Maintaining Chemistry & Engagement in Remote Relationships

Over the past year, thought leaders in every industry and profession have put their figurative pens to paper, writing about communication and engagement with remote coworkers and team members. Of course, it’s just as important to maintain strong relationships with clients even though we may not be able to meet with them face-to-face. Like so…

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Protecting Your BYOD Exposure

Bring your own device (BYOD) is becoming the standard in accounting firms as we not only allow our personnel to connect to firm data from their home computers, but also access email and other firm applications on personal tablets and smartphones.  When one of these devices gets lost or stolen, or if an employee is…

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The Hard Truth about Soft Skills

“We’re in a relationship business.” I’ve heard this more times than I can count during the 20+ years I’ve worked with CPAs firms. It’s the one constant in the CPA profession. But, I wonder…have we devalued relationship building? We have access to limitless technology tools as a means of communicating and finding the information and…

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Bridging the Gap: Staying Independent vs. Selling or Merging

Most of the firms we work with on succession planning start off with a strong preference to remain independent, and not sell or merge in order to address the need to payoff and replace retiring owners. The common reasons we are given for this inclination are- Control-Most owners of small to mid-sized CPA firms like…

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A Call For Change: An Open Letter To Each Generation

With three distinct generations in the workplace today, the impacts are phenomenal.  Firm leaders are challenged to balance and blend each generation’s unique historical context, motivators and somewhat differing values systems to create a unified team and a sustainable firm.   To ensure that the generations co-exist and collaborate, it is helpful to understand the…

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A Winning Culture is an Intentional Culture

“People will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is left to his own devices” ― Alfie Kohn, Author Your firm’s culture is the essence of its being and the way it feels to work…

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6 Tips for Fostering Leadership in Your Organization

Leadership is one of the top issues facing accounting firms today. We often hear firms say they can’t find or don’t have good leaders in their organization. As most of us know, leaders don’t usually fall off trees. In any organization, fostering leadership takes time and intention. As a current leader, you have to be…

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A Simple Way to Dissolve the Gap

There is a fundamentally false assumption that’s responsible for the gap between current and emerging firm leaders. This gap limits what we can accomplish, makes things harder than necessary, and undermines the very quality of our lives. What is this false assumption? That the reality we experience is “the reality” when in fact it, is…

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Sponsorship-Barrier to Exit for Talent

Jayne is a woman with ten years of experience in public accounting.    She is certified and versatile in multiple areas of practice in which she might contribute now and in the future.  She has deep community roots in the major metropolitan area in which she works and she has shown great promise in promoting the…

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