Ep 492: Getting Your (Virtual) Team's Best Work Through Steward Leadership On The Growth Path To $500M with Mary Chapman
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.7 • 719 Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2026
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It takes intentionality to build a thriving hybrid workplace without losing accountability, culture, or client experience. In this FASuccess, Mary shares how she has successfully blended remote flexibility with high standards by applying the principles of steward leadership.
Mary Chapman is the chief operating officer of Cummings Wealth Management Group, a hybrid advisory firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, that oversees $500 million in assets under management for 260 client households. In this episode, Mary shares how clear communication, defined expectations, and intentional workflows can create a stronger team culture while still giving employees the freedom and flexibility modern workplaces demand. We also talk about how her firm structures its hybrid work model, what has reduced the need for micromanagement, and how they ensure the client experience remains consistent no matter where employees are located.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/492
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with |
| 0:07.1 | financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading |
| 0:12.4 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.4 | and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next |
| 0:22.2 | level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:29.0 | Welcome to the 492nd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcasts. My guest on today's |
| 0:34.9 | podcast is Mary Chapman. Mary is the chief operating officer of Cummings |
| 0:38.7 | Wealth Management Group, a hybrid advisory firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, that oversees |
| 0:43.5 | $500 million in assets under management for 260 client households. What's unique about Mary, |
| 0:49.5 | though, is how she has applied lessons from her research into steward leadership to build |
| 0:54.0 | communications mechanisms, processes, and expectations to help her firm continue to is how she has applied lessons from her research into steward leadership to build communications |
| 0:54.6 | mechanisms, processes, and expectations to help her firm continue to thrive as it transitioned |
| 0:59.8 | into a hybrid work environment. In this episode, we talk in depth about how Mary leverages the |
| 1:05.4 | steward leadership approach to set high and specific recommendations for team members, for example, |
| 1:09.8 | picking up the phone after the second ring so they can see who is calling on caller ID, how Mary finds that clarity |
| 1:15.1 | is kindness when it comes to communicating these expectations, both upfront when interviewing |
| 1:19.1 | new employees and during regular evaluations after they joined the firm, and how Mary created |
| 1:23.8 | processes and workflows in her firm's CRM that create accountability for employees |
| 1:28.0 | while allowing for the flexibility benefits remote work can offer without her having to |
| 1:32.2 | micromanage them. We also talk about how Mary's firm operates a time-in-location hybrid model that |
| 1:37.8 | has client-facing team members spend more time in the office while allowing the firm to tap |
| 1:41.9 | into talent nationwide for back office employees, |
... |
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