Monica Lewinsky is giving a keynote at Ron Carson's Peak conference

Brooke’s Note: As a journalist and as a person I like to be surprised. This choice of a speaker, Monica Lewinsky, by a company situated in the heartland and owned by the square-jawed, 5 a.m.-on-the-treadmill Ron Carson certainly accomplished that. It’s not only the choice, it’s the timing. Hillary Clinton is the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Monica is certainly a wrench conservatives like to stick in the liberal gears, and particularly the sweetly humming engine of the Clinton political machine. There’s no risk that Monica Lewinsky will be uninteresting. And, in an industry still desperately seeking its feminine side, she stands a good chance of being highly relevant. But what exactly is the admixture of relevance, sensationalism, informative, political and mind-opening here? I don’t know for sure. I wish we could have gotten Ron himself to comment for this article. What I know for sure is that I find it interesting, and interesting is the side on which we should generally err.

In an a move to boost advisor empathy, raise the profession’s profile among digitally obsessed millennials and just plain shake things up, Ron Carson has chosen Monica Lewinsky as a keynote speaker at the upcoming Peak Advisor Alliance’s Excell conference.

The off-speed pick was made in a purposeful manner, according to Laura Pierson, managing director of Peak Advisor Alliance and with the knowledge that it would be a controversial one.

“This is very deliberate. We seek to challenge the status quo and bring new ideas and new ways of thinking. Our community of advisors is receptive to new ways of thinking. This is the ideal audience to present an unconventional speaker like Monica.”

Peak confirmed that Lewinsky will speak at Excell, the networking and motivational event to be held in Omaha, Neb. from Oct. 7 to Oct. 9. See: The top LPL producer, Ron Carson, has a second RIA-related company, Peak, that could eclipse the stature of the first one.

Peak hosts two meetings each year and this is the firm’s 29th Excell meeting. Registration started yesterday and organizers expect about 500 advisors to attend. Traditional speakers in most conferences include A-list political figures like Ben Bernanke, Al Gore and George W. Bush and motivational speakers that include professional athletes and coaches. This year, Lewinsky will share the bill with NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Lynn Swann and sociologist Christine Carter. See: LPL’s biggest advisor rallies his protégés Nebraska style.

Checking the boxes

Walking the line between entertainment and edification when booking speakers is a “delicate dance,” according to Megan Carpenter, co-founder of Los Angeles-based FiComm Partners, LLC.

“You have to balance name recognition and entertainment value with highly relevant industry content,” she says. “You also have to find speakers who are skilled at delivering this valuable content in engaging, invigorating and powerful ways. It’s not easy to check all these boxes with potential speakers, which is why many conference organizers settle for pure celebrity factor over industry relevance, booking predictable headliners whose celebrity can be leveraged beyond the main stage with private VIP meet and greets, photo ops and autographs.”

Peak has checked all those boxes with the Lewinsky selection, says Pierson.

“We weren’t seeking controversy but what we do seek is to challenge the status quo. Monica is new to the speaker circuit and has not spoken to advisor audiences and we thought she was a positive choice.”

Empathy essential

Monica Lewinsky called herself 'patient zero
of losing a personal reputation on
a global scale almost instantaneously’ in
her TED talk in March.

Lewinsky, 42, entered the pop-culture canon 17 years ago when President Bill Clinton admitted having “inappropriate relations” with her. The former president was subsequently impeached for lying about the liaison. After the scandal, Lewinsky tried her hand at a number of ventures including designing and selling handbags. She ultimately left the public spotlight, and the country, to gain a master’s degree in psychology.

In summer 2014, however, Lewinsky returned to the public eye when she penned an essay for Vanity Fair announcing her intention to publicly advocate for victims of online humiliation and harassment. Earlier this year, Lewinsky gave a highly publicized TED talk in which she called herself “patient zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously.”

Pierson acknowledges that Lewinsky’s name stirs up strong reactions but maintains Lewinsky has important lessons to impart to advisors.

“She’s really lovely and it’s unfortunate how she’s been characterized. My experience is she’s lovely and gracious. I’m anticipating some of our loyal clients may question us about this choice. It’s bold and unconventional. Our answer is really because advisors are human beings in a line of work where possessing empathy is essential to success. Her talk makes you realize the importance of those characteristics in an age where everything is digital. Advisors are a very intelligent professional group of individuals on the whole and we need to raise their awareness on the people on the other side of the screens.” See: One Santa Fe woman’s female-centric approach to advice is attracting clients to her iconoclastic RIA.

Bush and Bernanke again?

This will be Lewinsky’s first address to an audience of financial advisors. Pierson denies that the choice of a keynoter who evokes negative associations with a Democratic administration in the run-up to an election year is politically motivated.

“This is in no way politically motivated,” she says. “Her TED talk was released in the March of this year and we know she’s not spoken to any group of advisors before. We wanted to select a speaker that no one had heard before.”

In fact, Pierson says, one factor in the selection was that Carson, founder of Peak Advisor Alliance, Carson Institutional Alliance and Omaha, Neb.-based Carson Wealth Management Group, had a positive reaction to Lewinsky’s TED talk. See: Why Ron Carson brought Steve Lockshin onto his team and how Betterment fits into their plans.

“He was riveted by it and he thought it was one of the best TED talks he’s seen. We all thought she would be an interesting choice. We’re all used to seeing Ben Bernanke speaking and I’ve seen both of the George Bush’s speech. Once I saw her TED speech, I thought, wow, this is a person who has a very profound message that no one has heard of before.” See: What Tim Welsh had to do over Thanksgiving to break the FPA Australia story.

Ron Carson founded Peak Advisor Alliance, which currently provides coaching for nearly 1,100 advisors in the U.S. and Canada. See: Eavesdropping: Ron Carson gets an electric reception at his PEAK event, and calms the waters surrounding his new RIA.

Online savvy required

Marion Asnes: If you’re dealing with
the wealthy, you need to be
aware of the risks, reputational and
otherwise, that your clients and their
kids face online.

Lewinsky’s appearance at the Peak conference will certainly be a heads-up moment, says Marion Asnes, president of Idea Refinery LLC of New York, but it could also be an enlightening one.

“Lewinsky is an interesting and surprising choice, and certainly a buzz creator. She does have an important and valuable message. As the founding generations of financial advisors look to hand off their businesses to the next generation, and clients look to leave wealth to the next generation, they need to be fully aware of the nuances of online life. This is where the kids live — and it is rife with pitfalls, just like offline life. It is important and helpful to be aware of the good and bad aspects of online communication. People in their 50s think they’re hip to the new world of communication if they sign up for Twitter. That’s a great first step but it’s only that.” See: The 25 financial advisors with the biggest online presences — and a frank analysis of what online omnipotence does (or not) for them.

Scarlet letter

The issue of cyberbullying and public shaming is one that impacts all industries, writes Carpenter in an email.

“She is definitely a recognizable name and her speech about public shaming, cyberbullying, and harassment is clearly a critical topic that will resonate with people worldwide. I personally think her current message is more altruistic — uniting global citizens against an important cause — than it is polarizing,” Carpenter says. See: Josh Brown and Barry Ritholtz, masters of the financial Twitter/blogging universe, launch a robo effort to monetize their followers.

In that sense, Lewinsky’s struggle escape from the long shadow of her notoriety is a story advisors need to hear, according to Asnes.

“I am sure that Monica’s traveled a long way from her intern days, and yes — she did wear the modern version of a Scarlet Letter. There’s a mob mentality online that’s a little scary. If you’re dealing with the wealthy, you need to be aware of the risks, reputational and otherwise, that your clients and their kids face online.” See: Social media is effective with ultra-wealthy clients but forget the Morgan Stanley approach.

Celebrity time-waster?

Even so, Carson runs the risk of advisors perceiving that Lewinsky’s message is too far out of their wheel house to be relevant to their work.

“The biggest risk with this approach is in delivering content that is entirely irrelevant to your audience. We work with business owners, entrepreneurs, and successful executives whose most precious asset is time,” says Carpenter. “These people may attend your conference to get a signed football by a Hall of Fame quarterback once, but will it keep them coming back next year? Probably not. RIA decision-makers are much more interested in bottom-line impact. They want to make relevant connections, learn new solutions to their most pressing concerns, debate trending industry topics, share innovative ideas, and challenge their thinking much more than they want to get a celebrity autograph.” See: Tony Robbins prohibits reporters from covering his two-hour MarketCounsel speech.

Marie Swift: I plan to be
there to hear Monica Lewinsky’s talk
and to be a part of
the standing ovation.

One conference that has been successful in walking that thin line is MarketCounsel, the advisor consultancy firm based in Englewood, N.J., Carpenter says. She works with MarketCounsel organizing their annual conference.

“MarketCounsel has perfected the art of speaker lineups, managing to keep the content entirely relevant to the RIA audience while keeping attendees engaged and intrigued. Sure there is shock factor in headliners like Mark Cuban and Eliot Spitzer, but those of us in the audience were more shocked by their deep industry knowledge and relevant content. When you’re able to provide attendees with content that makes a difference to their business, they’ll keep coming back year after year.” See: Tony Robbins walks past the close a bit but nonetheless delivers at MarketCounsel.

Brand new

Marie Swift, founder of Impact Communications, Inc., a public relations firm based in Leawood, Kansas empathizes with Lewinsky’s situation and is interested in hearing what she has to say.

“Yes, she made some mistakes as a young adult — who doesn’t? But the loss of reputation and dignity, the public harassment and cruelty she suffered, sends chills down my spine,” she writes in an email. “As a mother with a young adult daughter myself, I was moved to tears this morning as I watched Lewinsky’s March 2015 TED Talk. She makes so many good points. We have become desensitized as a culture. We forget that people are dimensional; they have a soul. A single click can be heard around the world. People can be branded permanently — for better or worse — now that anyone can post whatever they want on social media and Internet sites. Online content, especially shaming, is amplified and unconstrained on social media sites. Content posted online has a lifespan of, well, forever. Secure sites and apps such as Instagram are neither temporary nor secure.”

Sympathy aside, Swift is convinced that Lewinsky’s message about taking control of your personal brand is relevant to advisors. See: What lessons can Barron’s #1 rated financial advisor teach us?

“It is important that financial advisors and firms that serve them get very clear on who they are, how they add value, and what they stand for in the professional realm. It is important to be a business leader, both online and off. When the TED organization first posted Monica Lewinsky’s video on public shaming, the haters came out in force — so much so that TED’s social media manager was brought to tears on more than one occasion. It is a very bold move for Peak Advisor Alliance to bring Monica Lewinsky to keynote at their fall Excell Meeting. I plan to be there to hear Monica Lewinsky’s talk and to be a part of the standing ovation.”