Happy Sunday Everyone:
I was having a glass of wine with a buddy of mine who is a prominent financial advisor last week. I was grilling him on a variety of questions about his job, his clients, how he handles difficult situations, hard conversations, etc.. Then I asked him if he gets offended if his clients get other opinions from other advisors and brings it to his attention. He told me a story I hope never to forget. One of his clients, who was a COO of a fortune 50 company told him “Look, I can get replaced every 90 days, I need you to act like you’re interviewing for this job every 2 years”.
If you let that sink in and you reverse the lens on yourself “interview for your job every 2 years”. One could argue we should be interviewing for our job every day. Interviewing for your job isn’t downstream, it’s not me asking my boss if I’m doing okay in my job, it’s a universal question. It’s upstream, it’s downstream, it’s lateral, it’s all over. The first thing I do is look inward. I think of my own team, if they could work with someone else, would they? I think of all of our team members inside of our division, if they could work with someone else, would they? I think of my business partners, if they could work with someone else, would they? I think of our clients, if they could work with someone else, would they? Is there a better question to ask to determine if you’re showing up every day as the best version of you? If you want to know if you’re holding yourself and those around accountable, consider the question, are you getting rehired?
I mean this is universal. I’m interviewing for my job as Kim’s husband. I can absolutely guarantee she’d love nothing more than to put me on a performance improvement plan from time to time! Think about the roles you have in your life. Are you getting rehired? Are you treating your roles like you can get fired if you don’t perform? My buddy’s initial point was that financial advisors can get lazy. It makes sense, right. If you get a bunch of assets under management, and get paid a % of those assets, you know what you’re going to make each year if you do just enough not to lose your clients. He’s not the type to coast but when you get punched in the face with his client’s reminder, it doesn’t allow for a lot of wiggle room on understanding what he’s bringing to the table. There is a healthy paranoia imagining the person on the other side of the line is interviewing you, whether you know it or not.
I’d like to believe “most” of the people I work with would say I show up daily, but that still doesn’t mean I act like I’m interviewing for my job every day. I’m going to get a sign made that sits in my office that says, “interview in progress”. Every time someone asks what it means, I’ll tell them I’m interviewing for my job with them, and I never want to forget that!
It’s a great question to sit with, are you getting rehired?