How Advisors Can Build a Toolkit for Success

Commonwealth Financial founder and Chairman Joe Deitch, whose recently published book “Elevate: An Essential Guide to Life” inspired the firm’s conference theme this year, told attendees that “every decision we make establishes intent,” and “we need to work on ourselves first” before we choose which goals to pursue.

After his presentation in Austin, Deitch said that becoming a successful author has given him “an extraordinary opportunity to share ideas with people, especially one on one.”

When did he begin working on the project? “The germ was planted long ago, when I wanted to figure out the world, or at least try to do so,” he said in an earlier interview. Over the years, he saw many adults with unhealthy relationships, eating habits and more, prompting him to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“This awakened me to the fact that people are often blind, biased and shortsighted, including me,” he explained. “We go through life and assume that what we see is what it [really] is. But me, a guy who grew up in the Northeast, white, I don’t know what it is like to be black, Asian, etc. I began a search to embrace the wisdom of world, to see, explore and ask — what is the connective tissue between all of us?”

This thinking led him to read the Bible, Shakespeare and the Web. “I became fascinated with the fundamental framework to wisdom and shortcuts or fast lanes to innovation,” the Commonwealth chairman said.

Next, he became interested in the question of why we do not do what we should do, engaging in self-help steps that can improve our lives. In tai chi, for instance, practitioners focus on rooting — “bringing energy to the body to make you stronger and redirecting that energy,” according to the executive.

The same concept applies to windsurfing, tennis, business, communications, organizations and other structures. “There’s always a flow of energy, and you have to be attuned to it, in relationships and overall. It’s a part of a fundamental skill set for all we do,” said Deitch.