beBetter 

Church service has just ended and I see our good friend, Andre, making his way out of the church. “Andre, can we give you a ride home today?” “Sure, Joey!” Today, we also have our next-door neighbor and family friend Jan attending church with us. Jan doesn’t know Andre, who is blind, and Jan is talkative so I’m thinking it should be an interesting and fun ride home.

What legacy KPIs are we measuring that slow us down? That's the next question in the blog series, 5 Questions that Might Make Us #beEvenBetter. 

So, are the key performance indicators (KPIs) we are using still relevant today? Do they conflict with the new behaviors that we need to retool or transform our services? Do they focus team members on the right things or distract from where we need to go?

“Oh, a meeting with a bunch of number crunchers,” is ringing in my ears as I look into the eyes of this complete stranger who has taken the liberty of labeling our profession.

It’s the AICPA Major Firms Group meeting in Laguna Niguel, California, and we had just finished our afternoon session and I was briskly walking back to my room when I bumped into this beautiful family in the hallway.

With only 30 minutes until my next meeting, I call the restaurant downstairs to get my Colony Salad, which is a half salad with an avocado split and filled with chicken salad.

Eating at my desk (again)—which is not what I recommend, need or teach—and as I take the last bite I reach for my cup of unsweet tea. Oops! I tip the top of the cup and it’s leaning, spilling a little tea on my desk. I quickly grab the cup to catch it and to my dismay, it explodes. Tea is everywhere. I’m holding what was a perfectly good styrofoam cup that is now in a dozen pieces. Wow, what a mess and my Zoom call starts in seven minutes. Thank goodness for paper towels!

I'm flying home (boarding the plane last as usual) and since I have changed flights to grab an earlier flight home, I am in the very back of the plane. As I arrive at my seat, an older gentleman is trying to put a bag up in the overhead bin. I set my backpack down and reach up to help him. He quickly lets go as I take the weight off of him and sits down in the next row. I tuck his bag in and then realize I am sitting in the aisle seat right next to him.

A few weeks ago, we kicked off a new blog series, 5 Questions that Might Make Us #beEvenBetter, to address the challenges facing accounting firms today. These five questions will help us continually monitor and change our direction and strategies. We've already discussed the first question, Are we really moving fast enough? Today, let's focus on the next question, What would have to be true for us to change our direction, mind or assumptions?

“I thought I was cool and knew my abbreviations but you’re proving me wrong!”  “#IDKWTHTI” “What does #YSL mean?” “Man, the millennial here is trying to figure out #WTH #YSL means? Ha!” “What is #YSL?” “I’m GenX so I’m googling your #... ha”; “Don’t know what #YSL is, but keep rollin!” “I am way not cool, what does #YSL mean???”

Just a few of the fun texts from my friends coming in after my Fourth of July text message to them. My original text was, “Happy 4^th! #YSL.”  This hashtag originated from a blog I wrote four years ago, You So Lucky, which you can click for a quick read on the origin of #YSL.

I have a teleconference in five minutes and my cell phone battery is blinking a red 4%. How is this possible? There’s no way I have used my phone enough to drain the battery this low. The airport is busy and I need to walk to my gate as I do this call. Thank goodness I have my portable charger in my bag so I can keep moving towards my gate.

I can see the blood start to trickle down my finger and the pain is growing as I keep my hand hidden inside the sand bucket. It's our annual crab hunt on the beach with the kids and grandkids in Perdido, FL, and we have just caught the biggest crab of the night. He is about the size of a small post-it note but mean as a shark.

Have you ever experienced foundation problems with your house?  It's not that uncommon, especially here in the Southeast. But what about your firm? Many of our organizations today have severe cracks hidden under layers of successful services and years of strong earnings. And softening foundational principles compacted by new competition causing eroding underneath are stressing the structure of our business models. 

It’s a sunny, hot mid-afternoon as Sully (my two-year-old grandson) and I make our way across the hot pavement to the sidewalk as fast as his little legs would carry him. We finished the short 50-yard walk to our neighborhood playground that's complete with slides, swings, climbing bars and not a bit of shade. Sully insisted on taking three dinosaurs with us—Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus and one of which I have no idea what it is. They are small plastic dinosaurs but large enough he can only carry one in each hand. So Pops is carrying the unidentified one.

Last week, we kicked off 5 Questions that Might Make Us #beEvenBetter, a new blog series addressing the challenges facing accounting firms today. These key questions regarding our firm’s future will help us plot safe passage through what promises to be rapid and radical transformation.

Imagine for a moment that your accounting firm is on board a luxury passenger bus headed to an important retreat. A fierce thunderstorm has popped up, and circular winds are starting to form a powerful tornado nearby. You are five miles from the nearest exit, and the twister is gaining on you at frightening speed. The full force hasn’t hit yet, but the winds are picking up and you can see debris and tree limbs beginning to fly by. As driver of the bus, you are responsible for navigating your team through the storm. You can’t outrun it. You can’t avoid it.