Ep. 8 - Financial Health ft. Bill Williams, VP of Ameriprise

Rebound and be well. Williams is an executive leadership team member and Executive Vice President of the Ameriprise independent advisors. AIA represents 8,000 independent advisors and generates over $5 billion in annual revenue. Bill joined Ameriprise in 1989 as an advisor in the Boston area and was named to the president's advisory Council comprised of the top one percent of all advisors in his first year at the firm. Bill went on to hold several field leadership positions with increasing responsibility including district manager, field vice president, group vice president, senior vice president, before assuming his current position in 2009. Bill grew up in New England and he currently lives in Edina, Minnesota with his wife and family.

Well, Bill, I want to say thank you for being here with me today. I know you are an incredibly busy human and leader and executive, and this is around the holiday week and on the last, so the fact that you've taken time to be with us today is so greatly appreciated.

So, as we get started, there's so many different things I want to pick your brain on, but given your area of expertise, I have a few things I really want to hone in on during our conversation together and to share with others. So they say your workplace and your colleagues become like your family, your second family, we might even argue your primary family sometimes, and you and I share a little bit of a common ground in terms of in the 100 plus years that a company has been in existence which is Ameriprise. Collaboratively, our families have been involved in the company for over 70 years. Yes, so I guess that makes us relatives. Yeah, yeah, we've got a kindred familial lineage somewhere. Um, but what's really unique about that in today's world in the time of the great resignation is people are fleeing jobs and companies at a record pace and at record numbers, and here you are a leader who has stood steady and strong in the same company for 33 plus years. And I'm sure you've had other invitations to do other things along the way, but instead of kind of going, I think the grass is going to be greener on the other side, which seems to be maybe somewhat of the mindset of the workforce today, you've stayed on the side where you know the grass is green and you're going to, your job is like to really foster that and make it greener for you and everyone else. What have you found to be beneficial in staying with the same company for that amount of time instead of jumping and going into all of these different other opportunities that had to have erupted for you?

That is an answer, because I think so often in leadership we want to get siloed of that like-mindedness, like creating a like-minded leadership team, but I love that you value the diversity and the wealth of perspectives that your team brings, because that is inevitably what leads to really healthy teams, right? Like everybody thought like Bill, it'd be really great and probably a lot of ways it feels really easy in the moment, right? But it doesn't stretch you.

Yeah, yeah. When I think about my own connection to Ameriprise, it's because my dad worked there for over 30 years, you know similar to you, Bill, and I saw him have this different purpose, like it was such a driver in the company, and I love that that is still in existence today. I hear that in your answer there, like you can feel it such a purpose-driven place, and you're obviously probably a purpose-driven leader that you need that to be there to really feel like you're going to stay there. That's what's kind of grounded you there, it sounds like. And in some capacities, the purpose that you have as a leader, the purpose your team brings, the purpose your colleagues bring, the purpose the work brings.

I love that ripple effect. I mean obviously that kind of touches my heart just to know that that has had an impact that is still being felt today. So thank you for sharing that, because my dad was a very purpose-driven person, and to feel that still, you know, in the next level of leadership that now is the leader of the company, is really meaningful and impactful. So thank you for saying that and sharing that.

Well, first of all, I happen to agree with whatever study you're sort of referencing there and the trend that many, many people are concerned about money now. I also believe that we're holistic beings, right? So if there's a part of our life that's out of whack or stressful for us, it finds its way into other areas. So if my home life isn't great, it will impact how I perform at work. If my work life is stressful and I'm not really well balanced or I feel like I'm not respected there, it will find its way home. And if my physical well-being is not great, I won't have the energy to put into my home or work. If my spirituality or my values are being compromised in some way, then I'm not going to have, you get my point. Finance is the same way. So if in the back of my head, I might be going to work every day and trying to focus on being productive at work, but if I'm really worried about paying the bills or saving enough money for retirement or what do I do with the money that I've accumulated, one of the things I've learned in 34 years of being connected to financial planning is regardless of what level you're at, because I think there's this myth that once you accumulate enough money you stop worrying about money. I have not experienced that in working with clients. When you don't have much money, you worry about getting more. When you have a little bit of money, you start to ask yourself, am I doing what's right with it? Is it protected? When you have a lot of money, then you figure out, am I making a difference with it in the right way? And you worry about that. Worry is, I think, the predominant sort of emotion that people feel when it comes to their finances. And so then you ask yourself, well, what can you do to reduce worry, right? And I would ask you in other areas of your life, when you're worried about your health, when something doesn't feel right in your body and you know it, or you're feeling emotionally taxed and you know that you aren't solving it on your own, right? What do you do? And I think there's several steps. One is write down what you believe you're worried about. Then you seek to share it with somebody else, and then you ask for help. And when you do those three things, suddenly stress begins to alleviate. It's when we hold it in and we think we're going to suffer alone, either physically, emotionally, or with our finances, that's when things get bad. And so, one of the things that our company does is it provides an outlet for somebody to come in and share what they're concerned about, share what their goals are, share what they think about money and what their worries are. We then create a plan, a long-term lifetime plan of what you want to achieve, and then we help you make better decisions with your money. The other thing we help you do is stop beating yourself up over past decisions. So helpful. Yeah, and so I like to say that as humans, we should all over ourselves, right? I should have bought that stock, I should have sold that stock, I should have saved more money. And it can get you nowhere, it can get you nowhere. So we've got to sort of figure out, what where do we go from here? Let's take an accounting of where we stand. How much have you saved? What's your debt situation? Where's the money today? And what's the best decision we can make at this moment given the facts for the future? Once we have a plan and once we have somebody to guide us, suddenly we've transferred our stress into the plan, into somebody else, and we can move forward with the more productive, fun things in our life, like family, friends, work, things along that line. Free ourselves from that worry.

Yeah, I can see that. I mean even just sitting here talking to you, I'm like okay the dots are connecting for me even and financial worry is so anytime you've had that place of financial stress, there's honestly like it's one of the worst so it's almost dark right and so your planners I would imagine have to become almost like coaches slash counselors slash Advocates slash all of it. Um, and so how do you ensure that they maintain their own sense of Health when they are working with people who are bringing up such a vulnerable spot and in theory they're having to really take a lot of that weight off? We can kind of say is exactly what personal trainers are doing, it's what nurses are doing, it's what doctors are doing, it's what mental health counselors are doing, like you're trying to take worry off someone. Yeah, your planners are really doing the same thing. How do you ensure that in the midst of absorbing people's other things that they stay healthy and well themselves?

That is a beautiful and profound answer, and not what I completely expected. I mean, here I've had a glimpse into the financial world and I am still, I mean I could show you my like real emotions, I'd be like go Bill, like that's awesome that you have incorporated into a system that might be otherwise a little bit more traditional the importance of the person's health and the importance of preserving their energy that it takes to do what they do to maintain a well sense of well-being for themselves first and foremost. So that's incredible leadership on your part and all the leaders at Ameriprise for valuing that, which is I'm sure a great part what leads to the success of your planners, right? Is that they understand that they're being cared for and this is being encouraged in them so they can then in turn care for others.

So how does that play out for you? Like I think it helps, I think permission is a really important word especially coming from leaders, like giving people permission to do those things that fill their cup. And I know enough about you to say my guess is that you have some really great health habits that you have instilled as part of your daily practice or weekly practice that help keep you your best. Are you willing to share any of those that you incorporate to make sure that Bill's cup is full?

Right, I hear you being very intentional in protecting yourself because you've had some hard lessons around what happens if you don't, right? So I think you've built a really intentional life. And I know Bill from your world, like you could work probably 24/7, no doubt, 365 days a year, but you are a spouse, you are a father, you are a grandfather, and you have other people you want to give energy to, and if you self-sacrifice for the 24/7/365 days a year, the end of your life you're not going to have given to the people that you really want to give. So you live with a lot of intentionality.

We'll return to rebel and be well in just a moment but first a few words about our special thank you to everyone at self-esteem Brands. We are grateful for the recording space and support you have provided to our podcast platform and team. You can find more information about self-esteem brands in the show notes. We appreciate and savor every sip of dry Farm wines during our podcast conversations and every event at the point retreats. To find out more about dry Farm wines, find their link in our show notes. Thank you, paddle North.

Being our preferred Minnesota-based brand and company, we honor every memorable paddle. To find out more information about Paddle North, find their link in our show notes. The Point Retreats and Rentals is situated roughly 30 minutes outside Brainerd, Minnesota. The property's private peninsula boasts over 1,500 feet of stunning shoreline spanning three lakes on the pristine Whitefish Chain of Lakes. Whether you need time to renew, reset, or reconnect, we have a space that can host your family, group, or team. Click on the show notes to find out more about the Point Retreats and the Point Rentals.

I think that is the most permission I've heard from an executive to set boundaries around yourself that I've heard in the history of being amongst incredible leaders, right? And that I know took some fighting through and probably a few 'you can'ts' right to be like 'no but I can, yes.' And so you've just given a lot of people permission to say 'I can do that.' Like you can have a really successful career and I can be a really healthy, well-rounded individual. And playing upon what you just shared, you know, I will tell you about it. One of the last conversations I had with my dad, and he could see that I had some leadership drive, yeah. And I was in the healthcare corporate space at the time, but he also could see that I so didn't want to miss anything in my kids' life, and I was trying to reconcile the two spaces and maybe not doing it great, probably leaning towards what I had observed for a lot of early years of my dad's life, which was the workaholic side, your vision of what an executive absolutely. And I'm like, 'Well, if I don't do that, then I can't get here.' And he said, 'You know, Krista,' he said, 'just be really mindful because if I've learned anything, leadership takes sacrifices, and I maybe haven't always shown you the right ones to make. He's like, 'And I'm going to show you now, but just keep that in balance and check.' And I was like, I didn't even understand 100% what he was saying at the time. I had an inkling, but as we had more time to spend together in his last few years of life, I really understood what he was trying to tell me. And it was kind of that 'don't do as I did' because it didn't, at least in his early years, because it came with a price tag. And he's like, 'You know what? I realized in my second half of my career, yeah, I could do it differently.' Yes. And I don't know how many years you spent in both camps of you know wrestling and rectifying that, but it seems like you learned that pretty early on.

I could not agree more. And I want to ask you this. You know, I come from a culture of healthcare where I think it's probably a lot, I mean you're in a Fortune 500 company, the responsibilities are enormous. Healthcare could argue the same thing, right? You have life and death every day, all the time. I'm dealing with people's life savings, and that's exactly what it is. I mean, they're so much more alike than different. And I think it's hard to put dollars in a company that deals with life and death because it always feels a little conflicted, right? Yeah. And it's hard for people to even come out and say 'I'm going to attach a dollar with quality of life or quality of death.' I mean, it's kind of like this unspoken elephant in the room. We all know that's what we're talking about when we're talking money in healthcare. But I see that kind of translating to just money conversations in general. It's kind of like this elephant in the room that nobody really wants to talk about, and everybody kind of wants to pretend like 'I got it, and let's just not talk about this.' And I've done that. How do you encourage people to really talk about these tough issues that they want to say 'I can't'? You know, you're kind of driven by 'I can't' when people are like 'I can't, I can't go there, I can't do this.' I mean, healthcare does this all the time where they're like 'I can't put money here or here or here for various reasons.' If someone walks in your offices, you can tell they want to do this, they just don't feel like they can because they're a little embarrassed, stressed, shamed, worried. How do you help them navigate that to be a place where it's like 'no, you can, you can talk about this and we can change your health here, we can change your trajectory here'? And everybody's comfort level at talking about death or treatment or diagnosis or financial matters, they're all over the place. Some people are open books and very in tune with how they're feeling about things, and others, you know, have been taught that we don't talk about this with strangers.

Very true. Yeah, yeah. I mean you have to start there, right? Yeah. And so if I can get to know you at a more human level, which really is your emotional state when you think about various things having to do with money or health or whatever it is, or in leadership what you're thinking about your job or coming into work every day, you know, can I really explore that? If I can get to that, then I can help change the rest. You know, you figured out something that we really need to adopt in healthcare. And I'm going to make a little bit of a generalization with a disclaimer that certainly there's people that do this better than others. But we rarely walk into a patient's room and say 'well, what are your goals and what do you want out of this and how can I help you make that think-see-do connection?' Right. Instead we kind of whack in really 'I have all the answers and here's what we're going to do today and here's how it's going to go and here's the protocol, the algorithm that we're following.' Boom, we're off. It's very scientific, which it needs to be. And so I'm giving those people, we sometimes forget that that human connectedness is what really helps people connect to the value of what's being done. And you come in with that, it sounds like that's your approach to it, right? Like I'm going to connect with the person first to make that vulnerable moment maybe feel just a little less vulnerable. Yes, yeah, which is imperative. And all kinds of coaching, whether it's financial or it's health related or it's you know social emotional relational, but to really understand what's going to drive that person versus your agenda. Yes, which I think we could learn a lot from in healthcare.

Words and I know you. Who does that? Nobody. And right, what if the leaders in a company were doing that more often? Right, right.

So if you were in front of, say, a young budding leader in the financial industry, what advice would you give him or her around how to be intentional both personally and professionally?

And the hard conversations are with yourself. Yes. We always assume there's someone else, but really it's hard. So insightful. Yeah, that's exactly it. Now you can bounce it off other people and use them as a sounding board out loud, like 'let me just explain what I'm trying to do with my career and the company I work for and the mission I'm trying to do,' but you've got to be your best counsel. Yeah. And who's to see that? I can feel that in the energy that you give off. You mentioned five people, I mean kind of just giving a round number, but being your kind of mentors right in life. Can you share who that might be or what they taught you that has just carried and resonated to being the person that you are here with me today?

Which is a really beautiful outlook. And I think it's a space where you probably are a teacher to thousands, right, in what you do. And yet I love that you're still a student at heart. So you still are looking at all of these life experiences unfolding around you and trying to gain continuous insight and wisdom. And I understand and can resonate with the journey you know with your mom, and I know that's very heartfelt and hard. And it teaches you a lot of great lessons. Yeah. And then I look at someone like Doug who I happen to know also, and he's that like just heart-centered leader who has so much emotional intelligence and has written books on emotional intelligence that teaches you how to make sure you don't ever lose that human side of you no matter where you're walking through life. Which I see and I feel in everything that you're saying and sharing here, which is another beautiful lesson, right, to learn that you've taken. So if you put one mantra on your desk or quote, what would it be? What's like this is this represents?

My daughter surprised me, and you know as a dad sometimes these things come out of the blue, but she had she put a tattoo on the back of her neck. She's got long hair so it's covered, but she came home from college has that too. And I thought it was pretty cool. It's in Latin, it basically translates to 'I fly with my own wings.' And so I, right, the flying right. And then [Music] so I put those two together and it's about self-reliance and choice. Yeah. And the idea of flight right is liftoff and freedom and set of outcomes that are really cool because you're sort of choosing your own path and you're doing it under your own power, but it doesn't mean you have to do it alone. Right. And probably as her dad, that's because he wanted to incorporate in her, right, is that gift of being able to go fly someday out of your care, out of your house completely. And she did it, and she did it so strongly that she put it on her body forever. Yeah, which is a strong testimony to both her and you.

Well, it's beautiful. I appreciate you sharing that. Is that a tattoo you'd put on your body? Because we're supposed to be in the tattoo parlor today, but we're here in the boardroom. So do you have a tattoo you would put on your body?

Great. It's still maybe unfolding, but it might get there. Exactly. Yeah. I'm sorry it's such a long answer to a simple question of what tattoo would you put on your body, but it would have to involve that because I think that's my job. You're an intentional person, so I would imagine any tattoo you're gonna get is going to be very intentional. It's not something you're going to put on just like 'oh, I think I'll get this today.' It's gonna have a lot of meaning and purpose. Yeah, which I think that's a beautiful answer. And I can see that like you've gone through everything you just described in that vision of maybe a potential tattoo in your life playing out. So I can see where that would be something that's going to continue to evolve for you and may present itself.

Thank you, thank you, my friend. It's so appreciated. So thank you, Bill.

I want to say a special thank you to everyone at Self-Esteem Brands, the parent company of Anytime Fitness, Waxing the City, Bar Method, Stronger U Nutrition, and Base Camp Fitness. We are grateful for the recording space and support you have provided to our podcast platform and team. You are a true example of what it means to rebel and be well. You can learn more about Self-Esteem Brands via the link shared in the show notes below. We appreciate and savor every sip of Dry Farm Wines during our podcast conversations and every event at the Point Retreats. As a health and wellness platform, we are grateful to have a pure and unique wine that is free of sugar and additives, grown on small family farms, and brings a bright, soulful, vibrant glass of wine to share with the community we love. Cheers to our Dry Farm Wine friends and family. You can learn more and order your own bottles of Dry Farm Wine by clicking the link provided in the show notes below. That simple and serene moment when we glide across the lake at the Point Retreats on our Paddle North paddle board is one of the most cherished moments. It's a gift when we and our guests blend into nature and lose track of time and space as we soar across the pristine Whitefish Chain of Lakes. Thank you, Paddle North, for being our preferred Minnesota-based brand and company. We honor every memorable paddle that brings great clarity and balance. Click on the link provided in the show notes below to see all the incredible lake gear available with Paddle North. The Point Retreats and Rentals is situated roughly 30 minutes outside Brainerd, Minnesota. The property's private peninsula boasts over 1,500 feet of stunning shoreline spanning three lakes on the Whitefish Chain of Lakes. The Point property is owned by two purpose-driven leaders who share a strong desire to lead others to optimal health and well-being. Our team believes in proactive modern-day health, shifting our mindsets to valuing quality of life in the same capacity as we value quantity of life. We aim for every experience at the Point to enhance and deepen your whole being health by providing many opportunities for well-care during your stay. Whether you need time to renew, reset, or reconnect, we have a space that can host your family, group, or team. Click on the show notes below to find out more about the Point Retreats and the Point Rentals.