Ryan Poterack Discusses Experience

24 years ago this Spring, I entered the “real world” after college.  I had my degree, was eager to succeed, and had a good work ethic.  I had no experience.  Did my earliest clients receive good value?  I believe so.  Do my clients today receive more value?  Absolutely.  There is no comparison between the advisor I am today and the advisor I was two decades ago.  This significant difference is very apparent when I coach younger advisors in my industry.  However, like everything in life, there are benefits and limitations to the value of experience. 

Experience related to circumstances which will repeat, particularly often, is very valuable because many situations or problems can be anticipated.  Experience may also be relied on too often and detract from someone’s appetite to learn or take a “fresh look” at opportunities or problem solving.  Ask yourself this question; If you were going in to have important surgery done, would you prefer the surgeon to be 35, 50 or 65 years old?  There can be a balance between experience and innovation and there is no wrong answer to the question I pose.  It really depends on what you value.  Strong integrity and committed work ethic are difficult to train or learn through experience.  Ideally, you work with experienced professionals which are still passionate about their work and continually challenge the status quo. 

Faith and Other Untouchable Topics by Ryan Poterack

You should never discuss religion or politics.”  Today, there seems to be many issues we should never discuss; race, gay marriage, gun control, abortion, diet, how to raise children and many others.  The societal view of many topics has drifted from black & white to gray.  This has often led to more nuanced and thoughtful discussions.  However, it has also led to a polarized construct in which people on either side of an issue are intolerant of others that are “racist”, “bigoted”, “judgmental” or simply “wrong”.

Herein lies significant opportunity for growth.  Regardless of your view on any touchy topic, it’s your view which is unlikely to change.  Since you know what you think, save your energy talking about what you think and seek to understand what others think.  Nobody actively believes they are wrong in their own view.  Therefore it can be far more interesting to actively listen to why someone has their viewpoint especially if it contradicts your viewpoint.

The opportunity for growth lies in the discipline required to listen and understand the reasoning of an opinion contrary to your own.  Often we are not listening because we are formulating our retort as the other speaks.  When this is occurring at the same time between two people, nothing is accomplished and both typically feel worse after the interaction.  Active listening requires questioning with a neutral tone designed to better understand how the other person reaches their opinion, even if you completely disagree.  The stronger you disagree with a contrary opinion, the more discipline it takes. 

I challenge you to seek different outcomes when controversial topics come up.  It is very unlikely the person bringing the topic up will be interested in your opinion other than as fodder for attack.  Therefore, you neutralize the situation by demonstrating interest in the other person who will most likely be eager to share why they feel the way they do.  Once they are talked out, you will have established a level of behavioral listening, beneficial to you in itself, which may be mirrored by the other person.    

New Beginning for a New Year

Hello! My name is Ryan Poterack and this is my blog. Today I am going to share with you some news about myself and my family, as well as some information about the new year. Dawn and I welcomed our son, Lincoln Oliver Poterack, into the world on November 10, 2012. Our healthy baby is now over 1 year old and has a world of opportunities in his future. What will he become? Is he right or left handed? Will he enjoy reading and the arts like big sister Reagan? Will he be a tortured Minnesota Viking fan like Pops? His life is a clean slate.

This is the time of year when many of us take stock of our lives, remember love ones lost and make commitments to improve. We all have a choice to start anew every day. We cannot change the past. We can absolutely affect our future and the future of others.  Many people say they “shoulda woulda coulda” done many things differently. Regardless of how you got to this point, here you are. It is now up to you to choose your future. It is never too late to make good decisions.

Helping people make better decisions is my passion. I recently had an interesting conversation with a woman in my office. She said several times she didn’t want to waste my time with her concerns. She also mentioned she was a person of committed faith. My faith as a born-again Christian, leads me to help people so I asked her if she liked to help people. She readily answered “yes” and commented she felt good when she is able to help others. My response was telling her to stop worrying about wasting my time, and allow me to feel good by helping her. She laughed so I took the liberty of saying she shouldn’t be selfish and let me share in the helping people goodwill feeling!

Actions always mean more to me than words. If a person says they like to help others, then that same person should appreciate the effort of others to help them. Oddly, many people resist help from others for many reasons. Helping others is noble. However, as a contrarian, I’d like to challenge everyone to be more accepting of this noble gesture of help in the new year.

I encourage all of you to shake thing(s) up this year and start fresh! Your diet, your exercise, the hobby you always thought about, have or adopt a baby, etc. Seek help from others who would enjoy seeing you succeed! Status quo is for the status quo! Boring.  Have a wonderful 2014!