Cultivating kinship and demonstrating leadership
Pat Scanlan’s Chicago practice is rooted in something deeper.
The foundation of durable success, Pat Scanlan will tell you, is a composite of three things: character, service and a strategic mindset. And character is the most important.
This is the case no matter your uniform, he said from his Alex. Brown office in Chicago, whether it’s a blazer and khakis or the woodland BDUs he wore as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, deployed as part of the NATO forces, Czech Border patrol, in the uncertain final days of the Cold War.
“Truth is everything,” Scanlan said. “When you lead with truth and transparency, people will know who you are, they will become a willing part of your team. If they learn they have to doubt your word, they’ll inevitably question your leadership.”
Rules and regulations are guardrails, he added, but they can’t cure a lack of character.
“As an advisor, that’s also the case. People can always sense if someone is not being completely forthright.”
Character is followed by service, which needs to be demonstrated. One part of service is listening, understanding and executing on a clients’ goals, Scanlan said. The other part is that “you need to be able to anticipate their needs.” A disciplined process moves it forward: the simple act of doing the job people hired you to do, consistently and purposefully.
Scanlan starts his workday at 5:30 a.m., Central Time, three hours ahead of the New York Stock Exchange’s opening bell. By the time many of his clients are starting their days, if the market outlook is uncertain, he’ll have sent them information relevant to the day’s expected currents. When he spoke to Veteran Voice, tariff announcements were roiling equities. That morning, he’d sent his clients Ed Mills’ dispatch from Washington and made some pre-emptive phone calls, but he’d been keeping his clients informed of what could happen.
“Today is a day of clarity,” he said. “We’ve been hearing about this for five months and now it’s staring us in the face.” To borrow a phrase from another Cold War warrior, tariffs were a “known unknown.”
Service is supported by a strategic mindset. Strategy consists of the “meat and potatoes” approach of thinking holistically, from client’s perspective, structuring investments, accounts and corollary financial services, but it’s also things like the way you communicate with the client, how you keep up with what’s happening in their lives, and how you prepare them to make decisions in the fog of uncertainty.
“As an advisor, you need to be able to solve these puzzles that arise and do it in a way that’s palatable for your client. Throughout, you need to reinforce why you recommend a course of action and how it addresses their goals, needs and concerns,” Scanlan said.
The strength of a common lens
His view of financial advising – not as transactional service provider, but as honorable servant leader – was one of the things that attracted Scanlan to the field after years in consulting and investment banking. And by speaking the language of his clients, of whom about 80% are former servicemembers or their families, this approach has driven his practice’s growth. His clients are able to connect with him over a shared commitment to discipline, unemotional decision making and delayed gratification.
This connectivity also inspired the creation of the Veteran Financial Advisors Network. Scanlan is a VFAN founding member, having pitched the idea to firm leaders after meeting with members of Valor, the associate veterans’ network, while visiting the home office in St. Petersburg. In addition to creating a forum for advisors to discuss ideas through the lens of their common experience, Scanlan’s aim was for VFAN to help advisors better connect to their local veteran communities and service organizations.
In this, Scanlan is also leading the way. (He earned an Army Ranger tab during his time in service.) Last year, he hosted a September 11 memorial event at his office, featuring an eight-member color guard, a former Navy SEAL as a guest speaker and memorials to those lost on September 11 and the wars that followed. He is also planning an event commemorating the U.S. Army’s anniversary on June 14, marking 250 years since the U.S. Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress in 1775. The response has been strong.
Scanlan comes from a military family. His father fought in Korea, his uncle in World War II. His cousin was killed in action in Vietnam. But his path to military service was initially more incidental than determinative – he wanted to play college football and West Point wanted him as its linebacker.
There he found the discipline and tradition resonated with him, despite his reservations.
“The military academy is not for everyone,” Scanlan said. “I’ve never liked school – and the same was true when I went to the University of Chicago later for my MBA – I couldn’t wait to get out. But when you choose to do something for the greater good, and you struggle through something that’s bigger than yourself, it’ll be an experience of a lifetime.
“And the return on investment, in terms of what you get, there’s no price on that.”
This piece was featured in Veteran Voice, a publication from the Veteran Financial Advisors Network. View the latest.
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