Businesses that get on the front foot will thrive in an environment of rapid change

When change is coming fast and frequently, you have a choice: be a victim, and be taken wherever the change leads; or get on the front foot and harness change to create the future you want.

Brad Fox, chief executive officer of the association of Financial Advisers (AFA) says advisers who thrive in the years ahead will be those who make a conscious decision to focus on the potential for growth that change brings.

Fox says the AFA’s 2014 National Adviser Conference, in Cairns, Queensland, is all about demonstrating how to get onto the front foot and how to flourish – or in the terms of the conference: Think, create, act.

“Let’s grab control of change,” Fox says.

“Your business is changing on a daily, a weekly, a monthly basis; but rather than being like a twig floating down the river, going where it takes you, let’s paddle.”

More comfortable and polite

Fox says that innovation is, “at the end of the day a more comfortable and polite word for ‘change’”.

“Some people just don’t like change,” he says.

“But come to this conference, and leave on the front foot. It’s about owning it, being deliberate about where you end up and not just going with the flow.”

Fox says the conference will focus on developing individual advisers; skills, improving business performance, developing effective advice strategies, and developing professional leadership.

“Around all of the curriculum we do…we have shaped it around [those] four key pillars throughout the year,” Fox says.

Fox says an essential element of building a successful advice practice is to interact with peers. Of the 80 or so speakers and presenters taking part over the three days, 30 will be practitioners.

The AFA 2014 National Adviser Conference runs from October 12-14 at the Cairns Convention Centre.