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All business leaders share a common goal – to inspire their employees and to see profitable results in the business. That inspiration then encourages collaboration, which leads to success. In today’s evolving business environment – and in the financial services industry especially – a successful and balanced corporate culture begins with a leadership mentality that appeals to the heart first and the mind second.

What is heart culture? At its core, heart culture symbolizes how a firm values more than just an employee’s output. That it’s not about the work, but rather, the people who do the work. This may seem like simple human nature, but in the business world, heart culture is a rising movement that is quickly supplanting the cold, hard corporate machine of yesteryear. The truth is, leaders can no longer afford to ignore the shift toward a people-first culture and its direct influence on a healthy, effective work environment. Leaders today need to be flexible, fluid, caring, and individualistic to be competitive in today’s market.

This book was written not just for financial advisors but for any leader looking to make a sea change in his or her company culture. Many of these lessons, which I learned on my own professional journey as both an employee and a leader, have helped shape my views on successful and fulfilling leadership that leads to employee retention and company growth. In fact, another key benefit of creating a heart culture is that you will attract talent.

I have been a financial advisor for more than 25 years and am currently the president and CEO of Private Ocean, a wealth management firm in the San Francisco Bay Area that is the product of a merger of my firm, Friedman & Associates, with Salient Wealth Management. I am also the cofounder and president of Junxure, a technology firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that provides customer relationship management (CRM) and office management solutions to financial advisors.

My career – like many of our industry leaders – sprang from humble beginnings. In high school I started working part time for a warehouse retail chain stocking shelves, and after a decade I had worked my way up the ladder of that company while finishing college and graduate school. I did many jobs in that company – from driving a forklift to sales to accounting and purchasing. I learned a lot in those years, including the value of loyalty.

What I also experienced during that time was a spectrum of different kinds of leaders that truly covered a gamut of styles. It helped shape the kind of leader I wanted to be, and I made a conscious effort early on to treat people differently than I was treated on many occasions. I always knew I wanted to have my own business, and that I wanted to do things differently from the norm – certainly differently from what I experienced.

What follows are Seven Steps of Heart Culture – human values – that are vital to making a difference in a firm’s culture and in a leader’s influence within that firm.

These seven steps also represent the life cycle of a healthy relationship between a leader and an employee. From the hiring process – immeasurably important to building a culture – to maintenance and growth, each phase has its own set of challenges and rewards that can either hinder a firm’s growth or help it soar to new levels.

This book focuses on each of these seven key interconnected elements of creating and maintaining a heart culture. I have learned that being good at one or two of the ideas, or focusing on different ones at different times over the year or years, doesn’t lead to a sustainable heart culture. In reality, I have found it’s better to aspire to all seven even if I cannot be great at all of them at any given time!

Over the next seven chapters I will go into detail about each of these steps. I will also share stories of personal successes and missteps in developing the leadership style that has proven very effective in my businesses. At the end of each chapter I have included some practical, real-world tips that you can use to get started on your own path to successful and fulfilling leadership.

Now, as with every journey, we will begin by taking the first step.