Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

Over the last 15 months, HORNE has experienced unprecedented growth in our number of team members, revenue, the markets we serve and the services we provide. These are exhilarating times and we should all feel good that our hard work is being rewarded. 

We are where we are today for two reasons: 

1. We have kept the main thing the main thing and have done the main thing better than our client expected.
2. Through the good and bad times, our leaders have modeled our culture.

To judge is human nature, and researchers have found that passing judgment has more to do with ourselves than others. That said, we ultimately judge because of our own insecurities. Earl Nightingale once said, “When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.” Eeek! We judge all the time and we don’t even realize it — strangers in a restaurant, new people on their first day, actions/words in everyday life (boy, that email was scathing). The heart of the matter is, judgment can be extremely detrimental to relationships, work environments and our own psyches. 

I’ve never lived through a pandemic before. I’ve never lead a team or company through so much unknown or during such an unprecedented time.

Two skinny vanilla lattes. Both sugar-free.

One hot chocolate.

One flavor of the day.

One Café Mocha.

One medium roast.

One London Fog—sugar-free and skinny.

An iced coffee, room for milk.

And one dark roast with an extra shot.

That’s my team’s coffee order. 

The first job of a leader is to inspire trust. But why…and how?

The why behind the significance of building trust is that the essence of leadership is the ability to persuade teams to act boldly in alignment with a big vision. The reality is that none of us are likely to be inspired or influenced by leaders we do not trust. Where there is low trust in a relationship or on a team, there is the very real perception of high risk. Conversely, where there is high trust, the feeling is one of low risk. This is where we are not afraid to step out of our comfort zone or our defensive/cautious posture and try something new and bold. But then, how do we establish trust?

Managers are responsible for other’s performance and growth. It’s part of the gig. You can’t deny it, avoid it or hide from it. This means when we take on this role we must shift our perspective in a big way.

In a recent brainstorming exercise, a team I was working with explored the concept of rewards. None of the ideas replaced fair wages, performance bonuses, appreciation or on-the-spot praise, but they added into the ways you already reward results. They were ideas that could accelerate your team’s performance.

For many people, the phrase “More Than Teeth” does not immediately bring much to mind. This could be due to an intense fear that represses all memories associated with your dentist, but most likely it is because you have not had the pleasure of meeting my dentist. Various members of my family have been practicing dentistry for over 50 years, and that phrase is one of my father’s favorite ways to describe his vision for service.

I rushed into the breakroom between meetings to grab a quick cup of coffee, but much to my disappointment the carafe was totally empty. I took a quick glance at the Keurig sitting on the counter and contemplated making a single cup, but the thought was fleeting. I knew that in a matter of minutes someone else would do the same thing I was doing—stop by the breakroom in between commitments to refuel their tank and refresh their cup. No, I’d pass on the quick fix, and I’d wait the five minutes it would take to make a fresh pot. In the process, I’d help someone else avoid this small pause in their day.