“We work in an industry that is fueled by fear, greed and ego,” says industry insider Don Trone. That is essentially why the Department of Labor is promulgating a fiduciary rule aimed at “controlling inappropriate behavior, fencing in judgment, mitigating uncertainty, suppressing feelings and limiting activities that carry risk and potential conflicts,” he says.
Yet, he notes, “We still manage to produce great retirement advisors who have a deep understanding of their sense of purpose, and who have integrity and are passionate about their work.” One secret to their success, says Trone: resilience — the capacity to bounce back from adversity and failure.
“Great retirement advisors are comfortable dealing with uncertainty, have a greater capacity for risk, have learned not to become incapacitated by fear and see failure as a learning opportunity,” Trone writes in his regular column in the Winter issue of NAPA Net the Magazine.
Trone suggests seven ways to become more resilient:
1. Expect to fail, and often.
Be willing to devote tens of thousands of hours to perfecting your craft. Along the way, expect to fail, and often. The pivotal question will be whether you have the capacity to learn from failure.
2. Be more decisive.
Learn to become more spontaneous and move faster on fewer facts. Education, experience and training will improve your capacity to be more decisive, so never stop learning.
3. Make a friend of fear.
Fight the flight impulse; stay and face your greatest fears. Your brain is hard-wired to be on the lookout for anything that may cause you harm. Rather than running from fear, stay and embrace it and learn to harness the emotion. Fear can either paralyze you or make you more creative and accepting.
4. Talk about it.
By sharing your fears, you often will learn that others are either sharing the same emotion or have already passed through it. Either way, you’ll realize that you’re not the first and you’re not alone.
5. Bond with others.
When faced with fear and uncertainty, reach out to family, friends, peers, mentors and coaches. The ability to bond and the capacity for bonding is highly correlated to resilience.
6. Become your own person.
While this may seem to be a contradiction to bonding, the important distinction is that you also need to be your own person. You don’t want to fall into the pattern of waiting for others to tell you what to do, allowing yourself to be controlled by others, being obsessed with obtaining approval from others or blaming others for failure when you should be accepting responsibility. There’s a yin and a yang to being resilient. You need the company of others, while at the same time you need to respect and believe in your own self-worth.
7. Put more faith in faith.
You need to believe that your life has a purpose, and that you’re responding to a higher calling. There is a high correlation between faith and resilience.
In addition to Trone’s regular “Inside the Stewardship Movement” column, the Winter issue of NAPA Net the Magazine includes the cover story on making the ROI connection between the bottom line and employee well being, as well as feature articles on robo-advisors’ entry into the 401(k) market and preparing for the SEC’s coming money market reforms. The issue also features insights from regular contributors Jerry Bramlett, Steff Chalk, Nevin Adams, David Levine, Brian Graff, Warren Cormier, Joseph DeNoyior, Jania Stout, Fred Barstein and Lisa Greenwald Schneider.
To view Trone’s column, click here and select "How to Become More Resilient in a VUCA World.” And to view a pdf of the full 52-page issue, click here.
