Nick Richtsmeier

There is no growth plan for consultative ventures without properly built segmentation. You can't create content that matters. You can't show differentiated value to new prospects. You can't provide legendary service. And, in all likelihood, you're on the path to obscurity.

In the internet era, little care is shown to putting your brand in the wrong place. In this week's FWD, brands are willing to throw billions of dollars at platforms that users themselves wish didn't exist, and the most popular growth engine in finance tends to produce the most unhappy clients.

There is no growth plan for wealth managers without properly built segmentation. You can't create content that matters. You can't show differentiated value to new prospects. You can't provide legendary service. And, in all likelihood, you're on the path to obscurity.

The AI Sludge running down the mountain is immense, and sure to overwhelm the current web's already-feebled ability to act in trust. And yet, there are signposts of a new internet rising and with it new generations who are on to the game being played.

Growth killers hide in plain sight. They are often treated as cultural quirks. And in many cases when I’ve challenged about them, the leaders treat them as isolated problems or communication breakdowns, not systemic issues. Willful blindness feels good, but it doesn’t make growth.

We've let the internet decide how we decide on nearly everything for two decades now. It's not working for consumers, and it's not working for your business. Here's what happens next.

There are only two business plans left for growing RIAs: Build to Sell or Build to Buy. And for all the firms not doing either, they are counting on running out a clock that is moving faster than even the most cash-sheltered RIAs can imagine.

You cannot critique something well unless you love it. Once something is in your veins, like marketing and finance and education and the internet are in mine, passion for the possible feeds a holy discontent. One worth fighting for.

To steal the infamous words from Hamilton: a legacy is planting seeds in a garden we'll never see. As a very amateur gardener, I think about this often. Even when you are going to see the seeds grow, you're often very, very wrong about the outcome you're going to get.

Some combination of the internet's meltdown, media failures, and falling reading skills are killing communication. It's time to reset your sights: communication is not the goal, understanding is.

Trust-dependent ventures must think like designers. From visual layouts to client experiences, from lobby layouts to website UX, it’s imperative to your trust-based growth that you bring a design mind to the party. Featuring Guest Contributor Laura Sorensen

Big trends are made by category incumbents, held up by media, and monetized by the masses who are desperate to feel connected to the newest, hottest thing. This collusion of the willing puts up barriers to entry to producing value and growing marketshare. This week we recognize the signs.