beBetter 

This is the first in a blog series where we will explore strategies and insights I have gained in the last few months with other Top 100 CPA firm managing partners and COOs. We are attempting to “pull back the curtain” for strategies that might help propel our profession and firms to remain relevant and become future ready. 

We do not need to pull that curtain back very far to know that innovation is a key strategy for almost all firms as well as competitors outside our profession. It’s that competitor that doesn’t carry any legacy baggage that scares me the most when I am thinking about innovation. They have no respect for our existing business model, client relationships or services. Their objective is to become relevant advisors for our clients at the expense of our relationships. Scary, but if we are aware, predict and adapt — they are toast. There are also lots of advantages to being the legacy provider as long as we do not cling to the status quo or take our role for granted. Let’s heat the oven with some innovation. 

As Barry Melancon presented at the AICPA Women’s Global Leadership Summit, today is the slowest pace of change we will experience in our profession for the next five years. Transformation in our services, how we market, how we audit, how we consult and how we work will only increase exponentially. TODAY is the SLOWEST. Would you believe we have experienced a change in 31% of the Top 100 public accounting firms in the last ten years? Nearly a third turnover in the largest firms. Obviously mergers, acquisitions and new growth firms have contributed to this high rate of change. But what do you think the pace of change in the Top 100 will be over the next five years? Will this pace increase or decrease? I personally suspect we will have significantly more turnover in the Top 100 Firms during the next three years, much less in the next ten. There, I said it, and frankly, I am not alone in expecting this type of transformation.   

You are reading the blog of someone who once wore his Mack Weldons inside out for months. Yes, inside out and I was convinced I had them on right the whole time. So much so that every time CeCe put up the laundry, I flipped them back around after her. But one day CeCe caught me and asked what I was doing turning them the wrong way. “You have been wearing them inside out haven’t you?” she asked. After some laughs and a website search for confirmation, I realized that I was in fact wrong. I claimed they were my favorite brand yet I had been wearing them inside out for months.

Now I realize this might be too much information, but it is relevant because my embarrassment was the result of being quick to make assumptions, especially if they help fit my view of the world. 

This week, I am at the Grand Hyatt in New York for the AICPA Women’s Global Leadership Summit. Wanting to be well-rested for the full week ahead, I turned in early my first night. But around 2:30 a.m. my hand hit the control panel and all of the shades in the room started coming up. Talk about being confused.  Where am I? What is going on? So after I figured out the issue, I fell back asleep only to hit the control panel again at 3:47 a.m. and have all the lights come on. Too much technology for me! And since things tend to happen for me in threes, sure enough at 4:40 a.m. I hit the shades again. 

Life lessons learned at the airport have become almost commonplace for me and last week’s trip was no exception. As I sat in seat 19C, I opened my Kindle to finish the latest book in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I was barely halfway down the first page when I felt it. Someone was staring at me, and it was the lady sitting right next to me in the window seat. “Oh no,” I thought. “I have a talker.” A situation that is a big threat to an introvert like myself.

We had two team members: Adam, who had been with us three years, hard worker, dependable and always completed his assigned tasks. The other, Tom, was with us for six months — extremely innovative, demonstrated the ability to learn fast and seemed to always be exceeding expectations. Both were being considered for promotion to supervisor and Adam was even requesting the promotion.

Recently, I surprised a team member by requesting that we role-play a difficult situation I had to address the following week. “Joey, why do you want to role-play this? As Executive Partner with tons of experience, why are you wasting time role-playing this discussion?” he asked. Great questions that brought to light how often we don’t gain the benefits of role-playing. 

“We have reassigned your seat to someone else and the flight is closed!” the airline agent firmly stated. This just kept ringing in my ears along with “We will see you in Dallas,” chanted by my three team members waving, smiling and boarding the flight just in front of me. This is when it really hit me—no I will not be having dinner with them in Dallas tonight as planned.  It even crossed my mind the agents were playing a joke on me at the prodding of my team members who are not beyond such trickery.

You may have caught last week’s blog on disruption. Disruption that I knew about, understood and monitored but took no real action to avoid. Knowing is not doing.

As if being pulled over on the side of busy I-55 South with a blowout on my boat trailer wasn’t enough disruption in my trip, I also incurred some pain. Pain that came out of nowhere. I expected the pain (inconvenience, really) of trying to locate where my car jack was, the actual changing of the tire and, of course, the fear of thinking the next car or truck might crush me. I was mad at myself for not acting and causing my current inconvenience but at least I had my mind wrapped around it. However, I certainly didn’t see the most painful part of the disruption coming. 

The worst kind of disruption is the kind that could have been avoided and I certainly got what I deserved with this blowout. Earlier this year as crappie season rolled around, I rolled my boat out and began to get her ready for the season. As I checked the trailer tires, I thought—it’s really time to replace these. We are blessed with some fantastic lakes all within 90 miles of my home so I pull my boat a lot of miles in the two months of the crappie spawn. Again, I knew what I SHOULD do.

At my recent birthday celebration, I heard my kids huddle everyone up to get a picture of the grandkids with Pops (that’s me). It was like an out-of-body experience. Instantly, I became “that guy.” You know, the guy or gal that everyone wants to take a picture with because they represent the older side of our friendship or family. Taking photos to capture our memories and demonstrate our love for those we fear we may soon lose.

When we were growing up, if Mike, Mitzi and I were constantly arguing or fighting, Mom would patiently warn us several times to stop. If we continued to be rowdy, she would finally step back in the room and say, “I’ve had ENOUGH!” which we knew meant our future was not real bright and our backsides were now in jeopardy. As a profession, we need a wake-up call of our own about the disruption and speed of change we are facing. So, today, we will use the term ENOUGH just as Mom did. 

This blog is the fourth part of a series meant to outline the Four Building Blocks to Move to Advisory Services.

We’ve already discussed the first two blocks: MINDSET SHIFT and CONFIDENCE. ANTICIPATORY SKILLS is the third building block to move our organizations towards advisory services and seize our future by being relevant—starting now.

I believe this is a new skill that is required. Being anticipatory is defined as aware, predictive and adaptive. If we simply focus on being agile or nimble, we are always responding to things and being disrupted. By anticipating, we can actually be the disruptor and capture new opportunities. Seeing disruption coming provides us choices. Choices we must make today.