The Not-so-subtle Art of Reinvention

When you work remotely, you seldom bypass an invitation for a free lunch. Not only for a chance to get out of the office, but also for the opportunity to interact with someone personally as opposed to receiving an email or hearing a voice at the other end of the phone.

So, with the signs of early spring in full bloom in the Northeast, I made a 60-minute drive up the scenic Merritt Parkway in Connecticut to meet with the CEO of one of the country’s Top100 firms.

I was greeted by the executive at white tablecloth Italian bistro, and instead of a menu, he had his iPad spread out over the table displaying a power point presentation that detailed the sea changes that have occurred at the firm since he assumed the leadership reins some three years ago. In the first 10 minutes he shooed the waiter away three times.

The firm, which by design I’m keeping anonymous, had previously been quite active in the M&A arena often to the detriment of organic growth. He explained that he put the brakes on that strategy immediately and instead focused on how to grow internally and concentrate on what they do best as well as explore other rapidly growing niches.  

Where they previously had assigned managing partners for each office, he streamlined that down to a single managing partner for each region. That firm had a footprint.

Like other firms they waded into non-traditional niches such as cyber security and HR consulting as well as transactional analysis, risk services and wealth management.

As he explained it, the firm had been so consumed with M&A that they basically lost sight of who they were. In other words, it was time to break out of the traditional CPA firm paradigm and become competitive in the 21^st century.

The result was a double digit increase in organic growth and nearly that in overall revenue spike.

He also revealed he now regularly fields inquiries from partners at other large firms looking to transition over to his as well as overtures from the super-regional practices looking to merge them upstream.

They have resumed their M&A strategy and in between the calamari salad and salmon entrée he detailed where and what he was looking for and fortunately requested my help in locating such opportunities.

Sounds like a plan.

He even picked up the check.