Brian F. Shaw

Stop the Dance: Are You Turning a Blind Eye to Problems in Your Office?

On Monday morning, manager Jim Smith ’ s branch offi ce was humming with activity. Jim hired the million dollar producer sent over by his industry recruiter, and the fi rm ’ s bottom line — as well as Jim ’ s own compensation — would quickly begin to grow by a robust margin. Jim was happy, relieved, and satisfi ed that his regional manager would now cool down for a while and allow him to manage his advisors. Manage? No, according to Jim, that was impossible. You can ’ t manage million dollar producers. Instead, you support them. You encourage them. And you thank them. Jim truly believed he was, in essence, the Advisor Dad. But, there was a fl aw in his thinking and in his methods. Because if this was the case, why didn ’ t Mr. Advisor Dad — the intuitive, kind, billion dollar supportive manager — spot at least one or two of the looming warning signs and symptoms of emotional distress that were quietly eating away at some of his top producers? Was he afraid of how they would react if he confronted them? Was he too caught up in red tape to be aware? Did his advisors feel that he was unapproachable? Did he choose to ignore them or did he not have the skill to recognize and identify the signals? Or was it simply that he did not have the tools with which to rescue them?