Triad Brief Issue No. 5 | Nov. 3, 2026

Two weeks ago, we took a second look at what you’ve built. This time, look at who sets the pace for it.

Your team takes its cues from you, whether you mean it to or not. Four things show up in the leaders worth following. Their calm spreads. They know when to step back. They build around the team, not the star. And they notice early, before a tired Team Member becomes a bigger problem.

Inside this issue, you’ll find:

Pick one habit your team is mirroring this week. Would you choose it for them?

-Brad Johnson, co-founder of Triad Partners

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Brent Coggins, CIO | Triad Wealth Partners

On October 4th, Flávio Bolsonaro edged President Lula in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election. Markets reacted favorably to the news as Brazil’s primary stock market index, the Ibovespa, jumped 7.7% to a record high the next morning, while the Brazilian real currency gained roughly 4.7% against the dollar over the ensuing week. Polymarket, an online prediction market, gave Bolsonaro an 86% chance of winning the October 25th runoff as of the 13th, and still had him near 77% the Friday before the vote.

Then Brazil voted the incumbent Lula back into office to the surprise of many… including investors in the Brazilian stock market.

On Monday, October 26th, the Ibovespa index fell nearly 14%, its worst single-day return since March 2020 during the depths of the COVID pandemic. Trading was halted at one point after the decline triggered a circuit breaker.

Read Brent’s full commentary on headline hype. Full Article →

⏵ DBDL Ranks No. 2 Among Podcasts for Advisor Growth (Influential Advisor Media)

Influential Advisor Media's October ranking reviewed 64 advisor podcasts and placed Do Business. Do Life. second on its Top 20 for advisor growth. The premise of the list fits this issue: the advisors who grow fastest keep learning from people a few steps ahead, and the leaders who do that set the pace for everyone behind them.

⏵ RIAs Are Betting on Relationships (Schwab)
Technology is changing how RIAs work, but not where growth comes from. In Schwab’s 2026 Independent Advisor Outlook Study of 1,235 advisors, 70% named client referrals as their biggest growth driver, and 66% plan to keep AI behind the scenes so the client experience stays personal. A steady advisor is still the anchor when the headlines get loud.

⏵ RIAs Plan to Hire as AI Frees Up Capacity (Cerulli)

Firms are betting on the bench rather than a bigger star. Cerulli’s survey of 68 RIAs found they are most likely to add junior advisors (73%) and client service associates (67%) over the next two years, followed by senior advisors (56%). Nearly two-thirds report that AI has reduced manual and administrative work. The extra capacity is headed toward team depth, so decide which roles yours should fund.

⏵ Clients Trust Advisors Who Stay in Touch (Insurance Business)
Life insurance clients are warming to advisors and cooling down on going direct. In J.D. Power’s 2026 study, satisfaction with policies bought through agents and advisors rose while satisfaction with direct purchases fell, and the gap between the two has narrowed sharply. The clearest driver of trust was contact: clients who heard from their providers across several channels trusted them far more than clients who heard nothing. Schedule the check-in before the client calls.

⏵ Nearly Two in Five Workers Feel Burned Out (Aflac)
Nearly two in five American workers say they feel burned out at work, and 83% of them report moderate or higher levels of burnout, according to Aflac’s 2026-2027 WorkForces Report. It covers workers across industries, not advisory firms, but your office is part of that workforce. Later in this issue in the "Quick Hits tip covers what early signs look like.

Triad Case Planning | The Table 2027 Presentation Adaptation

Seasons of strong markets can often dull the memory of weak ones. One advisor calls it risk amnesia: after enough good years, clients may forget 2008 and what a bad year can do to their retirement income and lifestyle, and the urgency to plan for the next downturn can fade with it.

At our recent founder experience, The Table, we made the case that a long run of positive returns gives advisors a natural opening to talk with clients about what could happen to those gains if the market experiences meaningful volatility. It isn’t a prediction.

Start with the headline clients already hear.

Most clients have heard the market being called expensive, and few can explain what that means. One plain-English measure gives the conversation somewhere to start. The Cyclically Adjusted Price-to-Earnings (CAPE) ratio comes down to what investors are paying for a company’s stock relative to its earnings.

Shift from chasing gains to managing volatility.

Two questions frame the client conversation:

With larger accounts, talk in percentages, which are easier to hear than dollar figures.

Insurance guarantees are backed by the strength of the claims paying ability of the issuing insurance carrier.

Triad Members:

Watch the full presentation on the Member Hub →
Members can also view bi-weekly annuity and market updates here.

Questions? Talk with the case planning team →

Triad Sales Coaches

The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls ran the triangle offense, a system where every player knew where to be. Nobody had to stop and think, so each player was free to do what he did best.

A sales process can work the same way. One great advisor can carry a firm for a while, but a process built around a single person doesn't scale. To grow, it has to be trainable, repeatable and owned by the whole team.

That starts with clear roles.

Most firms still have one person wearing all three hats. The talent is there. What's missing is a system that lets that talent win consistently, and founders feel it first because service time keeps landing on them.

Roles also change the room. When prospects see a planning team behind the advisor, the advisor no longer has to be the only expert in it.

At your next team meeting, ask where you're winning and where prospects stall. Then borrow one idea and make one change.

Zach Nadler has spent more than 17 years working with Gary Vaynerchuk, the last eight building VaynerSpeakers. When COVID shut down the speaking industry almost overnight, he watched how quickly a leader’s mood becomes a team’s mood.

On DBDL Ep. 191, Zach describes how Gary handled it: straight talk about hard decisions and daily all-company get-togethers. He pairs that with a lesson from Rorke Denver, a former Navy SEAL he used to work with: calm is contagious, and so is panic.

The conversation closes on intentionality. Zach has traded overnight trips for same-day runs where he can because, as he quotes Ryan Holiday, “it’s not nights away, it’s bedtimes missed.”

Listen to the episode →

Burnout rarely arrives suddenly. It builds, and it leaves a trail in the work: skipped review steps, rising rework, quieter meetings and more short absences. A careful person who starts missing small things is rarely careless. They are usually overloaded.

Look at the trend line and compare each person to their own baseline. When several people show similar signs, that points to a team-level workload issue, so involve HR early. This week, ask about workload in your one-on-ones and respond with problem solving, not judgment. These signals are prompts for a conversation, not a diagnosis. Notice, ask, adjust.

Read the full article →

Shared during a conversation featured on DBDL Ep. 190

Triad member Dana Dunkelberger described being the revenue engine of his own firm. Most of the revenue relied on him, and the further he got into it, he says, the heavier it got. Eventually it just wasn’t fun anymore.

His turning point: it can’t be just me. He moved the firm from selling products to building plans, learned the process well enough to teach it, and now the team asks every week what it did well and what it could do better.

When the episode was recorded, a newer advisor about 10 months in had brought in roughly $40 million since Jan. 1, after sitting in on Dana’s appointments for his first two to three months. Dana credits the advisor’s work ethic.

The harder part was getting out of the way. He admits he still wanders into meetings that are no longer his, and a leader on his team points him back out the door. Allowing your team to be great, he says, is why you have a team.

What could your team build if you stepped out of the way?

Listen to the full story →

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