Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

Do you ever find yourself sitting at your desk, trying to remember why you’re here? Why do we continue to come in every day to THIS job at THIS firm?

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”  - Proverbs 12:15

Here at HORNE, we are building the Wise Firm. That is our culture. We want to be like the wise man from the biblical parable who built his house on a strong foundation. When the great storms came, he was able to overcome because he had built his house on a solid foundation. 

A few weekends back, I spent the weekend with my wife, kids and grandparents. I enjoy talking with my granddaddy as he usually asks how things are going with work. This time, when he asked about work, I took the opportunity to ask him what he thought I could do to make a BIG impact. In his usual fashion, he responded by telling a story with a moral, rather than giving me a straight answer. 

Long before I chose to major in accounting, I was made aware of a very concerning stigma. Women in the corporate world don’t make it to the top and IF you do, you have to be a special kind of women to break the ominous glass ceiling. The kind with no family obligations, limited personal life and widely disliked. And, if you can’t relate to that, then be prepared to earn half the salary of your male coworkers and have little chance at promotion.

Strong teams don’t just happen. You know that.  I know that.  Yet, so many people lack the intentionality required to build a strong team. 

I’ve been privileged to grow and serve on some amazing teams led by strong, intentional individuals. I could write a dissertation on what I’ve learned about building strong teams simply based on their examples, but today I want to share three intentional practices that I’ve incorporated into my career:

Occasionally my church encourages a special dress for Sunday worship service. This could be anything from “wear pink for breast cancer awareness” to “Spirit Sunday” where we dress up in our favorite team’s regalia. Well, imagine one’s dismay when she missed the memo and walks in and instantly feels out of place. It’s that feeling of wearing red when everyone else is wearing black; donning jeans when everyone else is in a suit; having curly hair when everyone else’s hair is straight; being a black female when everyone else is a white male. It’s that feeling of being different. Welcome to my world as a professional in public accounting. 

A few days ago, I had a crazy-wonderful, unexpected client service experience. Feeling inspired by our executive partner’s blog last week, The Desire to Serve: Are You Delivering an Unrivaled Experience?, I felt compelled to share it with you.

A few months ago, our HORNE team launched a feedback movement designed to help us capitalize on our greatest opportunity, GROWTH.  As we all work together to build the Wise Firm, the most critical component to each of our building blocks is the growth of our team members. That means being fully engaged in our personal growth and development while helping our fellow team members grow and develop. This is the only way we will all reach our full potential.  Feedback helps us accelerate this growth. And accelerating the growth of our team members is vital to our firm’s success. 

I have a mentor who repeatedly reminds me that “gratitude takes what we have and turns it into more.”  Gratitude is indeed a powerful tool that shapes our perspective. Yet, it is a discipline—not our natural default, and so it must be practiced.