257 Mike Scovel / Stop Trying to Avoid Failure. It's the Price of Getting Great.
43m | Oct 30, 2026In this episode of the Elite Financial Advisor Podcast, Mike Scovel, Dallas Managing Partner at New York Life, joins Sten Morgan, CFP®, to break down why the advisors who fail the most are often the ones who grow the most. Mike started in the business at 22, made partner at 24 and managing partner at 29, and has led advisors for close to 30 years.
Mike explains why baseball's all-time winners also hold the all-time losing records, why likability and courtesy matter when you hire, how a commission business builds a floor that rises every year, and why effective activity beats cold-call volume. He also shares the hotel-room retreat he uses to create vision, how boredom quietly stalls mid-career advisors, and the question every established advisor should ask: "Is this it?"
Prospecting is the first of the three focus areas of EAN's Elite Model, and Mike's advice to pick your own activities and fill your calendar with effective time fits right in.
As Mike puts it: "If you're not failing, all I would tell you is you're just not growing."
In This Episode
- The greatest champions were also the greatest failures. Cy Young, Rickey Henderson and Pete Rose hold both the records and the losing records.
- Your floor keeps rising. Commission income will always go up and down, but assets under management and residual income lift your baseline every year.
- Pick your own activities. Ask ChatGPT or Claude for activity ideas by category, choose the ones you'll actually do, and review the list with someone you trust.
- Vision is creation. Mike books a hotel room with a pad of paper, no phone and no TV, and writes until the ideas come.
- Ask yourself when you last made a substantial change. If change isn't happening, you're decaying, so ask: "Are you failing enough?"
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
00:33 - Starting at 22 and making partner early
04:23 - Confidence, likability and courtesy in hiring
07:24 - What baseball's greatest failures teach about winning
13:24 - Fundamentals and the up and down income floor
17:44 - Effective activity vs. cold-call volume
21:37 - Creating vision: the hotel-room retreat
27:49 - Mid-career advisors and the danger of boredom
33:34 - Advisors who have arrived and the question "Is this it?"
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