Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

Three years ago, an internal survey of our team members shined a spotlight on an area we realized we had to be intentional to overcome: Leadership Diversity. Without intent, the unconscious bias of our current leaders would most likely result in the growth and promotion of other team members who reminded them of themselves. We know our future relevancy depends on diversity of thought which comes from diversity of experiences. So, with the introduction of our Belonging at HORNE Sponsorship and Advocacy program, we set out to increase transparency around leadership development, create access and drive diversity in leadership across the firm.

I had the opportunity to attend the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Global Women’s Conference in Boston in November. I left feeling energized as I watched a majority room of women seeking to understand what the workforce of the future looked like. A future full of companies who are actively working to create an environment where employees feel included and recognized for the contributions they make to their companies. There were a number of sessions with a wealth of information, but there were a few particular individuals that left their mark engraved in my mind as they represented the very culture we envision and are working together to build at HORNE. They were each unique in their own right, bringing fresh perspectives and challenging old conversations.  

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. 

Last week, I started the conversation about HORNE’s commitment to improve our culture, which focused on defining my own career/life integration while maintaining my client service expectations. I want to continue that theme today, but let’s talk about diversity and its impact on the war for talent and business development.  

We spend a lot of time and money at HORNE on improving our culture. It’s an investment that focuses on improving career/life integration, personal flexibility, workplace diversity, and continuous feedback. We believe these investments are necessary to win the war for talent in the changing business environment. But making big changes internally can lead to a lot of questions, like will these changes affect client service and business development? And if yes, is that a good thing or bad thing? In this three-part series, my goal is answer those questions and add insight into how building a culture of continuous improvement benefits both team members and clients.

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. 

As Partner Rusty Butcher shared in last week’s blog, advancing women into leadership roles is a critical focus for both HORNE and the profession.  At the same AICPA women’s summit that Rusty attended, Executive Partner Joey Havens and I served on the panel that addressed sponsorship and advocacy in the profession—which, unfortunately, for most can be a check-the-box exercise unless our mindsets change along with our methods.