Advisor autonomy will empower advisors to create stakeholder value that leads to enterprise value and shareholder value.

Recruiters of advisors must come to the realization that in the digital age of transparency, it is autonomy that will set advisors free and not independence. Advisor autonomy can be offered to any advisor regardless of his or her firm’s affiliation. The battle for recruiting top advisors will start with a different tone in the not too distant future because the era of collaborative services has arrived and transparency will dictate that investors will not trust advisors (or their firms) who are not offering stakeholder value ahead of shareholder value.

Transparency will empower the investor to see exactly how his or her best interest is being discounted for the good of the c-suites and shareholder value and they will not become a party to being the means to that end.  Those days are over.

Just as the investor is becoming empowered by technology and transparency, so too will the advisor. Autonomy will afford the advisor in the future to sit on the same side of the table as his or her clients by owning the perception of his or her authentic value which is wrought from a client-centered purpose. Shared purpose is the only way investors will trust advisors or their firms in this modern era of financial service. This is a great thing. It’s the best time in the history of financial services to become a trusted steward of wealth and every financial advisor has an opportunity to thrive in the digital age.

To create a sustainable culture of integrity that ensures growth from this point forward, recruiters are going to have to offer autonomy to advisors to empower them by allowing the to own the perception of their value. Otherwise the pending crunch that is spearheading commoditization of services and reducing margins (including NIM) will destroy the firm and the industry.

The industry will not be able to serve investors through robos and opaque sales tactics… ever.

I’m not going to let that happen and neither will you. And… neither will the firms… once they realize that autonomy is the key to the culture creation that spurs inorganic growth while harmoniously stimulating and ensuring organic growth for advisors. Own the words… own your alpha… create your own autonomy to remain relevant and become irreplaceable.