Thursday, February 2nd, 2023
Know It All
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” – John Wooden
A long time ago, a famous professional service firm management consultant told me that CPAs would not believe anything I said or listen to my suggestions because I was not a CPA. He said they think they are smarter than anyone who is not a CPA. This internationally known management consultant was not a CPA.
Over the years, I have proved that wrong, although occasionally, I have encountered circumstances where this might ring true.
How about you? I hope you are not a know-it-all CPA!
Here are my thoughts:
- CPAs are very confident and proud of their knowledge, sometimes too much.
- Be sure your scope of knowledge is very wide and not too narrow and deep.
- Be a good listener and understand how relationships work.
- Get to know people more personally, not just about business matters.
- Understand emotions. Other people probably show more emotion than you do.
- Respect other people’s knowledge. Many partners think their way is the best way, even better than their other partners.
You know so much about tax, accounting, and audit. In this day and age, that’s not enough to make you successful in the long term.
- "A know-it-all is a person who knows everything except for how annoying he is."
