The most valuable lessons of my life didn’t come from boardrooms. They came from Sunday dinners at my grandmother’s table, working alongside my mother, and learning firsthand the value of deep relationships over transactions.

As a first-generation college graduate from a humble, loud, Italian Catholic family, I grew up watching my parents struggle financially, writing notes to bill collectors asking them to delay cashing checks. My parents didn’t know much about money, but they taught me something far more valuable: that trust is earned, loyalty is everything, and the best investments you make are in people. I didn’t start my career in finance. I began in public service, working in crime prevention and mentoring at-risk youth. That experience taught me that true impact isn't measured in dollars, it's measured in the lives you touch and the futures you influence.

In 2002, I joined Edward Jones as a financial advisor, quickly recognizing that the financial industry was overly transactional and short-term focused. Over nearly 15 years, I led advisor training programs, managed regional growth, and recruited more than 100 advisors, ultimately becoming a recognized leader within the firm. But I knew the industry needed a different approach, one built on relationships, not transactions.

In 2016, I founded Freedom Street Partners to embody this vision. Starting from nothing, we grew rapidly by putting people first, prioritizing trust and mentorship over quick wins. Over a few short years, Freedom Street expanded to more than 40 advisors across seven states, managing over $3.5 billion in client assets. 

Our approach captured the attention of Steward Partners, a leading national independent partnership specializing in wealth management, succession planning, and advisory transitions. In a strategic nine-figure merger, Freedom Street joined forces with Steward Partners to amplify our impact even further. Today, as Executive Vice President & Head of Legacy at Steward Partners, my role is clear: to guide financial advisors and business leaders through the complexities of mergers, acquisitions, and succession planning. 

My work isn't just about finance; it's about helping people design a high-performance life grounded in clarity, purpose, and lasting impact. That’s why I launched The High Performance LIFE Podcast—to share insights that empower leaders to align financial success with meaningful relationships and legacy. If you're a financial advisor, business owner, or leader thinking strategically about your next chapter, let's connect.

This holiday season was filled with many great memories with friends and family.  
But as the first few days of the new year arrive and life finally slows down, there’s this brief window where everything feels a little quieter. A little lighter. And I actually have the space to reflect before things pick back up again. 

When I look back, I’ve realized the moments that shaped me the most last year weren’t the biggest wins or the biggest challenges. They were the smaller, quieter moments that reminded me of who I want to be and how I want to show up for the people I love and lead. 

The conversations that stayed with me. 
The relationships that kept me grounded. 
The reminders that alignment matters more than ambition. 

So, as I settle into 2026, I want to stay connected to the relationships that matter most. I want more of the moments where I’m fully present, not just physically there. And I’m choosing to let go of the distractions that steal time from the people who matter, so I can make room for what truly deserves my energy. 

The older I get, the more I appreciate this slow start. The breathing room. The chance to ask myself the real questions before the pace of the year takes over again. 

What’s grounding you as you step into this new year? 

#HappyNewYear #Family #HighPerformance

Scott Danner

Impact Leader positioning financial advisors and business owners for relationship-driven transitions—so their legacy outlives their career | EVP, Steward Partners | Podcast Host

The advisory gap isn’t just an industry issue anymore. Clients feel it. Teams feel it. And in 2026, leaders can’t afford to treat succession planning as something they will handle later. 

McKinsey estimates we could be short nearly 100,000 advisors by 2034. But the number alone doesn’t explain what is really happening. The challenge is the imbalance. Experienced advisors are stepping out faster than next-gen advisors are stepping in, and the next-gen we do have often is not getting the mentorship or exposure they need to lead with confidence. 

I have worked with so many younger advisors who are hungry, capable, and ready to grow. But too often, they are left without the guidance that turns potential into leadership. Meanwhile, seasoned advisors on the team carry decades of trust, history, and emotional equity that rarely gets passed down with intention. 

And here is the truth most people miss. When an advisor steps away, it is not just their book that disappears. It is their judgment. Their instincts. All the conversations and moments that never make it into a CRM. You cannot transfer that overnight, and you cannot expect the next generation to learn it by accident. 

So, as we settle into the new year, ask yourself: Who is preparing to step out? Who is truly prepared to step up? And are you giving your next-gen leaders the mentorship and responsibility they need to carry your culture and client relationships forward? 
 
#SuccessionPlanning #NextGenAdvisors #Legacy

Most coaching conversations start with a business problem, but almost always end up being about life. People often come in with a challenge that is not actually the real one.  
 
Someone will say, “I’m having trouble with lead generation,” but I’ve learned to start at the end. What are you working toward? How close are you to that picture? Where is your energy going? And could you even handle more leads right now? 

Once we walk through their goals, the real issue usually reveals itself. They don’t need a new technique. They need alignment. We have to define the life they want before we build the strategy to support it. 

This is why Life Wealth Optimization has always been the foundation of my work. Life comes first. When someone asks me to help manage their money, I need to understand their life before anything else. Money only matters when it is connected to purpose. What are they building? What does their ideal life look like? 

Coaching from that perspective changes everything. It stops being transactional. It becomes a relationship built on clarity, growth, and real transformation. When someone strengthens their marriage, steps into their next chapter, or finally creates the life they imagined, they stay connected because the work mattered. 

The best coaches I have ever had did that for me, and their impact has lasted. 

What area of your life needs clarity before any real progress can happen in your business? 

#HighPerformanceLife #Leadership

Check out my longtime friend and partner!  I’ll be contributing to this launch and highly recommend checking it out!  Claire Alexander  Marie Swift

Operational Growth Engine for 7 & 8-Figure Advisory Firms | We forge iconic firms for the visionary few who want to shatter the industry standard.

To others, it looked like he was winning. $500M AUM, big wins and milestones reached, he won awards, and had been in the news.

But when we met, he admitted to me that each win felt less enjoyable because the weight of the decisions he needed to make to get to the next goal.  They just felt heavy. 

He felt like a "human structural beam" holding up the entire business for his high-performing firm. If he even just took a break— he felt like there was an unforgiving tradeoff waiting for him, like between his family life or his business momentum—one couldn't thrive for the other.

He had a $1B goal and assumed he had at least three more years of the same grind ahead of him because the first $500M took so long.

But he was so wrong! 

Scaling toward a Billion in AUM should not require you to sacrifice more of your life to the "shitty lessons" of figuring it out as you go and suffering along the way. 

What it does require is the openness to change.

If you have never done it before, how do you know which moves actually make a difference? How do you go from making every decision to letting a carefully crafted system take over?

A better way is to have a partner who has done it already. For this advisor, we are pacing to:

- Recover at least $250k in capacity for him alone (hundreds of hours back).
- Increase team bandwidth by enough to save the cost of an entire new hire (not to mention creating a culture of deeper loyalty and trust along the way).

- Hit that Billion AUM goal years sooner with a firm that finally feels lighter.

But that's for this advisor and his business.  Imagine what this could look like for you..

Next week, with my friends and industry pioneers, Marie Swift and Scott Danner, we are announcing an invitation-only Masterclass.  This closed door session will challenge your thinking of how to scale beyond the Billions in AUM when you align the right Architecture with Authority (reputation) and Acquisition (leader-to-leader scale).

We’re going to help you decide which version of 2026 you’re moving toward.

If you want the personal invitation easily accessible in your inbox, just leave a comment below so I can send the invite to you directly.  Or if you want to keep it discreet, shoot over a direct message. 

For the ones who want early access before the doors officially open next week, a quick message to my inbox and we can set up a direct Executive Bypass Meeting to jumpstart your year sooner.

Cheers to you in the New Year!

Pressure has a way of speeding everything up. Thoughts get louder. Opinions multiply. What felt clear a week ago suddenly feels urgent, heavy, and crowded with noise. When the stakes are high, clarity is often the first thing to slip. 

I’ve seen this play out time and time again in leadership transitions, succession conversations, and major life decisions.  
 
The moments that shape the future of a business, a team, or a family rarely arrive neatly. They arrive when emotions are involved, expectations are high, and everyone seems to want an answer now. 

That’s why I come back to these three tools again and again: Pause. Circle. Reset.  
 
Not as tactics or a checklist, but as disciplines. They create just enough space to slow the moment down. They help separate signal from noise. They remind you that you don’t have to decide simply because others are uncomfortable with the wait. 

Protecting your clarity isn’t about avoiding pressure.  
It’s about learning how to move through it without losing perspective.  
 
When you do that, you’re not just protecting a decision. You’re protecting the people who depend on you, the culture you’ve built, and the legacy that follows long after the moment has passed. 

How do you find clarity when pressure is high? Let me know down below. 

#Leadership #Legacy #HighPerformance

When last did you get a valuation? Most business owners wait far too long, and by the time they finally look at the real number, it becomes a wake-up call instead of a planning tool. 

Here’s the thing: a valuation isn’t about getting ready to sell. It’s about understanding the business you’re running right now. It shows you what’s healthy, what’s slipping, and what needs your attention before it turns into a problem.  
 
After working with countless leaders over the years, I’ve seen how often the story they think they’re building looks very different from the one the valuation reveals. Everything comes down to four key drivers that shape the true value of your business:  

1. Owner dependency.  
If everything slows down when you step away, the value drops. Buyers and investors look for businesses that can stand on their own two feet. 

2. Documented processes.  
When your team relies on memory instead of systems, growth gets shaky. The more repeatable your operations are, the stronger your valuation becomes. 

3. Quality of revenue.  
Recurring, diversified income tells the market you’re stable. Revenue tied to a handful of clients or one-time wins raises questions about the future. 

4. Leadership and bench strength.  
A strong second tier is one of the biggest value boosters. When a business is built on one person, it’s vulnerable. When it’s built on a team, it’s durable. 

A valuation helps you see all of this clearly so you can grow with intention instead of guessing. 

So, is it time you get a valuation? What would it reveal? 

#Valuation #BusinessGrowth #MergersAndAcquisitions

🎙️ New Podcast Episode 🎙️

Why is it so hard to say no, especially when something feels wrong?

This week, I sit down with Dr. Sunita Sah, a national bestselling author, Cornell professor, physician, and leading expert on influence, authority, compliance, and defiance. 

Her work has shaped how we understand power, consent, and why so many good people stay silent when it matters most.

Dr. Sah’s journey, from practicing medicine in the UK to advising governments and studying organizational behavior, led her to a powerful realization: we’ve misunderstood what it really means to defy. 

Defiance isn’t rebellion. It isn’t aggression. It’s acting in alignment with your values, especially under pressure.

Dr. Sah reframes defiance as a skill, not a personality trait, one that can be learned, practiced, and used for good. 

Whether you’re leading a team, raising kids, or navigating complex relationships, this conversation will change how you think about your voice, your values, and your agency.

In this episode, we explore:
• Defiance is acting in accordance with your true values
• Compliance and consent are not the same thing
• A “true no” requires clarity, capacity, and freedom
• Speaking up improves trust, innovation, and well-being
• Learning when not to comply is essential to leadership

If you’ve ever walked away thinking, “I wish I’d said something,” this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now: https://loom.ly/qeZ91Bw

Tag someone who needs to hear this conversation 👇

🎙️ New Podcast Episode 🎙️

What if the most powerful tool for navigating chaos wasn’t hustle, control, or willpower... But a single, conscious breath?

This week, I sit down with Anthony Nigel Abbagnano Dunkley, founder of Alchemy of Breath and one of the world’s leading voices in conscious breathing and inner transformation.

Anthony’s journey is as profound as his work. After years of external success, and a life-altering illness that left him unable to move, he discovered that true resilience, surrender, and healing begin with the breath. 

That realization sparked a global movement, helping thousands reconnect with calm, clarity, and purpose through breathwork.

In this episode, we explore:
• Breath is the fastest path from chaos to clarity
• Surrender and willpower are partners, not opposites
• Fear loses power when met with curiosity instead of avoidance
• Acknowledgement builds resilience and self-trust
• Community accelerates healing and transformation
• Inner calm changes not just you—but everyone around you
• You are always one conscious breath away from a different life

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck in high performance mode, or searching for deeper meaning beneath success, this conversation will slow you down in the best possible way.

🎧 Listen now:

Open article: The High Performance Life by loom.ly

I’m honored to be joining Claire Alexander for The Billion Dollar Firm Masterclass on January 20th. Claire has a rare ability to see what many leaders feel but struggle to articulate, especially in rapid growth. 
 
I’ll be sharing lessons from my own journey scaling, acquiring, and ultimately exiting a firm. Not just what worked on paper, but what had to change in how I led, chose partners, and made decisions if I wanted both a meaningful valuation and a meaningful life.  
  
This is a leader to leader conversation.  
No more tactics or chasing numbers, we’re discussing how to actually build real leverage through your team, your partnerships, and your leadership, so the business actually supports the life you envision. 
 
We’ll be live on January 20th at 11:00am PST in a private, curated room with high-performing advisors and firm owners who are thinking seriously about what comes next. 
 
If this season resonates, you can learn more here: 
https://lnkd.in/eASG7mQU 

#FirmGrowth #LegacyLeadership #HighPerformance

Open article: Billion Dollar Firm Masterclass by thearchsanvil.com

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