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Greg Friedman is one big walking heart. Don’t let that fool you; he successfully leads with it. So many of us in business mistake leadership for power and forcefulness. The very nature of the word conjures up a powerful figure: standing, arms forward, commanding the pack. Greg reminds us it’s possible to lead while standing beside, or even behind, those who look to you for authority and guidance.

One of the great things about aging is that you genuinely can’t remember when you became friends with people, but it often seems like you have known them forever. I don’t know the year that I met Greg, but I vividly remember the circumstances around it. My partner and I had just spent a small fortune paying a programmer to create client relationship management software that we could use to track client-related work and to keep a diary of our relationship with our clients. There was nothing like this on the market and we sorely needed it. Heck, the whole industry needed it. But our results were a disaster.

Then I heard that Greg and his partner, Ken Golding, had just created something that might really work. I picked up the phone to ask him about it. I told him what a mess we’d created. I told him how much money we had thrown away on our project. And I told him that I had no idea where to go next. Greg didn’t wait a heartbeat to offer assistance. “Look,” he said, “we’ve got something we call BAM (basically a monkey can do it). I’ll give it to you. All I ask is that if you have some good suggestions about what we could do to make it better, share them with me.” Greg’s passion for creating a better work product to support all advisors, not just his firm, is definitely leading with heart.

Through the years Greg and I spent many conferences skipping presentations and sitting together to share ideas, experiences, and philosophies. As Greg talked about his family, his clients, and his staff, it was clear that his leadership style rested squarely in creating personal growth and satisfaction for everyone with whom he came in contact. He’s a great listener, and he puts what he hears into positive action. More important, he is very eager to share his cultural leadership tenets of employing patience, honesty, integrity, compassion, respect, persistence, consistency, encouragement, and courage; all of these helped him create success in not just one, but two separate businesses.

I think you’ll find yourself in this book. You’ll recognize some leadership habits you’d like to jettison and discover new ones that feel as comfortable as slipping on an old, well-worn sweater. I know you’ll enjoy Greg’s writing style. It’s relaxed, satisfying, and enjoyable, much like sitting down and having a good conversation with the man himself. You’ll realize how easy it is to adapt your leadership style to your natural tendencies, not just to some “make it so” book that outlines how a great leader should think and act. You’ll walk through his process of cultural transition and change, recognizing how leading with heart promotes a happy, healthy – and yes, profitable – working environment. Enjoy.

Deena Katz, CFP^®, LHD

Associate Professor, Department of Personal Financial

Planning, Texas Tech University;

Founding Partner, Evensky & Katz Wealth Management;

Author of seven books on financial planning and practice management topics