Be Humble, Be Respectful, Be Confident

October 02, 2019

Betterment CEO Joe Stein has a brilliantly simple way of explaining what they do:

We try to do all the things you would do with your money if you had unlimited time and patience to manage it expertly.

This is worth breaking down. His proposition may or may not have been workshopped, but it’s definitely not purely off the cuff.

“We try to do…” – they’re humble and won’t claim perfection

“All the things you would do” – they’re respectful of their target client’s intelligence

“If you had unlimited time and patience to manage it expertly” – they’re mindful of the investment in the intellectual property they’ve made to be professionals and in practice.

When we’re communicating with our target clients we can borrow (or steal) from this template: be humble, be respectful, be confident in our professionalism. It’s so simple, and yet so effective.

Check out Stein’s whole interview on the Business Casual Podcast from Morning Brew.