Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

Almost 10 years on the journey of building the Wise Firm —what we call our culture — and it is still the common denominator of why team members choose HORNE. It is a culture that, to many, seems unrealistic until they experienced it for themselves. It is a culture that we all feel connected to. Driven by a common purpose and mission — to create value and make a difference. It’s how we know we are a part of something bigger than ourselves and that we’re leaving our mark on the world.

A dreamer is defined as a person who is unpractical or idealistic. I define dreamer with two words: forward thinker. Forward thinking is the act of planning for the future and favoring innovation. Let’s imagine for a moment, a young dreamer with aspirations of competing against the most talented athletes in the most prestigious organization of its kind—the NFL.

It’s clear to me that HORNE is rethinking the way we do things. One area that recently caught my interest is around engagement. In her book Own It, author Meridith Elliott Powell charges us to recognize that today’s employees are different. Simply stated, we need to redefine the expectations of both leaders and employees in team member engagement. Failing to increase team member engagement means losing great talent to other companies or failing to help those that stay reach their full potential.

I thought I understood culture.  I thought I understood organizational change and development. I mean, I have a degree in anthropology after all. But boy was I wrong.  

After a few months at HORNE, I looked around and thought that we were “fluffy.” That our ideas and ideals were too lofty and that our heads were in the clouds. I thought that we changed our mind too much, and that it reflected negatively on leadership because we couldn’t make up our minds and stick with our decisions. I can’t help but think I’m not the only one that was looking at it with the wrong perspective.

What is a leader? According to Merriam-Webster, a leader is “a person who leads…who has commanding authority or influence.” Am I a leader? Who can be influenced by little ole me? 

Creating The Wise Firm Way video was a group effort.  Literally, our entire firm had the opportunity to speak into its creation—and one of the greatest nuggets of information came from Tracy Cunningham, a director on our Firm FIRST team who has been with the firm since she was 18 years old, more than 30 years.

Author Patrick Lencioni’s book The Advantage has a great section about creating clarity in an organization. His premise is all about achieving alignment, which is a key discipline in creating a healthy firm, because, as he puts it, “…alignment is about creating so much clarity that there is as little room as possible for confusion, disorder, and infighting to set in.” 

We announced this week that HORNE is the nation’s first accounting firm to partner with The Anticipatory Organization and train its team members with “The Anticipatory Organization™: Accounting and Finance Edition.”

What in the world does that mean you might ask? The short answer is this: accountants are operating in a world defined by accelerating change and complexity. As a result, the ability to anticipate (disruptions, problems, customer needs and new opportunities) will be the most important skill any business person can possess.

There have been times when I would have felt fortunate to be the only man in the room. This wasn’t one of those times.

Last October I was privileged to attend the AICPA Women’s Global Leadership Summit. I had gotten word from one of my partners who attended the previous year that I would be in the minority. He wasn’t kidding. With close to a thousand women from all over the country, there were five male attendees. Actually, there were more male speakers than male attendees.