BREAK THE MOLD™ Newsletter // Weekly articles from Alan Whitman challenging professional services leaders to think and lead differently to enable sustainable growth and build scale.
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Inside What We're Building: Early Priorities for the Newly Formed Nichols Cauley
The newly formed Nichols Cauley is off and running. My excitement for this company, our team members, and our future has only grown since our public launch just a couple of weeks ago.
While I may be the new CEO of this company, I’ve sat in the seat before. That means I have a level of clarity regarding the things to prioritize in the first 90 days of this new journey to create alignment and build momentum for our clients and team members.
This week, I thought I’d share what those focus areas are, why they were chosen, and how we’re approaching them.
Let’s jump in.
1) Getting to Know Our Team Members
I don’t know about you, but I’ve yet to see a great strategy execute itself…
People are the core of any great company, and it will take all of us at Nichols Cauley to execute our strategy and help our clients manage, protect, and grow their wealth.
So one of my first priorities is spending time getting to know our leaders and our team members. I’m not talking about studying headshots and org charts, but through real face-to-face conversations.
Last week, I traveled to Rome & Atlanta, Georgia, and spent time in meaningful conversation with our people. It was fantastic to meet everyone!
These are two-way opportunities…
I’m able to meet and get to know our team members, and they can meet and get to know me. At the end of the day, my belief is that I’m just Alan, who happens to be CEO. I’m an individual just as much as anyone else in this company.
We had great conversations about our new financial services company that’s formed as a result of the recent combination, the opportunities involved for team members, and how we’ll deliver solutions to clients in the marketplace.
2) Refining Our Strategy
Three companies didn’t come together to be bigger for the sake of being bigger.
We came together to be better positioned to add value at the most important decision points for our clients and create additional opportunities for our team members.
That requires clarity around who we are, what we do, and why it matters.
Early on, it’s a priority to make sure:
- Our strategy is clear
- Our priorities are focused
- Our entire team is aligned on the “what” and the “why” behind this newly combined company
This is a BOTH/AND exercise. We honor what made each company successful, and we work to build something new that’s even stronger and more compelling than the sum of its parts.
I’ll have more to share on our strategy in the coming weeks… stay tuned.
3) Developing Communication Frameworks
One thing I will continue to obsess over in my first 90 days is communication.
We’re bringing three companies together. If communication isn’t consistent and intentional, confusion and personal opinions can fill the void. Alignment is key, and communication is the foundation of alignment.
So we’re working on implementing an ideal communication framework that includes:
- Company-wide senior leader calls
- Company-wide all-team calls
- My personal communication strategy inside the company
The purpose of these meetings and communications is to:
- Reinforce our strategy
- Share facts and updates
- Build shared language
- Create two-way dialogue (time for Q&A)
- Celebrate progress and wins
I’ll also be checking in with our leaders consistently, not to manage day-to-day work and get status updates, but to hear what they are seeing, discuss learnings, and learn how I can further enable them.
Communication isn’t something you do after the work.
Communication is the work.
4) Establishing a Shared Lexicon
Those who are familiar with my “isms” or have read my book know that I believe words matter.
The language we use is critical because it shapes how we think and how we act—both individually and collectively.
Early on, I’m focused on shifting from negative or legacy phrases to more positive or future-focused ones, and using our verbiage to get people thinking more collaboratively.
A few early examples:
- “Change” → “Progress” or “Opportunity”
- “They/them” → “We/us”
- “My client” → “Our client”
I look for two signs to indicate this shared language is sticking:
1) When people start repeating the language back to me
2) When people stop saying these go-to words and phrases because I’m in the room—and start saying them when I’m not
That’s how I know we’re making progress.
Language dictates mindset. Mindset dictates behavior.
5) Bolstering Collaboration and Great Client Service
Great service is simply what we do. And collaboration is synonymous with great service.
Our integrated services platform connects our efforts across the company, ensuring small and midsized businesses and their owners experience coordinated support—not fragmented services—when making important business decisions.
We’re not just preparing tax returns, conducting audits, providing transaction advisory, or underwriting insurance in isolation…we’re performing these services with the intention of helping our clients manage, protect, and grow their wealth.
That requires all team members working together to provide big-thinking and sophisticated strategies during the cycles of growth and uncertainty that small and mid-sized businesses and their owners face.
Early on, I don’t have to educate on what great client service looks like—these companies have been doing it for a long time. Instead, we’ll discuss what great client service looks like in the context of our new integrated services platform.
Client service has been a staple of these companies—this is simply an evolution of it.
These early days of the newly combined Nichols Cauley are about clarity, intentionality, and alignment.
We’re early in the journey, and there’s much more to come, but I’m incredibly bullish on this team and this company.
It starts with establishing the right foundation, and that’s what we’re focused on right now.
Excited to share more in the coming weeks.
With intention,
Alan Whitman
CEO at Nichols Cauley
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