beBetter 

“Pull the trigger, Davis!” We chime in at the shooting range with my grandson Davis, who was nine at the time. As you probably know, we’re a hunting family, and the day before this happened, Davis had passed on a nice 8-point buck because he was frozen by the thought of the recoil even though he has successfully shot this gun before. His rifle is loud, but not deafening, and a great youth gun to learn gun safety with because of the size and limited recoil. So his dad, Brandon, and I took him to the shooting range trying to get him comfortable shooting again.

Jeff Bezos and Amazon have been extremely successful in driving disruption in numerous markets. He has defined the key to that success as being a “Day 1” company — not resting on present or past success but treating each day as Day 1. This is exactly the concept we need as a partner mindset throughout our profession.

At a recent AICPA Women's Initiatives Executive Committee (WIEC) meeting in Seattle, we had a healthy discussion on our future view and how we can move the needle faster for women and overall diversity in our profession.

Research confirms that diversity is not only one demographic marker. Instead, it is an intersection of our many different lenses and personal experiences.

CeCe and I are unloading several packages into our closet fresh off one of my two trips a year shopping for new clothes. I hate to shop, but I do like having new things.

Just as I set the packages down, CeCe looks at my side of the closet and says, “You’re going to have to get rid of some things! Some of this is stained, you never wear this, and that doesn’t fit. Do you want me to go through it for you?” “Heck no, I will do it, I promise.” If CeCe went through it, I wouldn’t have a stitch left!

“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 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.

In a recent collaboration meeting with several leaders from numerous organizations and firms, one of them commented, “I think I may have overshared.”  Actually, her thoughts, insights and feelings were exactly what we needed to hear. She had been very vulnerable with us and her comments were both relevant and insightful. After her comment, the word "overshared" kept ringing in my ears. Why did I love this term so much?

CeCe and I were recently visiting Oxford, MS, to enjoy some Ole Miss baseball and some family time with my parents, Mom and Pop Joe, as well as three of our grandchildren. For me, it doesn’t get much better than watching the Rebels play combined with family time, so I certainly enjoyed the weekend.

In golf, your ability to play the “short game” is the quickest way to lower your score. You cannot shoot low scores in golf if you can’t chip and putt. Obviously, the pros spend hours refining this aspect of the game. And guess what skills go the quickest if you don’t play regularly? For me at least, it’s chipping and putting. This has never been more evident to me than last month ─ my once a year golf outing at Sage Valley. This year, I shot the worst score of my golfing career (108). That fantastic little score included triple bogeys on four holes. It was ugly, really ugly.

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?

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.