<font color=gray>Inside ETFs Live</font> Edelman reveals most important word for advisers

The best advice Ric Edelman has to give advisers is to keep your ego in check.

The key to success, the chief executive of The Edelman Financial Group Inc. said Tuesday at the IndexUniverse LLC’s Inside ETFs conference, is the ability to build a great team. That means learning how to d. “The most important word is ‘delegation,’” he said. “There’s no way any one of us can do everything.”

“It’s easy to say, ‘I’m convinced I can do this better than you.’ You need to keep your ego in check and recognize that other people are as good as you or you’re not the best person for the job.”

Sometimes you actually might be the best person for the job, but you’re way overpaid. “I can’t be stuffing envelopes when I’m making $100 an hour,” Mr. Edelman said. “I can hire someone to do that for $25 an hour.”

Finding the right fit for a team is easier said than done. Mr. Edelman called his interview process “grueling.”

“The bottom line is, candidates are going to go through a gauntlet,” he said. “Do they understand who we are, and are they like-minded, are the two biggest questions.”