The One Time “Team” Became a Solo Act

How a Shared Vision Quietly Became a One-Person Plan

Growth is non-negotiable in any fast-moving industry. Technology advances, client expectations rise, and scale increasingly matters.

Human-capital-intensive businesses—wealth management, asset management, retirement consulting—are no exception. For owners and CEOs, the pressure is constant: grow faster, expand sooner, and stay ahead of increasingly well-capitalized competitors.

Acquisitions often sit at the center of that strategy. They promise management talent, broader geographic reach, expanded service offerings, and the perennial appeal of cross-selling—an idea championed most famously by Sandy Weill during his time at Citigroup. The logic is compelling, and the pressure to execute is real.

It’s a modern-day version of the 19th-century Homestead Act that fueled the westward land grab in the United States. There was only so much land.

And, so the thinking goes, only so many wealth managers.

At Sheridan Road, as we grew from approximately $50 million in AUM/AUA in 2005 to more than $15 billion a decade later, we were driven. Not only to be thought leaders in an industry long defined by lifestyle practitioners, but to grow at a pace few believed was possible.

That intensity produced extraordinary results. It also created blind spots.

After a series of successful acquisitions that expanded our footprint to more than ten cities, there was one market I felt compelled to enter. In the urgency to grow, we temporarily lost our way and violated the cardinal rule of M&A:

Culture matters more than the economics of any deal.

We acquired a business where we did not share a common vision for collaboration—one that had been central to our firm from the beginning.

The warning signs appeared quickly after closing. Conversations started with “I,” “me,” and “my.” Clients were his or hers. Integration was resisted. Collaboration was optional.

It became clear that the culture we had so carefully built—and fiercely protected—was at risk of being infected. Instead of focusing on growth, leadership time was consumed by managing friction and second-guessing a decision that never should have been made.

I see this pattern repeatedly. When leadership teams overlook red flags around culture, vision, and mission, those issues rarely stay contained. They distract management, erode trust, and quietly undermine the broader strategy.

As painful as it was, we reversed course quickly, unwound the deal, and were able to part on relatively good terms.

We wanted the AUM. We wanted the clients. We wanted the market access.

But then again, we didn’t want an “I” in our team.

And no amount of growth is worth that trade.