Podcasts about firms

As top AI firms race to develop a “superintelligent” agent — one that surpasses human cognition — are they prioritizing safety guardrails along the way? Not according to the Future of Life Institute's AI Safety Index, which reported that companies have gone back on their own promises to take a pause if their technology ever got close to certain risky points. Marketplace's Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Sabina Nong, AI safety investigator at the Future of Life Institute, about what measures might ensure durable safety around AI moving forward.

As top AI firms race to develop a “superintelligent” agent — one that surpasses human cognition — are they prioritizing safety guardrails along the way? Not according to the Future of Life Institute's AI Safety Index, which reported that companies have gone back on their own promises to take a pause if their technology ever got close to certain risky points. Marketplace's Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Sabina Nong, AI safety investigator at the Future of Life Institute, about what measures might ensure durable safety around AI moving forward.

End chaos in your firm—300+ peers use this framework. Free video here: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/framework Risk sits at the center of every architecture firm, yet few talk about it clearly or honestly. In this episode, Rion Willard reframes risk not as something to avoid, but as something to understand, choose, and use well. Drawing from a keynote delivered at the AIA New York Center for Architecture, Rion explores why architects carry so much responsibility without matching authority or reward. He reveals how unseen pressures quietly erode profit, creativity, and firm growth. But avoiding risk creates its own danger. The episode challenges firm owners to rethink which risks drain energy and which ones unlock momentum, freedom, and agency. Through real stories from architects who stepped beyond convention, Rion points to a different path forward. One defined less by caution, and more by deliberate courage. If risk already feels heavy in your firm, this conversation may change how you see it. Why the risks you avoid may be costing you more than the ones you take The quiet reason creativity disappears inside "successful" firms How small, chosen risks can compound into real leverage and growth

Iran said it has suspended the implementation of the MoU, suggesting that the US had “violated” commitments within the framework; Brent +2.4%.US and Iran continued to exchange strikes; Iran killed two US service members in Jordan and one in Iraq. The US continued to target Iranian military capabilities. US is said to be planning for a wider war, according to a US official, cited by the Washington Post. APAC stocks were mixed; tech underperformance weighed on the KOSPI. European equity futures are indicative of a flat open. DXY traded steady; Antipodeans led the gains, whilst the CHF and JPY were flat. Looking ahead, highlights include Canadian Inflation (Jun), New Zealand Inflation (Q2).Read the full report covering Equities, Forex, Fixed Income, Commodites and more on Newsquawk

In this episode, we explore the rapidly changing role of artificial intelligence in the tax and accounting profession. What began as simple AI-generated emails and content creation is quickly evolving into agent-based systems capable of performing real work across firm workflows.Drawing on conversations from industry events and firsthand experiences with firms and clients, we discuss why many believe we're at a major inflection point for AI adoption. Topics include the rise of AI agents, client expectations, the challenges of establishing a reliable "source of truth," and the growing need for governance, testing, and validation as firms automate sensitive processes.The discussion also tackles one of the profession's biggest questions: How do firms preserve professional judgment and develop future talent when more routine work is handled by AI? From structured versus unstructured data to workflow transformation and client service, this episode examines where AI is delivering value today—and where human expertise remains essential.Key topics include:The transition from AI experimentation to AI-powered workflowsWhy agentic AI could transform tax and advisory servicesRisks of overtrusting AI-generated outputsData security, governance, and quality control concernsThe role of professional judgment in an AI-enabled futureHow firms can balance automation with client relationshipsWhat tax season 2027 could look like as AI adoption acceleratesThis conversation offers a practical look at the opportunities, challenges, and realities facing firms as AI moves from novelty to necessity.

The national multifamily picture kept improving in the week of July 12, with occupancy firming to its best annual comparison in recent weeks. As of July 12, the average U.S. occupancy rate was 94.37%, up 9 basis points from the prior week and down just 17 basis points from a year ago, the narrowest annual occupancy gap in the recent stretch. The leased percentage was 96.45%, up 8 basis points on the week and down 78 basis points from last year. Leasing velocity held steady. The average number of leases signed was 2.1 per property last week, flat from the prior week, and down 0.6 per week compared to a year ago. The annual gap was essentially unchanged from the prior week, so demand is holding its ground against last year rather than gaining, even as occupancy continues to firm.Net effective rent edged higher. NER rose 0.1% on the week to $1,760, and annual NER growth for new leases improved to negative 1.5%, up from negative 1.6% the prior week. Rents are grinding back toward last year's level, with the annual gap narrowing for a second straight week. The range across the country remains wide, with several coastal markets posting solid positive annual growth while much of the Sun Belt is still working through negative territory.RevPAU was $1,661, up 0.2% on the week, with the annual comparison improving to negative 1.7% from negative 1.9% the prior week. With occupancy firming and rents edging up together, revenue per available unit is making steady progress against last year. For operators, the read this week is constructive: the improvement that resumed after the July 4 holiday is holding, and the year over year comparisons keep tightening as we move through July.Explore our webpage for more insights and resources:https://bit.ly/Radix_Website

Ottawa's “Buy Canadian” procurement policy is sending the bulk of its contracts to foreign-owned firms — a loophole driven by how loosely “Canadian” is defined and by trade rules that limit how much the federal government can play favourites. Plus, the defence world is in full drone mode as Ottawa sets up a new testing hub in Quebec to accelerate homegrown drone and counter-drone tech.In the big picture: IBM's brutal earnings day wipes out tens of billions in market value, DeepMind's Demis Hassabis calls for a frontier AI regulator, and five First Nations groups move to take a majority stake in major LNG export infrastructure.The Peak Daily is produced in partnership with reframevid.com

Leslie D. Davis is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, Inc. (NAMWOLF), a nonprofit trade association that connects preeminent minority and women-owned law firms with corporations and public entities hiring outside counsel. Before taking the helm at NAMWOLF in 2021, Leslie spent 25 years as a trial lawyer and rainmaker, made partner at three firms, and served as lead counsel in complex jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations. She is also a certified transformational leadership coach, sought-after speaker, mentor, and longtime advocate for equity in the legal profession. Leslie earned her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law and her M.A. and B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Iowa. WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE ABOUT HOW MINORITY AND WOMEN-OWNED FIRMS WIN CORPORATE WORK Minority and women-owned law firms have been fighting for a seat at the corporate table for decades. The barrier has not been a lack of talent or capability. Outside counsel decisions have historically been shaped by connections, relationships, and familiarity, making it harder for firms outside those established networks to compete for corporate work. NAMWOLF works to change that by connecting carefully vetted minority and women-owned firms with corporations and public entities hiring outside counsel. Its member firms are selected based on their reputation, experience, responsiveness, reliability, and ability to handle sophisticated legal work. The organization also creates opportunities for firms and in-house counsel to build real relationships while encouraging member firms to refer work to one another rather than compete for every opportunity. In this episode of The Lawyer's Edge podcast, Elise Holtzman talks with Leslie Davis of NAMWOLF about how minority and women-owned firms win corporate work, why relationships remain central to outside counsel decisions, how NAMWOLF evaluates its member firms, and how the organization is responding to changing attitudes toward diversity. 2:51 - NAMWOLF's mission and the legal market it serves 4:30 - Why member firms collaborate instead of competing for every opportunity 6:50 - How NAMWOLF vets firms for sophisticated corporate legal work 9:06 - Creating relationships between member firms and corporate counsel 12:15 - Why Leslie left trial practice to lead NAMWOLF 14:21 - How litigation and rainmaking prepared Leslie for the CEO role  17:01 - Learning to lead professionals who are not lawyers 20:55 - Responding to the changing climate around DEI 25:04 - Staying focused when the conversation becomes a distraction 30:26 - Building real relationships that lead to business MENTIONED IN HOW MINORITY AND WOMEN-OWNED FIRMS ARE WINNING CORPORATE WORK NAMWOLF | LinkedIn Leslie Davis on LinkedIn Get connected with the coaching team: hello@thelawyersedge.com The Lawyer's Edge SPONSOR FOR THIS EPISODE This episode is brought to you by the coaching team at The Lawyer's Edge, a training and coaching firm that has been focused exclusively on lawyers and law firms since 2008. Each member of the team is a trained, certified, and experienced professional coach—and either a former practicing attorney or a former law firm marketing and business development professional. Whatever your professional objectives, our coaches can help you achieve your goals more quickly, more easily, and with significantly less stress. To get connected with your coach, fill out our contact form.  

Predictions about artificial intelligence often focus on job losses and shrinking demand for lawyers. Filevine CEO and co-founder Ryan Anderson and product manager John Rizner offer a sharply different forecast. Drawing on the Jevons paradox, they argue greater efficiency will make legal services accessible to more people, encourage deeper legal research, and create work once excluded by cost. AI might reduce the effort required for individual tasks while expanding the overall volume and ambition of legal representation.The shift holds major implications for the access-to-justice gap. Faster drafting, research, and document review would allow lawyers to serve more clients without sacrificing professional judgment. Anderson expects family law, immigration, bankruptcy, criminal defense, and employment litigation to experience some of the earliest growth. Motions, witnesses, and legal theories once abandoned over expense become economically viable, although courts face their own capacity crisis as more disputes and arguments enter the system.Rizner explains how Filevine's legal AI platform, Lois, applies machine learning to one of legal research's oldest problems: traditional citators often return different results. Lois combines citation graphs with semantic analysis to locate opinions discussing related legal doctrines even when no direct citation connects the cases. A panel of models then evaluates potential conflicts and produces a structured memo. The goal is richer legal analysis focused on the precise holding or proposition a lawyer needs, rather than a simple flag attached to an entire opinion.Accuracy still demands disciplined human review. Filevine organizes citation verification into three levels: confirming the cited case exists, determining whether the case supports the claimed proposition, and checking whether the authority is still good law. The conversation also examines Rizner's research into how different large language models approach efficient breach of contract. OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic models produced dramatically different recommendations, revealing embedded legal and economic preferences beneath seemingly neutral answers.The guests also explore how AI changes legal drafting, law firm economics, and the billable hour. Filevine's acquisition of Pincites, now Lois for Word, reflects Microsoft Word's continuing role as the shared language of legal documents, redlines, formatting, and negotiations. Efficiency does not automatically eliminate hourly billing. Lawyers might instead use saved time to produce more thoroughly researched arguments, stronger contracts, and work product approaching senior-level depth. Firms still need incentives rewarding efficiency rather than treating faster work as lost revenue.Looking ahead, Anderson and Rizner predict a proliferation of frontier and open-source models tailored to firms, individual lawyers, and specific client relationships. Legal teams will increasingly pair proprietary knowledge with selected models to produce highly specialized analysis. Yet model choice introduces jurisprudential bias, accuracy risks, and serious training concerns for junior lawyers. AI expands the range of available options, while experienced legal judgment decides which arguments deserve trust, which sources require verification, and which advice should reach the client.John Rizner Slides Filevine Primary Presentation - 2026Listen on mobile platforms:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠Substack⁠[Special Thanks to ⁠⁠Legal Technology Hub⁠⁠ for their sponsoring this episode.]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: geekinreviewpodcast@gmail.comMusic: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jerry David DeCicca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcript:

It's not just growth.Full show notes here.The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrFor CPA TrendlinesScaling a business successfully usually doesn't happen automatically when top-line revenue grows, as Jason Blumer and Ian Vacin explain in their new book, “Scale with Purpose: The Service Entrepreneur's Guide to Intentional Growth.”MORE Streaming NetworkVacin, co-founder of Karbon, had seen a peculiar pattern across Karbon's Practice Excellence survey over the last eight years. Instead of smooth growth curves, firm data showed distinct scaling plateaus at specific headcounts. “Ninety-five percent of firms had this going up motion. Generally, we get to 12 to 16 employees, and then go backward, and they would tell us, ‘Yeah, it grew too fast. It didn't feel like the company that I wanted,' ” he explains.READ MORE > > > 

In this episode of Personal Injury Marketing Minute, host Lindsey Busfield sits down with Tim McKey, CEO of Vista Consulting, to explore the evolving landscape of personal injury law firms through the lens of Managed Service Organizations (MSOs). Tim explains the structure and benefits of MSOs, highlighting how they separate non-legal operations from law firm entities, allowing for external investment and operational efficiency. The discussion delves into the financial and strategic advantages MSOs offer, such as attracting private equity and enhancing business acumen within law firms. Tim also addresses concerns about the potential downsides of MSOs, drawing parallels to the medical industry while emphasizing the importance of maintaining high-quality legal services. This episode is essential for law firm owners looking to understand new growth opportunities and competitive dynamics in the legal sector. Key Timestamps: 00:01 – Introduction 00:12 – Meet Tim McKey of Vista Consulting 01:00 – Understanding MSOs in Law Firms 03:08 – Evolution of MSOs in Plaintiff Firms 05:02 – Financial and Operational Benefits of MSOs 07:43 – Private Equity Interest in Law Firms 09:06 – Growth Opportunities Through MSOs 11:00 – Addressing Concerns About MSOs 13:00 – Aligning Goals Between Lawyers and Investors 15:13 – Importance of Business Efficiency in Law Firms 17:19 – Navigating Competition in the Legal Market 19:22 – Awareness and Adaptation in Legal Practices 20:00 – Exploring MSOs and Consulting Services See all episodes or subscribe to the Personal Injury Marketing Minute here: https://optimizemyfirm.com/podcasts/. What Are Msos And How Do They Relate To Law Firms? An MSO, or Managed Service Organization, is a structure where all non-legal services within a law firm, such as paralegals, marketing, and leasing, are separated from the core legal entity and placed into a different entity. This structure allows the law firm to focus solely on legal practice while the MSO handles operational aspects. The MSO leases these services back to the law firm, which pays for these services, enabling the legal entity to remain compliant with bar association rules requiring lawyer ownership. Are Msos A New Concept In The Plaintiff Law Firm Industry? Yes, MSOs are relatively new to plaintiff firms, having emerged quietly around four to five years ago. Initially, MSOs were owned by the same lawyers who owned the law firm. However, the modern MSO structure allows non-lawyers to invest and own parts of the organization, providing new opportunities for growth and investment in the law firm industry. What Benefits Do Msos Offer Law Firms, Both Financially And Operationally? MSOs provide financial benefits by allowing law firms to monetize assets and receive investments from non-lawyers, such as through private equity. This structure offers liquidity and growth opportunities that were previously unavailable. Operationally, MSOs enable law firms to bring in managerial expertise and streamline processes, helping them to grow and operate more efficiently. Additionally, MSOs can incentivize key team members by offering them equity in the MSO entity. What Concerns Exist About The Integration Of Msos In Law Firms? There are concerns that introducing MSOs might prioritize profits over client service, similar to what some believe happened in the medical industry when private equity entered that space. However, proponents argue that MSOs aim to enhance service quality and law firm operations without compromising legal standards. The goal is to align the objectives of lawyers, investors, and team members to ensure better outcomes for clients. How Should Smaller Law Firms Respond To Increasing Competition From Mso-backed Firms? Smaller firms should focus on their strengths and identify their niche in the market. They need to be aware of the competitive landscape and find ways to differentiate themselves, whether through superior service, specialized practice areas, or maintaining strong client relationships. Awareness of market changes is crucial, but firms can thrive by emphasizing their unique value propositions. How Can Interested Law Firms Learn More About Msos Or Legal Operations Consulting? Firms interested in exploring MSOs or seeking operations consulting can visit www.vistact.com for more information or contact Tim McKey directly at tmckey@vistact.com. 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In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Rob Fisher, Global Head of Advisory for KPMG International, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to explore how adaptability is setting the best firms and clients apart from their competitors.  We explore the following questions and more:  Why is incrementalism a recipe for failure in enterprise transformation? What is the "competitor blind spot" and how does it skew strategic planning?  Why isn't the surge in AI-driven data translating into faster, clearer decisions?  Are firms misusing alliances and ecosystems as a tactical band-aid?  How can leaders address the psychological safety crisis to build an AI-fluent culture?  For a global firm looking to remain adaptable in today's market, what's the biggest mistake they should avoid making?  If you enjoyed this conversation, don't miss our sister podcast, Business Leader's Voice. In the latest podcast episode, we spoke to Andrea Lattimore, Global Director – Compliance & Business Integrity at Vodafone, to explore how trust can be leveraged as a driver of growth and resilience in a global organisation. 

Accounting Voices is a senior leadership platform hosted by Rob Brown that interprets the forces reshaping accounting firms across North America and beyond.This "AI Reality Inside Firms" series brings together influential accounting leaders to answer the same five structured questions about how AI is actually landing inside firms.No hype. No vendor narratives. Just honest leadership perspective from someone navigating AI from the inside.Today's special guest is Jeff Seibert, Founder and CEO at DigitsThe five questions:Where is AI genuinely reshaping strategic direction for firms?What are firms still getting wrong about AI?Which AI-related leadership decisions will matter most over the next two years?Where is AI creating the greatest internal tension in firms?By 2027, what will separate leading firms from the rest?Five questions. One honest conversation. Part of a season that is building a definitive picture of AI reality inside accounting firms in 2026.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7KiDgcr1xf0Thank you to our Season Partners for making this series possible.Fieldguide is the AI-native platform for audit and advisory enabling human and AI collaboration to scale capacity, improve quality and transform how firms operate. fieldguide.ioInstead is the first AI agent that owns end-to-end tax from research, planning, filing, and defense all in one system. It replaces CCH, GoSystems, UltraTax, Lacerte, ProConnect, Drake and many more. instead.comKarbon is the global leader in AI-powered practice management software for accounting firms. Their research into how technology is reshaping firm performance is essential reading for anyone leading a firm in 2026. karbonhq.comDigits is the world's first AI-native accounting platform. It's accounting software that works for you to deliver real-time financials and automate the month-end close. digits.comFiled is the intelligent tax workspace for preparation and review automation and the only AI for prep, review and planning that runs inside your tax software especially made for high-volume firms. filed.comAccounting Voices is a senior sense-making platform for firm owners, managing partners and senior operators navigating the forces reshaping accounting firms. Host Rob Brown convenes structured conversations with leaders across the profession to interpret what AI, private equity, consolidation and leadership pressure mean in practice.This season, AI Reality Inside Firms, brings together senior accounting firm leaders answering the same five structured questions about how AI is actually landing inside firms, separating execution from narrative.Find all episodes on your preferred podcast platform or on the Accounting Voices YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@accountingvoicesTo find out more or to explore season partnership opportunities, connect with Rob on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrown

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Strategy sells $216m worth of BTC Where does Strategy go from here with STRC? Kalshi's case faces the ban of sports contracts in NY TeraWulf signs a massive lease with Anthropic BonkDAO's legal hack Vanguard hires a head of digital assets Kraken wins arbitration against Mazars for de-auditing them in 2022 Vitalik lays out a new four year plan Polymarket's 5 minute BTC markets are being manipulated Content mentioned: Settlement Manipulation in Prediction Markets  

A compliant submitted by ​the Nigerian Press Organisation, which represents newspaper owners, journalists' unions, ⁠broadcasters and online publishers, has prompted the country's President Bola Tinubu to issue an investigation by the country's competition regulator into major technology companies over alleged anti-competitive practices and unauthorised use of news content. Growing influence of big-tech companies in Africa has sparked concerns over dominance in digital advertising, the use of news content without fair compensation, algorithms that control what people see, and the impact of artificial intelligence on journalism and copyright.Also, we take a look at a new Malawian National Action Plan that seeks to improve the rights of people with albinism in the workplace. We hear from Malawi's Bonface Massah, head of the Africa Albinism Network, who also lives with albinism.Presenter: Nkechi Ogbonna Producers: Ayuba Illya, Helen Oyibo and Blessing Aderogba Senior Producer: Bella Twine Technical Producer: Jonathan Mwangi Editors: Charles Gitonga and Maryam Abdalla

Cintia Arnhoffer is a Hungarian entrepreneur, real estate investor, and business consultant based in Dubai. At 21, she moved to Denmark, where she spent 13 years building her career across diverse international environments. She later relocated to Dubai alone, without contacts or an existing network, and built a new life and business from scratch. Today she is Co-Owner and General Manager of FullComm Real Estate Brokerage, where she helps international clients invest in Dubai real estate and navigate the UAE property market. She also helps entrepreneurs and firms with Dubai company formation, licensing, residency visas, and banking.   What We Cover:   Introduction and Cintia's path from Hungary to Denmark to Dubai Moving to Dubai alone with no network, and what the first year actually looked like Misconceptions about life for women in Dubai, and what's actually true The cultural differences that took the longest to adjust to The mindset shift required to go from employee to business owner in the Middle East Why AEC firms are looking at Dubai as an expansion market What's actually involved in setting up: company formation, licensing, residency visas, and banking Where to find Cintia and closing thoughts   Key Takeaways:   The biggest barriers to building a career or business in Dubai as a woman are mostly perception, not reality, but the real barriers (cultural, logistical, financial) are different than people expect Building a business in a new country without a network is possible, but it requires a deliberate mindset shift, not just hard work AEC firms considering Dubai have a real, accessible path to entry: company formation, licensing, residency, and banking are all navigable with the right guidance Tax-efficient structuring through Dubai is a legitimate option for firms and individuals, not just a rumor Adaptability matters more than ambition when relocating a business internationally  

M&A activity in the oil and gas minerals/royalty space had quieted during a prolonged wave of major E&P consolidation. As that activity winds down, rising realizations for both oil and gas have spurred a major consolidation among royalty trusts as well as a recent successful initial public offering.

Specifically, recent energy cost increases could still flow through to consumer prices, Non-tradable inflation remains high, with the risk that administered (i.e. government-set) price inflation could remain strong, Firms could become more sensitive to cost increases against a backdrop of elevated inflation and lift prices in response; Firms might also be inclined to slip through … Continue reading "Kiwis Get Another Rate Hike, Despite Oil Price Falls!"

Every personal injury firm talks about the biggest recoveries they've obtained for clients. Steven Levin thinks that's the wrong conversation. When every law firm claims impressive verdicts, the firms that stand out are the ones clients believe are authentic, deeply specialized, and willing to think differently. Steven Levin is the Founder and Senior Partner of Levin & Perconti, a litigation-focused firm with 26 attorneys and 50 staff serving clients nationwide. The firm has built a national reputation handling nursing home abuse, birth injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and other complex catastrophic injury cases. In this episode, Steven explains why authenticity matters more than advertising claims, why saying "no" to the wrong cases strengthens your reputation, and why specialization changes everything—from staffing to case evaluation. He also shares how AI helps plaintiff lawyers become better strategic thinkers, why defense firms may struggle to adopt it, and how belief can ultimately change the value of a case. You'll learn: Why authenticity matters when every firm advertises high-value results. Why conviction during mediation influences the value of a case. What makes AI for lawyers a strategic advantage instead of just a productivity tool. How consistent culture shapes stronger litigation teams over time. Want your digital presence to match your courtroom authority? See how the team at Rankings helps elite personal injury practices win the long game at Rankings.io. Like what you hear? Hit Subscribe! We do this every week. If you want to keep learning from the best voices in PI, join us at PIMCON 2026. Buy your tickets now! Subscribe to our newsletter and get the freshest news every Monday: newsletter.rankings.io Get Social! Personal Injury Mastermind w/ Chris Dreyer powered by Rankings.io is on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Are fake AI receipts becoming the next big headache for finance teams? Blake Oliver and David Leary unpack the surge in AI-generated expense fraud, why tax pros are rapidly adopting AI research tools, and how firms are using AI to automate month-end close and revenue recognition. They also cover NASBA's response to criticism, Intuit's renewed focus on accountants, and the implications of private equity and a shifting work culture for the future of accounting firms.SponsorsCloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/casThe Value Builder System - http://accountingpodcast.promo/valueOnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpayChapters(00:00) - AI Tax Research Surge (00:23) - Show Intro and Lead Story (02:11) - AI Receipt Fraud Explodes (04:42) - Fraud Types and Detection (06:32) - Vibe Coding Goes Mainstream (10:19) - Claude for Rev Rec Workpapers (11:48) - NASBA Letter Follow Up (17:38) - Earmark CPE and New Audit Show (20:08) - Intuit Courts Accountants (23:04) - AI in Tax and IRS Guidance (28:45) - Hourly Billing Debate (29:10) - Disclosing AI Use (29:36) - NASBA Free Speech Question (31:34) - Customer Focus vs Regulation (35:52) - AI Close Tools Meridian (37:38) - DIY Agents for Accounting (39:20) - Claude Builds Rev Rec (44:46) - Eide Bailly Takes PE (48:06) - Big Firms Losing Control (53:01) - PE Meets Culture Shift (53:55) - Wrap Up CPE and Pricing  Show NotesUse of AI receipts in expense fraud soarshttps://www.accountingtoday.com/news/use-of-ai-receipts-in-expense-fraud-soarsThe future of the ecosystem: Is everyone a developer now?https://devblog.xero.com/the-future-of-the-ecosystem-is-everyone-a-developer-now-f3899ddf0b24Blue J and CPA.com Survey Finds AI Adoption Among Tax Firms Has Nearly Doubled in One Yearhttps://www.cpa.com/news/blue-j-and-cpacom-survey-finds-ai-adoption-among-tax-firms-has-nearly-doubled-one-yearIRS rolls out introductory AI guidelines for tax practitionershttps://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs-rolls-out-introductory-ai-guidelines-for-tax-practitionersIRS electronic tax advisory committee recommends AI and preparer safeguardshttps://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs-electronic-tax-advisory-committee-recommends-ai-and-preparer-safeguardsThe end of hourly billing Ignition's 2025 benchmark signals pricing shift for firmshttps://www.ignitionapp.com/news/the-end-of-hourly-billing-ignitions-2025-benchmark-signals-pricing-shift-for-firmsIntuit CEO to accountants You are the customer not a channelhttps://www.accountingtoday.com/news/intuit-ceo-to-accountants-you-are-the-customer-not-a-channelPilot Launches Meridian The AI Platform That Fully Closes the Books for Accounting Firmshttps://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/16/3312500/0/en/pilot-launches-meridian-the-ai-platform-that-fully-closes-the-books-for-accounting-firms.htmlKinter.ai Launches Agentic AI Accountants to Automate The Financial Closehttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kinterai-launches-agentic-ai-accountants-to-automate-the-financial-close-302807330.htmlEide Bailly Advances Growth Strategy and Client Service Commitment Through Investment from Reverence Capital Partnershttps://www.eidebailly.com/insights/firm-news/2026/reverence-capital-partners-investmentWith 1.8 Billion Dollar Deal Eide Bailly Set for Explosive Growthhttps://cpatrendlines.com/2026/06/25/with-1-8-billion-deal-eide-bailly-set-for-explosive-growth/Losing Control The Erosion of Disciplinary and Pastoral Power in Accounting Firmshttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1911-3846.70028Need CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merchSubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccountingPodcastSpotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/SpotifyPodchaser: http://cloudacctpod.link/podchaserStitcher:

That Solo Life Episode 346: Why Independent PR Firms Are Outperforming Holding Companies Right Now Episode Summary It's the week after the Fourth of July, and Karen and Michelle are talking about a different kind of independence. It turns out that the future of PR looks a lot like its past: closer to the work, the relationships, and the accountability that got lost as holding companies scaled. Karen and Michelle walk through the data backing that argument — holding company headcount cuts, a Forrester forecast for 2026, independent firm revenue and growth figures, and a client tenure study that should make every solo practitioner feel validated. This is a celebratory, data-backed episode about why this moment belongs to independent practitioners, and a reminder that going solo doesn't mean going it alone.   Episode Highlights [01:13] The Article That Sparked This Episode: Karen and Michelle discuss a PR News article by Jennifer Risi founder and president of The Sway Effect, titled “Old School Is the New School: How Independent PR Is Outrunning the Holding Company Model.” According to the article the future of PR looks like its past, not the bloated, multi-layered approval structures that came with scale, but direct relationships, accountability, and responsiveness. [02:29] The Industry Backdrop: Mergers, Layoffs, and a Symbolic Real Estate Shift: The article was published around Cannes Lions, timed against a wave of holding company consolidation, including a major agency merger referenced in the piece. Michelle highlights a striking detail: WPP gave up its longtime beach space at Cannes, and an independent agency took it over, a literal changing of the guard discussed in the original article. [03:10] The Headcount Numbers Behind the Shift: According to the article, holding companies cut headcount by an average of 8% in 2025, with a Forrester forecast cited for a 15% reduction in 2026. Karen and Michelle are clear that this isn't something to celebrate,  hey don't take pleasure in layoffs or peers in the industry struggling,  but the data underscores the structural shift taking place. All source data referenced in the episode will be linked in the show notes. [05:59] Independent Firms Are Posting Real Growth: Citing O'Dwyer's 2026 independent PR firm rankings, the independent sector pushed combined fee income to $4.8 billion, with nearly a third of the top 140 independent firms surveyed posting double-digit growth in the same year holding companies were announcing layoffs. Karen and Michelle's takeaway for solo listeners who haven't seen that kind of growth yet: there is work being awarded right now, and consistency in business development matters more than ever. [07:08] Independent Clients Stick Around Longer: A 2025 joint study from the ANA and the 4A's found that clients stay with independent agencies an average of 7.3 years, compared to 5.8 years at holding company agencies. Karen notes this surprised her. She expected the gap to be even wider based on anecdotal experience with solo practitioners but the data confirms what many independents have felt for years: that tenure reflects trust renewed over and over again, not just convenience. [10:21] Why Now? Two Forces Colliding: Michelle frames the moment as two things happening at once. The holding company model scaled to a point where margin optimization started to outweigh relationship investment. At the same time, AI emerged and gave independent practitioners the tools to work smarter and keep pace without the overhead that scale requires. [11:11] The Counterintuitive AI Argument: Judgment Becomes More Valuable, Not Less: The article asserts that AI doesn't make communications less important; it makes human judgment more valuable. When the media environment is fragmented, and machine-generated content adds speed and volume to an already chaotic landscape, clients need a human who can say what's actually real, what matters, and what to do next. That judgment cannot be automated and it does not live in headcount, it lives in a person. [13:14] Independence Means Choosing What You Carry: Independence isn't the absence of structure, it's choosing what structure to carry. For a solo practitioner, that means no committee, no internal routing, no extra layers, just the strategy, the execution, and the phone call. Karen adds an honest counterpoint: that freedom carries real weight too, and most solos who are drawn to this work want that weight. It's not a burden when it's the work you signed up for. [16:19] The Honest Tension: Concentration Without a Bench: Michelle names the tradeoff directly. Being the whole agency means there's no one to hand a midnight crisis to, no colleague down the hall to sanity-check a risky call. The freedom and the isolation come in the same box. Karen's answer is the Solo PR Pro community — built specifically to give independent practitioners the peer support, expertise, and gut-checks that solo work doesn't naturally include. Resources & Additional Information PR News — Old School Is the New School (Jennifer Risi, The Sway Effect):  O'Dwyer's - Independent PR Firm Rankings 2026 ANA / 4A's Joint Client Tenure Study, 2025 - Press Release Solo PR Pro membership community: soloprpro.com That Solo Life podcast website: thatsololife.com Host & Show Info That Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent and small practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, President of Solo PR Pro, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and practical advice for solo PR pros navigating today's dynamic professional landscape. Listen to all episodes and catch up on previous conversations at thatsololife.com. Did this episode inspire you? If you found value in this conversation, please take a moment to leave us a review. Your feedback helps us reach more solo pros just like you! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

In this episode of Personal Injury Marketing Minute, host Lindsey Busfield is joined by Gary Falkowitz, co-founder of Capture Now and a renowned expert in legal intake and conversion. They delve into the transformative role of AI in personal injury law firm operations, focusing on intake processes. Gary shares insights on how AI can address traditional intake challenges, enhance efficiency, and improve client conversion rates. They discuss the importance of speed and decision-making in client interactions, emphasizing AI’s role in reducing friction and maximizing profits. Gary also highlights the potential risks of traditional call centers and the advantages of AI in providing consistent, reliable client service. This episode is essential for law firms looking to modernize their operations and improve client acquisition through AI. Key Timestamps: 00:01 – Introduction 00:37 – AI in Personal Injury Firms 01:55 – Traditional Intake Challenges 04:56 – Efficiency as a Key Benefit 07:17 – Decision-Making vs. Crisis Mode 09:36 – AI’s Role in Client Interaction 12:00 – The Evolving Role of Receptionists 14:10 – Removing Friction with AI 16:17 – Triage and Call Qualification 20:16 – Human vs. AI Interaction 25:13 – Providing Client Options 31:04 – The Importance of Speed in Business 34:09 – Low-Risk AI Integration 37:01 – Risks of Traditional Call Centers See all episodes or subscribe to the Personal Injury Marketing Minute here: https://optimizemyfirm.com/podcasts/. What Problems In Traditional Intake LED To The Integration Of AI? Traditional intake systems often lacked efficiency and speed, leading law firms to miss potential clients. Many firms relied heavily on human resources, which were not always fast or decisive enough, resulting in lost opportunities. AI integration addresses these gaps by offering faster, more reliable, and consistent intake processes that minimize human errors and inefficiencies, ultimately maximizing profits and ensuring valuable cases are not overlooked. How Does AI Improve The Decision-making Process For Potential Clients? AI enhances the decision-making process by providing immediate responses and reducing friction points such as long wait times and indecisive human interactions. When potential clients are in decision mode, they seek quick and efficient reassurance that they are making the right choice. AI tools offer this speed and accuracy, allowing clients to feel confident in their decisions without unnecessary delays. Why Is Triage Important For Law Firms Using AI In Their Intake Process? Triage is crucial because it allows AI to determine the nature of calls and direct them appropriately, saving time and resources. By filtering out non-urgent or irrelevant calls, AI ensures that intake specialists only focus on potential clients who need immediate assistance. This not only streamlines operations but also enhances the client experience by reducing unnecessary interactions and focusing on valuable cases. What Role Does AI Play In Managing Existing Client Inquiries? AI can seamlessly handle existing client inquiries by integrating with a firm’s CRM to provide instant case updates and information. This eliminates the need for clients to wait for a human response and ensures they receive timely and accurate information. By removing friction points and enhancing communication, AI improves client satisfaction and retention. How Can Law Firms Begin Integrating AI Into Their Intake Process? Law firms can start by using AI during nights, weekends, and overflow periods, replacing or supplementing traditional call centers with AI solutions like CaptureNow. This initial step allows firms to experience the benefits of AI without fully committing resources, providing an opportunity to evaluate its effectiveness. Triage systems can then be implemented to further streamline intake processes by directing calls to the appropriate personnel based on urgency and relevance. What Are The Potential Risks And Benefits Of Using AI For Legal Intake? The potential risks include initial hesitance from clients preferring human interaction and the possibility of AI mishandling complex cases. However, the benefits far outweigh these risks, as AI offers consistent speed, reduces human error, and provides 24/7 availability. AI also allows intake specialists to focus on high-value cases, improving job satisfaction and firm profitability. Firms can mitigate risks by offering clients the option to speak with a human when necessary, ensuring a balance between technology and personal touch. {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What Problems In Traditional Intake LED To The Integration Of AI?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Traditional intake systems often lacked efficiency and speed, leading law firms to miss potential clients. Many firms relied heavily on human resources, which were not always fast or decisive enough, resulting in lost opportunities. 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Accounting Voices is a senior leadership platform hosted by Rob Brown that interprets the forces reshaping accounting firms across North America and beyond.This "AI Reality Inside Firms" series brings together influential accounting leaders to answer the same five structured questions about how AI is actually landing inside firms.No hype. No vendor narratives. Just honest leadership perspective from someone navigating AI from the inside.Today's special guest is Randy Nail, CEO at HoganTaylorThe five questions:Where is AI genuinely reshaping strategic direction for firms?What are firms still getting wrong about AI?Which AI-related leadership decisions will matter most over the next two years?Where is AI creating the greatest internal tension in firms?By 2027, what will separate leading firms from the rest?Five questions. One honest conversation. Part of a season that is building a definitive picture of AI reality inside accounting firms in 2026.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TUauf9ZEUIYThank you to our Season Partners for making this series possible.Fieldguide is the AI-native platform for audit and advisory enabling human and AI collaboration to scale capacity, improve quality and transform how firms operate. fieldguide.ioInstead is the first AI agent that owns end-to-end tax from research, planning, filing, and defense all in one system. It replaces CCH, GoSystems, UltraTax, Lacerte, ProConnect, Drake and many more. instead.comKarbon is the global leader in AI-powered practice management software for accounting firms. Their research into how technology is reshaping firm performance is essential reading for anyone leading a firm in 2026. karbonhq.comDigits is the world's first AI-native accounting platform. It's accounting software that works for you to deliver real-time financials and automate the month-end close. digits.comFiled is the intelligent tax workspace for preparation and review automation and the only AI for prep, review and planning that runs inside your tax software especially made for high-volume firms. filed.comAccounting Voices is a senior sense-making platform for firm owners, managing partners and senior operators navigating the forces reshaping accounting firms. Host Rob Brown convenes structured conversations with leaders across the profession to interpret what AI, private equity, consolidation and leadership pressure mean in practice.This season, AI Reality Inside Firms, brings together senior accounting firm leaders answering the same five structured questions about how AI is actually landing inside firms, separating execution from narrative.Find all episodes on your preferred podcast platform or on the Accounting Voices YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@accountingvoicesTo find out more or to explore season partnership opportunities, connect with Rob on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrown

Summary:In this episode of Sidebar by Dana Duncan, a lawyer with over 37 years of experience breaks down the harsh reality of law school, big‑firm life, and what it actually takes to become a successful attorney. From elite law school tuition and starting salaries to the skills law school doesn't teach—like client counseling, negotiation style, and real‑world time management—Dana offers blunt, practical legal career advice. He also explores the growing shortage of lawyers in rural markets and why you don't need the most prestigious law school to build a thriving practice. If you're considering law school or rethinking your legal career path, this candid conversation is essential listening.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Sidebar Podcast02:31 Movie Reviews: Pressure and Disclosure Day07:37 Navigating Law School: Personal Experiences32:31 The Reality of Law School and Legal CareersKeywords:law school reality, becoming a lawyer, law school rankings, law school tuition, big law burnout, legal career advice, lawyer skills, law school vs practice, Marquette Law School, rural legal markets, legal mentoring, CYA letter, bar exam criticism, Columbia Law, Harvard Law, mid‑tier law schools

Send us Fan MailThe consumer and retail consulting market is fragmenting. Specialists are winning deals that used to go to the big firms – and the clients driving that shift aren't going back.2 partners from this year's Top Consumer & Retail Consulting Firms ranking break it down. Keith Fogerty from Advancy and Shikha Jain from Simon-Kucher share what's actually happening in the market – revenue growth pressure, AI's real role, private equity's tightening standards, and why a pretty PowerPoint that collects dust is a failed engagement.If you're building a career in consumer or retail consulting, or running a practice in this space, this is the market intelligence you can't get anywhere else.Full speaker bios and firm profiles here.Resources:See this year's Top Consumer & Retail Consulting Firms rankingReady to break into a top consulting firm? Black Belt is where serious candidates get the coaching to do itExplore top firms hiring in Consumer and Retail on the Management Consulted Job BoardConnect With Management ConsultedCreate a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep todaySchedule a free 15min consultation with the MC TeamWatch the video version of the podcast on YouTubeFollow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTokJoin an upcoming live event – case interviews demos, expert panels, and more

The crew is joined by Selini Capital's Jordi Alexander to break down Open USD, the no-fee stablecoin from a 140-firm consortium spanning Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and Coinbase, all aimed at the Circle and Tether duopoly. Plus Saylor's new Digital Credit framework for MicroStrategy, the Ansem-fueled memecoin comeback, and ENS reigniting the “DAOs are fake” debate. Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. Joining the panel “at the moment of max pain” is Jordi Alexander, CIO of Selini Capital. First up: MicroStrategy in crisis, with MSTR down about 30% in five days and STRC hitting $71, and Saylor's answer, a new Digital Credit framework with an 18-month cash cushion and a jumbo dividend hike to 12%. Then the headline story, Open USD: a no-fee stablecoin from a 140-member consortium including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and Coinbase, built to break the Circle and Tether duopoly. The back half covers the memecoin comeback around the Ansem coin, and ENS reigniting the “DAOs are fake” debate after Nick Johnson single-handedly blocked a governance vote, before the crew debates whether consortia are just DAOs in a suit. Let's get into it. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

A Special Industry Update, With Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond Jason and Mindy Diamond revisit how advisor due diligence is evolving—from AI and enterprise value to firm stability, ownership, and optionality—and why those questions matter more than ever. In Summary Due diligence has always been about finding the right fit. But what advisors are evaluating has expanded considerably. In this replay of an Industry Update, Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond revisit The Advisor Transition Playbook to explore how advisor priorities continue to evolve. Beyond the traditional reasons advisors consider change, they discuss newer factors shaping decisions today—from artificial intelligence and enterprise value to ownership structure, firm stability, and long-term optionality. The conversation reinforces that while every advisor's motivations are personal, the evaluation process has become far more strategic. Today's advisors aren't simply comparing recruiting deals or platforms. They're considering how today's decisions may influence the value, flexibility, and future of the businesses they're building. The Storyline For years, advisor movement was largely driven by familiar themes: bureaucracy, management changes, technology frustrations, and the desire for greater independence. Those factors remain important. But the conversations Diamond Consultants has with advisors today increasingly include questions that rarely surfaced just a few years ago. How should AI factor into firm selection? What is the long-term value of building enterprise value instead of simply maximizing a recruiting package? How important is a firm's ownership structure? And how should advisors think about stability in a marketplace where acquisitions, recapitalizations, and private equity investment have become commonplace? Jason and Mindy revisit the transition framework introduced in Part 1, focusing less on the mechanics of making a move and more on the evolving criteria advisors are using to evaluate their options. The result is a broader discussion about due diligence—not simply as a transition exercise, but as an ongoing strategic process for advisors seeking to build their best business life. Topics Covered Advisor due diligence Traditional vs. emerging drivers of advisor movement Artificial intelligence in wealth management Enterprise value and advisor ownership Recruiting deals versus long-term economics Reverse due diligence Firm ownership and stability Private equity in wealth management Advisor optionality Building a long-term advisory business Blubrry Player > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why are the traditional drivers of advisor movement still relevant? (4:00) Jason and Mindy revisit the longstanding push-and-pull factors that continue to influence advisor decisions, from bureaucracy and management frustrations to the desire for greater ownership and control. How has AI become part of the due diligence process? (13:50) The discussion explores why advisors increasingly expect firms to demonstrate a clear AI strategy—and why investment, integration, and vision may become meaningful competitive advantages. Why should advisors care about enterprise value, even if they don't technically own their business? (24:30) Jason and Mindy explain why more advisors are evaluating decisions through the lens of long-term business value rather than solely short-term economics. What does reverse due diligence really involve? (37:15) The conversation highlights why advisors should evaluate prospective firms with the same rigor firms use when evaluating advisors. How does firm ownership affect advisor optionality? (38:00) Private equity, acquisitions, and changing ownership structures have made it increasingly important to understand what happens if a firm's strategy changes after an advisor joins. Why has due diligence become more strategic than ever? (45:30) The episode concludes with a broader discussion about defining one's “best business life” and making decisions that align with long-term goals rather than reacting to short-term frustrations. Key Takeaways The reasons advisors evaluate change have expanded well beyond traditional frustrations such as bureaucracy and compensation. AI has become an increasingly important component of firm evaluation, not because it replaces advisors, but because it can enhance productivity and client service. Enterprise value is becoming a consideration even for advisors who currently work within employee models. Reverse due diligence is just as important as a firm's evaluation of an advisor, particularly when assessing ownership structure, capitalization, and long-term stability. The most effective transition decisions balance immediate economics with long-term flexibility, ownership, and optionality. Every advisor's definition of success is different, making clarity around personal goals the foundation of any due diligence process. https://youtu.be/WZbUZJZK1yc Quotable Moments “Every advisor deserves to live their best business life.” “Just because you're frustrated doesn't mean you should move. You need something worth moving toward.” “The question isn't simply what you're paid today. It's what you're building over time.” “Knowledge is power. Understanding what your business is worth should be part of every advisor's decision-making process.” FAQs Why are more advisors expanding their due diligence beyond compensation? While transition economics remain important, advisors are increasingly evaluating technology, AI capabilities, enterprise value, ownership opportunities, and long-term flexibility as part of the decision-making process. How should advisors evaluate a firm's AI strategy? Rather than looking for finished products, advisors should assess whether a firm has a clear vision, meaningful investment, and an integrated approach to using AI to improve advisor productivity and client experience. What is reverse due diligence? Reverse due diligence is the process of evaluating a prospective firm as thoroughly as the firm evaluates the advisor. It includes understanding ownership structure, financial stability, culture, technology, leadership, and long-term strategy. Why does enterprise value matter for employee advisors? Even advisors who do not currently own their businesses may benefit from understanding how different business models create opportunities for ownership, long-term value creation, and future monetization. How has private equity changed advisor due diligence? Private equity has introduced new opportunities for growth and capital, but it has also made it more important for advisors to understand ownership structures, investment horizons, and what future transactions could mean for their business. What does Diamond Consultants mean by an advisor's “best business life”? It refers to aligning an advisor's business model, goals, client experience, compensation, flexibility, and long-term vision in a way that best supports both the advisor and the clients they serve. While transition economics remain important, advisors are increasingly evaluating technology, AI capabilities, enterprise value, ownership opportunities, and long-term flexibility as part of the decision-making process. Rather than looking for finished products, advisors should assess whether a firm has a clear vision, meaningful investment, and an integrated approach to using AI to improve advisor productivity and client experience. Reverse due diligence is the process of evaluating a prospective firm as thoroughly as the firm evaluates the advisor. It includes understanding ownership structure, financial stability, culture, technology, leadership, and long-term strategy. Even advisors who do not currently own their businesses may benefit from understanding how different business models create opportunities for ownership, long-term value creation, and future monetization. Private equity has introduced new opportunities for growth and capital, but it has also made it more important for advisors to understand ownership structures, investment horizons, and what future transactions could mean for their business. It refers to aligning an advisor's business model, goals, client experience, compensation, flexibility, and long-term vision in a way that best supports both the advisor and the clients they serve. NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. Related Resources The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between – Part 1 Annual Advisor Transition Report Top 10 Tips for a Strategic Due Diligence Process Should I Stay or Should I Go? View the transcript of this episode… The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between – Part 2 A Special Industry Update with Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond. Jason Diamond: Welcome to a replay of one of the most popular episodes from our podcast series for financial advisors, The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between. It's Part 2 of a 2-Part Industry Update with Mindy Diamond. I’m Jason Diamond and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner, well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our Annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Jason Diamond: There’s been a noticeable shift in how advisors are approaching decisions about their business, not necessarily in whether they’re exploring change, but in what they’re focused on when they do. Mindy is back with me for a continuation of our earlier conversation on the Advisor Transition Playbook. Last time, we spent time on the mechanics, how due diligence works, what a move actually entails, and how to think through the process. What’s become more apparent since then is that the inputs into that process are evolving. The traditional drivers are still there, but layered on top are a set of considerations that didn’t carry the same weight before. AI is one of them, and not just as a tool, but as a differentiator that advisors are starting to diligence more seriously. Enterprise value is another. Showing up in conversations, even for advisors who don’t technically own their business, but are thinking more critically about what they’re building over time. And then there are questions around stability, ownership, and flexibility. What happens to the firm itself and whether advisors retain the ability to adapt again if circumstances change. None of this is theoretical. It’s showing up in real time conversations. What we want to do here is unpack those new triggers of advisor movement and what they suggest about how decisions are being made today. So let’s get to it. Mindy, the legend, thank you for joining me. So glad to have you on. Mindy Diamond: Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. Jason Diamond: Great. Let’s dive right in. I’ll set the stage really quickly one more time. When we spoke about this topic last, we talked about the drivers of movement, what we’ll call in this conversation as the old or the legacy drivers of movement, and we spoke about the mechanics of the move. Before we get into the new drivers of movement, which I want to be the meat of the conversation, remind us, when we talk about the legacy drivers of movement …. And by the way, by saying legacy, I by no means want to suggest that they’re not valid today, because they’re equally valid, if not more so today than they were then. But when you think of the classic drivers of movement in our industry, what are they? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I would say, first of all, let’s start by saying that for every advisor, they’ve got a unique set of needs. So the first thing to say is that while you and I can talk about the categories of frustrations or things that might bother an advisor, they show up differently in each advisor’s life. So it’s important to note that everyone is unique. But generally speaking, if I had to package them, I’d say it’s number one that shows up most of the time is too much bureaucracy. A feeling that a firm or a model is just too hypervigilant in terms of compliance and it’s too bureaucratic and too hard to get things done. Number two would be some sort of change in or frustration with management. Something is going on that the person or persons that are responsible for managing the business are just not … They’re not the wind at their back. They’re obstreperous. They’re causing difficulty and frustration. And probably the third one would be less about a pain point and more about the desire to be something that they couldn’t where they were. The notion that they want to be more independent, they want to be a business owner and they just can’t do that. That doesn’t exist within the model where they work. Those probably have been the three ones top of mind, but I bet you’ll have some … You’ll add to that. Jason Diamond: I’ll add a couple. But before I do, I’ve heard you talk about this topic, maybe said another way as pushes and pulls. Can you explain what you mean by that? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I think that we think about the pushes, the frustrations, the things pushing somebody out the door, the factors that make it less easy or less fluid to do business. And there’s almost always pushes that exist when somebody comes to us, where they’re frustrated to some degree or another about certain things. But we tell people all the time that just to be frustrated should never be enough, because if all you’re doing is running from one set of problems, you’re very likely to run into maybe a different set, but still problems elsewhere. So a move needs to be driven in equal part, if not more, by pulls. Being pulled toward an opportunity that can be needle moving enough or better enough than where you are now. Pushes and pull. Jason Diamond: I love it. So let me ask you a little bit of a pointed question. Is a recruiting deal a valid pull factor? Mindy Diamond: So look, it’s different for every person. We’ve had advisors come and say, “I just went through a divorce and the most important thing to me is to recapitalize. And so a recruiting deal is really important.” And while I would never be one to say that’s not valid, it can be … And by the way, any advisor should want to and expect to better their financial situation. There should be economic gain. But it shouldn’t be the only or the primary reason for the move. So you want to monetize. The notion of wanting to monetize in the short term should be a factor in what model you pick, but it shouldn’t be the primary driver for a move. Jason Diamond: I agree with that wholeheartedly. I was going to say something I think maybe would’ve surprised you a little, which is like, yeah, I think recruiting deal is a very valid pull factor because what we’re saying is, it shouldn’t be the only pull factor. And sometimes it is and it makes us a little bit sad, I think, when that’s the case. But all of these factors you mentioned, and the ones I would add, I think that maybe technology would be another kind of factor that drives movement, all of these factors are not one specific reason. If you did the exit interview, either actually conducted the exit interview with advisors or thought exercise exit interview, I think they would point to a confluence of all of these factors. Compliance was a headache. I wanted to launch a podcast. I wanted to be able to send a timely communication to my clients. We used to hear that one during COVID a lot, right? By the time compliance approved something to send to clients, it was already stale. So do you agree with that, that it’s generally a confluence or a combination of these? Or in your experience, is it advisors are like, “No, compliance or the tech is so bad, I’m out”? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So most often there’s a straw that breaks the camel’s back incident or thing where they’re willing to put up with a series of minor paper cuts, if you will. And then almost always there’s something that happens. You and I got a call the other day from a team that said that they had split from their partner and the management of the firm was favoring the ex-partner, making it harder for them to stay or making it less fun or feel good for them to stay. So while they gave me a laundry list of things that were imperfect, I don’t know that any one of the things that were imperfect up until then would’ve been enough to drive them out. But when that one thing, that feeling that they were a second class citizen came up, that was the straw that breaks the camel’s back and went from a minorly frustrated to, “I’m out of here.” Jason Diamond: Yeah. And there’s probably a hundred examples you could walk us through. And I wanted to just highlight too, this concept is not limited to the wirehouse or employee or captive firm world, this is equally relevant for independent advisors. Granted, some of the pushes and pull factors, some of the triggers are not necessarily the same, but the idea that advisors outgrow a broker dealer or an RIA or either need or want or desire in some way, shape or form, greater autonomy, flexibility, freedom, control is certainly not limited to the employee space. I just wanted to make that point. Mindy Diamond: And I think that’s absolutely right. I think the notion of that frustrations or limitations or bureaucracy only existed if you were a W2 employee at a bulge bracket firm. That went out the window. As the industry landscape has expanded and there’s more and more valid ways to be a financial advisor, there’s more and more ways for a firm or a model or an infrastructure to frustrate an advisor. And that’s not being overly negative. It’s just to say there is no perfection anywhere. Jason Diamond: Yeah, 100%. And by the way, to play a little bit of devil’s advocate on that, and then we’ll move on, I would just say there are pain points that might come from a firm being small and subscale as well. My firm doesn’t have efficient technology. They don’t invest enough in the business. They don’t provide a lead mechanism. They don’t have a robust banking and lending or investment solutions platform. So this stuff cuts both ways. An advisor can be frustrated or limited and an advisor can be excited. Pushes and pulls I think touch on, we’ve heard from advisors in every single pocket of the market, this is a relevant concept. Mindy Diamond: The theme of this is that every advisor deserves to live their best business life. That’s what people are in search of when they reach out to us or when they engage with us. What they’re looking for more than anything, and this is irrespective of where they work or how long they’ve worked or how much they manage, every advisor is in search of their best business life. And what defines their best business life is having the best quality of work life, but also the best ability to do what they want to do with their business, to serve their clients without limitations, to grow the way they want, to be paid a fair wage, and ultimately set up to maximize the value of the business they’ve built. Those are the definitions of one’s best business life. Jason Diamond: I used an even simpler definition of best business life and I stole it from you, which is the true north concept, which is if your true north is maximizing enterprise value and chasing the dollar and trying to build something that’s scalable and saleable, then great. If your true north is to build a lifestyle practice, there’s plenty of advisors who are successful and happy and content in that regard as well. And I think that’s what we’re talking about, is finding your true north and then it’s possible. I mean, that’s the beauty of the landscape. We’re talking about this, a lot of this is pain points or things that advisors experience. The exciting part of this is there’s never been a better time to be an advisor because of the breadth of choice they have and the ecosystem that’s been born to support advisors, to your point, across the spectrum. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. And it’s also, I think, worth saying that it starts with really good crystal clear clarity around not only what’s frustrating you, but what you want ideal to look like. Because I can’t tell you, or I can tell you because … I can’t tell our listeners, I can’t stress enough how often we get calls from advisors that tell us where they think they want to be or tell us they want to move. They have clarity about what’s frustrating them or what they want to change, but they don’t really have clarity about what they want it to look like. And the less clarity you have, the less likely you are to be successful in finding the exact right solution. So our work, the thing we probably do best is really work with advisors to help them. It doesn’t take long. In an hour conversation, we can help them to really get crystal clear on what they’re looking to solve for. Jason Diamond: Absolutely. All right. Great appetizer. We set the table. Let’s dive into the main course now. I want to talk now about what I’m calling the 2.0 triggers or the new triggers of movement. And to be clear, it’s not that these are more important or better or more significant drivers of movement. In fact, you could argue they’re probably at present less significant than the ones we just listed. But I think what we’re saying is these are triggers that are starting to come up more and more in conversations and we expect them to only proliferate further. And in that regard, they’re noteworthy and important for advisors because advisors should be reconciling not just what are the things I need to be worrying about today, but also what are the things I need to be potentially worrying about five years from now. So with that in mind, let’s dive in. I think the first one we have to start with is AI. And I always chuckle a tiny bit when we mention AI, we used to have to specify what are we talking about. Are we talking about artificial intelligence or alternative investments? And now it’s very clear. Everybody knows we’re talking about artificial intelligence. So the direction of the industry, no over-dramatization to say is at stake here. It’s that important of a topic. Let me ask you just very simply first, is this coming up in conversations with advisors? Mindy Diamond: Oh, all the time, but it’s almost table stakes. So I think the way it comes up is that people assume, advisors assume, and by the way, have the right to assume that AI is part of the tech stack. The notion that if I’m evaluating a firm and part of what frustrates me or part of what’s really important to me is cutting edge, really robust technology, part of what I am expecting is that a new firm is going to have really robust technology. And part of that is really robust access to AI. And has honed the AI in a way that’s user-friendly, that really answers or delivers on making me a better … Not replacing me as an advisor, but making me a better, more efficient advisor. Jason Diamond: 100%. And I would also add, so as I think about this AI topic, I don’t want this to become a conversation around, is AI going to replace advisors, because I think we both agree that’s not going to be the case. Especially at the top end of the market for quality advisors, I think they’re not going anywhere. But in my view, when we think about the trigger of movement, AI has the potential to be transformative because a couple kind of use cases or trigger cases come to mind, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. One is, do you think advisors will potentially consider a move because they’re worried about this? So in other words, play this logic out with me. I’m 55 years old and I’m like, “Oh man, AI might be coming from my job.” And there’s firms offering 400% of revenue to move my book. Maybe I should take that check and kind of de-risk and monetize while I can. What are your thoughts on that? Mindy Diamond: I absolutely think we’re already working with that fall into that category, but to say that is the only reason for the move would be wrong. I’m grateful that people trust us enough to be transparent with us. So they let us know that underneath the notion that they want to better serve clients, they ultimately want better access to A, B, and C, they want to be able to do D, E and F with less restriction, is really the main reason for the move. But underneath it, the notion that my book, I want to protect myself. My book may well be the biggest it’s ever going to be. It is going to be worth more today than it could be in the future if things don’t go my way. And if I know I’m going to move and one of my goals is to monetize, I might want to do that now. Jason Diamond: I agree. And that’s where the top deal story comes in also. Firms paying a top deal is a part of that story. It’s what you just said, plus advisors know firms are willing to pay incredible multiples. I mean, as we speak, UBS is in market with one of the largest deals in history. So those two narratives side by side, I agree. I think this becomes more of a kind of catalyst or driver movement. It’s come up in my conversations on both sides of the spectrum. It’s the tech savvy, AI savvy advisors who are excited about this, who are like, “I want to be the most AI enabled version of myself I can be. It’s going to make me a rockstar and it’s going to widen the gap with my peers,” but it’s also come up with the people who are, I think, rightly scared and fearful about what this might mean for their job. Mindy Diamond: Let me ask you, what are examples of the way you’ve seen some of the best firms who have embraced AI? What is their narrative? What is it that they’re saying to advisors that if you come here from a tech or AI perspective, you’ll be better because we’re able to do … Fill in the blank. Jason Diamond: Yeah. So a couple that come up. First of all, I want to make the important point. Advisors do not expect that firms, either their current firm or firms that they are diligencing prospectively, have this figured out or solved. Everybody understands this is a fairly new area that firms are still very much kind of developing their strategies in. What advisors want to see is a few things. They want to see though leadership, they want to see investment, and they want to see a strategy, right? Effectively, they want to see a step in the right direction, really. So I’ll give you a couple examples. There are a number of tech savvy RIAs, very tech-enabled, AI-focused RIAs, because I think this is easier to be nimble. I think where you’ll see this quicker probably is in the independent space. That what they’re doing is things like this. An advisor logs on to their workstation in the morning and their system queues them proactively, Mr. and Mrs. Smith may be good candidates for a Roth IRA conversion. And then if the advisor decides to contact the client in some way about it, the system will of course help them draft the communication, but then it’ll take it a step further and actually help them to process and transact that conversion. So soup to nuts, ultimately driving efficiency. That’s the name of the game. That’s why firms, I think, are excited about AI, at least the good firms. Because what I think they realize it will do is, the stuff that’s a waste of time that could be automated that advisors, and probably even more so their associates, client associates are spending time on, that should be a massive time saver for advisors. And I think if you play that story out, what does that mean? It should mean bigger books of business and therefore more productive advisors because they have more time to prospect and focus on their clients. Thoughts? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I think you said it perfectly, but it raises the question then. You say that the RIAs can be more nimble. You’re right. I mean, the big story around the biggest firms was like moving a battleship, it takes a long time to turn it. It’s not as nimble. So what and how are the bigger firms competing against the RIAs with respect to AI? And second question, we still always get questions, and rightly so, about Morgan Stanley has more money to invest… Jason Diamond: That was going to be part of my answer. Mindy Diamond: … than fill in the blank RIA. So how does that all work? Jason Diamond: That is absolutely going to be part of my answer, is that I have heard this question posed almost presumptively both ways. “Oh, it’s got to be that the RIAs are going to be the clear winners in this.” And I’ve also heard, “Oh, it’s got to be that the wirehouses are going to be the clear winners in this.” I don’t think it’s going to be channel specific like that. I think it is going to be firm specific. I think there’s going to be firms that are going to do this well and firms that are going to not do this well. But there’s going to be winners in the wirehouse space. There’s going to be winners in the regional firm space, with firms like Raymond James who are clearly trying to be on the cutting edge of this. There’s certainly going to be winners in the broker-dealer space. LPL is investing heavily in this, as are many of their broker-dealer competitors. And then of course the RIA space, where sometimes they may not have the budgets, but they have a couple things. They have private equity backing, sometimes. They have the custodians that they’re built on, right, or the tech vendors that they’re built on. So Schwab and Fidelity or Orion and Addepar. They have other ways to access these innovations. One of the things that comes up with this that your question I think gets at is, a similar question that was raised around technology stacks, which is strength of offering versus integration. And that’s where I think a firm like Morgan Stanley really will shine, is they should … Because they don’t put anything out that’s not well integrated. The big firms have generally done a pretty good job of that. Versus the RIAs. Sometimes we’ve heard feedback where, yes, you have access to you name it, right? You dream it up, you can go and buy it. But the left hand may not speak to the right hand quite as well. Mindy Diamond: Yeah, that’s actually a really good point. And integration is probably one of the biggest … If you ask an advisor when they talk about technology as either being one of their pushes or pulls, probably what they’re referring to more than anything is not only having the capability, but having the integrated capability. So that’s a great point. And I think your point is right, that the final chapter on this has not been written. Nobody thinks that it has. And so whatever answers you and I can talk about today about who’s winning this race, or this tech race or this AI race, will be totally different tomorrow. We all know that. But I think for purposes of this conversation, to say that an advisor having an expectation that their technology be outstanding and that AI be on the table, that a firm is embracing it and heading in the right direction, if you will, has the right thought leadership and the right willingness to invest in it is what advisors are really looking for right now. Jason Diamond: Absolutely. And this is a question too from the firm’s perspective, if you are a firm of any size, you must be able to answer that. This has become question 1A. And again, I don’t mean to suggest that I think AI is the number one most important factor driving advisor movement today. It very well might be at some point down the road. I don’t think we’re there yet. But I do think it’s the topic du jour or the hot topic, where every advisor is asking about this. So that means if you’re a firm, you need to be prepared to tell the story or at least have the vision. And I think what we’re hearing from both advisors and from firms is this, AI is going to … What is right now a gap between the good and the bad, the quality and the non, is going to become an absolute chasm, right? An absolutely mountainous gap between the best firms and the firms who are able to adapt this technology or this AI. And the same thing at the advisor level, between the AI-enabled superpowered advisor versus those who are in the dinosaur ages, for lack of a better term. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. And we’ll move on, but it is worth saying that the day of the standalone independent, the one man or one woman band who hangs out a shingle, and to use your term, running a lifestyle practice, nothing wrong with that, but it would be near impossible to imagine a world where a standalone independent can compete with a private-equity-backed RIA or an RIA that has a big pool of capital behind them or to compete with the major firms. And our point is the ability to compete is probably more important with respect to this topic than just about any other. Jason Diamond: Totally agree. Thank you for tying a bow on that because I think that’s a good place to leave the AI topic, at least for now. I’m certain we’ll have more to say on this one. By the time we release this episode, we’ll probably have more to say on it. So we’ll have to do a follow-up again. But I want to talk now about enterprise value. And this is one where if you’re an RIA or if you’re an advisor at an independent firm, this might sound like a duh, but hear me out on this one. The idea is as follows, if I’m a wirehouse advisor or any sort of captive advisor, I don’t technically own anything. Agree? Mindy Diamond: Agreed. Jason Diamond: Okay. So if that’s true, that I don’t technically own anything, I technically don’t have any sort of enterprise value or ability to monetize. But my premise here and why I would argue that enterprise value has become a driver of movement is even wirehouse advisors know … They see teams like OpenArc, a massive RIA that launched last year. They see their corner office peers breaking away, starting independent firms. They see them selling to asset managers, private-equity-backed RIAs, private equity firms in their own right for these massive multiples. And what I guess I’m getting at, and I’m curious if you agree is, if a wirehouse advisor, let’s say, sees their colleagues sell to a private equity firm for 20X, doesn’t that have to become a little bit of a catalyst for movement in its own right? Mindy Diamond: Without a doubt. Historically … Actually, let me date myself. When I started this business now 32 years ago, there was zero way for an advisor who was a captive employee of a firm, of any firm, to monetize their business. It’s why there was so much movement, because the only way they could monetize was to get paid a big fat transition deal to move from one firm to the other. Jason Diamond: Yep. Mindy Diamond: Obviously, we all know that first it started with the big firms, and then just about every brokerage firm on the street began to offer a retire-in-place program. And that is the big firms or a traditional brokerage firm’s way of allowing advisor to monetize in place from their perspective to stave off attrition. And for an advisor that believes that the status quo serves them well, that finishing their career, that leaving their legacy, that leaving their team at their firm is the best thing to do, then those retire-in-place programs, like Merrill’s CTP or Morgan’s FAP or UBS’s Alpha or a name at every firm has them, is the best gift to advisors there is. But the problem is that the next generation at those firms are buying an asset they don’t own. And so when we talk about enterprise value or the desire to build enterprise value as a real driver of movement, what we’re talking about is not only that advisors want ownership of an asset, because ownership translates into more control and autonomy and agency over building it the way you want to, but it also translates into maximizing the value of the business that you’ve built. So that’s a long-winded way of saying that the OpenArc deal you are referencing, for anybody not familiar, is a Merrill Lynch team, a legacy Merrill Lynch team in Atlanta that was managing more than 120 billion in assets, part retail, ultra high net worth client assets, and part institutional consulting assets. And believe me, I don’t want to make it sound like it was a snap that one day they’re happy and the next day they’re going independent. Over a 10-year period became more and more aware, driven by the pushes and more aware of the pulse. But ultimately, while there was a long list of things they wanted to be able to do that they couldn’t to best serve clients and grow the business, the real driver at the end of the day, or I shouldn’t say the real driver, but a major driver was the notion of building and owning enterprise value. Yes, they could have all gotten very attractive deals and retired with your Merrill CTP, but they wanted to own the business, they wanted cap gains treatment. And so they went through the sweat equity big time of building what they’re calling OpenArc for the ability for probably five, 10, 20 years, because there’s partners with all different ages, so at all different times, to be able to really maximize the value of the business they’ve built. Jason Diamond: Can I push back on that for … It’s a super helpful example, but my one thought is, okay, yeah, of course, 130 billion in assets, they should be concerned with enterprise value at that size. And the delta between caring about enterprise value and not is too great because those guys have, by all accounts, a phenomenal business that is rivaled by very few in the industry. Most of our audience does not fit into that stratosphere. So what about advisors in, let’s call it the million to $10 million space? Should they still care about this concept? Mindy Diamond: Again, it’s an inside job. It’s a personal thing. Some don’t. But the answer is yes. And if I were them, I would. Why? Because whether I am generating a million a year in revenue or $10 million a year in revenue, at the end of the day, I’ve got an asset. I’ve built a valuable asset. And I have the choice at the end of the day or the middle of the day to decide a million things about that asset. How do I want to live my business life? How do I want to serve my clients? Where do I want to work? But one of the biggest factors to determining where and how they want to work is, ultimately, do I want to be able to maximize the value of the business that I’ve built? And while there are few things that are really definitive in this industry, the one thing that is absolutely indisputably definitive is that if you build an independent practice like the ex-Merrill Lynch churned RIA OpenArc team did, you will ultimately build enterprise value exponential multiples greater than any way you could monetize the business as a traditional employee. Jason Diamond: And that math absolutely still holds up even at numbers smaller than we’ve mentioned. I totally agree with that. I’ll give you one other reason why I think you should care. And I’d love your thoughts on this one. I’ll ask it two ways maybe. I’ll tell you my take and then I’ll ask you yours. Morgan Stanley, let’s use as an example. Who are Morgan Stanley’s competitors? In my opinion, the legacy answer to that is, well, of course the wirehouses are Morgan Stanley’s competitors. Merrill, UBS, Wells Fargo, what maybe used to be a longer list, but today those four. I don’t think that’s the answer anymore. I think those are the direct competitors. But because of this enterprise value conversation, I think Morgan Stanley’s competitors are anyone and everyone who recruits financial advisors with books of business. Because if you think about it, an advisor who has a $3 million business at a wirehouse, even if they’re not actually going to do this, they don’t have any entrepreneurial spirit, no desire to go independent, they still know that they could. This is an option and a viable option. And firms are even figuring out ways to cut out the middle step, right? Because this was historically a two-step process. You’re a wirehouse advisor or a W2 advisor. You break away, launch an independent business to establish your enterprise value, begin building it, and then you monetize it. If you could cut out the middle step, or even if you couldn’t, I still think it’s pretty clear that if you’re an advisor, this is important because the firms know … Like when Morgan Stanley’s writing a recruiting deal, they’re kept honest by RIAs and acquirers just the same as their direct peer set. Do you agree with that or do you think I’m reading too far into this? Mindy Diamond: Oh no, I agree a thousand percent. I think that it is naive for anyone recruiting for or on behalf of a traditional firm to think that the only competition is another traditional firm. The days of pomposity for a senior leader at a traditional firm to say, “We’ve got the best technology, the best everything fill in the blank. We have no competitors.” That’s just naive. Because even if it’s true, you’ve got the best platform infrastructure fill in the blank, there is a multitude of advisors that value things different than what you can provide. Beauty is in the eye of beholder is probably a good way to say that. But at the end of the day, what we’re really talking about is when I started the business, because there was no way, no really good way for an advisor to really monetize their life’s work, the only thing they could or were focused on from a personal financial gain perspective was the short-term deal. What are they paying? What’s the transition deal? Now, of course they’re concerned about that. But almost to a person, they’re equally concerned about what I can build and what will this allow me to build in terms of the value of the business I’m building in the long term. So let me ask you, if we’re talking about an advisor that has the ability to monetize in the short term for what could be 4X and in some cases more than that these days, and we’re talking about the ability to maximize enterprise value, and we talk about the concept of moving once and monetizing twice, what kind of numbers are we talking about? Fill in the blanks there. Jason Diamond: It’s such a hard question to answer because I do genuinely believe recruiting deals, when you talk about 300 to 400% revenue deals in the recruiting space, they vary a little bit, but I feel pretty comfortable quoting those types of numbers that most firms are somewhere in the 300 to 400% of T12 realm. There are some outliers, we mentioned UBS. But the multiple or EBITDA based or enterprise value M&A market where we’re doing these legitimate buyout transactions, the valuations do vary quite a bit. But here’s how I think about it. First of all, most firms are not purchased or sold at top line revenue. Most are sold at some sort of adjusted EBITDA number, which factors in local expenses, platform expenses, but also advisor compensation. And then that adjusted number is typically multipled. The multiples are anywhere from 8X for small kind of, let’s say, million dollar revenue businesses up to, we’ve seen deals struck at north of 20X for some of these mega cap RIAs. Typically, just back of the envelope, if I had to quote, I typically estimate around 5X top line at capital gains is a good kind of ballpark valuation. But there is quite a bit of nuance to it, more so than the traditional recruiting space. And I do think, shameless plug, part of the value in working with somebody who’s an expert on the entirety of the industry landscape is just that. It’s the idea that you need to run the horse race across multiple verticals. The good advisors who work with us typically are looking at a wire like a Morgan Stanley or a Merrill. They’re looking at a boutique firm like a Rockefeller, or they’re looking at a regional like an RBC or a Ray J. They’re looking at an independent firm like an LPL or a Sanctuary. They’re looking all across the spectrum. Mindy Diamond: I think that’s exactly right. But the topic of enterprise value, you can see how powerful it is and how wise it is. For an advisor today, when considering their personal economics to consider not just the short term, but to weigh in or add in or factor in, what could I be building and what ultimately will that business be worth at the end of the day? Jason Diamond: Yeah, 100%. Short of going out and selling your business, what can advisors do then? So I’m an advisor, okay, I’m curious about this. Or is it just as simple as, “Yeah, you should know what your business is worth if you’re an advisor”? Mindy Diamond: Definitively yes, because I mean, we always believe that knowledge is power. And just like it’s important for you to understand what your options are within your own firm, how can I ultimately retire out and monetize my business where I am, I think it’s really hard to make a decision in a vacuum without having other perspective. And getting other perspective doesn’t have to be that you have to go out and take 20 meetings. It’s not that hard for you to figure out what your business is worth to make it a data point for whether or not you’re ultimately best to retire in place or go elsewhere. Jason Diamond: Yeah, that I think is the main takeaway. And the education point is so important. I think because these are relatively new concepts for a lot of advisors that haven’t formally shopped a business before, there’s a lot of resources available. And we’ll certainly link some as well on the page for the episode. Let’s shift gears now, our kind of final trigger 2.0, which is stability and ownership structure of the firm. And this has been a little bit of a hot topic. It’s honestly been a hot topic every year because it seems like things pop up every year. And a lot of times advisors don’t reconcile the question of who owns the firm or how stable is the firm until something happens. The firm gets bought, the firm goes bankrupt, like the First Republic scenario. What should a good advisor do proactively about the idea that if you’re a W2 employee or even an employee who’s affiliated with a broker dealer, you saw this with Commonwealth, you just don’t really have control over what the firm decides to do. Give me your thoughts on this. I know it’s a big topic. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. First of all, using Commonwealth an example, it’s a good one. Because for those unfamiliar, Commonwealth is a boutique broker dealer that was privately owned and whose tagline was, “We love our privately owned status and we are never going to sell,” until one day they did. And not only did they sell, but they sold to the biggest independent broker dealer in the country, ala LPL. That’s not good nor bad, it’s just a fact. So if Commonwealth, who had definitively said we’re never up for sale, suddenly sells, any time you’re an employee of a firm, you never know what tomorrow brings in. You’re not in control over whether it’s sold. So that’s one example. But as you’re talking about this, I’m thinking about, I’m probably going back 20 years, so I’m 10 years into my career and I talked to someone who had been a very successful Merrill advisor. So I’m going to say he was probably generating around $5 million in revenue at the time. Going back 20 years, that’s a pretty significant book of business. He was courted for years by what he thought was a top RIA. And in those days, remember 20 years ago, the RIA space wasn’t nearly as mainstream as it is now. But the story the RIA told him was that ultimately, one, he was going to be a partner in the firm, that was very appealing to him. So he was going to have equity in the firm and much more freedom and control. And locally, by the way, the RIA was a really high quality brand. He worked on a lot of the economics, the short term and the long term with them. They did a ton of due diligence on his book of business. But he failed to ask … And I didn’t represent him. I just know this story. He failed to ask or do enough due diligence about the stability of the firm. What we think is really important, we talk about this expanded landscape. If you’re looking at Morgan Stanley, I don’t think you necessarily need to see Morgan Stanley’s balance sheet. If you are talking to a firm that is anything but a bulge bracket or anything but a large firm, it’s really important to do what we call reverse due diligence and to really understand if a firm expects you to open your kimono and show everything about your business to prove your worth, it is equally important that you do the same for them. In this new world order where private equity has come in and there are so many different ways for a firm to be owned and to be capitalized, it’s very important that an advisor understand what’s going on behind the scenes. And one of the questions around stability, if a firm is private equity backed, is it permanent capital? Is it patient capital? Is the private equity firm going to look to sell and monetize in five years? And then who would the likely buyer be and what does that mean for you? So the question is a big question and it’s really important. Jason Diamond: I love everything you just said, except I do think even the wirehouses, wirehouse advisors, honestly, as much as anybody should be asking these questions. And I’ll give you an example right now, UBS. And UBS, it’s not a story of balance sheet stability. I don’t think anybody has concerns that UBS is going to fail. But UBS management has been very publicly, “Oh, we’re cutting costs.” There’s been some rumors, I think for years, probably dating back 30 years to when you started the business about UBS’s commitment to the US wealth management business. I think those questions about stability and ownership structure are still valid. And to me, the implication of it is twofold. One, what you said, reverse due diligence, ask the questions, plan B. But also the concept of the exits or the off-ramps or how many bites of the apple do you get. So if you’re an advisor and you sell your business to somebody and you sign garden leave and non-competes and non-solicits, the question of ownership structure of that firm becomes less relevant because you have no off-ramps and no ability to exit that business anyway. A lot of times that’s how advisors get comfortable with this concept. And that’s what firms will tell them too, frankly, and we’re living through the middle of this, by the way, with Commonwealth and LPL, is vote with your feet, right? To the extent advisors can, the offer … And this is like, you used the example of private-equity-backed firms. This is how Rockefeller addresses the question of their private equity ownership. If we sell to UBS, all of our advisors will leave. They have that built-in put option. So knowing where the off-ramps are or how many bites of the apple an advisor gets, I think is a big concept that ties into that. But we’re absolutely seeing this pop up, probably largely because of those two examples, Commonwealth and UBS this year, more so Commonwealth, to your point. Janney’s another example last year or two years ago now where KKR comes in and buys Janney. So when these examples happen, it seems like it triggers advisors to say, “Is this something that could happen to me and should I be thinking about this?” Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So let me ask you a question. You’re talking, you’ve mentioned UBS offering this outsized deal. So how does the notion of stability and ownership factor in? If an advisor is considering an unprecedented deal from UBS, what are the caveats or concerns with respect to stability and ownership? Jason Diamond: It’s the same list of considerations you should and would ask of any other firm you’re diligencing, except I think amplified even more in the case … If I was counseling an advisor who was looking at UBS, that would be what I would say, is exactly that. You’re seeing all of these departures and defections, and I would want to have conversations with those advisors and understand exactly why and have guarantees or assurances that I’m not going to suffer from those same pain points that force them to leave. Or, and I say this a little bit flippantly, but it’s a little bit true, I understand the devil that I’m getting into bed with, but for 550%, or whatever the deal might be, I can suck it up. And that’s something that some advisors might well say as well. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. Jason Diamond: I don’t want to end on the negative note of overly large transition, not there’s anything wrong with large transition deals, but as you look out, is there anything that’s coming up in your conversation with advisors that you view as the next wave of this? I’ll give you one that maybe you could touch on, and if you have another one, feel free to offer it in conclusion, but do you think age or advisors starting to succeed out of the business will become more of a driver of movement, even though to your point, advisors can access sunset deals? Mindy Diamond: I do actually, because I think the more the average advisor age increases, the more likely that those advisors are going to want to move on to do something else to monetize the business. And so much of the wave of movement we see is driven not so much by the senior advisor, because many seed advisors are happy enough with the ability to monetize their business in place. Even though it may not maximize the value of the business, it’s a close enough approximation and it means I don’t have to disrupt the apple cart. So we support that 100%. But where we get the calls is from the next generation that says, “Yeah, but hold on a minute. It’s a good way for me to take on a book of assets that I not otherwise have access to. And it’s great for my senior partner, my father, my mother, my whatever to monetize the business. But I’m buying an asset again that I don’t own and I ultimately don’t have control over all these things we’re talking about, the AI investment, the ability to create enterprise value, the stability, the cost cutting, all of it.” So I think it’s all of the above. You say, “What else is there?” I think that’s it. It’s all of the above. It’s anything and everything that drives movement. One, it’s personal, it’s highly unique, it’s different for every advisor. There are certainly themes, and we’re talking about them, but there’s a million different things. It’s personal. And while there are an awful lot of pushes, things that can frustrate an advisor, it is the most exciting time in our view to be an advisor, particularly a high quality one, because the options abound, the ecosystem is big, because the ability to monetize both in the short term and the long term is big, mammoth, exponentially bigger than it ever was before. And the true ability to really build an enterprise has never been greater. And I think all of those things, the desire for an advisor to be the best that they can be and live their best business life is probably the biggest driver of all. Jason Diamond: It’s really true these days, if you can dream it, you can probably build it. And we’ve said in the past, if you build it, they will buy it. It’s a great place to end. This was a really fun topic. I think that’s a spot on kind of fourth trigger, by the way, too. This sort of next gen is almost like the force multiplier or the amplifier of like they see all this other stuff and they’re asking these questions even more so. Because if I’m 60 years old, none of this matters all that much. It matters, but I’m out of the business in five to 10 years. Versus the next gen advisors are the ones who often bear the brunt of this. So I think a lot of really smart stuff. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and expertise. In the episode page, we’ll be sure we have our Industry Transition Report. And we’ve also created a tool, the top 10 tips for a strategic due diligence process, which is a great kind of practical hand-in-hand companion for this topic for advisors looking for more pointed tips on the due diligence process. So Mindy, thank you again. This has been a blast. Mindy Diamond: My pleasure. Thank you. Jason Diamond: Thank you for joining us. We'll be back with a new episode next week, so be sure to listen in. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful because you take your professional responsibility seriously and are dedicated to your clients. But are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firms or could a better option exist? Should I Stay or Should I Go? is a book written with you in mind. It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and roadmap to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions and think critically and objectively, whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook. The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between – Part 2 A Special Industry Update with Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond. Jason Diamond: Welcome to a replay of one of the most popular episodes from our podcast series for financial advisors, The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between. It's Part 2 of a 2-Part Industry Update with Mindy Diamond. I’m Jason Diamond and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner, well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our Annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Jason Diamond: There’s been a noticeable shift in how advisors are approaching decisions about their business, not necessarily in whether they’re exploring change, but in what they’re focused on when they do. Mindy is back with me for a continuation of our earlier conversation on the Advisor Transition Playbook. Last time, we spent time on the mechanics, how due diligence works, what a move actually entails, and how to think through the process. What’s become more apparent since then is that the inputs into that process are evolving. The traditional drivers are still there, but layered on top are a set of considerations that didn’t carry the same weight before. AI is one of them, and not just as a tool, but as a differentiator that advisors are starting to diligence more seriously. Enterprise value is another. Showing up in conversations, even for advisors who don’t technically own their business, but are thinking more critically about what they’re building over time. And then there are questions around stability, ownership, and flexibility. What happens to the firm itself and whether advisors retain the ability to adapt again if circumstances change. None of this is theoretical. It’s showing up in real time conversations. What we want to do here is unpack those new triggers of advisor movement and what they suggest about how decisions are being made today. So let’s get to it. Mindy, the legend, thank you for joining me. So glad to have you on. Mindy Diamond: Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. Jason Diamond: Great. Let’s dive right in. I’ll set the stage really quickly one more time. When we spoke about this topic last, we talked about the drivers of movement, what we’ll call in this conversation as the old or the legacy drivers of movement, and we spoke about the mechanics of the move. Before we get into the new drivers of movement, which I want to be the meat of the conversation, remind us, when we talk about the legacy drivers of movement …. And by the way, by saying legacy, I by no means want to suggest that they’re not valid today, because they’re equally valid, if not more so today than they were then. But when you think of the classic drivers of movement in our industry, what are they? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I would say, first of all, let’s start by saying that for every advisor, they’ve got a unique set of needs. So the first thing to say is that while you and I can talk about the categories of frustrations or things that might bother an advisor, they show up differently in each advisor’s life. So it’s important to note that everyone is unique. But generally speaking, if I had to package them, I’d say it’s number one that shows up most of the time is too much bureaucracy. A feeling that a firm or a model is just too hypervigilant in terms of compliance and it’s too bureaucratic and too hard to get things done.

You're the one everyone calls. The one who has the answers, solves the problems, and holds the whole thing together. And deep down, you know that's exactly what's keeping you stuck.In this episode, Gary sits down with leadership strategist Kristen McAlister to tackle one of the most costly traps in law firm management: building a practice so dependent on you that it can never truly grow, and you can never truly breathe. This conversation is a practical roadmap for any managing partner or firm owner who wants to stop being the bottleneck and start building something with real enterprise value and real personal freedom.Key Takeaways:Separate income from enterprise value. Most lawyers optimize for the wrong one, and it quietly limits the future of their firm.Apply the "Do It, Delegate It, Delete It" framework to reclaim hours every week without sacrificing quality or client service.Understand that the founder trap is an identity issue as much as a management one. You have the key. The question is whether you are willing to use it.Recognize that decoupling yourself from your business and decoupling your business from yourself are two different things, and both are essential for law firm growth.Start with one honest list of everything you are doing that you do not enjoy and are not best suited for. That list is your first delegation roadmap.Kristen McAlister is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and co-owner of Cerius Executives, where she helps founders and CEOs build non-owner dependent organizations that generate lasting enterprise value. She works at the intersection of leadership, law firm growth, and personal freedom, and she brings a rare combination of strategic rigor and real-world business ownership to every conversation.If this episode challenged the way you think about your practice, subscribe wherever you listen and leave a review. It helps more lawyers find this show. Visit garymiles.net to learn more about Gary's coaching work and The Free Lawyer® movement.[04:37] — Balancing multiple roles sustainably[09:16] — Letting go of control[13:02] — Starting at the finish line[17:33] — The chief problem solver trap[23:01] — Income versus enterprise value[28:09] — Why lawyers resist asking for help[31:18] — What freedom actually looks like[35:24] — You hold the keyKristen McAlister is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and co-owner of Cerius Executives, specializing in helping business owners build organizations that are not dependent on any one person, including themselves. She advises founders, managing partners, and CEOs on how to accelerate enterprise value and create genuine personal freedom through intentional leadership team design. Kristen is also the host of the She Owns It! podcast, where she highlights women redefining success on their own terms. She has decoupled her own firm from her daily presence and protects every Friday as a non-negotiable personal day. You can reach her at ceriusexecutives.com.Check out the Elite Lawyer's Productivity System  https://www.garymiles.net/productivityAccess this free tool to identify your productivity time drains and move to purposeful strategy- https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1Would you like to learn what it looks like to become a truly Free Lawyer? You can schedule a complimentary call here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-callYou can find The Free Lawyer Assessment here- https://www.garymiles.net/the-free-lawyer-assessment

Defence investing has been one of the hottest topics in European private equity over the past year. Firms including Warburg Pincus, PEI Group owner Bridgepoint, Carlyle Group and Tikehau Capital have all launched strategies or are mulling them, while LPs such as AkademikerPension, PensionDanmark, M&G Investments, PenSam and Finnish pension insurer Varma have either already invested in PE defence strategies or are considering doing so. In this episode, senior editor Adam Le sits down with EMEA editor for investor intelligence Joe Marsh to delve into the types of strategies LPs are looking for in the defence arena; the challenges that come with exiting defence assets; the role that ESG plays in LPs' investment policies; and why the themes of security, sovereignty and resilience are increasingly on investors' minds. Find all Private Equity International's defence-related coverage here.

What if every talent process you ran was AI-enabled — not to replace what you do, but to make you superhuman at it? That's exactly how Matt Hoffman, Head of Talent and Partner at venture capital firm M13, operates. In this episode Matt explains how his team uses AI to help early-stage founders build a talent-first culture from day one – across recruiting, compensation, coaching, and beyond. The results are remarkable. Using tools like Findem for AI-powered sourcing, Matt's team can pinpoint candidates who didn't just work at the right company — they worked there at exactly the right stage of company growth. That's a level of targeting precision that data accuracy and explainability make possible, and that simply wasn't achievable before AI. But here is where Matt's perspective gets truly compelling. AI is often framed as a speed tool, a way to do things faster and more efficiently. Matt pushes back hard on that narrative: AI should make your hiring better, not just quicker. And in the startup world, that distinction is everything.  Every hire at a 10-person company changes the organization by 10% — so getting it right matters far more than getting it done. That is the essence of talent density: finding exactly the right people for where your company is and where it needs to go, rather than simply finding people fast. His advice to HR and talent leaders is as practical as it is powerful: fall in love with the problem, not the solution. Start with the outcome you need to achieve, then let technology enable it — never the other way around. If you have ever wondered what a truly AI-augmented talent strategy looks like when it is built with intention, depth, and relentless focus on talent density, this one's for you. Related resources Podcast: Why AI Is A Massive Job Creation Technology. Automated Integration. Findem. And Thank You. Podcast: Understanding Talent Density And Ditching Integrated Talent Management Research: Insights-First AI: Better and Explainable People Decisions Research: The Talent Acquisition Revolution: How AI is Transforming Recruiting Research: How To Create Talent Density     Chapters (00:00:04) - What Works: The Future of Talent(00:00:55) - What is the role of Head of Talent at Talented M13(00:03:11) - How to Leverage AI in Your Portfolio Companies(00:09:45) - Finding the Right Talent for a Startup(00:14:18) - Talent First: How to Use AI in Companies(00:16:56) - What's AI Impact on Talent Practices?(00:18:35) - WSJDLive: Using AI in HR(00:20:02) - How AI can help HR in the Talent Life Cycle(00:23:01) - What Works With Talent: Matt Hoffman

Travis Armstrong is the Chief Operating Officer of English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, also known as ELPO, the largest full-service law firm in South Central Kentucky. He has managed the operations of the firm for 21 years, after beginning his career in public accounting and later serving as a CFO in the insurance industry. Travis holds both a CPA and Certified Legal Manager designation and has overseen finance, operations, facilities, HR, and marketing as the firm has grown. He is also the immediate past president of the Association of Legal Administrators, the premier international professional association for legal management professionals, and has made mental health and well-being in the legal profession a personal priority. Outside of work, Travis is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking, kayaking, and running, and has completed six marathons. WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE ABOUT LAW FIRM LEADERSHIP AND OPERATIONS There is someone inside your firm who sees things that may never make it into the managing partner's inbox. They see the operational strain, the succession gaps, and the cultural undercurrents that affect how the firm actually runs. Yet in many law firms, the people managing the business side are still treated as support instead of strategic leadership. That gap creates real risk. Firms may have plans for transitioning client relationships, but far fewer have thought through what happens when the COO, firm administrator, or another long-tenured business professional leaves. There is also a cost to doing nothing, from attorney time spent figuring out administrative systems to culture problems that quietly affect productivity, retention, and mental health. In this episode of The Lawyer's Edge podcast, Elise Holtzman talks with Travis Armstrong of English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley about what law firm COOs see that leaders often miss, why operational succession planning matters, how mental health affects the whole firm, and what it means to look at and listen to your culture. 2:33 - How Travis moved from accounting and insurance into legal management 4:34 - Why law firms tend to adopt change more slowly than other industries 5:25 - What the Association of Legal Administrators does for law firm business professionals 10:05 - How managing partners can get more value from their COO or firm administrator 13:14 - How Travis's role evolved from firm administrator to COO as the firm grew 14:17 - Why operational succession planning is a blind spot for law firms 19:00 - The cost of doing nothing when an operational leader retires 21:23 - Why difficult succession conversations are worth having early 23:11 - What the ALA survey revealed about mental health resources in the legal profession 25:16 - Why legal administrative professionals often lack access to the same mental health resources as lawyers 27:45 - How ALA's mental health first aid training helps legal professionals spot warning signs 31:00 - Why law firm leaders need to look honestly at their culture 34:19 - The business case for supporting mental health in law firms 35:25 - Why attorneys need to listen to administrative staff and trust their judgment Mentioned In What Happens When Lawyers Actually Listen to Their COO  English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP | LinkedIn Travis Armstrong on LinkedIn Association of Legal Administrators ALA Mental Health First Aid Training Amanda Koplos | How Legal Administrators Help Unlock Your Law Firm's Potential Retirement by Design - Ida Abbott Consulting LLC Get connected with the coaching team: hello@thelawyersedge.com The Lawyer's Edge SPONSOR FOR THIS EPISODE This episode is brought to you by the coaching team at The Lawyer's Edge, a training and coaching firm that has been focused exclusively on lawyers and law firms since 2008. Each member of the team is a trained, certified, and experienced professional coach—and either a former practicing attorney or a former law firm marketing and business development professional. Whatever your professional objectives, our coaches can help you achieve your goals more quickly, more easily, and with significantly less stress. To get connected with your coach, fill out our contact form.

End chaos in your firm—300+ peers use this framework. Free video here: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/framework AI is moving fast in architecture, but most firms still aren't sure how to use it without losing control of the work. In this episode, Brandon Mut shares what it looks like to bring new tools into a real practice with discipline, not hype. You'll hear how one design technology leader built standards first, then tested AI against finished projects, and only then let it into the workflow. You'll also hear the metric they used to judge results, and why "don't change anything" is harder than it sounds. Along the way, they talk about fears, liability, sustainability, training younger staff, and what might change over the next few years. The quiet mistake that makes "AI adoption" backfire inside a firm. A simple way to tell whether AI is helping—or secretly shifting your design.  Why the wave won't be about tools… it'll be about who stays in charge. To learn more about Brandon, visit his website: https://fogartyfinger.com/

In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Elizabeth Bolshaw, Global Content Strategist at EY, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to explore the impact of AI on professional services thought leadership.  In this episode, we explore the following questions and more: How is the democratisation of information changing the competitive landscape of thought leadership for firms?  How can firms differentiate themselves in a competitive "sea of sameness"? With many CxOs expressing cynicism toward AI-generated thought leadership, how can firms maintain transparency and client trust? Does letting AI do all the heavy lifting risk making our critical thinking lazy? If so, what does this "cognitive atrophy" mean for thought leadership? How is generative engine optimisation (GEO) forcing firms to rethink gated content, and why are LLMs now considered an audience? How can smaller thought leadership teams use AI to overcome resource constraints, establish a niche, and compete with industry giants?   

Accounting Voices is a senior leadership platform hosted by Rob Brown that interprets the forces reshaping accounting firms across North America and beyond.This "AI Reality Inside Firms" series brings together influential accounting leaders to answer the same five structured questions about how AI is actually landing inside firms.No hype. No vendor narratives. Just honest leadership perspective from someone navigating AI from the inside.Today's special guest is Sean Spitzer, President and COO at Smith + HowardThe five questions:Where is AI genuinely reshaping strategic direction for firms?What are firms still getting wrong about AI?Which AI-related leadership decisions will matter most over the next two years?Where is AI creating the greatest internal tension in firms?By 2027, what will separate leading firms from the rest?Five questions. One honest conversation. Part of a season that is building a definitive picture of AI reality inside accounting firms in 2026.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CAPH-vOkJzQThank you to our Season Partners for making this series possible.Fieldguide is the AI-native platform for audit and advisory enabling human and AI collaboration to scale capacity, improve quality and transform how firms operate. fieldguide.ioInstead is the first AI agent that owns end-to-end tax from research, planning, filing, and defense all in one system. It replaces CCH, GoSystems, UltraTax, Lacerte, ProConnect, Drake and many more. instead.comKarbon is the global leader in AI-powered practice management software for accounting firms. Their research into how technology is reshaping firm performance is essential reading for anyone leading a firm in 2026. karbonhq.comDigits is the world's first AI-native accounting platform. It's accounting software that works for you to deliver real-time financials and automate the month-end close. digits.comFiled is the intelligent tax workspace for preparation and review automation and the only AI for prep, review and planning that runs inside your tax software especially made for high-volume firms. filed.comAccounting Voices is a senior sense-making platform for firm owners, managing partners and senior operators navigating the forces reshaping accounting firms. Host Rob Brown convenes structured conversations with leaders across the profession to interpret what AI, private equity, consolidation and leadership pressure mean in practice.This season, AI Reality Inside Firms, brings together senior accounting firm leaders answering the same five structured questions about how AI is actually landing inside firms, separating execution from narrative.Find all episodes on your preferred podcast platform or on the Accounting Voices YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@accountingvoicesTo find out more or to explore season partnership opportunities, connect with Rob on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrown

At a May 19, 2026 Ballard Spahr webinar, "Cutting Out the Middleman: The Surge in FinTech Applications to Charter Banks, Industrial Banks and National Trust Companies," a distinguished panel of banking, fintech, crypto, and consumer financial services professionals explored one of the most important developments currently reshaping the financial services industry: the growing movement by fintech companies, payments firms, lenders, and crypto-native businesses to obtain their own banking charters rather than relying on traditional bank partnerships. The message from the panel was clear: we are witnessing a significant shift in how nonbank financial services companies are thinking about regulation, growth, and market access. Speakers:  Moderator: Alan Kaplinsky, senior counsel; founder and former leader of Consumer Financial Services Group, Ballard Spahr   Guest: Lee Reiners, Lecturing Fellow, Duke Financial Economics Center; founder and editor-at-large of The FinReg Blog; founder and host, The FinReg Pod; co-host, Coffee & Crypto with Lee and Jimmie (a podcast that covers the latest developments in cryptocurrency); co-organizer of Digital Assets at Duke (annual conference about crypto assets space) Scott Coleman, partner, Ballard Spahr  Joseph Schuster, partner, Ballard Spahr  Beau Hurtig, counsel, Ballard Spahr  Adam Maarec, counsel, Ballard Spahr  Key Takeaways A significant shift is underway. Fintechs increasingly want to internalize the benefits of banking rather than rely on partnerships. There is no one-size-fits-all charter. National banks, state banks, industrial banks, and national trust banks each serve different strategic objectives. The current environment appears unusually favorable. Regulators are showing greater openness to nontraditional applicants than at any point in recent memory. The trend extends well beyond crypto. Payments companies, lenders, fintech platforms, and other financial services providers are all exploring charter opportunities. Becoming a bank is a long-term commitment. The benefits are substantial, but so are the regulatory obligations. Part 2 of this webinar will be released next Thursday, July 2nd. Consumer Finance Monitor is hosted by Alan Kaplinsky, Senior Counsel at Ballard Spahr, and the founder and former chair of the firm's Consumer Financial Services Group. We encourage listeners to subscribe to the podcast on their preferred platform for weekly insights into developments in the consumer finance industry.

The Cybercrime Wire, hosted by Scott Schober, provides boardroom and C-suite executives, CIOs, CSOs, CISOs, IT executives and cybersecurity professionals with a breaking news story we're following. If there's a cyberattack, hack, or data breach you should know about, then we're on it. Listen to the podcast daily and hear it every hour on WCYB. The Cybercrime Wire is brought to you Cybercrime Magazine, Page ONE for Cybersecurity at https://cybercrimemagazine.com. • For more breaking news, visit https://cybercrimewire.com

Introduction The rules that governed software pricing for a decade are breaking down. Per-user SaaS models made sense when users were people. Now that AI is automating those seats, the pricing logic collapses — and carriers, brokers, and insurtech vendors are all rethinking the economics at the same time. Michael Nadel is a partner and head of the global insurance practice at Simon-Kucher & Partners. He joined Josh Hollander for his second appearance on the show to dig into what the AI era is actually doing to monetization — from the pricing mistakes early movers keep making, to why outcome-based models are harder to execute than they are to sell, to a 50,000-session LLM shopping simulation that revealed what could become the next SEO arms race for insurance carriers.   Guest Bio Michael Nadel is a partner and head of the global insurance practice at Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global strategy consultancy focused on growth, pricing, and monetization. Before consulting, he spent time at CNA in strategy and innovation, and earlier led large-scale financial services implementation work at Accenture. He advises carriers, brokers, MGAs, and insurtech vendors on pricing strategy, and co-hosts an annual monetization masterclass at InsureTech Connect.   Key Topics From offense to defense — A year ago, clients asked how to monetize new AI features. Today the questions are more defensive: how does AI threaten my core product, my pricing model, and my existing revenue base? The two biggest AI pricing mistakes — Pricing before understanding what customers actually value, and jumping to outcome-based models before you can define or reliably deliver the outcome. Outcome-based pricing is the destination, not the shortcut — Buyers love paying only when value is delivered. The problem is definitional complexity — what counts as the outcome, who controls it, and what happens when results fall short. AI spend that looks like RPA in new packaging — Carriers running well-designed AI programs focus on workflow economics, not technology for its own sake. The recommended split: 70% on high-value workflow automation, 20% on data and governance, 10% on exploratory bets. GEO: the next SEO — Simon-Kucher simulated 50,000 insurance shopping sessions across 50 consumer personas and three major LLMs. What gets a carrier recommended by an LLM is not the same as what gets them ranked on Google. CMOs need to decide how to treat LLMs as a distribution channel now. Services businesses face the same disruption — Pure labor arbitrage is structurally challenged by AI. Firms that survive will combine domain expertise with AI-enabled delivery and evolve from vendors to partners.   Notable Quotes "You need to understand what people value before you prescribe a price. But very often, people build something, bring it to market, and then try to figure out why it isn't selling." "Automating a bad process simply creates a faster bad process." "It's not replacing system X with system Y — it's changing the way you work fundamentally. Orange juice to lemonade. Not a better way to make orange juice." "Last year, roughly one percent of our traffic came from LLMs. This year it was roughly five percent and increasing."   Resources Guest: Simon-Kucher & Partners: https://www.simon-kucher.com Michael Nadel on LinkedIn: (verify and add URL) Host & Organization: Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ Insurtech Leadership Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show   Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Tori Begg joins Brad Bialy to separate fact from fiction and share a practical roadmap for staffing leaders looking to implement AI without getting lost in the noise. Despite the constant hype surrounding AI agents and automation, most organizations are still in the early stages of adoption.From generative AI and AI agents to workflow mapping and digital labor, Tori explains what staffing firms should actually be paying attention to right now—and what can safely be ignored. She shares why most organizations aren't ready for full-scale agentic AI, how recruiters can identify the highest-value opportunities for automation, and why understanding your workflows is the first step toward successful AI adoption.Brad and Tori also dive into AI hallucinations, prompt engineering, custom GPTs, small language models, clean data, and the growing importance of keeping humans at the center of every AI strategy.Whether you're experimenting with ChatGPT for the first time or actively exploring AI-powered recruiting, sourcing, sales, and operations workflows, this conversation offers a practical framework for using AI to increase productivity, improve decision-making, and create a competitive advantage without sacrificing the relationships that make staffing successful.Expect to Learn:The difference between generative AI and agentic AIWhy workflow mapping should happen before AI adoptionHow to identify non-revenue-generating tasks for automationWays to reduce AI hallucinations and improve output qualityWhy using multiple LLMs can improve resultsThe role of small language models in the future of staffing technologyHow AI agents can support sourcing, screening, engagement, and ATS updatesWhy a "human first, AI forward" mindset will separate successful firms from the restAbout the HostBrad Bialy is a trusted voice and highly sought-after speaker in the staffing and recruiting industry, known for helping firms grow through integrated marketing, sales, and recruiting strategies. With over 13 years at Haley Marketing and a proven track record guiding hundreds of firms, Brad brings deep expertise and a fresh, actionable perspective to every engagement. He's the host of Take the Stage and InSights, two of the staffing industry's leading podcasts with more than 225,000 downloads.About the GuestTori Begg is a senior AI leader specializing in adoption, enablement, strategy, and the human side of artificial intelligence. As Senior Manager of AI Programs, she leads AI strategy and implementation across sales, marketing, and operations, helping organizations translate emerging AI capabilities into measurable business impact.Tori focuses on how leaders redesign workflows, roadmaps, decision-making, and expectations as AI reshapes how work gets done. She is the co-founder of Mind & Machine DFW and a frequent speaker on AI leadership, organizational transformation, digital labor, and the practical application of AI in business.Sponsors and Offers HeardTake the Stage is presented by Haley Marketing. For a limited time, we're offer 50% off of a brand new staffing website. Just message Brad Bialy on LinkedIn and mention the Crazy Website Promo.For 30 years, Benefits in a Card has delivered benefit plans designed specifically for the staffing industry—over 140 unique options with immediate coverage, unique perks like FreeRx, and solutions that reduce turnover while improving ACA compliance. Give your workforce benefits they'll actually use and give your staffing firm a competitive edge. Learn more at:https://www.BenefitsInACard.com.

A breach at market intelligence platform Klue allowed attackers to steal OAuth tokens linking Clue to customers' Salesforce environments, enabling quiet API-driven data extraction from firms including Huntress, Recorded Future, Tanium, and Jamf; Clue revoked tokens, removed the legacy integration credential involved, and engaged CrowdStrike as Icarus threatens extortion, echoing earlier Salesforce token-theft campaigns affecting nearly 1,000 companies.  Researchers also detail AriStinger, a new botnet infecting 4,000+ end-of-life D-Link routers to scan, proxy, tunnel, execute commands, and hijack DNS, with many infections in South Korea and China. The episode covers federal cyberstalking charges against Anthony Belford for allegedly using fake accounts and AI-generated nude images, and ESET's report that the "Gentleman" ransomware crew is developing modular EDR-killing tools to disable endpoint defenses. 00:00 Top Stories Teaser 00:29 Clue OAuth Token Breach 02:32 Salesforce Token Attack Trend 04:14 AryStinger Router Botnet 05:33 AI Deepfake Cyberstalking Case 07:50 Gentleman EDR Killer Arsenal 09:37 Wrap Up And Sign Off

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports China has announced sanctions on 10 American defense companies.

In this episode, we unpack the biggest mistakes founder-led businesses make when trying to scale, what it really takes to step out of day to day, and the critical piece most businesses overlook when chasing sustainable growth. If you are ready to build a business that grows with intention, this conversation will give you the clarity and direction to start making that shift. >>> Here are 4 ways we can help you reach your revenue goals faster...#1 Unlock the full potential of your marketing engine. We'll provide you and your team with the direction, insights, and tools necessary to excel in the complex landscape of modern marketing. - Marketing Advisor On Call#2 Discover the marketing strategies & tactics that will guide your next quarter and unlock explosive growth in 90 minutes. - Quick-Start Marketing Strategy Game Plan#3 Discover a tailor-made strategy for unprecedented growth to transform your marketing in 30 days. - Unlock Your Growth Opportunities#4 If you need guidance on the most effective direction for your marketing, then schedule a call with us today! - Get Your Free Discovery Call Now

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we talk about how the consulting and research industry is facing a reckoning. Gartner, once a $42 billion empire built on telling companies which technologies to buy, has shed more than $30 billion in market value. Trading around $155 per share after peaking at $551 in November 2020, Gartner represents something far bigger than one company’s misfortune. It is a warning signal to every knowledge worker and consulting firm that the traditional model of acquiring and reselling existing knowledge is being quietly dismantled by artificial intelligence. The Pirate Street Journal recently broke down this shift through a category design lens, and the conclusions are both uncomfortable and urgent for anyone whose career is built around advice, analysis, or strategic guidance. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go.   When AI Gives Away What Consultants Used to Sell For decades, consulting firms like Gartner monetized a simple formula: gather knowledge, package it into reports and subscriptions, and charge companies handsomely for access. A $100,000 research subscription felt justified when getting that knowledge required significant time and access. That equation has fundamentally changed. The moment a business leader can ask an AI which CRM platform or security stack to buy and receive a well-reasoned, sourced answer in seconds for free, the traditional research subscription starts looking like a fax machine. As strategy thinker Roger Martin has noted, true strategy represents only about 3% of what large consulting firms actually produce. The remaining 97% is largely benchmarking, gap analysis, and best practices work, exactly the kind of structured, retrospective analysis that AI now handles effortlessly.   The Only Consulting Work AI Cannot Replace What separates truly valuable strategic advice from commoditized knowledge is judgment. Courage. Wisdom. The ability to make a call when the spreadsheet offers no clear answer and the outcome remains genuinely uncertain. These are the qualities that have always driven the most important strategic wins, and they are precisely what AI cannot replicate or monetize anytime soon. Consider how often the best strategic decisions required someone to say “I believe this is the right direction” without proof. Timing a market entry too early, betting on a consumer behavior before it becomes mainstream, or designing an entirely new category rather than competing within an existing one all demand human conviction. The consultants who have consistently done this well rarely stay in advisory roles for long. They move into the arena, become entrepreneurs, or deploy their own capital because genuine foresight commands far greater economics than a consulting retainer.   What This Means for Knowledge Workers and the Consulting Profession Gartner’s market cap decline is not simply a story about one company failing to adapt. It is a broader signal to every knowledge worker that the value of their value has shifted. Technology does not take jobs outright. It relocates where value gets created. The professionals who repackage existing knowledge are seeing that value erode fast. The professionals who can create genuinely new knowledge, new frameworks, new categories, new experiences, are seeing their value rise. This distinction matters enormously for how consultants should think about their own positioning. Firms that continue to offer benchmarking, retrospective market summaries, and structured best practices comparisons are directly competing with AI at a game AI will eventually win. The consultants who build practices around future-oriented, judgment-heavy, courageous strategic work are the ones whose services will remain irreplaceable, and whose market caps, whether literal or metaphorical, will reflect a world that still believes in their future. To hear more from the Pirate Street Journal, download and listen to this episode. You can also read more Pirate Street Journal entries in the Category Pirates newsletter.   We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!  

Wall Street built entire neighborhoods just to rent them. August Biniaz breaks down how and why it works.August Biniaz, Chief Investment Officer at CPI Capital, returns to break down build-to-rent (BTR): how the asset class started after the 2008 crash, why institutions like Blackstone pivoted from buying scattered homes to building purpose-built rental communities, and what that means for individual investors today.August also pulls back the curtain on how CPI Capital operates at scale, including the AI tool that cut their deal-screening time by 90 percent, and shares his read on where interest rates and the broader economy are headed going into the rest of 2026.Key topics covered:How Blackstone's Invitation Homes buying spree of 75,000 homes gave birth to BTRWhat life inside a BTR community actually looks like (HOA, amenities, maintenance)Why BTR attracts "tenants by choice" and produces lower turnover than traditional apartmentsHow CPI Capital uses Slack, Asana, HubSpot, and AI to run a private equity real estate firmThe 10-year treasury, the war in Iran, and what August thinks happens to rates nextAugust Biniaz is the Chief Investment Officer of CPI Capital, a private equity real estate firm focused on US multifamily and build-to-rent assets with investors in both Canada and the United States.Learn more at https://cpicapital.comWork With RealDealCrewIf you're already closing deals but your intake, follow-up, or visibility feels inconsistent, here are two ways to go deeper:Take the Deal Intake AssessmentSee how resilient your current operation actually is.→ https://assessment.realdealcrew.comBook a Fit CallIf you want to explore what a fully system-driven deal flow looks like, let's talk.→ https://realdealcrew.com/bookLIKE • SHARE • JOIN • REVIEWWebsiteApple PodcastsYouTubeYouTube MusicSpotifyAmazon MusicFacebookTwitterInstagram

Joel Kotkin Joel Kotkin examines AI's economic impact, noting that AI companies operate with small staffs and high capital. This trend leads to significant growth for firms but widespread layoffs for well-educated professionals in other industries.1945

Bob Zimmerman Bob Zimmerman ranks VAST as the leader in the private space station race. Unlike government-dependent firms, VAST innovates independently, recently securing contracts with France and the Czech Republic for future orbital missions.

You don't land a million-dollar trucking case by waiting for one to show up. The firms signing catastrophic injury cases don't rely on luck—they build systems that attract big cases. In this solo episode, Chris Dreyer explains why quantity creates quality, how trial experience drives elite referrals, and what firms can do today to move beyond a steady diet of soft-tissue cases. If you're tired of blending in with the background noise and want a true marketing partner who embodies excellence, check out Rankings.io. On this episode, you'll learn: The real reason top trial lawyers get the referrals everyone else wants. How low-value cases can become training grounds for future rainmakers. Why "we don't advertise" is usually a myth. What to do right now if you want bigger cases showing up in your pipeline tomorrow. If you like what you hear, hit Subscribe. We do this every week. Buy tickets for PIMCON 2026: https://hubs.li/Q04bf9vT0  Subscribe to our newsletter:  newsletter.rankings.io Get Social! Personal Injury Mastermind (PIM) powered by Rankings.io is on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Bob Zimmerman dismisses NASA's sheltering orders on the ISS as an overreaction to routine Russian repair work on the Zvezda module. He details SpaceX's massive IPO, which aims to raise billions, and observes that private space station firms like Axiom and Vast continue to secure significant capital despite SpaceX's market dominance.1939

(13) Jack Burnham discusses how Nvidia chips reach the Chinese military through loopholes in export controls and subsidiaries. He notes bureaucratic confusion over the "AI diffusion rule" allowed Chinese firms to stockpile high-end hardware. Burnham recommends stricter Commerce Department guidance to prevent further military modernization.