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In this year of unrelenting bad news, when the combination of health issues, financial worries and uncertainty have left so many people anxious and scared, I had a sense that our profession had something to offer. I just didn’t know what. Until now. Thread 
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My breakthrough in thinking became clear as soon as I read this amazing post from @kimbendall on the @IFWellbeing blog a few days ago. A link to the article is below https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten"> and you’ll agree that it’s a beautifully written and profound story.
and you’ll agree that it’s a beautifully written and profound story." title="My breakthrough in thinking became clear as soon as I read this amazing post from @kimbendall on the @IFWellbeing blog a few days ago. A link to the article is below https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten"> and you’ll agree that it’s a beautifully written and profound story." class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
It reminded me of an article I wrote and published almost exactly a year ago. That was about an experience I had with clients of our firm and its the most widely shared content of anything I’ve ever written. A link to that article is also below https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten">
" title="It reminded me of an article I wrote and published almost exactly a year ago. That was about an experience I had with clients of our firm and its the most widely shared content of anything I’ve ever written. A link to that article is also below https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten">" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
After I published it, I received letters calls, emails and cards from people all over the world. Many from other financial professionals who said they had similar experiences with their own clients but had never written them down or shared them.
This got me thinking. The work that the very best of the financial planning profession do week in week out, all over the world can be genuinely life changing. Delivered at the intersection of money and life (and sometimes, sadly, death) it can be impactful beyond measure.
So, if the experience really is that good and the impact made is that significant,why don’t we all have a long line of prospects waiting to hire us? I think it’s that word “experience“ – it’s unique and individual and we are poor at explaining it to clients, the media, the world.
Laudable initiatives like #FinancialPlanningWeek are great, but they focus on the wrong thing – the plan, which is only a tool, a method, a process. People don’t get excited by plans or processes.
Talking about “the plan” is like describing the amazing road trip you took with your family by detailing how the internal combustion engine works - instead of describing the feeling of the wind in your hair and the sun on your back https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☀️" title="Sonne mit Strahlen" aria-label="Emoji: Sonne mit Strahlen">
No, the way we can share this magical experience and the work of this noble profession is simply through the ancient art of storytelling. After all it’s been the most reliable method since our earliest ancestors started sharing their own ideas and experiences.
Every financial planner in the UK and around the world has at least one story in them of a client experience that had a hugely positive effect for those involved. We need to get those stories out of our heads into the world. We now have a sacred responsibility to share them.
The future of financial planning is less about funds & fact sheets and more about ideas and inspiration. Helping your clients and their families achieve their fullest human potential is why you were put on this planet.
A call to arms:
1. Think of your best story
2. Write it down
3. Publish it – if you don’t have a blog, use LinkedIn
4.Use #StoriesNotSpreadsheets
5. Let’s get it going viral
6. God knows we need it right now
1. Think of your best story
2. Write it down
3. Publish it – if you don’t have a blog, use LinkedIn
4.Use #StoriesNotSpreadsheets
5. Let’s get it going viral
6. God knows we need it right now
I’m calling on storytelling professionals like @FaithLiversedge @uniquity_co @leerobertson64 @InspiredAdviser @behaviorgap @jbthewealthman and others to share and support the message.
This quote makes the point perfectly.
And good old Daniel Kahneman knows it too
So now it’s up to us, well specifically, to you. Share your best story, tell the world, make your impact. We all need it now in 2020.
If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?
Thanks for readinghttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏" title="Folded hands" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands">
If not now, then when?
Thanks for reading
Here’s Kim’s amazing article https://initiativeforfinancialwellbeing.org.uk/the-butterfly-effect-by-kim-bendall/">https://initiativeforfinancialwellbeing.org.uk/the-butte...
And mine from last year https://www.capital.co.uk/life/how-to-relate-grief-and-loss">https://www.capital.co.uk/life/how-...
