You Are the Special

I've been hearing updates about Amy Poehler's The Good Hang podcast from my wife, Kim, every week. While I haven't yet been persuaded to listen, I can see how much joy Amy is spreading in the world, especially for those who grew up watching the early 2000s SNL cast.

Kim told me about an episode where Amy talks about pitting AI against Will Ferrell to see who could write better jokes.

Which got me thinking about another Will Ferrell classic my kids memorized during long van rides.

The Lego Movie.

The whole film centers on one idea: being special.

In a world of identical LEGO blocks, being special means being different.

Here's the thing about wealth management.

Everything is a shade of blue.

Is safe.

Everything is...bland.

We tend to hide our personalities and polish away the edges. In an attempt to be as palatable as possible, we inadvertently smooth out anything interesting.

The result? An industry where a lot of firms are indistinguishable from one another.

Inside of this cookie-cutter landscape, you'll find your opportunity:

You are the special.

If you're unfamiliar with this concept from the LEGO movie, I suggest you go watch it right now. It's full of wonderful, hilarious, and poignant moments.

You don't have to be disruptive or annoying.

Because you're the best version of you, just the way you are.

This matters at every level:

You as a person. Your authentic voice. Your actual interests. The things that make you different.

You as a leader. The way you think. How you solve problems. What you notice that others miss.

You as a firm. What you stand for. How you serve. What makes clients choose you over the blue ocean of sameness?

In a world that's increasingly automated and mechanized, being human isn't a bug.

It's your competitive advantage.

But there's risk in that. Real risk because you might not like what you get when you let people be themselves.

You also might be completely transformed by it.

I can testify to that. Being free to create—to actually make things instead of just execute someone else's playbook—unlocked who I really am.

Trudging away inside a firm where I wasn't inspired made me question if I was in the right place. I wasn't able to give my best because I didn't have the freedom to create based on my actual ambitions.

This Thanksgiving weekend, here's a question:

What would it look like to be the best version of yourself?

To encourage that in your team?

To ask your clients: "What fires you up? How do we get you more time with that?"

Instead of optimizing everything into oblivion, what if you optimized for humanity?

The machines can do a lot.

But they can't be you.