How Do You Become a More Trusted Advisor?

How do you become a more trusted advisor? With so much changing in business today what does it take for you to become the most trusted advisor? My clients have many advisors. I believe many will be adding more as new advisory practices begin to show up in their accounting, financial, and legal firms.

We live in a complicated world at a complicated time in history, When I talk with my fellow advisors I’m always surprised by how their roles are changing and constantly evolving. Like doctors all of them specialize in helping our clients do the right things.

The problem is many of these trusted advisors don’t play well on teams You ask how I know this?  Its simple.  Many of the team members never meet at the same time with the client, ever!

I believe there are three reasons for this:

This means most will never become the client’s most trusted advisor. Now if you’re still reading this, it means there’s still hope. You understand the importance of being part of your client’s team. You are curious, interested, and open to learning new things. You also know how to compromise and play well with others. But what can you do to become your client’s most trusted advisor?

It took me a very long time to learn what I share today. It has served well me in advising many top leaders in many fields. I like to tell stories, but I get paid to watch and listen. Let me share what I learned from many of the world’s most trusted advisors.

I believe the most trusted advisors are individuals who understand these 12 simple ideas and execute them. They are easy to understand but can sometimes be very hard to implement.

When you look at the list who do you see?  How would you rate yourself in these critical areas? You might notice I don’t have many technical capabilities on the list. Next week I’ll share why! See you next week.