Would anyone miss us if we’re gone?

We’d seen it before. But this time it felt different.
This beauty imprisoned in a Phantom’s embrace.
Have the years shaped me softer, my ol’ heart prone to leaping?
Or was yesterday’s passionate theatre a lesson that we all face?

When clients prepare to meet with you, is there much anticipation?
When they sit in your presence, do they feel that you care?
Do they open their heart to you, like to no other?
When they leave, what do they take that is precious and rare?

I’ve met Advisers by hundreds. Spent such thousands of hours
Looking out for what’s memorable about the way that they serve.
At times there’s a pattern of traits that stand out, so
That their clients describe them with such passion and verve.

These firms aren’t enticed by obsession with performance.
They’re not purpose-driven by AUM and percents.
They don’t push their people to compete with each other.
(They see such behaviour as precious talent misspent!).

They invest in their Culture: a leadership science too scarce.
A science that helps them seek thinking in their team, so oft hidden.
For right there, before us, in folks some might think less of
Is a genius awaiting but so seldom by us bidden.

Then layer upon that such ways of you listening and being.
A way that draws out thoughts and feelings so strong.
A way that dissolves any talk of your costs or performance.
A way that helps clients feel it’s with you they belong.

Yesterday held us breathless, though we’d seen it already.
The Phantom. The Opera. Our hearts seared. Our tears flowing.
My wife proclaimed fervently that she’ll ever remember
The way talents helped our minds soar, without hardly them knowing.

What of you, dear Adviser? Are you so well remembered?
Do they yearn to return? Is it you their talk dwells on?
Are you shifting ‘round money? Or are lives really being altered?
“Do we think that they’ll miss us, when once we are gone?”
Do you think that they’ll miss you, when once you are gone?