Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
Are you playing CPA offense or defense?
Slow adapters.
I talk to a lot of CPA firm consultants, leaders of various associations, vendors focused on the profession and team members inside firms. During these conversations, I hear this phrase, “CPAs are slow adapters.”
That’s why a recent blog post by Seth Godin keeps replaying in my head. Here it is:
Adopt vs. adapt: An early adopter seeks out new ideas and makes them work.
An adapter, on the other hand, puts up with what he has to, begrudgingly.
One is offense, the other is defense. One requires the spark of curiosity, the other is associated with fear, or at least hassle.
Hint: It’s not so easy to sell to the adapt community.
In the world of public accounting, it’s time for firms to play offense.
Places to hide and keep doing what you have always done are disappearing.
Adopters are beginning to become leaders inside firms.
Some of the most successful, fun and profitable firms are early adopters. I believe that was the secret to success in my long career inside a growing firm. We weren’t afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. We were tuned-in to the most current trends and we adopted them early on.
How about you? If those partners in your firm who are begrudgingly trailing along, slowing your firm down and holding your people back – send them a link to this blog post. Or, send them out the door.
- "Change before you have to."
[...] Are you playing offense or defense? [...]
[...] My point is that you need to be embracing the current trends. Are you an early adopter or a begrudging adapter? [...]
[...] What did you accomplish for the future growth and profitability of your own business – your firm? It’s been another year of significant change for the CPA profession and as I talk with practitioners around the country, I find that many are not early adopters, they are slow adapters. [...]