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Are You the Doer or the Visionary of Your Advisory Practice? Here's How You Can Make the Leap to Chief Vision Officer

The key is to stop being trapped by daily operations and transition from a tactical "doer" to a strategic "chief vision officer" by building the teams, processes and brand that allow your practice to grow.

By Ben Sullivan, CFA®, CFP® published 20 January 2026 in Features

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

An adviser I know well had built what most would consider a dream practice. Twenty years of hard work had produced $200 million in AUM, a steady stream of referrals and a six-figure income.

But something was wrong.

He found himself arriving at the office before dawn to catch up on paperwork, staying late to return client calls and spending weekends reviewing portfolios. A family vacation meant checking emails poolside and taking "quick" client calls from the hotel room.

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When his teenage daughter asked why he was always working, he realized he'd built a business that owned him — not the other way around.

This adviser's story isn't unique. Most successful financial advisers reach a similar crossroads: They've built thriving practices through hard work, client service and tactical excellence, but they find themselves trapped in the day-to-day operations that once fueled their growth.

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The author of this article is a participant in Kiplinger's Adviser Intel program, a curated network of trusted financial professionals who share expert insights on wealth building and preservation. Contributors, including fiduciary financial planners, wealth managers, CEOs and attorneys, provide actionable advice about retirement planning, estate planning, tax strategies and more. Experts are invited to contribute and do not pay to be included, so you can trust their advice is honest and valuable.

The very skills that built their business now prevent them from scaling it.

How can advisers avoid this trap? By making the shift from "doer" to "visionary."

Understanding the doer trap

The adviser-as-doer mentality feels productive because you're constantly busy. You're in client meetings, reviewing portfolios and handling the thousand small decisions that keep a practice running. But this approach puts a dangerous ceiling on growth.

When you're the primary producer, your business can grow only as much as your personal capacity allows. More concerning, you become the single point of failure. Clients depend on you specifically, making it nearly impossible to step away without the practice suffering.

The tactical mindset focuses on execution: Completing this quarter's reviews, processing that rollover and preparing for next week's client appointments. While these tasks matter, they consume the mental bandwidth needed for strategic thinking about where your practice should be headed.

The transition from doer to visionary isn't about abandoning client service or delegating everything away. It's about fundamentally reimagining your role in the business you've created. Advisers who make this shift successfully tend to grow larger practices and build enduring enterprises that operate beyond their individual capacity.

Becoming the brand

The first step toward visionary leadership is recognizing that you're not just an adviser anymore; you're a brand. This shift requires intentional positioning that extends beyond your individual client relationships.

Start by articulating what your practice stands for beyond investment management. What specific value do you deliver that others don't? For some advisers, it's comprehensive tax planning integrated with wealth management. For others, it's specialized expertise serving a particular profession or life stage.

The key is defining this clearly enough so that clients, staff and referral sources can articulate it without you in the room.

Your brand should permeate every client touchpoint. This doesn't mean slapping your logo on everything; it means ensuring every interaction reflects your core values and distinctive approach.

When a client receives their quarterly report, does it communicate your unique methodology? When a prospect visits your website, do they immediately understand what makes your practice different?

Being the brand also means becoming visible in ways that extend beyond individual client relationships. This might include thought leadership through articles or speaking engagements, active participation in professional organizations or strategic involvement in your community.

The goal isn't self-promotion. It's establishing your practice as an institution rather than a collection of client accounts managed by one person.

Shifting from producer to CVO

The transition to "chief vision officer" requires delegating not just tasks but entire functions. This may feel uncomfortable for advisers who built their practices on personal service and attention to detail. The fear is understandable: What if the work isn't done to your standards? What if clients prefer working directly with you?

These concerns, while valid, reflect tactical thinking. Strategic thinking asks different questions:

What functions must I be the only one to perform?
Which tasks leverage my highest-value skills?
Where should I invest my limited time and attention to drive the greatest long-term value?

Begin by conducting an honest audit of how you spend your time. Track every activity for two weeks, categorizing each task as strategic (only you can do it, and it directly impacts long-term success), important (needs to be done well, but others could handle it) or tactical (necessary but easily delegated).

In my experience, this exercise reveals that for most advisers, 60% to 70% of their time is spent on tasks that others could perform. The challenge isn't identifying these tasks; it's building the teams and systems to handle them effectively.

Building the infrastructure for vision

Visionary leadership requires infrastructure that supports strategic thinking rather than demanding constant tactical involvement. This infrastructure includes three critical components:

People. You need team members who can own entire functions rather than just complete assigned tasks. This means hiring for judgment and initiative, not only technical skills.

Your operations manager shouldn't just process paperwork; they should own the entire client onboarding experience and continuously improve it.

Your lead adviser shouldn't just conduct reviews; they should develop the review methodology and train others on it.

Process. Documentation becomes crucial as you step back from daily operations. The knowledge currently residing in your head needs to be captured in systems that others can follow.

This doesn't mean creating rigid bureaucracy; it means establishing frameworks that guide consistent decision-making even when you're not directly involved.

Technology. The right tech eliminates low-value activities rather than just digitizing them.

For example, your CRM should do more than just store client data. It should automate routine communications, trigger appropriate follow-ups and provide visibility into practice health without requiring your constant monitoring.

Leading from vision

With infrastructure in place, your role shifts to setting direction rather than managing execution. This means dedicating significant time to questions that most busy advisers never address:

Where is our industry heading?
What client needs will emerge in the next three to five years?
How should our service model evolve to remain relevant?

Visionary leadership also means making fewer decisions but ensuring they're the right ones. Instead of approving every client communication, you establish brand standards that others implement. Rather than reviewing every portfolio personally, you set the investment philosophy and risk parameters that others execute within.

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This doesn't mean becoming disconnected from operations. Effective vision requires staying close enough to ground truth that your strategic thinking remains realistic. The difference is you're gathering intelligence to inform strategy rather than diving into tactical execution.

Schedule regular time for strategic thinking, treating it as seriously as client meetings. Some advisers block one day each quarter for planning. Others reserve Friday afternoons for big-picture thinking. The specific approach matters less than the commitment to protecting this time from tactical intrusions.

Making the transition

The shift from tactician to visionary rarely happens overnight. Most successful transitions follow a gradual progression: First delegating purely administrative tasks, then client service activities, eventually handing off the majority of direct client management while maintaining key relationships.

Start with one area in which you're not the best resource. Perhaps it's portfolio rebalancing, where a skilled associate or outsourced investment team can provide support. Or maybe it's preparing for client reviews, where you can delegate to a paraplanner who can compile the information you analyze.

As you ease out of each function, resist the temptation to micromanage. Provide clear parameters and expectations, then trust your team to execute. When things don't meet your standards, improve the process rather than taking the work back.

The transition also requires mindset shifts. You need to measure success differently. Production metrics that once defined your value become less relevant than enterprise metrics: Client retention across the entire practice, team productivity, the scalability of your model and strategic positioning in your market.

The payoff

Advisers who successfully make this transition might discover something unexpected: They enjoy their work more. Instead of grinding through an endless list of tasks, they're building something that extends beyond themselves.

Client relationships deepen because interactions focus on big-picture planning rather than tactical execution. Team members thrive with increased responsibility and clearer growth paths.

Your practice becomes more valuable, both financially and personally. Buyers pay premiums for businesses that operate independently of the founder. More importantly, you've created something that can serve clients well beyond your personal involvement.

The journey from doer to visionary isn't about working less or caring less about clients. It's about multiplying your impact by building systems, teams and brands that extend your values and expertise far beyond what you could accomplish alone. That's the real opportunity in shifting from producer to chief vision officer.

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AE Wealth Management, LLC (AEWM) is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) located in Topeka, Kansas. Registration does not denote any level of skill or qualification. Information regarding the RIA offering the investment advisory services can be found on brokercheck.finra.org. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. The personal opinions expressed by Ben Sullivan are his alone and may not be those of AE Wealth Management or the firm providing this report to you. This information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation. None of the information contained herein shall constitute an offer to sell or solicit any offer to buy a security or insurance product. CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the U.S. 5073993 – 1/26

Disclaimer

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

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Ben Sullivan, CFA®, CFP®Social Links NavigationChief Investment Officer, AE Wealth Management

Ben joined AE Wealth Management in early 2017 after working for a local accounting firm. He served advisers on the trade desk and as a director of wealth before becoming vice president of wealth management in 2022. Ben has passed the Series 7, 24, 66 and is a CFA® charterholder and a CFP® professional. Ben graduated from York College, where he played soccer. He spends his free time with his wife, Maggie, and their son, Declan.