Of course you want to focus on what adds the most value for clients. And with robo advisors serving up in nanoseconds what used to take days, it’s obvious managing portfolios is no longer the way to do that.

Instead, you need to build your practice around the kind of personalized guidance computers simply can’t provide. Maybe you’ve even rebranded yourself accordingly. But it’s one thing to talk the talk.

Our guest this week on Elementality is Apollo Lupescu, who knows what it takes to actually walk the walk. As Vice President at Dimensional Fund Advisors, he’s spent the last 17 years helping advisors implement evidence-based investing and grow their businesses via the efficient processes it enables.

Apollo made his way to DFA via a rather unlikely route. Born in Romania, he earned his entrepreneurial chops in the government-controlled economy of his youth. The research he did in academia, his next step along the journey, formed the basis for his “never have to say sorry” investment philosophy.

In this episode, he and Reese Harper discuss the difference between risk and volatility, between a true advisor and a facilitator, between business processes that constrain and those that liberate, and how all that matters to your clients’ perception of your firm’s value.