Q&A: Aaron Schaben on being Ron Carson’s heir apparent

Earlier this year when Aaron Schaben was invited into the board room at Carson Group as an executive vice president, it was founder Ron Carson’s way of signaling to the industry that succession planning is serious business.

Mr. Schaben, a 32-year-old married father of two young boys, is a local Nebraska guy who admits to once entertaining thoughts of Wall Street investment banking, but instead stuck to his roots and settled in Omaha.

In a candid conversation, Mr. Schaben, who joined the $5.4 billion asset business seven years ago, talks about his role as Mr. Carson’s right-hand man, being fed up with millennial stereotypes, where the industry falls short, and how he lost 80 pounds.

Jeff Benjamin: What are your strengths at the Carson Group?

Aaron Schaben: It’s my passion for what we do. I love working with entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Second, I really enjoy winning and working with a passionate group of people. Time, effort — whatever is needed. I’ll put in the time and effort, and ask how can we do it differently and continually reinvent ourselves.

JB: You have been described as Ron Carson’s right hand man. Does it feel that way to you?

AS: I do take it as an honor to have somebody say that. Ron is somebody who is always looking for people with fire in their belly, and that will challenge him. I think the right-hand-man thing has been built over seven years, and it’s something I don’t take lightly.

JB: How accurate is it to call you the apparent successor to Ron Carson?

AS: We all live in a world that’s a meritocracy. The thing that I personally focus on is Ron, in naming a successor, pointing to the industry and saying, ‘I’m leading in this. And the rest of you need to do the same.’

JB: So, this isn’t just Ron Carson checking the box of having a succession plan in place?

AS: At Carson Group we have a robust succession plan. We had it before, and this is just to add additional clarity, and to show the profession as a whole that we have a firm of leaders. Ron is and will remain for a long period of time active in the business. Even though we had a robust succession plan, we got asked about it all the time. What we have is a rocket ship, and we have advisers constantly seeking us out to join.

JB: How is your leadership style different from Ron Carson’s?

AS: Ron’s has evolved significantly over the last five to seven years. Our whole culture is not a butt-in-the-seat-mentality; it’s perform and do what you said we’re going to do. My style is constantly evolving as well. At the end of the day, I’m someone who trusts and verifies and I push. I’m working on helping others around me, where Ron is already fantastic at it.

JB: What would readers be surprised to learn about the Carson Group?

AS: We have a company concierge. Any stakeholder who needs groceries, or anything can send the concierge to have it picked up. Also, we have a policy of dressing for our day. If a partner has a big client in the office, people are in suits and ties. But sometimes when there isn’t a client coming in, you might see Ron walking around in jeans or running gear.

JB: What would readers be surprised to learn about Aaron Schaben?

AS: Over the last eight years, I’ve lost 80 pounds. I was about 280 pounds, and I read Ron’s books when I started working here. I decided I would give it a month, and if I see in person the things he talks about in his books, I’m going to put it into practice. Ron gave me the name of a trainer. My wife and I lost 100 pounds combined over the first six months. A big focus of mine is showing my kids a healthy lifestyle.

JB: Do you think millennials get a bad rap?

AS: Absolutely. I’ve done a lot of study and given a lot of presentations on this. When people group different subsets by age, they completely miss the mark. Most of the advisers that are in their late 50s and 60s now, started in the business in their 30s. I look at millennials and call them creators, and then in 10 years I’ll call the next group creators. It changes your mindset, and it forces you to ask the question, ‘What do I need to be changing in my business to leverage their energy and integrate it?’ Each generation will have an impact.

JB: Do you think the generational distinctions are as significant as the financial services industry makes them out to be?

AS: No, and it’s what’s holding the client experience back. The way firms have tried to address this is getting everyone who agrees in a room to come up with ways to better serve women or 40-year-olds. It not only is a wrong way to think about it, but it is also impacting the client experience. Bifurcating hurts your current clients.

JB: What’s the biggest challenge facing the wealth management industry?

AS: It comes down to client experience. As we look at the wealth management space, the vast majority of advisers haven’t made drastic improvements to the client experience over the past five years. But if you look at a client’s life, the changes that have happened in the last five years in everything non-financial are completely different. I think our industry’s biggest competition is every digital interaction our clients have.

The other challenge is human capital, which is not focused on enough. We don’t have enough people joining our profession.

JB: What most annoys you about the financial planning industry?

AS: The lack of diversity. I don’t think of diversity as just male or female, or along the lines of race. We have a lack of diversity of thought. You can achieve diversity through a lot of different avenues, such as experiences, ethnicities, and backgrounds.