DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION
Benefits Run Both Ways in Mentorship Program
By Aaron Rubin, JD, CPA, CFP®
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is more than just a training you take to meet firm requirements. It’s a way to approach a problem that we have had in financial services for a long time: not giving a voice to those who are underrepresented. Each of us has a responsibility to the current and next generation of advisors to support those who wish to lend their talents to financial planning but who have not traditionally been part of the conversation.
The DEI Mentorship Program is the first step to that end. Last year, I was paired up with a couple of nascent financial planners of various ethnic and neurodiverse backgrounds. While I hope I provided helpful guidance, it is fair to say that I learned as much, if not more, from them as they did from me.
I tried to approach the relationships from a place of listening and humility. As an experienced advisor, I am no doubt impressed with myself at times and had to resist the instinct to jump in and solve every problem that the mentees presented. However, when I dropped my ego and really let the mentees explore their world aloud, I realized how little I knew.
The mentees assigned to me were impressive. One was a career changer, another was recently promoted to producing advisor, and another was still taking courses for their CFP® exam. Each had unique challenges, each was working hard to find their path, and each had a lot to add to the profession.
The career changer was facing decisions about how to obtain clients as a solo practitioner; this person has tons of life skills but was new to the industry. The newly promoted advisor was navigating the politics of becoming a rainmaker bringing in revenue and the self-doubt that creeps in when taking on a new role. The mentee, who was in the middle of CFP® coursework, was just trying to get his foot in the door.
From my end, I found all of our meetings cathartic because every challenge my mentees faced, I had faced, and their feelings were those that I had felt early in my career. I was a CPA and then became an advisor and eventually added the role of generating new clients, so my flashbacks on the rainmaker issue were fast and furious. It seemed as if they tried all of the things I had tried: not being myself to please others, quixotic marketing campaigns, unrelated revenue streams, and many more. I desperately wanted them to not have to battle impostor syndrome and experience what I did. Revisiting my memories gave me an understanding of my own experience that I shared with the mentees. And I hope I will be able to use that knowledge to help future mentees and others.
Aside from my own self-discovery, I also concluded that, as a firm, we could be doing things better. The pool of talent was deeper than I had expected. There are supremely qualified candidates, from paraplanners to advisors, who have tremendous skill and drive and can bring a unique perspective to our team. Aside from managing our unconscious bias, we must be willing to mentor these aspiring advisors and empathize with their struggles. We must invest the time and resources to move their careers forward.
By making these efforts a top priority, we will help the future of financial services and our own businesses as well.
Aaron Rubin, JD, CPA, CFP®, is a partner at Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management. His wealth and tax practices focus on pre-IPO stock option compensation for executives at SaaS, app, AI, and data companies.
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