Accountants are often very guarded but caring, all of which can lead to some level of stress and even lack of progress. But if there’s one thing to be learned from being around them, especially at a gathering like at Bridging the Gap (BTG), it is that when accountants let that guard down and share with others in their community, it is a strength and an asset to where you as a professional and the profession itself go next.
As I am increasingly around accountants and in discussions about the profession and its future, the one theme that continues to come up is how focusing more on the personal side, the human element, will address many of its long-standing issues. And at an event like Bridging the Gap, this kind of activity and focus are on full display, as is the idea of being open to new ideas and embracing some level of change.
To quote BTG founder Randy Crabtree, CPA, “Embracing change (in accounting) isn’t about getting through it; let it remake you.” This quote, to me, is multifaceted. It speaks to the individual, the professional, and the very nature of what being an accounting professional is and can become. All of this involves a degree of vulnerability.
To be vulnerable means to be open — to change, to new ideas, to failing, and to the unknown. Sure, there is inherent risk and the hope of reward, but there is also the work involved and the will to make it happen versus simply feeling it is all happening to you.
Being in a physical place, like BTG, that fully welcomes vulnerability and mentally allowing yourself to be open to the things, as Randy said, to “remake you” is no small order. You need to have had your “enough” moment; you need to feel like there can and should be more to your chosen career and to life itself. Again, no small order.
But when you have a support network, a community, that task of change, of building towards something better for your business and yourself doesn’t become as daunting. At the same time, that vulnerability is what is needed to ultimately achieve at least some of what you want for life and work, as well as your own clients.
Because, in the end, it is about you and your choices. It is for this reason that, being as unbiased as I possibly can be, I believe events like BTG will continue to be necessary. How many accounting-related conferences can you truly say that about?
To be clear, this is in no way disparaging or disrespecting any of the confabs in this profession. They all serve their purpose and need. But we all have to come to terms with why we attend them, and much like the food that nourishes us, we have our preferences, and they all serve a need.
In short, for this great profession to succeed, grow, and evolve into what clients and those that exist within it need, there has to be a degree of vulnerability. I daresay let your clients see it too. Showing the human side, that soft underbelly, if you will, versus always being the professional and pulling down the walls just a bit will indeed increase your overall value.
Why? Well, purely from a business point of view, clients are looking to you less for the transactional nature of what you do and more for the impact your work, your time, your… YOU have on their financial well-being.
And as we are in this dawn of the age of AI, leaning in to your human side and showing the value of you means more than ever. Don’t be afraid to show it.