While the work environment in most CPA firms leads to bypass surgery, our environment recently allowed for a much different bypass experience. On July 11th, I rode an organized bike ride called The Triple Bypass, a personal goal that I’ve had for some time. The ride is 120 miles long from Evergreen to Avon, Colorado and covers three mountain passes; Squaw/Juniper Pass, Loveland Pass, and Vail Pass. For me, the training that was required (I needed a lot of work) was significant and the schedule that I needed to keep was far from traditional. This could only be accomplished in a work environment that is completely focused on results, not perceptions or meaningless statistics. It’s in this environment that we can create our own balance, whatever that may be.
Equally important, is a focus on personal goals and accomplishments outside of the workplace, whether it’s photography, running, scuba, book clubs, or killing yourself on mountain passes, and how the achievement of those goals fires up all aspects of our lives. The day before my ride, I was scheduled to play in a client golf tournament. Due to an injury that I had, I felt that playing would seriously jeapordize my ride, so I asked Dan DeLau, a Director at TaxOps (not a golfer), to play in my place. And he did! I know he ended up working over the weekend to catch up so that I could ride on Saturday and achieve my goal. I don’t recall that focus at the Big 4.
To step back for a moment, the results that we are after are significant. As we continue to build our world class tax team, we strive not only to compete with the largest firms in the world in the tax arena, but to simply be better. However, we are significantly different in our methodologies as to how we will achieve those goals. We feel, very simply, that it’s better.
