Deeper Weekend 2013

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06/17/2013

Are You Changeable?

Jennifer BlumerIt’s conference season for CPAs. You have many opportunities to gather with groups of colleagues to learn and improve yourselves. There are a few reasons people go to these events; for the required CPE, to see friends, and to learn. If one of the reasons you are going to an event is to learn or to better yourself, then this post is for you.

I’m interested in what makes a person changeable. What makes you take what you hear at a conference and turn it into something you DO? What makes a person stop doing one thing and begin doing it another way? I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately as I try to change the way I care for myself. I’m in the process of changing several (bad) habits that have kept me from being as healthy as I could be. In thinking through what makes a person change, here are my observations. Read more

Category:
Other Thoughts, Personal Growth
Comments:
1

05/21/2013

What is it About Community?

Jennifer Blumer“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” C.S. Lewis

Many Thriveal members over the last few years have commented that it has been a relief to find other like-minded CPAs. Thriveal CPAs don’t fit the stereotype. They are great at what they do, but they are also creative. They question the way things have always been done. They aren’t satisfied measuring their value by the minute or the hour. They focus on their customers. They desire to learn, and not only to get their required 40 hours of CPE per year. They are disruptive. Thriveal CPAs don’t just want a good job; they want to love their craft.

But what is it about community? Why do we call ourselves a community and not just a group? Here are the characteristics I find in Thriveal – and the reasons I love these people.  Read more

Category:
Community
Comments:
4

04/14/2013

The Customer is Always Right, Unless You are Serving the Wrong Customer

Jennifer BlumerMany of us are wrapping up a tough tax season and right now I bet you can name a handful of wonderful clients. And possibly some you would rather refer elsewhere.

Right now, while it’s fresh on your mind, think through these questions with specific customers in mind. I’ll be using two of our customers (names changed) as an example, Bob and Jane.

Did your customer fight your process?

Bob seemed to find our processes easy. He had no trouble paying online before the work was done. He was happy to know the price before the work was done. He did not struggle with reviewing his tax return online, using our online portals to deliver documents, or signing his agreement online. In fact, after I emailed him to let him know his returns had been accepted, he replied with a “You guys rock!” email. Read more

Category:
Innovation, Management and Operations, Taxes
Comments:
13

03/17/2013

Did ROWE fail?

Jennifer BlumerROWE has been taking a bit of a hit lately in the media. Companies like Best Buy and Yahoo have made bold moves to end their work at home options for employees. I have seen some people respond that ROWE did not work out like it was supposed to. As my friend Greg Kyte would say, I call BS.

I don’t think Best Buy or Yahoo! were ROWE at all. Because ROWE works. What fails is leadership.

For some reason, people think working away from an office is the same thing as ROWE. It’s not though. In fact, Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler have been trying to help us understand for a while that flexibility is the new F word. Just because you are not forced to be in an office from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday does not mean your are working in a ROWE. There may have been a lot of people both in an out of the offices of Best Buy and Yahoo not achieving results. Maybe they didn’t even know what results they were supposed to achieve! That’s a leadership problem. Let’s not blame ROWE. Read more

Category:
Leadership, ROWE
Comments:
3
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