Can an accounting firm actually be a fun place to work? Years ago I interviewed Bill Hagaman, CEO and Managing Partner of WithumSmith+Brown. Since I’m a recovering accountant, I was very intrigued to have Bill on the show. We don’t think of an accounting firm as a place where people have fun, but they have established a business culture that is enjoyable and growth-oriented. 

Since including Bill in my book, I decided to revisit this culturally elite company and talk with one of their employees, Aaron Slaughter.  Adam is a Senior Manager in Withum’s Washington, D.C. office. He specializes in providing top-notch assurance, auditing, tax, and accounting services to multiemployer benefit plans and labor organizations across the U.S.

This is an interesting conversation because not only does he work for Withum, but the office he is in is one they bought to expand their territory.  Adam, therefore, had to move into the Withum Way. I found out, WithumSmith+Brown really does walk their talk.  

As a refresher, here are the components of the Withum Way.  

The Ten Elements of the Withum Way 

1. Think Client Centrically
2. Possess a Vision for Growth
3. Welcome Innovation and Change
4. Maintain a Cooperative Attitude
5. Demand Integrity
6. Cultivate Open and Honest Relationships
7. Embrace the Family Spirit
8. Work hard/Play hard
9. Give Back
10. Live Life Passionately

Interview Links & Other Resources

Withum.com

The Withum Way

Breaking Stereotypes of Accountants (Video)

2016 State of the Firm (Video)

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Contrary to popular thought, gratitude does have a place inside of every workplace.  

For more than a decade, researchers have been studying the effects of a positive mindset and its byproducts of increased productivity, creativity, and engagement. 

Gratitude creates an optimistic way of thinking. 

Are you aware that grateful people can have 10% fewer stress-related illnesses?  That translates into lower absenteeism at work. Workers who feel well, work harder and smarter too.  Individuals who find more to appreciate in their lives become better problem solvers and produce higher quality work.  That’s how gratitude shows up in the bottom line of any business. 

We humans have it backwards.  You might think that success will drive your happiness, but we have discovered that it is just the opposite.

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Rhonda Spencer is the Chief People Officer at Barry Wehmiller.  She oversees two critical teams that inspire personal growth of team members, cultivates leaders within its ten divisional companies, and foster Barry-Wehmiller’s dynamic people-first culture: Organizational Empowerment and Culture & People Development. The Organizational Empowerment Team is focused on furthering the company’s highly successful leadership development institute, Barry-Wehmiller University, its continuous improvement initiatives, Living Legacy of Leadership (L3), and numerous sales motivation programs. Culture & People Development directs wellbeing initiatives, safety initiatives, team member benefits and recruiting efforts.

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In this episode, I talk about the importance of flexibility. Being flexible is having the ability to adapt to new, different and changing environments. Since our world is constantly in flux, the skill of flexibility is mandatory for a successful and happy life. In today’s quickly changing world, the ability to think and act differently is essential. This can be applied to every aspect of your personal and professional life. To point out the necessity of this skill, let me ask you this.  Have you ever had a day completely go according to what your plan was? Probably not. Most of you don’t live in isolation, so there are thousands of factors every day that can change your plans.  Even a hermit in the woods relies on the weather and nature for their shelter and food supply.  For more information about Julie Ann: Julie Ann on Twitter Julie Ann on LinkedIn Julie Ann on Facebook 2 free months on Bonusly

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Rhonda Leeman Taylor is a native of Canada.  She was one of the founding pioneers of woman’s Canadian hockey as it was being reborn in the 1980s.  She is now involved in assisting companies with their marketing and recruiting with specialized software at Advos, the HR Marketers and Fuel 50.

This is a candid conversation about women in the workplace, women in sports and women in the boardroom.  Rhonda shares some incredible stories that you might think come from the dark ages, but happened not that long ago.  Her experience in women’s hockey gave her more power to counteract the disturbing treatment that she experienced. Her perseverance will help generations of women in the future.  

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It’s important to understand that no matter where you are on the organizational chart, at some time, even if not all the time, you ARE a leader that someone is looking to for guidance, approval and permission.  That comes with some responsibilities, for instance, how do you empower those that ARE looking to you for guidance?  The definition of empowerment means to promote the self-actualization or influence of someone.  The best leaders are those that empower others to become what they can be, beyond even their own expectations.  They can see what others don’t see in themselves.

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Gethin Nadin is the Director of Employee Wellbeing at Benefex. They believe that everyone deserves an exceptional experience at work, every day and they build workplace technology that makes this happen.  They are the producer of OneHub which is an award-winning employee benefit, reward, recognition and communications platform. We are going to be talking with Gethin about how Benefex uses its own philosophies internally to create a superb workplace culture.  That is where Gethin comes in.  

Think about how great it would be to get communication that was directed to you and not have to filter through 100 emails that don’t pertain to you.  Benefex knows its employees and speaks to their needs. In this way, your employee experience is raised along with productivity and loyalty.  

Gethin is a psychology graduate who has been helping some of the world’s largest organizations to improve their employee experience and wellbeing for almost two decades. As a frequent writer and speaker on employee experience and employee wellbeing.

In 2018, Gethin published his first book - the 5 star rated Amazon HR bestseller, A World of Good: Lessons From Around the World in Improving the Employee Experience

We are going to be talking with Gethin about how Benefex uses its own philosophies internally to create a superb workplace culture.  

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Shep Hyken is the CAO (Chief Amazement Officer) of Shepard Presentations. As a customer service and experience expert and keynote speaker, Shep works with companies who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His focus is on delivering amazing customer service, customer engagement, managing the customer experience and creating customer loyalty. He is a hall of fame speaker (National Speakers Association) and a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author. 

The direct correlation between internal culture and customer experience is what we dig deep into on this episode.  He imparts his knowledge about, Moments of truth, Moments of magic and his golden rule, “Do unto your employees as you would want done unto your customers.”

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Welcome to 2020.  It is a new year and you are probably filled with personal and professional goals.  Unfortunately, some research has shown that less than 25% of you will keep your personal resolutions past 30 days and only 8% of you will keep them over time.  Of course, in business, this would spell disaster. But it is still a struggle, mainly because not enough time and thought is put into shaping business goals, planning for their execution and being open to change.  

In this episode, I am going to help you look at three strategic necessities to have success in your new business goals, with an emphasis on internally growing your culture.   

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Today I’m highlighting the importance of disengagement and how it can heighten your ability of resilience.  This episode is not about you being disengaged from the work you do.  On the contrary, the type of disengagement I’m going to talk about will actually raise your engagement in everything that you do.   It may seem contradictory, but listen through and you’ll find that downtime creates more valuable work time. Disengagement is a way of detaching from something.  And the something I want to discuss is the parts of life that may make you irritable, unhappy and frustrated. 

In a world where more than 200 million emails are sent each day, it’s no wonder there seems to be no time to relax and disengage. You may think about work when you awaken or on your way to the office if you don’t work remotely. There are emails, meetings, and phone interruptions that further complicate ways in which you can be creative and productive.  In fact, just talking about this makes me want to scream.  It isn’t a coincidence that in May of 2019, burn-out was classified in the International Classification of Diseases as an occupational phenomenon.  You may have convinced yourself before ever listening to this episode that it’s counter-intuitive that downtime is necessary to work and play at your highest level.  But it isn’t. 

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