Client Experience Leadership and the Future of Financial Advice

Taryn Huett [00:01] Hello and welcome to If You Could with Matt and Taryn. I'm Taryn Huett and today we're doing something a little different. I'm taking over the mic. That's right everyone. It is just me hosting today. Although we've had a lot of great conversations on If You Could, we've been missing a pretty important one and that's with our own chief client officer, Matt Enyedi. One of the reasons Matt was such a natural fit to host this podcast is that his entire role is built around representing the voice of the client. And beyond that title, after 23 years with LPL, he brings a perspective that shaped so much of how we think and operate and serve our clients across the firm. And he also just naturally embodies the spirit of if you could by always asking what's possible, what's next and how do we start to think differently and bigger about the future?

Taryn Huett [01:02] Which, when you think about it, probably makes him an even better choice to be a guest than a co-host today. So ladies and gentlemen, I am very excited to welcome LPL's group managing director of client success and chief client officer Matt Enyedi.

Matt Enyedi [01:23] Hey, Taryn.

Taryn Huett [01:24] And Matt, officially welcome to If You Could, longtime listener, first time guest.

Matt Enyedi [01:30] Long time listener, longtime host, first time guest. And I can tell you, this seat is a lot warmer than the one I normally sit in.  I'm not sure I like this feeling.

Taryn Huett [01:38] I know it's different dynamic. You're in the hot seat. I mentioned in the intro that you have been here for 23 years, but that's not where your story begins. So I wanna go back to the beginning and can you take us back to what first drew you into this industry?

Matt Enyedi [01:56] It's funny, I didn't, like, seek out this industry or this life in, in many ways. And in many ways, it found me. If I think back to kind of being a recent college grad, I was wandering a little bit. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. Moved between a couple of jobs and I knew that I wanted to be in service. I wanted to have an impact on people. And I was kind of always a numbers science data geek at the same time. And randomly, I just decided, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna go to medical school. And so I quit my job. I went back to school to do some of my prerequisites, anatomy, physiology, started studying for my MCAT. And I really thought this is the path I'm going down. At the same time, think mid to late '90s, the tech boom is happening, the dot-com boom is happening.

Matt Enyedi [02:44] And it just so happens that my mom, a lifelong educator, an English teacher by trade, was working for this educational technology company called Lightspan. They threw a dot-com at the end of the company's name. They went public and suddenly as a founding member of that company, she was a dot-com millionaire and she did not know what to do. And so she called me and she's like, "Honey, I need your help. I don't know how to manage any of this. I don't know what this means." And so I, you know, started looking into that. And as I did and learning about 144 stock and how long the holding period was and learning about floats and market caps and understanding the market dynamics, I just fell in love with this business. I fell in love with the complexity of the numbers, but also on the other side of it, folks who need help, folks who have sudden wealth, folks who are trying to figure out how to determine what's next and what to do and having no experience in it whatsoever.

Matt Enyedi [03:39] And so quickly I changed paths and went from pursuing a degree in medicine to deciding I was gonna be a financial advisor.

Taryn Huett [03:47] It's interesting to try and picture you as being a doctor. I wonder what kind of doctor do you think you would've been? I mean, I have my guess on what you would've been, but - I

Matt Enyedi [03:55] Don't know for sure, but I'm guessing probably pediatrician - Yeah. Would be the path that I would've gone. My pediatrician, Dr. Molnar, you rest in peace, Dr. Molnar.  He was the coolest dude who ever lived. In fact, I think he was my doctor till I was like 23 years old.  I was the only grown man reading Highlights Magazine in the waiting room looking at the goldfish. But he was a really inspiring person and, and I knew whenever I saw him, he knew what to do and he cared about the result. And, and I think that's probably driven me to how I think about what I do too and what our clients do every day as well.

Taryn Huett [04:28] Well, we're grateful that you, uh, didn't go to the doctor path. You started in this industry as a financial advisor, but then you made a certain pivot to the home office side. So what made you make that transition?

Matt Enyedi [04:42] Well, I did it for about five years from like 1999 until July of 2003 when I joined LPL. And the fact of the matter is, is two things. It's a hard job and I wasn't very good at it. I was pretty good at getting new clients. I was, understood the business. Uh, I, I really enjoyed helping people. I was terrible at investing others' people's money. And this is probably another one of the first lessons I learned in this industry. Working for a wirehouse, the recommendations that they make for you to make for your clients are not necessarily in the best interest of those clients. In fact, I can remember one of the old timers came to me when I was there and he said, "Hey, Matt, just so you know, our job is to protect our clients from the firm." And I thought, "That's a terrible business model." And I was the collateral damage of a business model that built that way.

Matt Enyedi [05:31] They put strong buys on things that they underwrote, not because they were the best thing for our clients, because they were the best things for them to get more deals. And I realized I loved this business. I wasn't a great advisor. I did not like the wirehouse world, but I wanted to stay in it. And LPL kind of came out of nowhere. I had a friend who was like, "Hey, there's this company called LPL Financial. They got this job offering that looks like something you'd wanna do, helping advisors build advisory practices." And I'm like, "Oh, man." I was a firm believer in writing on the same side of a table of a client. And I thought, maybe I can't help individual investors very well, but I bet I can help these individuals grow and enhance their business through advisory. And that was my first job at LPL.

Taryn Huett [06:12] We've talked about it. You've spent two decades here and I've seen firsthand the deep connection that you've been building with our advisor community. I mean, many of them, because of your tenure, have grown up alongside you. Can you walk us through some of the roles that you've held and the teams that you've led?

Matt Enyedi [06:29] Yeah. Look, I've, I've been here for a long time and I think I've probably had as many jobs as I've had years at this place. I started in advisory. I moved to strategy. I helped kick off and run our RIA custody business. I've worked in data analytics and marketing and communications, supervision, service, wealth management, business solutions. It seems that every time there was an opportunity, I tended to raise my hand and see if I could be of value in that space. And so I think it gave me a lot of insight into the totality of this business. And, and honestly, an appreciation for what other parts of the company are doing. Because I think sometimes we can become insular and we can think, "My job's hard. These people are getting in my way." But having been in a lot of those other people's shoes, I realized everyone's job is hard and everyone's trying to do the best they can.

Matt Enyedi [07:21] And I think it taught me, you have to assume positive intent of all the people you're working with because they are trying to do a good job and there are things in their way and there are challenges that they face. And I think by being in a lot of those different places, I recognize and apreciated that we're all facing that. And I think it allows me to give more grace and more understanding with the teams I'm working with and, and certainly an appreciation for what we're trying to do for our advisors and our institutions.

Taryn Huett [07:44] I think assuming positive intent is a good mantra for life in general, not just for work. You know, this advisor community that I feel like has just been your support system, why do you think our advisor base, our client base feels so connected to you and invested in your success?

Matt Enyedi [07:59] My first job was kind of an unknown when I got here. And as circumstances would have, my boss lost his job pretty shortly after I got here. And he was about to go on this kind of nationwide roadshow, meeting with our clients, talking about advisory, going to dinner after dinner after dinner. And it was the first time anyone had LPL had ever gone into the field. And he lost a job about three weeks before that was to occur. And so his boss came to me and he's like, "Hey, Matt, what do you wanna do now that this gentleman's no longer here?" And I said, "You know what? I think I wanna do what he was about to do." And that kinda set forth my trajectory because I was supposed to be gone for two months. I always joke I was gone for about two and a half years.

Matt Enyedi [08:39] And that time was spent in our advisor's offices learning, listening, and it was amazing. These were some of the iconic advisors of LPL from the '90s to the early 2000s who were building these incredible practices and transforming the industry and really shaping for what it is today. And I got to be on the front row of watching that and then bringing that information and coalescing into a kind of accumulated thought and learning. I could then pass that on to others. And so why do I think that advisors gravitate hopefully toward me is I think one is I sat in their shoes and I wasn't very good at, and I think they like to hold that on me. Two is I think they recognized that I was curious and I wanted to learn and listen. I was always gonna be accountable to the things that they needed.

Matt Enyedi [09:22] And, and now as an elder statesman, a lot of us have just been on this shared journey together. Like we've been traveling these roads together. Like a lot of these folks who have been here for 25, 30 years got here just around the same time I did. And just as I've watched their businesses grow up, they've watched me grow up. And I think that creates a really special connection between us.

Taryn Huett [09:42] Yeah. I would agree. You also were talking about that role that you took on and really raising your hand be- before maybe others though you were ready, but you were saying, "Even if I'm not ready, I know I can do it." Which wants me to touch a little bit on some of the key learnings and lessons that you've had across your tenure, which we've gotten a little bit of insight - Yeah. But I wanna pull on it a little further.

Matt Enyedi [10:03] Yeah. There, there are certainly a lot and certainly more for me to get along the way. I think that's one of the cool things about life and, and this business is you're never done learning. You're always pursuing the next idea and trying to listen and collect those kind of lessons from the past and those ideas of the future and, and bring them into something, uh, that's cohesive and, and can drive an outcome. But I mentioned I kind of led our data analytics group for a minute. That was one of the greatest experiences that I had because suddenly I'm surrounded by all these data scientists who are incredibly brilliant. Some of them are rocket scientists and they're doing regression analysis and they're giving data and insight that allows you to understand where you're at and, and hopefully give you predictions for what to do next. And it was an aha moment because one of the things that I started to see was from time to time, I would get a collection of data, but I'd also be talking to clients on the other side.

Matt Enyedi [10:53] And sometimes the data that I was receiving and the feedback that I was getting from the clients, they just didn't mesh. And my initial instinct was the data must be right. These insights from a handful of folks must not be representative of what's really going on. And I leaned on the data. And, and it was a few years back, we were actually having a conversation with some executives from Amazon and they were actually dealing with the same dilemma. Data says one thing, clients say another. What do we do? And they actually came to the conclusion, which I fully align to and subscribe to now, which is when the data and the insights don't match, trust the insights, not the data. Trust the anecdote, not the science. Because there's something that is very rich and textural in the individual insights and verbatims and feedback sometimes the data doesn't capture.

Matt Enyedi [11:40] Either ask the wrong question or the averages or large numbers skew the actual underlying impact. And I take that to heart every single day. I challenge the data more than I challenge the insights. And I try to bring that when I'm dealing with my colleagues because they're presenting me data all the time. My team is present. You're presenting me data all the time. And I wanna just make sure we're hearing the voice of our client too. And when you put those two together, I think you land on really great outcomes.

Taryn Huett [12:06] You really think about taking a step back, thinking about the full holistic picture when you're making decisions. Yeah.

Matt Enyedi [12:13] You should be excited to make decisions, but the more decisions you make, the more mistakes you're gonna make as well. And I think one of the great lessons that I've learned is to own your mistakes. Own them. To run away from them, to hide them, to defer them, to try to pass them on to someone else. It gets you stuck. It gets you stuck in this position of blame rather than what you really need to do is when a mistake has been made, is solve for it and move forward and make sure you don't make that mistake again. So I really subscribe to owning your mistakes, but I also subscribe to giving away your victories because there is something really powerful about sharing a win with somebody else. You own a mistake, you take relief off of them, but when you give them a victory, you give them purpose, you give them joy, and you give them the ability and the desire to want to do more.

Taryn Huett [13:02] Just based off of what we've been hearing, you bring this unique combination to your leadership. I would say it's arguably a superpower for LPL. You know, we've talked about how you're a steward of the firm's history with this deep institutional knowledge that you've been building over decades. And at the same time, you also bring this forward-looking perspective that continually pushes us to evolve, adapt, and, and really lead into what's next.

Matt Enyedi [13:30] Yeah. I do have the, the benefit of being here for a long time and seeing this company's history and learning along the way from our founder to PE ownership to public company to challenged public company to changes in CEOs and then all the geopolitical backdrop behind it and market backdrop behind it. And look, I love it. I'm a student of history. You know this. I geek out on history. Heck, one of my favorite lines ever by Harry Truman was, "The only thing new in this world is the history you don't know." And it tells us that most of the things we're dealing with happened in some form or fashion sometime in the past, which oftentimes gives me great comfort because when I think things are really different this time, I can see that maybe they've been done that way before and there's a way through.

Matt Enyedi [14:15] But I also love the line, "If you don't learn from your past, you're doomed to repeat it." And I think where you have to think about history and experience is it doesn't give you the answers. It gives you the best questions. You know which questions to ask because you've seen those questions be asked before and now you can kind of start to reel through it. And so, yeah, maybe we did try something five years ago, but are things different today? Did the world change? Did we have a great idea but just execute poorly? Was the technology that we needed to be successful not in place and now it is? Did we not make it a key focus or a priority? And so we under-resourced it and that's why it failed. And so I think the biggest lesson for me and the thing that I, I always try to bring to my experience is use it as a leverage point to ask great questions that are steeped in understanding versus assuming I know the right answers.

Taryn Huett [15:08] This combination of your ability to look ahead without forgetting the past part of what sets you up perfectly to be the chief client officer, which Rich named you earlier this year. And it's a significant responsibility. I'd love from your perspective how you define it and what responsibility do you personally feel comes with that title?

Matt Enyedi [15:29] The way I think about it is I am the steward. Our team is the accountable party to the firm's mission. And the firm's mission, I think most folks know, to ensure the success of our clients every step of the way. First, it means we're the responsible party for the outcome. But the outcome is defined by them and everyone sees success, depending on where they are in their lifecycle, lightly different. Whether they just got here, whether they've been here for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, or they're thinking about succession, it is our responsibility and, and, and I feel like our team's accountability to make sure that happens because look, yeah, we have a, a good sized team and we're on the field helping with liquidity and succession and M&A and success management and, and we're doing great communications and marketing. Like we own a lot, right?

Matt Enyedi [16:12] We are responsible for a lot, but we are accountable for a lot more than we are responsible for. And that can feel unnerving sometimes because I can tell you early days, I'm kinda like, "Oh, that one's not going well. I wish we were responsible for it because I can't control it. And I don't like being accountable to something that I can't control." Do

Taryn Huett [16:31] You have an example of it?

Matt Enyedi [16:32] Absolutely. Think about if technology is, is h - being challenged or the service outcomes aren't the way we want them to be, or the strategy of this new business line isn't exactly what I think it should be. I wanna just own it. That's the natural response. I think that's natural response of a lot of us. But if you're gonna be a scaled player, you can't be responsible for everything. You actually have to lean on your partners and the reality is technology's in much better hands than Greg Gates. Service and operations are in much better hands than Matt Audette. And so what I see my responsibility is, is to make sure I represent the voice of the client collectively to all of our responsible parties. And so I spend most of my time working with Greg and with Matt and with Matt Morningstar and with Marc Cohen, with Aneri Jambusaria, what they and their teams are doing every day for our clients.

Matt Enyedi [17:23] And then I wanna make sure they're hearing from me and from our teams what our clients are telling us. But that collaborative process so much fun and I love having that responsibility of being the voice of the client, of listening to them, talking to them, reading their NPS scores, looking at verbatims, making phone calls, talk to them at conferences and trying to get a collective view of what they're thinking, of what they need, of what matters most, of what's not working and how do we need to go solve for, because we've always got more opportunities than we have resources. And so my job is to help represent the client's voice as to where those resources go and then partner with my teammates to bring it to life.

Taryn Huett [18:02] So I wanna go a little bit deeper on this. I first wanna understand, we have so many different channels across the firm. How do you stay connected to how our clients are feeling? I know you talked about the data and the anecdote. I'm assuming there's so much that you also rely on when it comes to keeping a pulse on everything. I want that, but then I also want to click in further to your role as the chief client officer, giving the listeners a little bit more of a tangible example - Yeah. Of things that you're focused on.

Matt Enyedi [18:30] The client success team that we're a part of is fantastic. And we have folks out in the field on the phones interacting with our clients every single day and collecting that data, both kind of scientifically and anecdotally. The other beautiful thing is, is our clients aren't afraid to send me emails or give me phone calls. Oftentimes, they're letting me know of something they need or of a challenge that they face. And so I think we're able to just pull all of those pieces together. I love data. I like to turn that data into insights. We turn those insights into actions, and if we're, if we're good at what we do, we turn those actions into good outcomes. So what are we focused on? So much. Something Matt Audette and I are pairing up on really closely is just the day-to-day experience. And I think there's this constant push and pull between the need for differentiated capabilities and the need for foundational support and structure.

Matt Enyedi [19:18] And when push comes to shove, I tend to be a guy who wants to focus on foundational support and structure. Clear my path, make my life easier. And I know Matt thinks the same way. So we are shoulder to shoulder on transforming the service and operational experience. We wanna do two things with our people. We wanna make sure that everybody in this firm is responsive and everybody is accountable. You get those two things right, responsiveness and accountability. You are really hard to beat. I think that's how Matt lives his life and I see it and how he's building the team and executing. And I think our two teams are getting better and better at reflecting that and building the structure to go along with the ideology. There isn't a more important thing that I think I'm responsible for today.

Taryn Huett [20:01] You mentioned the word accountable a couple times now. You can see that that is really where you've been leaning into improving that client experience across the firm. And when I think about my own experience, because I'm also part of our client success team and, you know, our goal is really to be getting to a place where our firm is proactive. You know, we're identifying the issues and addressing issues before our clients are even feeling that. And then you combine with the productivity gains and digitally enabled enhancements we're driving through AI. And that's how we continue to elevate the overall experience that we deliver as a firm. And I wanna get into AI a little bit with you, you know?

Matt Enyedi [20:42] You can't have a podcast without AI. It's kinda rule.

Taryn Huett [20:44] I know you are just dying to get there, so I'm gonna bring us there. You know, this idea of the human element being enhanced by AI has come up a lot. I'd love to get your perspective on where it's all going and how that human element fits into the future.

Matt Enyedi [21:00] I'm gonna have a contrarian opinion on this. I think absolutely AI is and will transform our world, our industry, surely. But if I think about what's happened in the past, again, using history to ask good questions, a couple things that I've, I've observed. One is technological revolutions can happen really, really fast. You can rewrite code in ways that have never been done before and you can see loop level acceleration. Rewriting human behavior almost always takes the same amount of time. It is slow because we are hard coded biologically over thousands of years to behave in a certain way and do things in a certain way. And I think what we're seeing is a massive transformation of the technology, but we aren't seeing it pull through on the other side because of the amount of behavioral change that's going to be necessary to really realize the value.

Matt Enyedi [21:53] And I think that's gonna be the challenge to all of us. We were actually at our summer strategy and we had Boston Consulting Group come in and they were actually giving a summary of where we are in the nearer term. And their feedback was technology out of control. Growing and, and transforming the world in ways we've never seen before. How much value it's going to bring to the average firm in the near term? Minimal. Because we are so hardwired in our behavior that we're actually not using the tools right. I know that we can be more effective. And, and I know folks are using agents to identify their days. And I though, I have to do the same thing. So I called one of our best product guys and I said, "Hey, I want you to help me build an agent to make me more efficient." He's like, "Okay, cool.

Matt Enyedi [22:35] Let's figure something out. What do you wanna work on?" I'm like, "Well, how about employee reviews? It's something I have to do several times a year."

Taryn Huett [22:40] We're doing them right

Matt Enyedi [22:41] Now. We're doing them right now. It's a, it's time-consuming. It's not my favorite thing to do. He's like, "Okay, cool." And he starts asking me questions about, like, how do you capture today? What templates are you using today? What's the process you use? And I was walking through and a lot of what I was doing is analog. I write it in a notebook. I ask some questions. He's like, "Do you do dictation in your conversations?" I'm like, "No." He's like, "Okay, you're gona need to turn on dictation into your conversations and then create prompts that capture keywords around development so that it can start to submit it into your prompt. You're gonna wanna start uploading all of your materials from all of your one-on-ones, all of your reviews, all of your development plans into the prompt. And by the way, we need to write a really, really sophisticated prompt.

Matt Enyedi [23:20] And we can do it inside a Copilot. A Copilot doesn't write prompts very well. So let's go over to chat or Claude. Write the prompt there, because they're great. Then bring the prompt over. Anyway, you get my point. I'm going to have to change my behavior dramatically to get that increase in productivity. And I'm going to, but I'm gonna have to start slow. And I think that's kind of my advice to our employees and to our advisors alike, is you... Absolutely, there are tools that you can use right now. You can calendar more effectively, you can note-take more effectively. But if we wanna see a movement from five to 10% of productivity gains to 10, 20, 30% of productivity gains, we're gona have to rewire how we work.

Taryn Huett [24:00] And I know also many of our clients have study groups where they're teaching each other how, what are some of the prompts and tools that can have a greater output for their firm and operationalize a lot of their tasks. So I know that so many of us are thinking about it, but it's cool to think about how you're utilizing within the course of your day. You know, if it hasn't already come through in this conversation, I've had this unique opportunity to work with you for a few years. And I've really seen up close and behind the scenes how you show up every day as the chief client officer. First off, I do have to say your energy is unmatched. I still can't figure out how you sustain it day in and day out and also wake up maybe at 4:00 AM, but that energy at 4:00 is sustained until 4:0 PM when I see you at the end of the day.

Taryn Huett [24:45] I don't know how to do it. But what stands out most to me is how much you're constantly challenging us as a firm to raise the bar, to ensure our clients' voices are heard and not just acted on. It's a powerful example of leadership and it's shaping how our entire organization across client success and many other areas show up.

Matt Enyedi [25:05] I hope so. I mean, it's kind of hardwired in me. I'm a very curious, empathetic, impatient person. And I assume our advisors and clients and institutions are too. They're curious because they wanna help people be successful. They're empathetic because they recognize the challenges that our folks are going through every day. Look, when I'm talking to an advisor and they're frustrated, I know it's because they've got a client on the other line who is really freaking out, freaking out about a wire going through to buy a house, freaking out about they've lost their job or they've lost worse, or they've lost someone they love. And so that gives me a great deal of urgency and empathy. And then finally, I am impatient. And when you're impatient, you want answers. And so getting back to kind of the stuff we're working on as far as responsiveness and accountability, I always think that one of the best things you can do, whether it's a hard answer or, or an easy answer, is you just respond quickly.

Matt Enyedi [25:59] And you say, "Hey, I don't know that I have that answer for you yet, Mr. And Mrs. Advisor, but let me work on it. I'll get back to you in 48 hours. Does that work?" Like, just show up. Get to the starting line and answer the gun. I actually think you're gonna deliver far more value than you ever imagined just by showing up for people.

Taryn Huett [26:14] I said it before, but I wanna click more into your leadership style. You know, your role goes beyond serving clients. You're also leading an organization of more than a thousand employees, helping set direction, shape the culture and really guide how we show up every day for our clients and one another. Over the course of your career, what leadership philosophy has really guided you? What kind of leader have you intentionally worked to be and how has that maybe evolved over the course of your career?

Matt Enyedi [26:42] This is something I, I care deeply about. The best definition of leadership that I've ever heard is this, getting people to want to do the things that must be done. Man, that just hits me right in the face and I freaking love it. Because how cool is that? The things that are the most important things to do are the things that everybody wants to do. And that's not natural and it doesn't mean every task that you do is the thing that you love to do. But if you can connect your people to your purpose, if you can connect people to the impact that they're having, give them agency, give them autonomy, give them control and say, "If we do this, great things happen. We win together." I love that idea. And I think the way you do that is you have fun along the way.

Matt Enyedi [27:25] I saw this line the other day that said lightness is a cognitive advantage. Basically, humor is a winning formula and we have to have fun. So I, I really want people to show up as the best version of their authentic selves, to have some fun, to take on big, audacious goals and then win together.

Taryn Huett [27:46] One thing that stands out that I have seen from your leadership is how much you invest in the growth of others. I mean, you make yourself accessible to people looking for guidance. Heck, I've even seen, you know, interns reaching out and you're like, "Yeah, I s - I'll, of course, I'll, I'll schedule time with you." Why is developing others so important to you? And before you answer that, I wanna do a two-parter because at the same time, I also see that you hold yourself to that same standard. You know, you stay intentional about your own growth and development, much like you push those around you. So I'd love your answer. I'm like, why you're so invested in others, but then also how do you push yourself and continue to hold yourself to a high standard?

Matt Enyedi [28:27] When I see someone work really hard, when I see someone raise their hand, when I see someone take a risk, I'm a sucker for it. So when a college kid reaches out to me on LinkedIn or one of our interns gives us a call, uh, Danielle, my admin always, like, rolls her eyes because I'm always like, "Oh, of course, we can schedule 20 minutes." Because I wanna hear

Taryn Huett [28:44] Their - Since you have so much time. Because

Matt Enyedi [28:45] I have so much time. I wanna hear their story and I wanna, I wanna see if I can help them because man, that's a huge lift. If you, if you take that risk and then you get rewarded for that risk, it becomes that self-fulfilling prophecy of taking more risks. And so I love effort, I love hand raisers, and I love helping where I can. As far as myself, I'm in constant practice. Every day is practicing. Every day is trying to get a little bit better, a little bit better version of myself today than I was yesterday and hopefully tomorrow than I am today. Back to a line I really like is, "We are not who we think we are. We are who we practice being." And so who am I practicing being? I'm practicing being a good dad, a good husband, a good leader, a good colleague, a good brother, a good son.

Matt Enyedi [29:27] I set up systems and rigor against what I'm practicing being, and I hold myself accountable to those things. And I also give myself some grace along the way too.

Taryn Huett [29:36] Grit and grace. Grit

Matt Enyedi [29:37] And grace.

Taryn Huett [29:37] All right, Matt, don't know if you know this, but since you are a longtime listener, we do like to end every episode with an if you could question. This is interesting. Yeah.

Matt Enyedi [29:45] That's a cool way to end the podcast. It's such a

Taryn Huett [29:46] Cool way. I know.

Matt Enyedi [29:47] Clear. I like

Taryn Huett [29:48] It. Anything we do. I like it. You know, but I though today we'd end with a lightning round. So I'm gonna hit you with a quick few questions starting with, if you could host a podcast about anything in the world, what would it be?

Matt Enyedi [29:59] I We've talked a lot about this and, and Taryn knows two of my favorite things are food and traveling. So I had this one idea of tacos and travel and you go around, all around the world and eat the very best tacos every country has to offer. So you're largely in South and Central America. Susan,

Taryn Huett [30:14] Can they, can you get beyond? So

Matt Enyedi [30:16] It's seasonal. No, but I, I came up with a new one that follows that same path. It's called The World Is Your Oyster. Oh. You travel to every seafaring town across the globe eating the very best oysters. And mind you, we're gonna eat some seafood and other things along the way and drink some good wine, but you get to go to all these beautiful places around the world, have their oysters and have a conversation around the sites, the scenes, the people, the culture and the food and the drink that go along with it. Well,

Taryn Huett [30:42] You basically took away the tacos just so you could travel other places, because you know if you did tacos, you were gonna be stuck here.

Matt Enyedi [30:48] Tacos was too limiting. It was too

Taryn Huett [30:49] Limiting. Yeah, I get it. If you could pick your favorite podcast episode, what would it be? I know this is a hard one. This

Matt Enyedi [30:57] Is a hard one. Um, all my babies, I love them equally.  Look, we've had some unbelievable conversations. I think p- probably like one of the most dynamic was the one with Kristian Kerr around cryptocurrencies. I still geek out on that one. I love talking to Marc Zabicki every time we get a chance to because there's so much going on in geopolitics and markets. But here's something that I think as I go back and listen to them that stands out for me is yes, all the stories and the conversations and the interviews are fantastic. I love getting to know about the people on the front end, thinking about like Tara Popernik and Saturday morning physics and, and what a geek she is and how beautiful that is and how it translates so well to what she does today. Or talking to Lynn Zheng about she and Charles coming over from China and cold calling after just learning to speak English in the States.

Taryn Huett [31:46] Or the standards they set for their son. Or the

Matt Enyedi [31:48] Standards they set for their kids. Or Julia Carlson and, and the challenge that she had with an accident and how that reset her whole business. It is the stories underneath the business that I think shaped this podcast that shape our world and get me so excited about the next conversation that we get to have.

Taryn Huett [32:06] Last one. If you could only choose one thing that people remembered about you, what would it be?

Matt Enyedi [32:12] One thing is kind of hard, but here's what I would tell you is I love to be inspired. And hopefully when I'm spending time with people, we are finding ways to be inspired by the clients that we meet, by the, the problems that we solve, by the opportunities we take on. We are inspired by the value we're delivering. And then when I put all those pieces together, hopefully we can be inspiring to others as well.

Taryn Huett [32:32] I think that's a perfect place to end. Thank you, Matt. That was so much fun.

Matt Enyedi [32:36] Thank you, Taryn. I really enjoyed it.