The Siegfried Group capped its multi-day 2024 Siegfried Summit event with its National Meeting on Saturday, September 28. The day started in style with a dynamic comedy duo, dubbed the ‘Siegfried Superfans,’ introducing CEO and Founder Rob Siegfried to the stage amid laughter and cheers. The pair ended their opening bit with “What does Siegfried do?”

“I was really curious how they were going to answer that, but they left it in our hands,” shared Rob as he took the stage. “At the end of the day, we are a service company, which means being of-service to other people. But you have to be of-service to yourself first. We’re here to help you take charge of your own life, recognize what’s most important to you, and then make the most of it for yourself and others.”

Rob concluded his opening remarks by introducing featured guest speaker Simon Sinek, an author, entrepreneur, and unshakable optimist. Simon participated in a live Q&A, hosted by Dave LaRue, friend of the Firm, entrepreneur, and a member of Siegfried’s Advisory Board. 

Recognizing success as a journey

Prior to the event, Siegfried collected employee-submitted questions to pose to Simon in his time on stage. The themes of the questions centered around transformational growth, maintaining positivity, and adopting new perspectives to achieve dreams.

“I think the biggest mistake is we treat business and our lives like a sporting event,” offered Simon. “We treat things as if they all have a beginning, middle, and end. We don't treat them as part of a journey or part of a continuum, which is what they actually are.”

According to Simon, delivering results on the journey of success comes from having an ‘infinite mindset,’ regardless of whether initial goals are actually achieved. “What happens if you don’t hit that weight goal you wanted? Nothing. But you’re in way better shape now than you were before daily exercise. And this is what it means to embrace transformation, to embrace an infinite mindset. It means you just you have the discipline to do this work, and you do become a better version of yourself. You do become a better colleague. You do become a better friend. These things are 100% guaranteed to happen if you simply just stick with the work, just like exercise.”

Invest in friendships

Simon also spoke on the commitment to being a better friend. In his view, friendship solves many of our contemporary challenges: anxiety, loneliness, and depression.

“Friendship is the ultimate biohacker,” explained Simon. “And yet there's very little about how to be a good friend. Most of us think we're good friends, but we actually aren't. I think part of being a good friend is to tell people that they matter to you in a way that we usually reserve only for romantic relationships. The only way to successfully make it through life as a happy person is if you're willing to let other people in to help you, and the more we invest in friendships, the more we will find the challenges we face are not that different.” This point proved to resonate with all attendees and came up frequently in conversations and survey responses.

The Power of We

Following Simon’s Q&A, the event featured a segment titled ‘The Power of We’ featuring Rob Siegfried, Andrew Lavelle, Executive Vice President & CFO, and George Siegfried, Executive Vice President. The group highlighted the Firm’s commitment to its values as well as positive forecasts for future success, and how employees could help achieve it.

“First and foremost, this weekend’s events and the messages we’ve shared highlight the commitment to our employees, our culture, and our higher purpose,” stated Andrew. “It would have been easy to look at this meeting and say, is this important? But we continue to invest in you, invest in the Firm, and invest in the long-term view of success that we can all share in as part of this private company, founder-led organization.”

Part of the investment, and the efforts behind it paying off, are down to individual transformational growth and authentic relationships. “We’re a transformational company, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy,” reflected George. “Part of the secret sauce here is the way we connect with our people and synergize with our clients to help them meet and exceed their goals, personally and professionally, and that’s what drives our continued success.”

Ride the hype train home

The National Meeting was part of the larger Siegfried Summit event, which brought together employees from all over the country for the All is Aglow welcome party, a MY Journey® live event, Siegfried Summer Camp, and more. The conclusion of the National Meeting was marked with an exciting remix to the Siegfried Song performed by the Siegfried Superfans. Shortly after, Siegfried employees took over Omnia Nightclub for the famous tradition of The Variety Show, completing another unforgettable weekend in celebration together.

More information about the Firm is available at siegfriedgroup.com.

About The Siegfried Group, LLP (Siegfried)

Siegfried is an entrepreneurial leadership organization that provides financial executives with a powerful combination of leadership advisory, talent delivery, and financial advisory support services. Through this strategic bundle of services, leaders and financial decision makers can better clarify the best path forward and we can assist them with getting their most important work done right. For more than 35 years, we’ve worked with our clients to deliver more than just success.

Our higher purpose is to help people transform themselves into better leaders to exponentially improve their lives.