Management by Objection

How many times have you stopped and wondered how some people find their way into a top management post?

If you’re like me, meaning someone who has worked for a number of mid-sized companies during their career, I would think it was probably on more than one occasion.

Some attain it through birth like the CEO of a publishing company I worked for some 20 years ago whom we nicknamed “Florsheim” after the shoe brand. Because, had his father not founded the company, his career would have entailed asking folks if they wanted to see a particular style in a size 9.

Others just get lucky and throw in when the market is ripe for a service or need.  Yet despite their success many have no clue what to do afterwards. Like the founder of my wife’s company who, to this day, continually denies employees access to work remotely despite losing a cadre of good and efficient people because of it.

This brings us to the topic de jour.

This weekend I delivered a presentation on succession and firm valuation to one of the state CPA societies in the Northeast and afterwards an attendee bemoaned that his daughter worked for a company still mired in the Baby Boomer management paradigm where you are expected to be in the office at 8:30 and remain at your desk until 5:30 or 6 - no flexible hours, no remote access one or two days a week. And despite a turnover rate that would rival that of a fast-food franchise, management stubbornly refuses to change.

In case you haven’t guessed, she long ago began circulating her resume as have many of her colleagues.

I told him sadly, that I have found this is more the norm as opposed to the exception. I’ve often regaled you in this space with the head-scratching strategies I’ve witnessed over the years particularly with regard to the recruiting and retention of Millennials.

Like the CPA firm owner who remains in denial why young accountants are not walking through his door. I told him that’s akin to me wondering why Jennifer Lopez hasn’t called me yet.

No matter how many power point slides I show over the course of my presentations about what young CPA are seeking in terms of  perks, benefits and career advancement, are those who remain tethered to the “bricks and mortar” and organizational matrix of an accounting firm circa 1975.

But if I’ve learned anything over three decades is that some people don’t get it with regards to management and never will.