Reflections - August 2026

Reflections

by - Thomas Twombly

artist - Daisy Lopez

The month just concluded marked the 42nd anniversary of my passing my very first licensing exams in 1984. It also marked the 25th anniversary of my assuming the leadership of this firm in 2001. At the end of this month, I will write my 100th President’s Message for our Quarterly Report. So, naturally, this is a time for me to reflect, take stock, and review.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I have experienced during my career and my adult life, and about the most important artifacts of the long and unpredictable wilderness journey that has led to where I am now, and where this firm is now.

I have become a collector, and an arranger of such artifacts, because they help me take note of critical experiences and important stories to be retold, and stories are how human beings have learned, remembered and shared important lessons and crucial insights since long before writing and reading came into existence. They can be powerful, and timeless.

Please don’t be unduly concerned. This reflection is not an indication that I’m contemplating retirement and paddling off into the sunset any time soon. I assure you am not. I still have way too much to offer, and way too much still to experience to do that. In fact, I believe my best days as a leader, as an advisor, as a coach, as a guide, as a problem solver, as an inquisitor, and as a storyteller lie ahead of me, and I keep looking towards the far horizon with a sense of wonderment, curiosity and determination.

What this reflection is indicative of, however, is a growing sense that we should all prepare for challenging times, because we may well find ourselves needing to weather a gathering storm. I say this not to spread fear, nor to make any specific predictions about what the future holds, because I can’t control that future any better than you can. I say it to encourage individual examination and deliberate preparation for a wide range of possibilities – some of which may be collective in nature, and others more unique and individual - because I feel a responsibility to forestall surprise, and because preparatory steps are under our control.

It’s been said that “surprise is the mother of panic.” And panic is to be avoided at all costs. The prevailing mood right now feels reminiscent to me of previous periods precursive to abrupt change, so now seems a good time for all of us to make sure everything is “ship-shape” and to practice lifeboat drills, so none of us is caught unprepared when a storm hits.

Though I certainly would not have thought them precious at the time, without question, the most valuable artifacts of my long journey came during periods of intense duress. In fact, I became president of this firm under exactly those kinds of circumstances, after a former partner who got swept up in the heady days of 1999 – 2000 fell short in his responsibilities to act with prudence and due care. Clients and colleagues were hurt by the ensuing tech wreck, and trust in this firm was badly shaken. He was eventually asked to resign, and I stepped into the breach in an effort to restore confidence and trust, only to be faced the very next month with the unexpected shock and horror of 9-11, and then the sudden and total collapse of Enron – then the 5th largest company in the S&P 500 – from massive accounting fraud, the month immediately following that. As the Aussies would say… “Crikey!”

It was hardly a warm welcome or an auspicious beginning. And the pressure I felt was beyond anything I had ever handled before. My oldest stepson had just headed off to college, and the youngest of our four kids had just turned five. The fearsome business challenges continued for a number of years to come, as financial markets eventually found a bottom in early 2003, and as the unfortunate aftereffects of my former partner’s grave errors in judgement eventually played out over the following few years.

But invaluable improvements were forged in that fire, because it forced this team to look inwards, to confront the errors and shortcomings we had allowed to exist unchecked because challenging them had felt so uncomfortable at the time, and to clearly define – together, as one – exactly what we still stand for today, and exactly what we would not stand for ever again.

Not unlike those heady times of 1999 – 2000, stock markets have been booming; new technology is promising to transform the world we live in, and now the heavens beyond; new millionaires, billionaires, and now trillionaires are being minted seemingly by the day; risk-taking behavior is being rewarded as never before in recent memory; outright gambling has taken over the public fancy as so-called “predication markets” euphemistically facilitate anonymous bets on everything imaginable; braggadocio characterizes not only the leaders of massive enterprises, but every aspiring “influencer” trying to gain an audience in an increasingly crowded public sphere; our Commander in Chief is selling early access to his Truth Social postings for hundreds of thousands of dollars; and any adult sense of danger or common decency seems to have evaporated like the snows of yesteryear.

At the same time, this country has just blithely passed $40 Trillion dollars in debt; with our arrogance we’re rapidly alienating all of our closest long-term strategic and political allies; we’re alienating each other with our incandescent righteousness – generationally, racially, socio-economically, politically, and religiously – and we are allowing any number of blatantly obvious errors and deep moral shortcomings to exist unchecked because challenging them seems so uncomfortable and out of step with the moment.

One strongly suspects this moment will eventually pass, though it’s impossible to say when. Before it does, let’s circle up and talk about how you plan to prepare, and to respond.

Thank you, as always, for your confidence and trust.

Thomas G. Twombly

President