The One Trait Signature’s VP of Member Engagement Says All Top Agencies Have
Here’s why curiosity—not size or budget—is the one trait Shannon Garrett sees at every top-performing Signature agency.
Photo: Unsplash/Z
Every award stage, breakout session, and regional meet-up reveals a pattern Shannon Garrett can spot a mile away.
As Signature Travel Network’s vice-president of member engagement—the liaison who lives in the slipstream between owners, advisors, and the co-op’s training, tech, and marketing teams—she’s seen what truly separates the perennial winners from the pack. It isn’t budget, headcount, or geography. It’s curiosity.
“I would say, whether it’s at the agency level or even at an advisor level, boiling it down to [one trait] is the openness to learn and to be inquisitive,” Garrett told Luxury Travel Report during Signature’s Owners’ Meeting, held this week in San Diego. “The moment that I hear anyone say ‘I’ve done it, or I don’t want it,’ they don’t have that curiosity, and then there’s really no path forward, I find.”
Garrett has a front-row vantage point. In 2024 alone, she was a constant presence at Signature’s regional and advisor-facing events, and she helped anchor the network’s Advisor Recognition Awards from the front-of-house. That proximity means she sees how top agencies actually operate—not just what they say onstage. “What I find most impressive is the ones who you think they definitely got it all figured out, and they’re the ones who will sit back and say, ‘No, I need to learn more here. I need to dig in more. What are others doing?’” she said.
That mindset shows up in tool adoption, too. Agencies with a culture of curiosity don’t just wait for the perfect moment or cling to the familiar: They test, learn, and refine. “Some people just eat it up,” Garrett explained. “They can’t wait to get in there; they think they can’t break it.” Others hold back, but the ones that lean into learning inevitably build stronger systems and, in turn, stronger client outcomes.
For Garrett, the real power of curiosity lies in its ability to feed both leadership development and client trust in equal measure. Advisors willing to ask questions, share stories, and admit they don’t know it all become the very people who shape Signature’s culture. “We don’t expect you to come in and exist,” she said. “We expect you to come in, show up, contribute, listen to stories, tell people what your successes are and be invested in other people’s success.”
It isn’t about being the biggest or the loudest. It’s about staying inquisitive and refusing to coast on past wins. As Garrett put it, curiosity is the one non‑negotiable trait she sees at every top agency—and the one that keeps the best in business climbing higher.
