Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

Living out our commitment to our communities is a critical part of reaching our firm’s 2020 Vision: “We deliver unrivaled focused expertise. We collaborate to proactively guide and serve our people, clients and communities to realize their full potential.” Even our Wise Firm culture is founded on We and Service. It’s safe to say that we are a firm that believes in giving back and serving others and that it’s not just talk. One of my favorite ways we do this is through our Summer of Service program.

It is difficult for me to describe how the culture at HORNE has affected me without first giving you some historical context about me. I was born in New Delhi, India. I spent eight years working my way up to manager at a Fortune 500 company but then gave up my career in order to marry my husband, who lived in Houston. After we were married I got my first job in America and I have to admit it was not what I was expecting.

When I graduated college, I was pretty excited to start my career as a full time team member at HORNE. I had previously interned with HORNE so I was able to gain a little insight into what life is like here but I was also nervous as I knew my responsibilities would increase. Not only would my responsibilities in my job increase but little did I know, my responsibility to our culture would also increase.

As a new mom going back to work, I was worried about how I would adjust. Trust me, I love my job and wouldn’t want to do anything else, but having my daughter introduced an entirely new sense of responsibility and a major priority shift. So yes, I was worried that my job would suffer and others would guilt me into thinking I wasn’t working hard enough.

Growing up I attended the same school through eighth grade and then I moved to a different school for high school (well, almost all of high school, but that’s a totally different story due to Hurricane Katrina). I always felt bad for the new kids who started at my school and tried to welcome them as best as I could. I can remember always thinking to myself how hard it must be to come into a new environment where people have known each other for years, where relationships have already been established and how intimidating it can be to be judged just simply for being new.

I was recently asked to sum up what HORNE’s feedback movement is and why it’s important in 60 seconds. Wow! I had never thought about needing an elevator speech for our feedback movement. As a leader of our Thanks for the Feedback workshop, I live, eat, breathe and sleep this feedback stuff—but I never really thought about having to convince a feedback skeptic about the importance of feedback.

With the world’s biggest sporting event among us, I would like to take you back to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

American air rifle shooter, Matt Emmons, was competing in the three-position event in which participants shoot multiple shots from 50 meters away in varying positions­­—stomach, knees and feet. Emmons stood on his feet for his last shot of the competition. Leading by three points, his last shot only needed to come close to the bull’s-eye to guarantee him the gold medal. He took a deep breath and fired. Bull’s-eye! 

A couple weeks ago, our Belonging at HORNE steering committee invited the entire firm to partake in roundtable discussions in each office location. These roundtables focused on one-time discussions about a featured article that affects a different lens group. The first roundtable article was Diversity Is Useless Without Inclusivity. This article really resonated with Partner in Charge of Government Services, Neil Forbes, as he challenged the emptiness that can result from the overuse of the word diversity without action. Are you doing your part to ensure diversity doesn’t become empty in your world? Check out his full blog, first featured on In Service: Ideas to Help Gov't Agencies Affect Positive Change, below. 

I’ve been thinking about something lately. If I didn’t care about what I do every day at HORNE, would it make a difference? As I’ve been reflecting on my 30s, I’ve realized some of the gifts that only God could have given me. One of those gifts is my heart for service. This heart of service is a major reason why I care about my job and how I serve others. My personal philosophy is pretty basic: the greatest results are produced when you care about what you’re doing. But, my reason for caring stems from more than just my personal philosophy—it’s also powered by those around me.