After 23 years as an advisor for UBS, 67-year-old Dick Sorenson thought it was time to start winding down. He stepped down from his position as UBS’s Oregon complex manager and was happy helping his son, also a UBS advisor, build his own client book. He also did some litigation consulting on the side.

Then he got a call from his old friend and fellow Portland, Ore., native Karl Leaverton, now the co-president of RBC’s private client group, who asked him to consider a move to RBC Wealth Management. “I was happy doing what I was doing…I wasn’t shopping around [for a new firm],”he says. Still, he took up Leaverton’s offer to visit RBC’s Minneapolis headquarters, and was impressed by what he saw. He spoke to employees from the receptionists to the directors and they all emphasized the same point—the culture of the firm. “They didn’t use the same words, but they all said how flat the organization is and how focused everyone is on the relationship between advisors and clients,” he says.

Sorenson was so impressed he agreed to accept the position of Portland complex director, returning to his old routine of 12-hour days starting at 5:30 a.m. In this market, he spends a lot of time visiting his advisors. “I have to be a bit of a cheerleader and encourage people: ‘Are you on the phone, do you need any help?’”

But Sorenson says he’s been surprised by the number of veteran wirehouse advisors who are willing to talk about moving. “All the big firms are changing so rapidly. People are in a state of bewilderment about the industry and confused about who they work for. And they’re dealing with headlines and rumors,” he says.