The Human Element in Advisor Education

As financial advisory firms mature into increasingly complex organizations, a critical gap is becoming harder to ignore: many advisors are highly trained in products, planning, and portfolio construction—but far less prepared to navigate the human dimensions of advice. Client relationships, succession, midlife decision-making, and intergenerational wealth transfer all demand skills that go well beyond technical competence.

In this edited transcript, Ken Haman, a consultant to advisory firms and senior executives, brings a rare interdisciplinary perspective to the profession. Drawing on early training as a pastoral minister and psychotherapist, Haman examines how advisory practices were historically self-invented, why unconscious competence now poses risks for succession and scale, and why the next generation of advisors faces a very different—and more demanding—relational landscape. His insights raise a provocative question: Is the advice industry truly prepared to advise human beings at pivotal moments of their lives?