Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

As each of our careers progress, we continue to assume more responsibility. This responsibility comes in the form of more people requiring more of your attention on a more frequent basis. This begs the question…the ageless, grueling, slippery question…how do I prioritize my time to not only meet the expectations of the people I am serving, but to exceed their expectations? As significant of a question as this is, I would suggest the answer might be less complex than it may seem.

Recently, I was given an opportunity to be a part of proposing for work with a new client. I learned many things during this process, but my biggest takeaway was a comment made by the company’s CFO.

At this point in the conversation, we were talking through the process of them changing accounting firms. We addressed the fact that we would reach out to their former firm regarding the inspection of work papers. Realizing this could be an awkward process, the CEO asked if that encounter was typically hostile. In response, the CFO said, “Well no, because we aren’t switching firms due to issues with quality of the work, we are switching because these guys specialize in working with companies like ours.”

When it comes to our personal and professional growth, the common denominator that often trips us up involves risk. As I consider my performance over the past years and my future ambitions, I find myself pondering these two questions:

What does the concept of WE and SERVICE mean to you? For me, this concept is foundational, it is fundamental to my purpose. At HORNE, it has become our “North Star” for the way we make decisions, always pointing us to true north. When we think about a WE and SERVICE approach, I think it can be evaluated as two main components: attitude and ownership. For me, and for our team, the importance of a positive attitude and an ownership mentality make all the difference in our journey to build the Wise Firm.