beBetter 

I’m amazed by how easily I can become consumed with things that aren’t the main focus. I might have a presentation to prepare for, yet I will check Twitter or LinkedIn instead. What matters most — connecting on social media or focusing on giving my best in the presentation? Another example is when my grandchild wants to play at the playground 30 minutes longer than I had planned. What really matters most — my plan or extra time with this precious child?

We recently lost our Yorkie and best friend, Jazzy. Jazzy was almost 16 years old and was truly a member of the family.

I’ve shared several stories about Jazzy’s comfortable lifestyle and the lack of change in his day compared to ours. CeCe treated him like royalty and they even shared a favorite snack, white cheddar Cheetos. Jazzy often traveled with us to some of his favorite spots in Oxford, Destin or Eagle Lake where he knew his way around and made himself right at home. He had always been independent in that he would do his napping anywhere, but the last six months, we knew his time was close when he wanted to be held or sit/lay right beside you (preferably CeCe, I was more or less his backup plan).

Now this is a special birthday card! This one is from my 5-year-old granddaughter, Dabs. Here, she has drawn pictures of her younger brother, Sullivant, who is fondly called Sully (and Bu Bun as shown in this picture). Also included are Dabs, her older brother, Davis, her parents, Margie and Brandon,  me (Pops), and my wife, CeCe.

A card like this has so much meaning because of the personal touch, love and creativity. It’s one I’ll treasure forever. Dabs, in her own youthful and innocent way, is demonstrating how we can show others we care.  

CeCe, my wife, has a reputation for making outlandish and sometimes thought-provoking statements (being extremely cautious here) which at times leave us laughing for hours. Recently, our daughter Haley and I were talking about coffee and some of the brands and roasts that we like. 

CeCe, hearing the conversation, spoke up with a statement about her favorite flavored coffee. We explained we were discussing true specialty coffee versus some of the artificially flavored coffee which she enjoys.

Last fall, at the first crisp cool wind that I felt (we treasure things like this in the Deep South), I called and ordered a cord of firewood for our fireplace. We have an outside carport area with a fireplace that we drive through which CeCe calls a Porte-cochère (yes, I had to Google it). Now a cord of firewood is a lot of wood so I had to be pretty creative with where I stacked it. First, I filled up the spot right beside the fireplace which has a brick wall on the back side and a brick wall on the side opposite the fireplace itself. It makes a nice area to stack firewood. I had so much wood that I stacked it about five feet high which was at the very top of the walls. Then, I went around on the back side of the fireplace and put another stack on the back wall all the way to the top. I still had firewood left over so I put a stack at the end of our driveway.

A few weeks ago I was jogging (liberal use of the word) in Naples, Florida, around 9:30 a.m. It was a beautiful day and about 2.5 miles into my run I went into my self-talk rationalization. 

“30 minutes is really enough today. I know I wanted to do a full 40 minutes but heck, you can walk the last mile. Walking counts. And some say it is better for weight loss. As soon as you get to the top of this bridge, just call it a day.”

My mother-in-law, who celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday, is fondly referred to by her nickname "Happy," and she works hard to earn that title. Recently, Happy (with encouragement) has relocated from her lifelong roots and friends in Natchez, MS, to a wonderful retirement community in our hometown of Ridgeland, MS. (Literally, she is only about two miles from our driveway which is a blog for another time). 

Yes, we have an elephant hiding behind the curtain. We have been building to this point in our blog series on insights from 20 CEOs and COOs from top 100 CPA firms. Do you want to guess who or what might be the biggest obstacle, the greatest challenge for firms to transform, retool and become #FutureReady? Go ahead, take a guess before you read ahead.

As Barry Melancon, CEO of AICPA, brought up the slide at the Major Firms Group meeting in Naples this January, I knew my simple strategy of “pulling back the curtain” was over as Barry had just ripped the whole curtain down for the entire profession to see. LEARN, UNLEARN, RELEARN was center in his message and vision that our profession must retool itself and embrace a continuous learning culture. 

We are pulling the curtain back on key strategies for major firms and this week’s topic might find some of us feeling a little exposed. Why? We might find ourselves clinging tightly to our traditional business model of pricing services based on the time and cost to provide them. Time has been our profession’s friend for the last 100 years. So if the business model is working, why are firms exploring other pricing options or business models? Why do some firms believe they must find new and better ways to price their services?

So far in this blog series, we pulled the curtain back on innovation, growth strategies, alignment and change management for large firms. We are now focusing on pulling back the curtain on strategic trends that are prevalent for many firms but not as frequently central to their strategic plan. All of these trends and strategies come directly from interacting with over 20 CEOs and COOs of Top 100 CPA firms. For some firms and maybe for yours, these next trends could be part of your plan to be distinctive and relevant. 

In the last two blogs of this series, we pulled the curtain back on innovation and growth strategies for large firms. This blog and the next two will discuss some observed trends that are not as prominent across the major firms but they are prevalent. In each of these, there are firms that are being very intentional to implement strategic initiatives that they believe are relevant for the future as well as distinctive for them as a firm. Surely, if we ask enough questions, we can learn something from these trends. 

We’ve already pulled back the curtain on trends and opportunities to innovate by visiting strategies of Top 100 CPA firms as well as industry thought leaders. Now, let’s pull back the curtain on what appears to be the primary growth strategy for large firms and certainly for our profession. As we will soon see, there will be no surprises behind this curtain but we may be surprised at the opportunities and challenges hidden behind this strategy.