Also observed in May is Military Spouse Appreciation Day, celebrated the Friday before Mother's Day, and Armed Forces Day, which honors all those actively serving each year on the third Saturday of May. 

As we go about our pursuits and enjoy our liberties, nearly 1.4 million active duty service members and their spouses stand sentry to ensure our country is ready at a minute's notice. Like our health, our military community, including our guard and reserve service members, is often taken for granted daily. More often than not, when we hear of an overseas conflict, become alerted to a national threat, or require disaster recovery assistance, we acknowledge and admire just how critical they are to our security, safety, and well-being. 

At The College, our military community, veterans and their spouses are a daily priority. Helping them pursue new careers in financial services as they transition to civilian life is part of our mission instituted through our Center for Military and Veterans Affairs. 

I was beyond proud to see a picture of our Center for Military and Veterans Affairs Executive Director Jim Roy, PMP, appear on my screen while watching a segment before Armed Forces Day on the CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell last Thursday. O'Donnell discussed the rank of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, the highest enlisted rank in the United States Air Force and a position only held by 19 people to date. Jim is the 16th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. 

I appreciate Jim immensely every day as I do all of our faculty, staff, leadership volunteers, students, and alumni who have served and all the women and men who are serving today for their sacrifices in service to our country. I hope you enjoy this Memorial Day with those you love, doing what you love in remembrance and honor of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be free.

They’ve put me hand-in-hand, face-to-face, even heart-to-heart with the men and women of this great profession. I’ve met people from all colors and creeds, including those breaking through societal barriers; the veterans continuing their lives of service; the culture carriers of this profession’s long-standing organizations; and the next generation of advisors looking to make an impact in the communities they serve.

I helped cut the ribbon on The American College of Financial Services’ new home, the Cary Maguire Building – a modern, media-driven location that christened a new day in The College’s storied 93-year history. I spoke at events honoring veterans, industry heavyweights, and our 2019 designee and master’s degree recipients. Also, as the first African-American President in The College’s history, it was a profound honor to open our 14th annual Conference of African American Financial Professionals in Atlanta. 

I found its slogan a fitting facsimile to the message I continue to carry with me everywhere I go: lift as you climb. 

There’s a stark choice in this profession: get lost in the darkness of power and prestige or lift up others through a dedication to service. This is the financial services profession, where the ultimate benefit must be theirs, not ours. We must lift up our clients, our communities, and new advisors looking to do the same. Our profession will flourish in the years ahead if we follow the “we, not me” mentality. It’s been tested by crises of confidence that soured trust in our stewardship, by rapidly advancing technology that requires a shift to more holistic service offerings, and by a wave of Baby Boomers who are ready to retire even if their finances aren’t. 

Instead of sitting in a silo, I call on you to uplift our profession with your knowledge and your wisdom. Embrace the kinship of community, and become a financial mentor to your neighbors, colleagues, and career changers. A larger, more knowledgeable advisor community will benefit clients and improve public perceptions. A common fellowship will expand our professional networks and strengthen our ties to the communities we serve. 

Success isn’t about climbing the ladder then kicking it down so no one else can follow. It’s about climbing the ladder, getting to that next level, and looking back at where you started with an extended, helping hand. 

The American College of Financial Services is always looking to do its part. Our goal is to be your life-long learning partner – promoting financial literacy, engaging and educating society, and sharing our knowledge with all who need it. We believe that a rising tide lifts all boats; that an informed society asks the right questions, picks the right advisor, and has better financial outcomes. 

As I make my way through Year 2 at The College, I look forward to seeing many of you at industry events, hearing your stories, and collaborating with a growing, inclusive profession that is moving in the same direction. Together, we are stronger.

The College’s legacy is a virtue. Its 93-year history is one to embrace and leverage, but it certainly cannot impede progress. And that’s the intersection where I live – at the corner of celebrating history and making it. 

As The College’s 10th President and Chief Executive Officer, I wholeheartedly thank the over 170,000 alumni who at times have carried this institution with their time and charity. I revere Dr. Solomon Huebner’s vision, not just as this College’s founder, but as the architect of the modern financial services profession. Yet, I am also conscious of a 21st-century marketplace that looks different, works different, and demands different. 

Different means moving forward with a clear vision guided by strong values. Here are mine.

Urgency is not frantic. Composure and poise are sorely lacking in some organizations. Some leaders think frantic conveys speed and purpose, but instead it causes confusion and chaos. Even if the chaos closes out a short-term project, it breaks the organization’s resolve to continue the long-term mission. Leaders press for urgency without helping their team understand what it means or why it’s important. 

Urgency is also not emergency. The first comes with a greater purpose focused forward to create impactful change and reach tangible goals. The latter is a reactive approach that leads to finger pointing that eventually can sap the life from a business. 

Urgency is the way you prepare and communicate. As a business leader, I try to think as I would communicate – calmly, rationally, and with poise. I’m not perfect, but I believe prepared business leaders can more easily execute their vision. If you are prepared, fewer emergencies arise. If you have a clear vision, urgency comes across as excitement and determination, and that’s reflected in the way you speak across the organization. Aim for the heart, not just the mind. Look for the motivation that will compel a team to take action. Empowered employees don’t feel stressed by urgency; they buy into it. 

Business leaders should also think about communication as more than a town hall or executive retreat. They should convey a sense of urgency in meetings, memos, and emails. They are the spokesperson or organizational role model: lead effectively, and others will follow. 

More than anything, urgency is the execution of a well-thought-out plan. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” It originated on a motivational poster produced by the British government to raise public morale in preparation for World War II. Today, it’s a popular slogan calling for persistence in the face of challenge or confidence in a plan, no matter the short-term pitfalls. This is relevant to today’s investment environment. The uncertainty surrounding the global impact of a new illness, the coronavirus (or COVID-19), has caused significant market instability, and in turn, fear in many clients, especially those in or close to retirement. See the results of a flash survey we did with advisors who hold The College’s Retirement Income Certified Professional Designation® (RICP®). A global health crisis is an easy reason to cut and run, thereby locking in losses that could otherwise be avoided. 

Now is the time when financial advisors really show their value. How well do you understand emotional investing? Are you following a goal-based approach? Is face-to-face communication your strong suit? Do you have the knowledge to apply theory and data to real-life decisions? 

If your answers to these questions are YES, you are equipped to lead with poised urgency: this is an ability to cut through the noise, re-engage on end goals, and shepherd your clients to safety and success without irresponsibly sounding the alarm. If any of your answers are NO, let this situation serve as a reminder that knowing how to execute crisis communications comes from advanced knowledge and education. 

Stewardship – whether it be of a corporation’s balance sheet or an individual’s retirement account – requires deliberative thought, consistent messaging, and precise implementation. You can’t accomplish those goals in a frenzy, but you can check off the boxes with a sense of urgency that rallies everyone around a common cause. Keep calm and carry on … with the plan.

Do you think I’m exaggerating? While the S&P 500 returned 30.43% in 2019, just 49% of millennials experienced the rise, down sharply from the 61% who rode the soaring market from 2001-2008. We all remember what happened next…a recession that took a psychological toll on young investors during their formative years and shaped an economy that took several years to recover. In turn, these investors didn’t reap the market’s revival due to distrust in the institution. 

This isn’t a “financial services problem.” Enron, Boeing, and Facebook are just a few examples of ethical lapses that have eroded public trust. But to say that these events are bound to human nature or are just inherent in American capitalist society is just wrong. 

At The American College of Financial Services, we continue to take ethics well beyond words. We ingrain our advocacy for ethical standards into our company culture, academic rigor, and alumni initiatives. 

In 2020, The American College Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services celebrates its 20th anniversary. As the only ethics center within an academic institution focused exclusively on the financial services profession, the Center promotes ethical behavior by offering programs that go beyond the rules of market conduct to help executives and producers be more sensitive to ethical issues and think more critically about solutions. 

In January, I moderated a panel at ACLI’s ERT meeting alongside executives Roger Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer of TIAA, and Roger Crandall, President and Chief Executive Officer of MassMutual. We had a profound, prosperous conversation on the people, processes, and planning that goes into not just building, but maintaining, an ethical business culture. Later that week, we also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Forum on Ethical Leadership, the vision of Jim Mitchell and his wife Linda. They are synonymous with advancing business ethics through the profession, just as they are so appreciated and deep-rooted in The College’s history. 

It’s been said that ethics represents the attempt to resolve the contact between selfishness and selflessness. In such a fast-paced world, the greatest threat to relationship-based enterprise isn’t technology, but ourselves. Yes, technology is pushing the envelope and narrowing any margin for error, but we as professionals can still win the day by always working in the best interests of those we serve; that the benefit is theirs, not ours. 

We live this commitment every day at The College. It’s in our DNA. Moreover, I believe we have an opportunity, even an obligation, as an accredited, non-profit institution serving the financial services profession to continue to forge forward as a catalyst for shaping this all-important conversation. 

How does that happen? By coming together, and by working with the best and brightest minds in stewardship of the financial services community, in the interests of the clients who are entrusting us with their financial futures. This is a topic I’ll be talking more about over the weeks and months to come.

This webcast was part of AALU/GAMA’s #NavigatingTheNow Webcast Series – conversations with the profession’s top executives and thought leaders in response to today’s COVID-19 crisis. If you have an hour, watch the webcast or read the transcript below. It was an engaging discussion on how The American College of Financial Services is leading through innovation, ethics, and new learning opportunities for today’s financial services professional.

You hear the stories of black men and women navigating poverty inside America’s densest projects; the malnutrition, the financial stress, the entrenched inequalities in our system that eventually boil over. They become fearful of the cops, of creditors, even of each other while fighting on the streets for survival. 

Make no mistake – that’s what this is, not what it’s become. I lived this life as a kid in the segregated South – and five decades have not solved these injustices. Fifty years of powerful people thinking they must always fill the sting of silence with their own words, when it’s not their void to fill. 

America now lays bare its weakness in this moment of immense pain. It’s spilled over into the streets of cities and towns across this nation – an anger so deep-rooted leading to glass sitting on sidewalks framing defaced storefronts. I echo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in urging those protesting to remember the message they want to deliver. He said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” 

Put down the rocks, and pick up the megaphones. Amplify your Instagram audiences. Rally the voices of black churches, and the motivations of black activists. Mobilize a communications effort as wide as these protests can stretch. While America is still largely staying at home, there’s a captive audience bigger than ever before. 

I really hope our nation is ready to listen. But, more importantly, I hope that those marginalized and mistreated for so long are heard and understood. Because this is bigger than a commitment to hiring a few more people of color or setting up a diversity council or cloaking the systemic struggle black people face with a program that means well, but stops a few steps short of feeling uncomfortable. 

I’ve had a tough talk with myself over the last few days. Is The College doing enough? Yes, our scholarship programs lift up people of color looking for valuable, and valued, careers in financial services. Yes, The College’s Conference of African American Financial Professionals will celebrate its 15th year in 2020 as a venue for black men and women to support each other, share stories and strategies, and lift up their communities. 

Yet, we can all do more to create equal opportunity in this world, to establish a fairness doctrine that spurs economic growth from the bottom-up, to re-assess how we’ve lived up to Dr. King’s ideals. We honor his birthday, but how’s that anything close to enough? 

As a nation, we start conversations on race I don’t think we ever intend on finishing. This time must be different. The College will hold itself and its partner companies accountable for affecting real change through real dialogue. A message co-signed by The College, ACLI, NAIFA, AALU/GAMA, and LIMRA was a strong step in setting the tone. 

And, more than anything, we have the opportunity and responsibility to become a platform for progress, where the communities we serve drive the ideas and actions we take. For far too long, pontificators have read some words on race, offered their thoughts and prayers, and America moved on. That cannot continue.

While the CARES Act was a necessary provision to mitigate short-term financial pain, there’s also a real fear the allowances it offered may significantly impact individuals’ long-term retirement prospects. 

However, not all is lost, because retirement planning shouldn’t be the Wild, Wild West. Financial professionals are the buffer between irrational thought and financial planning decisions. The American College of Financial Services plays an important role in this relationship, educating financial professionals on many facets of retirement planning, including areas severely impacted by today’s public health crisis. 

Should my clients claim Social Security early? How can I talk to them about avoiding retirement plan withdrawals unless necessary? Where can they park money as a safe haven until the market recalibrates? 

Knowledge helps provide the expertise and confidence needed to answer these questions, and many more like them. This crisis will hit retiree and near-retiree clients differently depending on the makeup of their portfolio and their familial needs. Is long-term care on the table? Do they need to have an estate planning conversation? Again, there’s so much to know, and The College wants to be both the conveyor of that information and the platform for the big, impactful discussions the profession is having. 

There are several ways The College is living its mission in the retirement space during this unprecedented crisis: 

• We held four-part webcast series, Financial Planning During COVID-19, which included a full hour on tax and retirement planning strategies, as well as another session on reframing a goal-based wealth management plan under market stress.
• We continue to provide relevant, timely information through the Retirement Planning Series webcasts presented by the New York Life Center for Retirement Income. A recent session detailed Social Security’s perilous solvency. We assembled a lineup of thought leaders, including The College faculty Steve Parrish and Wade Pfau, along with Kent Conrad, former U.S. Senator and co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings.
• Our esteemed faculty has been busy talking to journalists across America, and have been featured in over 200 stories reaching 792 million eyes through publications like The New York Times, The Motley Fool, Bankrate, Kiplinger, and so many more.
• We also surveyed Retirement Income Certified Professionals® (RICP® credential holders) on how their clients were handling market volatility. As you’d expect, the results of our second survey showed more client concern than a month earlier, yet a theme was still apparent: clients remained calm if advisors proactively communicated the importance of proper planning during market imbalance. 

We’ve been busy, but we’re nowhere close to finished. Providing a variety of free content through webcasts, interviews, surveys, and guest articles is one way to highlight the expertise of our brilliant retirement-focused faculty, led by RICP® Program Director Wade Pfau. We have a team dedicated to the data, cognizant of its framing in today’s environment, and uniquely focused on how behavior drives many of these important decisions. Retirement planning looks far different today than it did after the 2008 recession. I’m excited to determine how The College can play a part in how corporations, think tanks, and the federal government act on these issues. There will be another CARES Act. There will be emergency legislation that puts short-term interests over long-term outlooks. It’s a financial advisor’s duty to cut through the noise with sound advice and expertise, and The College will continue to play a leading role by delivering accessible, engaging, impactful insight and education.

Yet, old-school academic philosophy can stifle individual exploration. It tries to fit every round peg into a square hole – presenting information the same way for all learners.

I don’t believe it’s The American College of Financial Services’ place to push one learning concept in a world of many. Instead, The College is focused on driving impact and delivering outcomes – goals best suited to flexibility and optionality with an experience that puts the student in charge.

This is especially needed in today’s current financial climate. Roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring every day – and have you noticed the storm they must now weather? Millennials are navigating their second recession, and many have significant student loan debt – yet they must plan for the future in the haze of the present.

Financial advice is more important than ever before. It’s no longer enough to pick stocks and bonds – technology can do that. True financial planners must provide tremendous value through their knowledge.

It’s The College’s responsibility to present that knowledge in a format that not only supports classroom success, but professional success years down the line. We don’t want you to memorize content, but retain it through text, video, audio, animation, course discussion, and instructor support – whatever you need to succeed.

That’s the impetus behind Personal Pathway®, The College’s new learning model now available through most of our Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) and Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) education programs, as well as select courses in our Charted Life Underwriter® (CLU®) program.

I’m not here to discuss the what – you can visit our Personal Pathway® page or the ChFC®, CFP®, or CLU® program pages to understand the benefits. I’m here to explain the why – those reasons for a dramatic shift in our course development and delivery. Eventually, The College will offer every designation program course through Personal Pathway®, which demonstrates our belief in the theory and practical application behind its implementation.

The College should not micromanage when, where, and how you learn. Yet, self-study does not fit the learning needs of every student. That’s why we’ve taken the best of our self-study courses and included live and on-demand webinars, new digital textbooks integrated directly into each lesson with enhanced search capabilities and flashcard study tools, rich multimedia lesson reviews, greater instructor support, and engaging discussion forums that allow you to start or join conversations with your peers. And to show our commitment to financial professionals’ education, we’ve eliminated tiered programs within Personal Pathway® and have included all these program enhancements for the same tuition cost.

I invite you to chart your own learning path inside an inclusive learning experience with modality and flexibility, yet also the structure you may crave. Finish 10 weeks of coursework on schedule, while attending every weekly webinar, push through the coursework in seven weeks to finish faster, or put your studies on hold during a two-week crunch at work, catch up with the on-demand webinars, and finish on time.

The goal is to get you through a program faster, while providing you the tools to retain even more of the knowledge you need. We don’t lean into this goal through subjectivity – but rather through copious research, the expertise of a highly-accomplished faculty, and the best-in-practice learning concepts studied and applied for decades by our senior academic leaders. This is just another marker on our mission to becoming one of the nation’s top e-learning institutions, the educational provider for financial professionals across America focused on enhancing their expertise and making a difference in society.

Join us on your Personal Pathway®.

Scott and I have become close confidants during my 18 months leading The American College of Financial Services. As OneAmerica’s Chief Executive Officer, I lean on Scott’s perspective as the leader of a respected financial services company. As The College’s Trustee Board Chair, Scott also helps level set my thinking and serves as a valuable advisor as I make decisions that impact The College community.

We talked that evening about the fog of the present and ran through crisis planning scenarios for what was looking more and more like a global pandemic. In the weeks that followed, we checked in each Tuesday to share, strategize, and strengthen our resolve to arrive at organizational solutions.

In late April, with both of our communities staying home, we talked about ways we could share our thoughts with leaders across the financial services industry. We both know from experience that no two leaders process and navigate crises the same way, but perhaps our perspectives could make an impact as the industry navigates this great unknown.

Then, after deciding to publish a joint white paper on our leadership philosophies, racial unrest swept across the streets of our biggest cities and smallest towns. We were now seeing two crises attack our nation’s moral fabric. During times like these, leaders must fill the vacuum of panic and protest. Across all industries, we must stand up to protect our people and our organizations, while effecting sustainable, generational change where we can.

Our white paper, Leadership in Crisis, is an unfiltered look at how Scott and I view these crises, as well as the paths we must take to safely traverse today while sustaining our organizations for the future.

You can view some of our thoughts on several topics below. Thank you to Scott and his team at OneAmerica for their devotion and dedication to this project and to The College’s mission to benefit society.

On Leading With Values

“Values guide me and our organization every day, serving as a guiding light through every situation,” Davison said. “A clear understanding of our mission answers, ‘What are we doing here every day?’ It level sets expectations and frames what success looks like.”

“Each day I get up, I am providing a service to folks who are following me, and they have to know we are there to serve them, not the other way around. And that allows us to make mission-critical decisions around values,” Nichols said.

On Board Governance Helping Improve Leadership

“I have learned to say ‘no’ to a lot of Board opportunities,” said Nichols, who serves on the Board of City Year, a national service program focused on helping children and young adults become civic leaders in their communities. “I want to make an impact and share my wisdom, and that effectiveness leads to more opportunities, but executive leaders must be mindful of their time and narrow in on areas of synergy with their values.”

“I think a Board chair serves three roles: about five percent is managing the CEO, performance feedback and pay levels; ten percent is managing Board relationships and delivering certain messages to other Board members; and the final 85 percent is being a trusted advisor,” said Davison.

On Living a Life Rooted in Giving Back

“OneAmerica looks for two-for-ones that link causes, help more people, and align with our organizational priorities. It’s a win-win,” said Davison.

Nichols ties his idea of philanthropy to today’s racial injustice. As organizations chart a path forward, many should be wary to repeat the past. Charitable dollars are needed, but money is just one part of the equation. As Nichols points out, “A philanthropic initiative centered on dollars will eventually end when the next crisis hits. True philanthropy is marrying the funds with knowledge and know-how to create something that lasts.”

On Leading Organizations During Crises

“We accept what we cannot control and try to maximize what we can as long as it connects back to The College’s mission to benefit society,” said Nichols.

"If we step back, we see the higher purpose. It is time for us to be who we say we are. And that means making sure our service levels are outstanding,” Davison said.

On The One Piece of Advice They Want to Give

“Operate as a person first, not a CEO,” Nichols said. “I am a husband and father, so I self-reflect and think first how a person, not an executive, feels. I let all of those feelings – fear, confusion, misunderstanding, even hope – wash over me. Then I step back into the arena with my team and say, ‘Let us recognize these emotions, take them to heart, and make decisions.’ If an executive had been doing their job, absorbing the gravity of the moment should allow them to move past it long enough to execute.”

“Once I started having these consistent chats with our leaders and associates during COVID-19, it became apparent how necessary they were. We all started moving as one again. I believe clear, consistent communication will only allow organizations to move faster in the months and years ahead,” Davison said.