The Benefits of Connecting With Professionals With Paul Dougherty

Paul Dougherty

Paul Dougherty is a Board Member for Life Happens, a nonprofit organization focused on education based on unbiased opinions about insurance. He has been an insurance agent for nearly 25 years and is a former President, Secretary, and Trustee for NAIFA (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors).

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

How Paul Dougherty got started in the business and how he gives customers the best possible experience
What can new advisors do to strengthen their career paths?
Articulating constituent needs to lawmakers to build relationships
Paul talks about utilizing the tools of an organization to expand your career
What’s the benefit of an organization like NAIFA?
Committing yourself to the education of your clients to empower their decision making
Paul discusses tools for fostering conversations about the importance of insurance

In this episode…

How can you make sure you’re giving your clients and communities the best possible experience using your expertise? The world is shifting towards automation, so how can you present yourself in a genuine and authentic way?

Paul Dougherty follows his personal philosophy of “give it all away.“ Serving your community and clients begins with education to be sure that you and your clients make informed decisions. Paul builds relationships with his clients so he doesn’t become just a touchpoint passing through but a genuine relationship translating growth and passion.

In this episode of Advisor Today, join Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan as they sit down with Paul Dougherty, former president of NAIFA, to discuss coaching a team of advisors to shape the future. Paul talks about strengthening your career arc through mentorship, engaging with organizations to inform and educate lawmakers, and generating conversations about insurance with clients so they make the best possible decisions.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sponsor for this episode...

Life Happens is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping consumers take personal financial responsibility through the ownership of life insurance and related products. The organization does not endorse any product, company, or insurance advisor.

Since its inception in 1994, Life Happens has provided the highest quality, independent and objective information for people seeking help with their insurance buying decisions. The organization supports the insurance industry by providing marketing tools and resources through its Life Happens Pro platform, and convening the industry each September for Life Insurance Awareness Month.

Life Happens is supported by more than 140 of the nation’s leading insurance companies and financial services organizations. To learn more, visit www.lifehappens.org.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:02

Welcome to NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast series where we focus on how financial advisors work, live and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now, let's get started with the show.

Chris Gandy 0:20

Hi, everyone, this is Chris Gandy, one of your co hosts for Advisor Today podcast where we feature the top at the top in the insurance and financial services industry. And we are joined by my wonderful co host Suzanne Carawan of NAIFA HI Suzanne. Hey, Chris. And our podcast has been focused on really uplifting advisors and their voices. We've had superstar guests like Tom Michael, our 2021 Yeah, and Leader of the Year Brian Haney. And industry industry pros like Brian Ashe and just to name a few. Today, we got a wonderful guest, who's who set to be with us at the National Leadership Conference, Paul Dougherty, but I'll turn it over to Suzanne to talk a little bit about our sponsor for today's program.

Suzanne Carawan 1:11

And our sponsor, someone that Paul Dougherty knows well, and we've done a lot of work together. It really is coming from the NAIFA's government relations, overall division, we're the only Association doing state interstate and federal advocacy. And one of the big things we're doing this year is inviting all of our non members and non members to a special livestream event. On Monday, November 14, at 1pm. We're gonna have political pundit Nathan Gonzalez, join us, He will be with us in person at the iconic Omni Shoreham to do a live stream event talking about the post elections. But we'll also be able to livestream that to anyone who's actually not on site with us. So you can go ahead and you can register it's totally free as a give back from naifa to the industry. You can go to belong.naifa.org/NLC, and NLC stands for the National Leadership Conference. It's the one time a year that all of NAIFA Nation gets together to really celebrate our leadership, install all of our officers, right, and really bring forward all of our award winners. And so with that, one of the people you're going to meet this year, if you join us at National Leadership Conference is Paul Dougherty. So Chris, we'll turn it back to you.

Chris Gandy 2:20

All right. Hey, Paul. How are you doing today?

Paul Dougherty 2:23

Doing great, Chris, happy to be with you.

Chris Gandy 2:25

Thanks. Thanks for being here. You know, we Yeah, big shoes to feel Phil, you know, we've had the Mount Rushmore of advisors here in the past. So we look forward to hearing all the wonderful things you can share with NAIFA nation. So let's just start from the rewind the tape a little bit. How did you get started in the business?

Paul Dougherty 2:45

completely by accident, I had just graduated from college and my parents had that we're in the process of switching insurance companies. And the agent for the company that I'm with right now had come to the house to do the inspection as we did as agents back then. And my mother, in only the way that an Irish mother would do said, Hey, this kid looking for a job. And I was like, mom, and she in the agent who's a great guy was a dear friend of mine until he retired. So no, listen, this is a great company to work for. This is somebody that I can definitely get behind. And so I started the process and went to work for my company, and I was an employee for six years. And after spending some time, finally supporting our executive office, and having a great relationship with our regional vice president, he said, you know, if you really want to maximize the benefit that you get from all the effort that you put into your work, you really need to be an agent. And so I am coming up on my 25th year as an agent on December 1. So it's been almost 32 years with the same company in up in 25 years at the same address the same spot in Hyattsville just outside of Washington, DC.

Chris Gandy 4:06

So 25 years, 25 years. So what's changed in this you're wanting to take? If you could give your 25 year younger self advice? Starting? What would you tell yourself now? About what would you tell your 25 year younger self? What advice would you give yourself?

Paul Dougherty 4:27

It's, it's a great question. I think. What I would say is that the business then is is very much the same as the business now in that it's all about relationships with people. It is taking care of our customers and our clients, meeting them where they are. But we have a gift as being a part of this profession and that we can see around corners that and see potential risks that our clients, our customers can't see. So I think back then I'm not sure that I had being a newbie in the industry, the confidence to be able to challenge people and get them out of their comfort zone the way that I can now, back then it was a question of, hey, this could happen. Now, 25 years later, I can say, hey, this has happened to another customer, another client, I can tell you what their experience has been. So you don't have to go down that same negative experience, and that you don't have to expose yourself potentially, to the risks that we can help remediate or resolve. And so I think back then, you know, the technology has changed the way we do business in terms of the electronics has changed. But I think at the core of it, it's still about the people that we serve the communities that we serve, and the commitment to make sure that we're giving our customers the best possible experience with our expertise that we possibly can.

Suzanne Carawan 5:56

So I would say with that, then, Paul, so what did you do in that gap time, but while you were kind of developing the experience and the stories and actually going through that, what advice would you have for a young adviser who doesn't yet have that? They haven't gone through all of these experiences, what would you tell them to do?

Paul Dougherty 6:13

Well, this is not a setup question, because you didn't you and I didn't ask this ahead of time. But it was really it was my experience in getting in to be a part of NAIFA. It was the idea that you could come together as an agent, as an advisor in different parts of Ark, and learn from one another. And that was a tremendous benefit. To me, the first NAIFA meeting that I went to was named Lou at the time in 1999, I was struck by the camaraderie of the people in the room, that were all competitors, that had all come together for two reasons, one to get better at what they do. And they were willing to learn and to teach and to mentor, even a young advisor like myself, in best practices, and some of the stories that I didn't yet have personally that I could adopt from them, because they were sharing those experiences with me. And then their commitment to protecting the industry and our profession. And what we do, as NAIFA volunteers today, from an advocacy on both the legislative and the regulatory environment piece, I found early that the folks that are a part of this organization, are not just committed to making sure that we can keep doing what it is that we do. But it is in telling those stories to the legislators and regulators that we interact with just how important it is that they not eliminate the position that we have in terms of taking very complicated and complex issues like financial services, and some insurance packages, and making them easier to digest and consume and to put in place for our customers. And the more difficult and cumbersome things become like fiduciary rules and regulatory bodies, like the Department of Labor getting into things, the more they need our stories from the street. And to be able to say this is the folks that were there we're serving, these are the people that need our services. And by taking the steps that you're taking with this rule, or with a pending piece of legislation to a member of congress of the Senate to be able to say hey, this is this is the positive impact of what you're proposing. This is the negative impact. We can tell those stories about their constituents, because those are the folks that we're serving with them. And so those are as you don't have those stories yourself for those new advisors, I will tell you get yourself into a space like, like NAIFA so that you can work from folks that are a little bit further ahead of you in that career arc.

Chris Gandy 9:00

So So I have a question for you. So So you've had obviously had success. You've you've you've been to now see before, obviously you've been politically involved to an aspect. What would you say is we're coming up on the NLC, right and, and most people don't know like, what it's actually like, right? If you could describe your experience as being a part of the NLC or in DC, share with us a little bit about your experience and how that's, you know, how people can can can look forward to something like that. Could you share with us a little bit about what that means to you to kind of Yeah, do it.

Paul Dougherty 9:44

Yeah, I'll be happy to and I was born in DC and was raised, you know, just in suburban Maryland here. And so I'm a DC native at heart. So I love the political environment that we're in. But I think what happens when you're outside of level of the beltway. A lot of folks have anxiety and apprehension about how to get involved and have conversations with either members of Congress or with their staffs. I think what NLC does in a remarkable way, it's not just bring us together as members of of NAIFA. But to show us that these are the key elements to pieces of legislation that are going on, on the hill or regulatory issues that we need to be sensitive to, and how to have that conversation with a member of Congress or with their staffs. When I would travel around the country, in my leadership roles with NAIFA, had remarkable experiences to meet with, with Speakers of the House of different states, members of the regulatory environment departments of insurance in different states. And it was great to be able to then just talk to them person in person and say, Tell me about your job. Before you became a legislator, or a lot of them are part time legislators, what did you do what was your work experience, in relate what we do in serving our customers with what they did to run a pharmacy or to run a small law firm. And when you get down to Capitol Hill, you realize that the depth of knowledge that these members have and their staffs have is often an inch deep and a mile wide, they have so many issues that they have to be concerned with. They do have policy experts, but it may be a 25 year old, you know, college graduate, that's from their district that is now in this space. But as a part of their portfolio, they also have sports betting or you know, all sorts of other things that have nothing to do with what we do. They just have a small sliver of that portfolio that affects us. But when you come in, I'll see you realize you're not only being trained by the NAIFA team on how to have these conversations, you're being inspired by the other members that are around you that are there for the same reason, to learn to get better to grow. But you also realize that you can position yourself as a resource with that member of Congress, to be able to say, Hey, this is my profession, this is what I do each and every day, if you have a constituent that has a problem in this space, whether it's related to my company or not, I'd be happy to talk with them. And you're swapping those business cards, you're taking those photographs, you're making a commitment to meet them in districts, the next time that they're there, it's really very much the same as what we do when we talk to our clients. It's building that relationship, and you're just doing it with a different audience. In this case, when we're on the hill, it's it's building those relationships with the opposites.

Chris Gandy 12:47

So it's interesting, you talk about the journey. Right, and, and that you're able to take what, for all practical purposes is a good idea, potentially, and relate it to them in a way as I was my experience a little too is that, how do we help them really understand the impact? And how it really the functionality of how this bill could work? Right? Because, like you said, an entity, but my why is they don't necessarily know, from the concept that you know, how the fiduciary rule is going to actually play itself out. Right. And the way it was originally talked about, is that it would have been very arduous, and in numerous ways, just kind of had gone through the way it's kind of broad brushing, so so so thank you for that. Because obviously you have a way of articulating and learning and teaching others and and also articulating it to to to the lawmakers. Talk to me a little bit about you know, I, I like this podcast, because that allows for us to get, you know, deep with someone a little bit and talk a little bit about the challenges you had in the business. What would you say the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome as being who you are now and and being in the industry over the period of time? What would you say is the the one obstacle because I think everybody goes through those, but you know, they see somebody like yourself, and they say, oh my gosh, I'd like to be him today. Right? But there's obstacles that you absolutely had to go through and hurdles and, and probably get knocked down. But could you share with us one of them that kind of sticks out in your head is like you know what? Yeah, that was kind of either a turning point, or it was an obstacle that you knew you had to overcome and you overcame it.

Paul Dougherty 14:34

Well, I will tell you, I can share this really from a broad perspective, because I'm smiling as you're asking the question, having been in this business now for almost 32 years, but being an agent for 25. I think one of the things that I've learned in my experience is that we are really only limited by the vision that we have as to what we can become And so, as a younger ages with young kids at home, I, I saw my agency as a means for me to be able to be that parent, that spouse, that school board volunteer, I've coached almost 30 teams, I've been on school for school boards have been president of two of them. I've run charitable organizations. My agency gave me the availability, and capacity to do all those things. I would be challenged sometimes by somebody that says, Well, how can you have all the time for that more, because it's important that it was important for me to volunteer and raise my hand was NAIFA, to go through the chairs at the local level, at the state level at the national level. But traveling as much as I did as NAIFA. President and through the executive committee, I came to learn that one, we are an amazing Association people, as professionals, we are lucky to have one another looking out for what it is. But there's also folks that are doing so much more, whether it's because they've aligned themselves with a professional coach, or they found a niche market in their space, that has really allowed them to become the subject matter expert and a whole sea of people that are selling the same products. This is where they are in terms of their their passion. In my 25th year as an agent, I'm a PNC based guy, that's what I do is the you know, primarily the PNC based products, the life insurance has become a key focus for us. And so I'll I'll be at the MDRT edge meeting as a member of the roundtable for the first time this year. That's something where part of me is a little sheepish for being a new newbie at the MDRT level. But part of me is also going back to that vision aspect, Chris to be able to say, Look, we're not done, we've got a lot of time left in doing what we do, we can expand our expectations of ourselves. And being around really high level advisors within NAIFA that are outside my own company, finding coaches through NAIFA, like I have, and utilizing their services to help me and my team get even better at what we do. Ultimately, it comes down to benefit my customers more than anything else. But we've also realized that by helping more and more customers with these products, it just happens to you know, raise our profile and what it is that we do, and we're achieving things that we've never done.

Chris Gandy 17:35

MDRT is a wonderful, wonderful family, I think you'll find that your your level of of variety in life insurance will go up significantly because of the people that you're around. I'm I'm a member have been a member for, for I've been in I started opposite to you, right, I started on the life insurance side and the disability side, and long term care sites, I started on that side. And now I've migrated to the investment side, but still during insurance, right. So, you know, the MDR T family is big, you know, once you get to MDRT, they're gonna say, Okay, what's next? And they're gonna say core to the table, then they say, hey, yeah, top of the table. And, and those those. Those conversations are awesome to have. It makes us a little nervous, right to have them. Because we are we're android NAIFA. I know that from the work you've done, the path you've paid is that you're committed to this industry, not just interested. And I know that you'll find the commitment at MDRT that to continue to help people protect the people codec the things they care about the most, which is their families, their businesses and taking care of the things that they love, and they care about. So let's let's, let's fast forward the tape, but you know, mentorship, right? Previous guests we've asked about who are some of the mentors in their life, but I'm gonna ask you something different. I'm asked you share with me a little bit why mentorship is just important, simply because I think you might have a different aspect on it. I'm sure you have mentors, but I want to know, from you, why do you feel like mentorship is so critical in the business? Well, I

Paul Dougherty 19:22

from the perspective that I'm in now, you know, the folks that I gravitated towards as mentors, were the people that I met through NAIFA that were of the same philosophy that I think I am now. And I've said this from the mainstage my personal philosophy is give it all away. Right? So if you are really good at something, if you are skilled at something, if you are passionate about something, keeping it to yourself is not the answer. You have to share that with others. And so those folks that came before me That would take me under their wing and say, Look, I'm not selling the exact same product that you are. But this is how you want to sell that really big life case to your customer. And don't be afraid to ask for X number of dollars in premium. Or don't be afraid to raise your hand and go through the chairs of leadership in this organization, because you think you don't have enough time. And that's where I am now is to be able to then tell folks, hey, look, I can only share my own personal experience on this, that the more you put into an organization, the more that you put into your profession, the more that you're going to get out of that, and the better you're going to become. And guess what it just keeps adding to itself. When you when you're a part of NAIFA. And you commit yourself as a volunteer, you're investing your time and energy and your finances, honestly, to the organization. But as a result of that you're getting out of that organization, great professionals that have done this, that are experienced in a particular part of the marketplace that maybe I've never had any experience in, but I want to access and learn how to be better. And if it's not my bailiwick that I can find those people that I can trust that I can then refer my clients to. And so I do that a lot, when I'm talking to my customers and say, what you're asking for something that is specialized, and is not within my portfolio, I'm going to find a NAIFA member that I can pass you off to that you guys can continue this conversation. And I tell young advisors, I'm only going to send somebody to you, if you believe in what it is that you do. And you've expressed that belief, by being a part of this organization, you support it, you come to events. And you understand that it's not just about the company that's on the front window, or you as your own small town retail shop. It's about you representing a profession that can change lives for the better. And if we don't do our jobs, the way we we know we can, when folks run into these everyday risks, and they're not prepared to shame on us that we didn't do what we could have to help offset that. So I really think mentorship to me is giving away that experience that we've had those relationships so that we can foster that by being that connective tissue between somebody's experience to date, to what they can become and where this profession can lead them.

Suzanne Carawan 22:34

You know, Paul, I want to jump on to that one because I want, if you would, I'd love for you to expand on your practice has changed not so much what you do, but those who you serve, has actually changed throughout your 25 plus years of being an agent. And you have been able to be that connective tissue into a whole different population that has historically been thought of as maybe either underserved or underrepresented. And you have flex your whole business to do that. And brought therefore bring a whole different perspective to Capitol Hill into the statehouse, etc. Can you go into that a little bit?

Paul Dougherty 23:09

Yeah, I can. And when you were when Chris was earlier mentioning the Department of Labor and their fiduciary role that we had to push back, you know, six, seven years ago. This was what I told the people in the Department of Labor, when we were sitting around the table, there was literally 12 of us, five of us from NAIFA and their whole team that had put this together. And as the only guy in the room that is actually in the business of putting these products in the hands of our clients. I gave them that example. Susanna said, hey, look, I'm I grew up on one side of the District of Columbia, I was given this assignment in high school. And I had no points of reference here. I didn't have any centers of influence because Prince George's County is is a different county from where I grew up. I serve a majority African American County, it's one of the wealthiest in the country. But since I started here, 25 years ago, I realized very early on, that these were customers that were not necessarily being served the same way of the people that I saw from montgomery county. They didn't have advisors, they didn't have accountants, they didn't have financial planners. They didn't have attorneys all at their beck and call. They often saw our office as the resource for professional advice and access to some of these products. We've talked about things that my agency couldn't put in place for them, but they needed a professional sounding board. In the 25 year period of time. This marketplace has changed dramatically. And so I serve a predominantly Hispanic market. 80% of my new clients are Spanish speakers. And so all my team are Spanish speakers, and very similar to what my experience had been when I got here 25 years ago, is that these are folks that need a professional they can trust, they see that we're not just in it for one sale, that we're in it for a long term relationship, and that we have many of the tools that they're going to need that we can put together at their disposal. And it's gratifying to me to have multiple generations of families that we are there resources, where they're ally, as they're trying to overcome some of the challenges of, you know, having a new teenage driver versus starting a new business versus getting ready for retirement, they can come to us for all of those things. When we're the only thing that is between a family, not being able to have a funeral, or having a funeral, because of the conversation we had, and taking a pen to paper, and a little bit of money and creating a life insurance contract. It's profound, and it's enriching for my team and I, they're both been with me for one for 16 years, one for eight. And it's to me, it's a remarkable gift that we have to be able to do what we do. But I one meeting with those folks from the Department of Labor, just to bring this whole circle, I invited them to come to my office, I said, Folks, what you're doing is you're putting up barriers to the same people that you're trying to help. These are clients that we have to beg them to save $50 a month for their own retirement, because they don't have to under 50,000 hours and resources to go to a big brokerage shops. I said just come to my office and sit down for more 15 minutes away from where we were sitting, I would love for you to meet my customers and see what our experience is like when we're serving. Not a single one of them took me up on it. But they couldn't deny that it was something where they may not have seen, I believe that what they were trying to do was right for their reasons, they just didn't realize how much of the marketplace that they were endangering by removing the professional access to an advisor, like, like myself,

Chris Gandy 27:03

you know, I'll tell you, thank you for the work you do. You know, it really is a calling, not only serving, but also that idea of that of servicing a market that traditionally may not have access to products and services, you know, I'm a big di guy. So every now and again out there OSDI stuff on these calls, but But you kind of said it full circle is that everybody deserves the right, and the ability and the opportunity to protect their family, and to be able to walk up and be able to do this thing with dignity. And you basically summarize that so that's, it's really good. So we're gonna, we're gonna run short on time here, I could talk to you for the next hour just simply on just like minded individuals who kind of talk the same talk, but your day to day, you know, obviously, you know, discipline is you got to be disciplined to be able to build a team run a team run an office to be able to help your clients. Tell me, what do you do so so what is your typical day looks like?

Paul Dougherty 28:13

Yeah, so I'm, I'm usually relatively early. If I'm up, it's between 5-5:30. And just kind of routine stuff around the house. I'll be on my laptop by 6:30. So that I've got all my stuff done before I leave the house to come to the office. We're a small retail shop in Hyattsville right on the street level, have been in the same building since 1951. The agent that I took over four was the original tenant in this building. So we are on the same address, same phone number, everything was upgraded a little since that, but it's a warm and inviting space that my team and I have created here it is, each and every day, there's a bit of coaching that I take on, whether that's just a couple minutes that I'm I have some professional coaching, access points where I'll go in and get some ideas that I can use. I've got a full blown list of all the things that I need to accomplish that day that week. I'll plan that out typically on Sundays, but things pop up along the way. And our customers often dictate the pace of the day. So we'll have someone that has an issue that suddenly popped up that I'm leaving here to go meet them because they had a house fire or somebody just is getting ready to retire and they're looking at documents to roll over a retirement account. Or we have somebody that comes in because hey, you know, we just got married, we've got a new baby on the way. What do we do? Right? Because they've they've been around us for a long time. So we we serve our folks, I think dutifully in a fun environment. But day to day for me, we'll have 20 to 30 people in the office day Oftentimes, it's just something as simple as a transaction. But just before we got on, I was talking to somebody about a retirement account, they work for a small business never had access to anything for. And suddenly, we're starting to educate them on, hey, this is this process to help pay yourself into the future. So how are you going to prepare for that? So it's education, it's me coaching my team with what I've learned, inspiring them, rewarding them, often, because they're doing great work for just a small team, we are world leading our marketplace on the life insurance side for our company. And it's just translating the passion that we feel for what we do into the day to day touchpoints that we have with our clients so that they feel that they know we're genuine. They know we're not, you know, pulling out and going to be in a different office. They're not calling an 800 number to get to make, they're calling me, same phone number, same address, same team, we know them. And so as a result of that relationship, we're able to better advise them, and put the products in place to help protect them. And it's exciting for us to see families grow, businesses grow, the wealth of our clients grow. And then when the time comes, when somebody passes, that we have a product in place that's going to help that family maintain their long term plans, even in the absence of a family member. So it's a gratifying profession, Chris, I know, you know that it's, we're lucky to be able to do what we do. We often complain that you know, the toughest part about this job is that it starts over every day. But the best part about this job is that it starts over every day. So we get a chance to make an impact. And we take that seriously.

Chris Gandy 31:55

Alright, so So Paul, we're going to move to the lightning round. So I know we probably don't know. But Suzanne, do you have any other questions before we move to the speed round? If not, I'll prep him. So he's, he's prepared. Do you have anything else? Suzanne?

Suzanne Carawan 32:13

The only thing I'd ask Paul is could you give a little plug for Life Happens in the work you've done there. And as we kind of come to the conclusion of Hispanic Heritage Awareness Month, and you know, this year's spokesperson is Rosalyn Sanchez, but you've been heavily involved in Life Happens too. So maybe just a quick plug about her kind of sister Association Life Happens. Yep, so

Paul Dougherty 32:34

just as a reset for everybody Life Happens is a nonprofit educational organization that the life insurance profession supports. So they get money from a lot of different companies as a as a part of our neutral third party way to educate the American public on the importance of not just life insurance or life insurance Awareness Month, but also disability insurance Awareness month in May every February's ensure your love campaign. And Life Happens has a professional platform that you can actually go into as an advisor, it's called The Life Happens Pro that has great prepackaged content that you can then use as an agent or as an advisor to share with your customers to get them a little bit off kilter. Right? The biggest thing for us to do as advisors is break the inertia of a customer not making a decision. And so Life Happens is an outstanding organization that helps foster those conversations within the profession and within the American public. And so, I'm very pleased to be a board member. And I've just been asked to go through the chairs. So I'll be joining the executive committee in 2023 of Life Happens and I'm very excited about that. And the support that NAIFA provides the Life Happens to it's a really important mission. And I'm excited to continue to carry that torch on behalf of NAIFA but really on behalf of the customers

Suzanne Carawan 34:05

deserve. Congratulations. All right, Coach Gandy Coach Dougherty all right.

Chris Gandy 34:11

So all right, Mr. Dougherty, here we go. So kind of we'll likely through this and got so the key to this is whatever comes to mind first is once you say okay, is we're not going to ordered so a couple questions. Just just just we'll go. You know what we'll understand like how this goes, you ready? There we go. Favorites. favorite all time sports player. Art monkey. Art mug. That's it.

Suzanne Carawan 34:42

That's s number 81. Yeah.

Chris Gandy 34:47

Your favorite movie of all time. It's a Wonderful Life. A Wonderful Life. Your favorite meal? It's this is your last day on the face of earth. What would you choose as your favorite meal?

Paul Dougherty 35:00

I'm fixing it in his pasta with red sauce. Anybody Anywhere? Anytime come to my kitchen, I'll throw down right now.

Chris Gandy 35:11

And then the best advice somebody's ever given you?

Paul Dougherty 35:21

That's that's a great question.I would say that it goes back to the question you asked me earlier, your capacity is far greater than you can even see. Got it? And then whether that's as a professional or as a, as a partner, as a family member, or as a friend, you've got more in the tank than you,

Chris Gandy 35:41

you know, you have. And then last but not least, last but not least is if you could choose to come back as a as a famous person, who was you come back as anybody in history,

Paul Dougherty 36:03

great questions. Anybody in history? Wow, that's really that's really tough. I'm torn. I'm going back to, you know, the folks that have had such a profound impact on who we are. Whether that's, you know, Ulysses S Grant, or Abraham Lincoln or Roosevelt or Jimmy Stewart, I think those guys have had a pretty good run as well.

Chris Gandy 36:22

All right. Well, we thank you so much. Well, number one for your service. We thank you so much for participating in being a wonderful guest of it, our Advisor Today podcast, you know, we can't do and continue, you've laid some great groundwork that we have worked to do. You you've you've given us vision, and you've led from the front, and now everybody has to commit to continuing to take that and you're really well with it. So we appreciate everything you do. Who what who you are what you stand for any parting words. Now, listen, I

Paul Dougherty 37:15

want to thank you, Chris, not just for the opportunity today, but for your leadership as well. It's important to us to see just what this organization has in its future. And with you as a part of that leadership team. It's amazing. Suzanne and the team in the NAIFA staff are just remarkable. We can't thank them enough for supporting what it is that we have to do. And I look forward to seeing everybody at the NLC.

Chris Gandy 37:42

And I'll see you we'll be we'll be fun. Suzanne, do you do you have any parting words before I kind of give everybody a goodbye,

Suzanne Carawan 37:49

I would say congratulations, Paul. And Life Happens going through the chairs. It's gonna be great. Congratulations, Chris, because our 2022 diversity champion of the year and will be celebrated at National Leadership Conference. And the last thing I'd say if you're listening to this, and you're not yet a member, please do so join us. You can hear how great the crowd is here at NAIFA. You can go to belonged@NAIFA.org/join. And if you are a member, thank you so much for serving.

Chris Gandy 38:15

So with that being said, we got you know, a couple of great nuggets from Paul today. You know, he truly is he gave us a couple of key things but don't be the person as he mentioned, that's a mile wide and an inch deep. It only matters the fact that the people you that you the lives in which we touch. And so we're thank you for tuning into Advisor Today, NAIFA's podcast, where we uplift, promote, educate each other for the purpose of the greater good, go out and have a great, great, great month and we look forward to seeing it and I'll see thank you so much for being here. We'll see you soon.

Outro 38:56

Thanks for joining us for NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast series. Make sure to subscribe to get future episodes. And if you're interested in coming on the show, let us know

30 min read