Focus On... Distributed Leadership

Gerry and Jeremy reflected on their transitions from CEO roles to a more collaborative leadership structure and what it takes to go from leading a single firm to helping build a nationwide RIA. By partnering with many of the industry’s leading advisors and founders, they’ve helped shape a culture in which leadership means driving change collectively—not from above, but shoulder to shoulder.

Transitioning From CEO to Team Builder

Gerry and Jeremy both know what it’s like to sit at the head of the table. As former CEOs of their own firms, they were used to leading from the front, shaping strategy, and making the final call. But stepping into Divisional President roles at Focus Partners Wealth meant becoming part of a broader leadership team that required a different mindset.

As Gerry explains, he used to personally approve everything that came across his desk: now, the organization functions more like a machine with many moving parts. “When you migrate into more of a team environment, it's different,” he said. “You have to, first of all, check your ego at the door. We're all in one way, shape, or form, recovering control freaks.”

What Justin has found most energizing is the opportunity to see how other leaders have grown their businesses. “Just because it's not my way doesn't mean it's the wrong way. Being exposed to a bunch of different styles has collectively made us a much stronger team.”¹

Jeremy echoed the sentiment. What matters most, he explained, is bringing together the unique experiences each leader carries with them: experiences shaped by the firms they came from, the teams they built, and the ways they operated. “Our ultimate goal is to brainstorm collaboratively and arrive at solutions that we believe will be most impactful for our clients and our employees.”

Communicating Through Periods of Change

Driving transformation at scale requires more than just collaboration at the top. It also demands clarity of vision and consistent communication across every layer of the organization. “People need to hear what the vision is through a period of disruption and change,” said Justin. “They need to have questions answered.” That requires leaders to be visible, engaged, and intentional about how they communicate with team members.

Gerry has developed a simple framework for how he approaches those conversations: focus on principles that resonate. “Whenever I’m out there interacting with team members, there’s a couple of basic concepts that I want people to understand that we’re embracing,” he said. “Number one is the concept of Kaizen, or continuous improvement. And the other is Shoshin, which is to embrace a beginner’s mindset.”

This mindset shift is foundational to Focus’s distributed leadership model. Instead of relying on any one individual to drive change, the goal is to unlock leadership potential across the organization, and that starts with humility and curiosity.

“Nobody should come to the table thinking they have all the answers. I certainly don't,” shared Gerry. “When I'm together with our team, with the advisors, it's really important to be a great listener and draw upon the many years of experience that are around us. Be collaborative and leverage each other's strengths.”

For Jeremy, that communication must be two-way. “The advisory leadership team is built around amplifying the advisor’s voice,” he explained. “When we go out and talk with advisors and share what’s happening across the organization, we’re really trying to get two-way feedback.”

Focus has put structures in place to support ongoing dialogue between national leadership and local advisory offices. “We want to hear directly from advisors—what’s on their minds, what issues their clients and peers are raising—so we as a leadership team can stay close to the advisor and ultimately the client,” Jeremy said. In turn, those same advisors go back to their local offices better equipped to explain how decisions were made, what tradeoffs were discussed, and what priorities were set.

Distributed Leadership as a Competitive Advantage

As Focus continues to grow, its leadership model is intentionally designed to scale with it. With expanded capabilities across investment, planning, and operations, the organization is witnessing first-hand how a collective team can go further and faster together.

“There's the old saying, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,’” said Justin. “The distributed leadership model that we have very much falls into that latter camp. As long as we come together as a unified team, build the culture, communicate the direction and the vision of where we're going, and then let people run and execute, it has proven to be really successful for us.”

That success is visible not just in client outcomes, but in the experiences of team members. “We know that in order for any organization to be successful, it really comes down to attracting, developing, and retaining the very best people,” said Gerry. One of his core focuses is supporting advisors and building career paths that match the scale of Focus’ ambition. With so much talent across the company, his goal is to create an environment where people can lead in their respective areas of expertise.

For Jeremy, the decision to join Focus Partners Wealth began with a simple question: what’s in the best interest of clients? “Once we understood that piece, we asked, ‘What’s in the best interest of our employees?’” said Jeremy. At his former firm, they had built thoughtful career paths, but even with a team of nearly 60, growth opportunities were limited. At Focus Partners, the scale was different. “When we looked at the broader employee opportunity set and thought about the career path opportunities, we realized there were more opportunities for employees here.”

That people-first mindset is shared across the leadership team. “Everyone on our Advisory Council is here because they want to contribute,” said Justin. “There’s no separate remuneration for it: it’s about the ability to have impact, but to have impact at scale, and to know that what we are creating together is going to impact the lives of many, many individuals, both internally and through our client networks.”

Building for What Comes Next

The leadership opportunities ahead are shaped by powerful trends: a once-in-a-generation transfer of wealth, the continued shift away from traditional wirehouses, and increasing consolidation. Together, these create a rare and exciting moment to build something extraordinary. That work begins with alignment around purpose. “Be clear, be humble, be compassionate, and never lose sight of our core mission,” said Gerry. No matter the office, business model, or investment approach, the same question drives every decision: how is this going to impact clients?

Equally important is remembering what brought us together in the first place. “Collectively, we all had wonderful businesses, wonderful capabilities,” said Justin. “But by pairing together the expertise from across the organization, we can truly compete with the largest financial institutions in the world, and we can do so differently.” A flatter structure and a hyper personalized engagement model continue to set Focus apart, while scale enables us to deliver resources without losing our identity.

Justin also reflected on the broader arc of the firm. “Focus is over two decades old, and yet I think the next 18 to 24 months are going to see some of the most entrepreneurial work this company has ever done.” It’s a rare opportunity to act as intrapreneurs within a company that's actively reinventing itself. At the core of that effort is a deep trust in our team members and partners and a shared commitment to build, and keep building, in ways that are consistently accretive to our people and our firms’ clients.

1. Disclaimer: The quotes in this blog have been edited for clarification and brevity. Any alterations made do not change the intended meaning of the original statements.