By Danielle White, CEO, Myriad Advisor Solutions
Recognition matters.
When someone has spent years building a business, serving clients, developing a team, and contributing to an industry, being recognized for that work can be meaningful. Awards and rankings can celebrate accomplishments, create visibility, and give firms another way to tell their story.
That is why I do not believe the lesson from the Forbes-SHOOK controversy is that rankings and awards have no place in the financial advisor industry. I believe the lesson is that the organizations behind those programs must earn the credibility they confer on others.
Recent reporting revealed an undisclosed multimillion-dollar financial relationship between SHOOK Research founder RJ Shook and Randall Lane, who was then Forbes’ chief content officer. Forbes and SHOOK have stated that Lane was not involved in SHOOK’s research methodology or individual ranking decisions, and no public evidence has established that advisors paid for placement on the rankings.
Those are important facts. But so is what happened next. Major financial institutions suspended participation, Forbes and SHOOK paused the remaining 2026 rankings and events, and SHOOK acknowledged that restoring confidence requires more than defending the methodology.
That points to a larger issue: credibility is about more than how a ranking is calculated. It is also about the organization, relationships, incentives, and governance surrounding that process. Who owns the organization? How does it generate revenue? What relationships exist between researchers, sponsors, event partners, and participants? What conflicts are disclosed, and how are they managed?
These questions do not automatically invalidate a recognition program. But when an organization asks advisors and the public to trust its conclusions, transparency around those questions is part of the product.
There is still a legitimate role for awards and rankings in financial services. Done well, they can highlight advisors who are building strong firms, serving clients well, developing their teams, contributing to their communities, and finding new ways to improve the industry. They can also help consumers discover professionals they may not otherwise encounter.
But recognition only has value when people trust the process behind it.
That responsibility belongs to advisors, too. Before participating in or promoting an award, firms should understand the methodology, financial relationships, participation requirements, and how the recognition can be used in marketing. Recognition should be evaluated with the same thoughtfulness as any other business decision.
This matters especially in financial services because trust sits at the center of the advisor-client relationship. Clients entrust advisors with retirement decisions, family wealth, business transitions, and long-term financial security. A ranking displayed on an advisor’s website can influence how a prospective client perceives that advisor, making the integrity of the organization behind that recognition relevant to the client as well.
Trust can be rebuilt, but it requires more than a new name or a defense of the existing process. It requires transparency, accountability, meaningful governance, and demonstrated change.
Awards can amplify a strong reputation. They cannot create one.
The advisors we work with at Myriad build credibility through the way they serve clients, lead their teams, protect their businesses, and make decisions every day. That is the foundation.
Recognition should reinforce it, not replace it.
If you are going to measure trust, you must first be worthy of it.
