Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

Leading others well requires constant learning and growing. To best develop our teams, we have to first be willing to develop ourselves! One of the best ways to learn is by sharing with and hearing from peers.

At HORNE, we believe that our people are our greatest asset and the best way to grow all of our team members is by first, growing our leaders. One of the ways we develop our leaders is by hosting regular group coaching sessions, focused on the strategic needs facing our leaders. The purpose of these sessions is to provide a confidential space where transparency, collaboration, strategizing and peer learning can best take place. Our most recent session was focused around understanding and unpacking specific feedback as it relates to our roles as leaders and determining ways to improve on them.

Every day at HORNE is an opportunity to advance the firm along its journey to build the Wise Firm. We have 13 building blocks that define the Wise Firm and arguably nine of them are not technical or task focused. Those building blocks We & Service (the foundation of the Wise Firm), Collaboration, External Focus, Sense of Belonging, Relationships, Hard Decisions, Honor Values, Empowered People, and Positive Energy — speak to our team members and the leadership they deserve.

I'm an avid golfer. Not necessarily the best golfer in the world, but golfing is something I am passionate about and allows me to get outside and decompress after a long week. It's the personal time I need to refocus so that I can be fresh for the week ahead. If you have never played golf before, it is a game that requires many small (but impactful) decisions throughout a round. A common decision I am forced to make is whether to play it "safe" and layup, or attempt the more difficult shot with a higher risk but the potential for a greater outcome. The obvious answer for this conservative accountant is to play it safe, right?  Wrong! As a golf buddy of mine likes to say, "You can't make eagle by laying up!"

Growing leaders faster is a key need for most companies. With the changing workplace demographics—including the mass exodus of Baby Boomers and inept succession planning—organizations are scrambling to grow high potentials into leaders who can lead faster.

Expanding your circle at work is extremely important to your career growth. Connecting with your peers and having additional sources of friendship and support will help improve overall job satisfaction and give you a stronger sense of belonging.

Despite the light-hearted approach to last week's blog, 5 Foolproof Ways to Fail as a Performance Advisor, I believe the point was still clear—being a good performance advisor actually is hard work. But, it's without a doubt one of my most rewarding and fulfilling responsibilities. Creating a rising tide is something that has always been incredibly important to me and being a performance advisor gives me a fantastic opportunity to do that. I think Seth Godin sums it up in a recent blog by saying, "We get what we invest in. The time we spend comes back, with interest."  

I will never forget my first internship during the last semester of undergrad, sitting in the board room of a publicly traded bank starry eyed and amazed. I thought everyone was a genius and there was no way I could ever learn all that they knew. I left there sad to return to school, but excited and anxious to start back as an associate at HORNE. Fast forward three short years later (one year of grad school and two years of professional experience) and I’ve found myself on the other side of the prior situation. I am now the person that interns are looking at and thinking I have it all together and know everything. While I still have lots to learn and I by no means know everything, every year when we get a new group of interns I stop and reflect on how far I’ve come from the time I was in their shoes.

Recently, I participated in a couple trail races at Bogue Chitto State Park in Franklinton, LA. We were warned that there would be a stream crossing on the 10 mile course, and two crossings on the 13 mile course. Photos of said crossings, a log placed from bank to bank, had been posted in advance. The photos didn’t do justice to the way it looked in my mind's eye. We were alerted far enough in advance for me to obsess about how much I dislike narrow bridges and about how little trust I have in my balance. I also thought about how much time I would waste trying to talk myself across and about everything that could possibly go wrong.