Self-awareness has been hailed as one of the most important meta-skills of the 21st century. One's insight into personal strengths and weaknesses, beliefs, values, emotions, and their impact on others is associated with greater success and fulfillment in many life areas. In an investment advice context, both advisers and clients benefit from putting a spotlight on self-awareness and engaging in activities that promote its development. Advisers with greater self-awareness likely have greater listening and empathy skills, a more sophisticated "theory of mind" and exhibit less bias in how they interpret new information. Clients with greater self-awareness likely have a clearer understanding of their values, preferences, and behavioural patterns (and potential risk factors). Self-awareness is a blend of skill and will, and it can be surprisingly hard to develop in oneself or facilitate in others, as it is often undermined by our biases and habits. Yet new data from the Finology Benchmarking Indices (FBI) suggests that advisers vary significantly in how much effort they put into promoting self-awareness. - Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum. Earn 0.50 CE/CPD hrs on Portfolio Construction Forum