Throughout Dr. Daralee Barbera’s life she has had many influences to help guide her to where she is today. Her parents were one of those influences as from a young age they encouraged her and her siblings by telling them they could do or be anything. Gender-related jobs did not exist in their world resulting in Barbera growing up with no recommendations for a gender-based life. 

Achieving goals is something Barbera is passionate about helping others achieve.  “My siblings and I were encouraged to follow our heart and pursue the things that were of interest to us with total support,” Barbera said. Her father was a mechanical engineer and her mother was a homemaker raising four children. By chance all four of the siblings later went into the finance industry. Now, three of them are financial advisors and one is a tax and estate planning attorney.  

Barbera has spent 34 years working in the financial planning industry. She spent four years working as an advisor and 30 years as a managing principal at a comprehensive financial planning company that develops relationships with clients. Her role as manager was responsible for all the financial advisors. Today she is retired with a doctorate in leadership and organizational change and is involved with financial services leadership as well as an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University. 

Working with Others 

Barbera’s specialty is the comprehensive financial planning process. Her work is a client-centric perspective looking at all the assets. It covers a variety of topics from investments, wealth management, advisory programs, securities, comprehensive, insurance, and more.  She worked with the employees and employers as well as the individuals and families. She was responsible for the business of running the financial planning operations of all positions in multiple locations with a multitude of layers of leadership; recruiting, selecting, and training. 

Before Barbera worked in the financial planning industry she was a math teacher. It was during this time she worked with a financial planner. “It changed the way I looked at life,” she said. After this experience, Barbera wanted to get a license to train to help family and friends. “Everyone should have a financial plan, it is so important to have a plan for your life that is on purpose,” explained Barbera. She went on to say that it doesn’t matter how much you do or don’t have, but it’s a very delicate calculation and a super important one.

The Importance of Communication 

Barbera teaches two classes at California Lutheran University; MFP 535 Psychological and Cultural Dynamics of Communication and Persuasion, and MFP 536 Social Psychology of Client Leadership. Although the courses are to earn a Financial Planning degree Barbera said, “Communication is so critical between the clients of financial advisors and the leadership role that the financial advisors take clients lives.”

A Career of Teaching 

From being a math teacher to working in financial planning, to teaching financial planning Barbera has not stopped teaching throughout her career. “My whole career in financial planning was about teaching. Every client I look at like a student and it was my privilege and responsibility to help educate them as much as possible to make informed qualified decisions in their life,” she said. She wants to help others be well informed and to understand financial planning.

With a career surrounding teaching, it is no surprise that Barbera enjoys it and the act of helping others. She likes seeing students in the classroom or a client realize something new about themselves and apply the knowledge to others. “It’s the domino effect of teaching and learning. The power and opportunity for tremendous impact to change so many lives forever,” she said. It’s also the act of applying information forward to others, she explained. 

Her favorite part of teaching is being part of a student’s academic journey and helping encourage it. Barbera thinks of her role as the person of responsibility to create a new frame for the students to look through. She then adds or recreates an old topic into a new topic to learn about. From here “aha moments” develop and that is what makes teaching for Barbera such an enjoyable experience. 

“We are life in motion. Seeing the professionals (students) come together and be interested in their own self-awareness to help their clients is what makes teaching worthwhile,” Barbera said.  

Helping Others Accomplish Their Goals 

Barbera’s passion is to help others and make things better. “Helping people set and accomplish goals to go down a path that may not have previously thought they could,” she said. So much so that Barbera has written a book called What You Can Do… When You Can’t: Twenty-One Days to Personal Success. It’s about looking for the positives and how to be motivated to propel us forward, she explained. As well as having a passion to find the positive and help other people accomplish their goals. 

Barbera describes her teaching style to be influenced by thinking of herself as a facilitator. “It’s to be able to facilitate to bring the students to the table, to challenge, to self-reflect, to figure out how to approach the content and how it applies to themselves. Where are they? Where are they going? How will they use it in the future?” 

Being a Good Professor and Student

A good professor is “Someone who contributes to the academic body of knowledge for their topic,” Barbera said. They bring a new life to teaching by being a guide and helping the students create their own curiosity. Circling back to paying it forward and inspiring other students to hand on the information and knowledge.

A good student is someone who allocates time to do the work and has trust in the school and curriculum explained Barbera. Curriculums to earn a degree can be daunting and overwhelming but the student must trust they will be guided step by step. “Don’t be daunted looking at the whole forest, take it one tree at a time and we will come to the other end,” she said. 

Professors Seeing Something in a Student

Aside from Barbera’s parents, her other inspiration were three teachers. When in school, Barbera stuttered so she decided to go to a speech and debate teacher to learn how to stop stuttering. This decision came after she decided to be a math teacher. Her speech and debate teacher signed her up for competitions and a graduation speech. “That changed my life forever. She saw something. She saw that I could do it,” Barbera said. 

Other teachers that inspired her were her high school and college math teachers. Both encouraged her to get a degree in math and pursue the subject. All three of the teachers saw something in their student, Barbera, and encouraged her. This is something Barbera has taken to heart and pays forward with her students today. 

Looking at the Positive

When she isn’t working or teaching or writing a book, Barbera enjoys creating new things, spending time with her large family, and traveling all over the world. “I am always looking for growth, positive, new things,” she said. 

The interview ended with Barbera sharing her thoughts and perspective on working at California Lutheran University. “I have different frames of reference and the ability to compare to other universities. From the professors to the students, to the care that comes through every email that I see, the care of Cal Lutheran for the students and the community is really exceptional. I think it’s outstanding,” she said. 

About Daralee Barbera: 

Dr. Daralee Barbera is a professor, professional business coach, consultant, speaker, and author with an EdD in Leadership and Organizational Change from the University of Southern California. She is President of Diversified Professional Coaching LLC, is the former EVP of Business Development and VP of Strategic Initiatives at GAMA International, and retired as Managing Principal at Waddell & Reed where she spent 34 years. Daralee has written two books; Women Matter: The Why and How of Gender Diversity in Financial Services and What You Can Do When You Can’t: 21 Days to Personal Success, as well as her dissertation, Financial Literacy for Women and the Role of Financial Education: An Exploratory Study of Promising Practices.

About the Author:

Rosie Baker is an undergraduate student at California Lutheran University, graduating in May 2021. She is studying Communication with an emphasis in PR and Advertising and has a minor in Creative Writing. In July 2020, she published her first book, Mirrors & Windows: Unlocking a New Framework to Envision Your Success, with New Degree Press. 

Diversity has been an important topic this year, but how do you define diversity and what does it mean? Dr. Daralee Barbera is a professor, professional business coach, consultant, speaker, and author with an EdD in Leadership and Organizational Change from the University of Southern California, discusses what it is and how it can be enhanced to grow your practice. 

Diversity covers the various demographics; race, ethnicity, gender, ability, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, and socio-economic status. “When we directly address diversity we are engaged in a respectful and engaged conversation with people that is meaningful, thoughtful, discussing solutions to problems and focusing on strengths,” Barbera said. It is a financial advisor’s job to engage others to solve problems, including diversity issues. 

Understanding the Client 

“The important part is clients can see themselves in our practices, that they feel welcome and our diversity and inclusion is visible to others,” Barbera said. Practices are a community and the client should feel welcomed when they enter. This leads to the question of do you understand the client?

Although 2020 looks different from how we connect with others whether business or personal, Zoom calls still offer the opportunity for advisors to keep and develop connections with clients. In return, advisors can keep and build community relationships and continue to check in with clients. 

People First, Not the Product 

Being a financial advisor means being a good listener. During the time spent with a client, the ratio of listening to speaking should be 4:1 Barbera said. 

It is important during the pandemic to be pandemic sensitive with others. Advisors should apply their best practices and listen, whatever the topic maybe if it is important to them, it’s important to the advisor. “The way we develop their plans is around what is important to them. We share the joy of understanding why this is the perfect plan for them. We want to be able to focus on the qualitative components now more than ever,” Barbera said.

The Importance of Asking Questions 

It is important to understand how questions are asked in order to receive the answer you need to get where you want to go. Keep asking more questions to build a bigger picture, said Barbera. What’s more, even though times are difficult right now, remind clients of the hopes and dreams they had before pre-COVID. These are all still with them but they may need reminding. 

Ask yourself, “When I say something was my message clear, and did it get received correctly? Likewise when a client says something, am I sure I understand the message and I’m receiving it correctly?”Barbera said. Further, it’s important to frame the questions about the person, not the product.

Diversity and Inclusion 

“A client should expect to be part of that planner’s community. They should expect to be put first as a person, for the planner to advocate for them as an individual, and to have appropriate planning based on who they are,” Barbera said. 

Clients should demand a diverse practice to work with when it is sensitive to that client having a seat at the table. Everyone should be hearing their voice and adjusting the meeting environment to their needs and comfort, explained Barbera. 

In order to accomplish what you want to achieve, “You must be an observer of yourself to be able to make sure that what you are trying to accomplish, is being accomplished,” Barbera said. Practices want to attract clients, keep them as clients, and grow them. In order to do this, you must be sure the client experience is tailored to the client. 

Practicing Virtually and Delivering the Client Experience 

During the pandemic, virtual communication has exploded in popularity as it is the only reliable safe way to meet with others. It is safe to assume that virtual communication is going to remain after the pandemic due to its growth in popularity and convenience. 

Holding virtual meetings is very different compared to in-person meetings therefore other experiences need to be created. Barbera suggests being as polished as possible with virtual communication and to be technology competent. 

She also suggests creating an agenda and sharing it with clients. Though everything may be online, it is important to communicate what kind of meeting you will be having with your client. Further, set it up so the client understands the time frame of the meeting. 

Ways to Enhance a Practice?

Here is a list of ideas on how to enhance diversity and inclusion in a practice suggested by Barbera in her webinar:  

Your Team:

• Being virtual is a great opportunity to build a team with complementary professions. What’s more, you can introduce them to the client instantly in a meeting.
• Have a gap assessment on the diversity of your team and hire to fill the gaps.
• Build a referral base.

The Experience:

• Have fresh eyes to evaluate the experience you provide for clients.
• Ask yourself what do you look like from a client’s perspective? 
• What is the client’s experience from the beginning when they get out of their car? Is your message what you intend right from the very beginning? 

Online:

• Looking at your website and social media, do your clients feel included? Does it speak to them? 
• Do you have a signature line on your email? Does it correlate with the message you’re sending?  
• How well does your value proposition resonate with different target audiences? Are you sharing it? Do you have a mission and vision to communicate? 
• Is your language appropriate for all audiences? Is it formal or informal? Is there a gender bias? 

In-person:

• If you eat food with clients or offer food are you sensitive to dietary exclusions? 
• How and where do you conduct your meetings? 

One out of every four women feel rushed by their financial advisor Barbera said. This is not uncommon for other groups too, therefore communication methods and frequencies are important to set clear expectations and understanding when working with clients. 

“Have an integrated financial planning practice where you really build your skills on the interior aspects and exterior aspects of financial planning to bring them together, be all client-centric at all times,” said Barbera as her closing thoughts to the webinar. 

If you would like to learn more about careers in Financial Planning, reach out to the Financial Planning program here at California Lutheran University. 

About Daralee Barbera:

Dr. Daralee Barbera is a professor, professional business coach, consultant, speaker, and author with an EdD in Leadership and Organizational Change from the University of Southern California. She is President of Diversified Professional Coaching LLC, is the former EVP of Business Development and VP of Strategic Initiatives at GAMA International, and retired as Managing Principal at Waddell & Reed where she spent 34 years. Daralee has written two books; Women Matter: The Why and How of Gender Diversity in Financial Services and What You Can Do When You Can’t: 21 Days to Personal Success, as well as her dissertation, Financial Literacy for Women and the Role of Financial Education: An Exploratory Study of Promising Practices.

About the Host:

Dr. Chia-Li Chien is a succession program director at Value Growth Institute, a succession consulting practice dedicated to helping business owners increase their firms’ equity value. Before her private consulting practice, she held several senior management positions in Fortune 500 companies. Dr. Chien is a director of the financial planning program at the School of Management at California Lutheran University. Dr. Chien is a frequent speaker about succession and retirement planning at national conferences and has published three award-winning books, including her most recent publication, “Enhancing Retirement Success Rates in the United States.” Dr. Chien serves on the boards of various national financial service associations. She holds a doctorate in financial planning and is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) as well as Project Management Professional (PMP®).

About the Author:

Rosie Baker is an undergraduate student at California Lutheran University, graduating in May 2021. She is studying Communication with an emphasis in PR and Advertising and has a minor in Creative Writing. In July 2020, she published her first book, Mirrors & Windows: Unlocking a New Framework to Envision Your Success, with New Degree Press. 

“How to Enhance a Diverse Environment to Grow Your Practice?”

Approximately twenty-three percent of CFPs are women, and less than four percent of CFPs are people of color. What steps could we do to help the diversity effort for the financial planning profession?

The discussion includes the following:

• Why is there a need to have a diverse environment?
• Will clients demand a diverse practice to work with?
• What are some ways to enhance a practice?