We also have a number of articles on marketing to affluent clients:

How offering a "second-opinion service" can help advisors generate more referrals from clients and centers of influence
How advisors can help clients plan for the upcoming sunset of the lower gift and estate tax exemptions under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Why giving prospects room to talk, rather than trying to convince them of the merits of an advisor's strategies, could be a more effective way to convert them into clients

We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about setting and adjusting goals:

Why, when it comes to career planning, it can be more effective to focus on what one wants to be known for rather than the titles or positions they want to attain
Why setting flexible goals often can be more effective than fixed or "SMART" goals
How a "chuck-it list" can be a useful companion to a "bucket list" when it comes to setting goals

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

#FA Success Ep 348: Building Your Own Planning Spreadsheets To Show Clients What They Need To See, With Jeff Jones

August 29, 2023 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 348th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Jeff Jones. Jeff is the Owner and Founder of Cypress Financial Planning, an independent RIA based in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, that oversees $275 million in assets under management for 380 client households.

What's unique about Jeff, though, is how he built his own financial planning spreadsheets in Excel, and has developed coding and integrations that automatically populate into a PowerPoint presentation, that he then shows clients to help build a story for their financial plans and give them the motivation they need to achieve their financial goals… while also still being able to know and audit where every single number in the projection came from.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Jeff leveraged his early years as an engineer for Lockheed Martin to develop the macros and Visual Basic code for his Excel spreadsheets to create more customizable and in-depth financial plans than he could with traditional off-the-shelf financial planning software, why Jeff felt compelled to build his own spreadsheets because he felt it would give him more confidence to answer client questions about the underlying assumptions and the details being presented to them (because he deeply understood the innerworkings, and the limitations, of the planning spreadsheets he built), and how Jeff has spent time over the years iterating on his spreadsheets so that his expanding base of advisors could easily add data and get the information they needed themselves for their clients… which worked so well that his business partner Ben branched off and teamed up with TIFIN to start his own FinTech company that further built out Jeff's financial planning spreadsheets into an actual piece of software that they now sell to other financial planning firms.

We also talk about how despite building the planning spreadsheets, Jeff was not as interested as his partner to starting up a FinTech company and instead gave Ben permission to develop the spreadsheets into standalone software with an agreement that Jeff would receive an equity share and would be able to use and develop his master copy of his spreadsheets for his firm, how, even though Jeff is only 39 years old, he has already begun sharing equity of his advisory firm with his advisors with the intention that he can possibly move on to other endeavors in the next 10-15 years while his G2 advisors can continue the firm's legacy, and how Jeff worked with FP Transitions to value his firm and to help build equity agreements where partners can buy in with a modest down payment and pay back a seller-financed note that accumulates equity through multiple tranches over time.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Jeff shares how he chose his equity agreement with his advisors because even though they would be essentially paying him back with the profit distributions of the firm he owned in the first place (such that he would be sacrificing his own profits and shares), he felt that this was the best way to help incentivize his partners to stay and give them better opportunities to become successful and help grow and scale the firm further, how Jeff found his first advisor mentor while he was still working for Lockheed Martin by cold calling advisors in his area and simply offering his time to help in any capacity he could and asking if he could just pick their brains about the industry so that he could start his own career in financial planning, and how, even though he has some time before he retires, Jeff already has plans to work more in the pro bono financial planning space once he has the time, energy, and his own financial freedom to be able to give back and create greater impact in the lives of others (with his passion that financial planning should be accessible to all no matter how much money a client has to invest).

So, whether you're interested in learning about how Jeff likens creating his Excel spreadsheets to that of an artist with a blank canvas where the end product is only limited by his imagination, how Jeff built macros into his spreadsheets so that when he makes updates to the data that supports assumptions in the master file, the sheets created from that file also update, or how, after working for Lockheed Martin, Jeff intentionally took a job at Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst so that he could get the industry experience and knowledge he needed to launch his own firm, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Jeff Jones.

#FA Success Ep 347: When The Firm You Sell To Gets Sold And You Have To Reinvent Yourself, With Cary Carbonaro

August 22, 2023 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Cary Carbonaro Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome back to the 347th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Cary Carbonaro. Cary is the Senior Vice President & Director of Women and Wealth Services for Advisor Capital Management, an independent RIA with offices around the country and headquartered in Ridgewood, New Jersey, that oversees more than $6 billion in assets under management for 1,700 client families.

What's unique about Cary, though, is how she navigated selling her practice to United Capital and after several years of establishing herself in a leadership role, she then had to navigate the sale of United Capital itself to Goldman Sachs, and the complexities and challenges that followed as she found herself in a very different kind of culture that wasn’t aligned to her media-driven approach to advisor marketing.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how, in 2001, Cary left her Director of Marketing role at Lord Abbett selling mutual funds and in the face of the tech crash realized that mutual fund companies were so cutting their marketing budgets that she may as well just launch her own advisory practice instead, how after years of growing successfully on her own, Cary realized her gift was bringing clients in and that she needed help with scaling her back-office and consequently decided to sell her practice and tuck into United Capital and their support systems, and how Cary dealt with the sudden sale of United Capital to Goldman Sachs that virtually overnight forced her to change the way she’d been marketing herself as an advisor for nearly 20 years because of the new corporate policies of the buyer.

We also talk about how Cary tried to navigate the 2-year non-compete clause in her contract and even offered to buy back her practice and undo the non-compete, how Cary ultimately reached a compromised path with a 6-month non-compete and decided that was good enough to be able to make a transition and not have to totally start over, and how, after the 6-month non-compete period was over, Cary was ultimately able to retain nearly 90% of her and her lead advisor’s clients and decided to move her practice to a new RIA where she could go back to serving her clients as she wished and continue her work in the media that she enjoyed.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Cary shares how she faced a messy divorce while also navigating the 2008 financial crisis and had to move her practice to smaller firm so that she could prevent her husband from seeking retribution and give herself time, how, in the early years of launching her practice, Cary dealt with feelings of inadequacy because she felt she needed to have all the answers to her clients’ questions but over time and by teaching CFP courses herself was able to overcome her confidence issues, and how Cary’s definition of success is evolving as her career grows from ‘just’ increasing the size of the practice to now finding the freedom and time to pursue her passion of speaking, writing, and appearing in the media… with the focus on influencing and changing the financial services industry to create better opportunities for other women to succeed in their careers.

So, whether you’re interested in learning about how, prior to the United Capital sale, Cary’s practice was a diamond tier practice and ranked as one of the best performing practices of the firm, how Cary walked away from 2 $500,000 a year jobs so that she could manage her practice the way she saw fit, or how Cary is working on her second book detailing her challenges with the sale of her firm and her vision for making the industry more female-friendly, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Cary Carbonaro.

Kitces & Carl Ep 118: (Re-)Building Your Financial Advisor Identity When You Dial Back Working With Clients

August 10, 2023 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

Kitces Carl Ep Re Building Your Financial Advisor Identity When You Dial Back Working With Clients

Financial advisors who have established and successfully built up their advisory firms over several years can often go through many stages of firm development, requiring them to hire staff and additional advisors to manage their growing clientele. When a firm becomes large enough, though, the firm owner may be compelled to consider stepping away from their long-standing work as a client-facing financial advisor into a more pronounced business leadership role to manage the growing business. Yet, for owners who have invested years into developing their skills as financial advisors working directly with clients, considering a new professional identity in a non-advisory leadership position with little client interaction can be challenging.

In our 118th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss how advisory firm owners can manage the transition from a client-facing role into a firm leadership position and how they can come to terms with their new career identity in the process.

While there are many business resources available to help advisors address the tactical perspective of making a transition into a leadership role, a fundamental challenge that advisors must also negotiate is the identity shift that tends to come with leaving a long-time position working with clients, as many wonder if they would still be considered a financial advisor if their primary function is to oversee other advisors serving their clients… and they no longer work with those clients directly themselves?

Even though it can be difficult for firm owners to imagine who they will become in their new role, the transition can become easier by understanding and defining what their new responsibilities will entail and acknowledging that, even though they may no longer be working directly with clients, they will still have a substantial impact on how their clients are served (as becoming CEO or president offers firm owners the opportunity to shape how clients are served by managing those who will be serving clients). Additionally, having a clear and detailed vision of what their new role involves (perhaps created with the support of other advisors who have navigated similar trajectories) will help advisory firm owners reconcile the change in their professional identity by connecting how their current responsibilities relate to, and perhaps will even support their new role.

Ultimately the key point is that transitioning away from a client-centric role that a firm owner has dedicated years to develop can be a challenging process, but investing time to visualize the impact and change the firm owner will make (including the responsibility of charging their staff to uphold a standard of excellent client service) can help them appreciate the new opportunities – and accept the new identity – that will come with the new role!

#FA Success Ep 345: Differentiating With Institutions And Ultra-High-Net-Worth Investors As A Serious Investment Firm, With Lori Van Dusen

August 8, 2023 07:04 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

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Welcome back to the 345th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Lori Van Dusen. Lori is the CEO of LVW Advisors, an independent RIA based in Pittsford, New York, that oversees more than $2 billion in assets under management for over 450 small-to-mid-sized institutions and ultra-high-net-worth families.

What's unique about Lori, though, is how through her multi-decade career, she has built a deep expertise in the investment intricacies and complex issues faced by small-to-mid-sized institutions and ultra-high-net-worth-families with $10s of millions of dollars each, and has built an RIA that focuses on that serious investing expertise as a differentiator.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Lori built her in-depth investment knowledge while working with large institutions and endowments at wirehouse firms like Shearson Lehman Brothers and Citigroup Smith Barney, how Lori approaches portfolio management with an approach of "don't fix what isn't broken" and assumes most large portfolios she manages will only need incremental changes from what they've already got (which she identifies by stress testing every portfolio in Hidden Levers to identify where they need to be shored up further), and why Lori and her firm developed a governance calendar to systematize and scale their quarterly deliverables and check-ins with ongoing clients.

We also talk about how Lori dealt with being sued by Citigroup and the lengthy legal battle that ensued after she decided to break away and go independent (and how she ultimately won because she was diligent in following the Broker Protocols when leaving), how Lori learned the hard way about conducting her own due diligence on advisor platform after the RIA she decided to join upon leaving Citigroup didn't have the level of technology she thought they did to support her business which ultimately led to her deciding to leave them too, and how Lori dealt with the aftermath of deciding to leave the RIA she partnered with and launch her own RIA only to discover that choosing to transition twice made many of her institutional clients lose confidence and issue RFPs which ultimately led to billions of AUM leaving that Lori had to rebuild.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Lori shares why, even though she has experienced turmoil in her business, she tries to maintain a positive outlook because without these experiences, she would not have developed the specific expertise or become the advisory firm owner she is today, why, after dealing with a personal tragedy and not coming back to work for a year, Lori realized that she had finally built the team support she always wanted and decided to reward her loyal employees (and not just advisors) by offering a deferred compensation plan and defining a clearer pathway to equity ownership, and why Lori believes that younger, newer advisors would benefit from finding a mentor that can help them grow and being objective about their strengths and passions so that they can focus their career on what they are good at and love to do to build their own successful career.

So, whether you're interested in learning about how Lori spent a year right out of college learning SPIN sales techniques from Xerox's sales training which has shaped how she digs deeper into her clients' issues, how Lori dealt with her legal issues and moving her clients to a new RIA all while the economic crisis in 2008, or how Lori learned that when making big decisions, it is important to listen to your gut and to always make sure your values and culture are in alignment with what you want to achieve, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Lori Van Dusen.

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (August 5-6)

August 4, 2023 02:00 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that credit ratings agency Fitch on Tuesday downgraded its assessment of the U.S. government's creditworthiness from an AAA rating to AA+. While the downgrade has made headlines and might be startling to advisory clients (particularly those with significant portfolio allocations to U.S. Treasury securities), some observers suggest that the factors cited by Fitch for the downgrade (from the growing national debt to the recent debt ceiling standoff in Congress) do not necessarily portend a default, at least in the near term.

Also in industry news this week:

RIA M&A activity fell in the second quarter compared to the same period last year amid rising financing costs, though continued private equity interest in the RIA space could help buoy deal volume going forward
According to a recent survey, RIAs appear to be taking a defensive approach toward the SEC's new marketing rule, with many firms changing their marketing materials to be in compliance with its provisions and few firms expanding their use of client testimonials and other opportunities offered by the rule

From there, we have several articles on advisory firm hiring practices:

A recent study explores what new advisors are looking for from their firms and how training and mentorship programs could play an important role in boosting advisor retention rates
Why crafting an applicant-centric job posting and casting a wide net across hiring platforms can help firms boost the number of qualified candidates they attract when looking to add talent
Tactics firms can use to attract a more diverse pool of job applicants and the potential business benefits of doing so

We also have a number of articles on retirement planning:

Why common advisor concerns about Monte Carlo analysis are more about the software tools they use rather than the technique itself
How advisors might be underestimating the longevity of their clients, particularly those who are healthy and have already reached retirement age
A research study suggests that "psychological ownership" and loss aversion could be driving many individuals to claim Social Security benefits early despite the potential financial downsides of doing so

We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about workplace culture:

How individuals tend to underestimate how much their colleagues, friends, and partners want their feedback
Why understanding and leveraging employee work style preferences can create more effective teams
How being intentional and flexible when designing workspaces can promote productivity and wellbeing

Enjoy the 'light' reading!