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LEADERSHIP

How Do You Value Your Most Important Asset?

Yes, your employees.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Skills, abilities and experience are the elements recruiters use to assess candidates who come before them. But what is interesting is despite a skill set playing  a dominant role in the value that an employee brings to the organization, it may not be recognized as such. This is not a new concept. I came across research conducted in 1918 by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center.

MORE STEVE SACKS: How to Build a Winning Proposal | Six Ways to Fix Your Firm Agreement | The Great Resignation or a Reshuffling? | Listen to Learn | Build the Framework to a Solution with Five Answers | Try for Success, Not a Win
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The study discovered that almost 95% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills (better referred to as life skills ) and people skills, while  only 5% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge — hard skills.

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MARKETING & SALES

How to Build a Winning Proposal

business meeting of a woman and two menAutobiography? No. Economic benefits? Yes, please.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Do you ever wonder why after spending many hours on drafting, editing, proofing and polishing – and proofing and polishing just once more – your engagement proposal efforts did not result in winning the engagement? And if this happens on a semi-regular basis, the frustration is never easier to take.

MORE: The Great Resignation or a Reshuffling? | Listen to Learn | Build the Framework to a Solution with Five Answers | Try for Success, Not a Win
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You may have the requisite knowledge and experience and perhaps even a broad view based on a diverse set of clients. However, you may have become complacent by maintaining a “cookie-cutter” approach to developing your proposals. Like the old joke defining a consultant: “A person who takes off your watch, tells you the time and gives the watch back to you,” implies an approach that you believe is best for your potential client, yet reflects no understanding of what the client actually needs.
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MANAGEMENT

Six Ways to Fix Your Firm Agreement

Schedule an annual review.

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

Earlier I discussed that engaging in what is considered conflict avoidance can undo the progress a firm has made. This can be because of complacency, frustration, intimidation or a host of other issues.

MORE: The Great Resignation or a Reshuffling? | Listen to Learn | Build the Framework to a Solution with Five Answers | Try for Success, Not a Win
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Some things are intuitively understood, but it’s those occasional sticky matters that tend to make situations unravel. Establishing and keeping agreements helps to avoid confrontation: the one typically arising from someone promising to do something in a timely and complete manner and within a specified budget. Even if the firm’s board casually agreed on a matter, something can go awry and threaten the direction of the firm.
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INNOVATION & CHANGE MANAGEMENT

The Great Resignation or a Reshuffling?

How many in-person days make sense for your firm… and who decides?

By Steven E. Sacks

The concept of “quiet quitting” is now mainstream thought. Summer 2022 is over, and with it, for many companies and their workers, their remote work arrangements.

MORE: Four Accountability Steps for Firm Success | How to Build a Standout Team | Five Keys to Becoming a High-Performing Firm | Assessing Your Firm | The 4 Traits of Great CPA Leaders | Why Leaders Must Ensure Clarity | Incremental Vs. Exceptional Success
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Many recognizable companies have sought to get back to some normality. Some want workers to return to the office full-time, some have asked for a two- to three-day in-office arrangement, and some have viewed remote work as successful and see no reason to change anything for the foreseeable future.

Workers will not easily accept these changes.

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INNOVATION & CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Quiet Quitting: Are Employers Culturally Aware?

A fad or a movement?

David Bergstein and Steven Sacks chat about quiet quitting and how it may impact the accounting profession.

By Steven Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals: Practical Guidance for Today’s Accounting Firms

Employees are not keen about returning to their offices after an almost two-and-a-half year (for some) hiatus from the hassle of commuting and balancing child care and other personal responsibilities. What are company leaders to do?
Employees want to strike a balance between their work life and their family life (or life outside the office). The common employee refrain has been, “I want to find my life’s passion, and I need work flexibility to accomplish this.”

Hmm.

MORE: Don’t Overlook Office Relationships | How to Deliver Authentic Value | Making the Jump from Small to Mid-Sized Firm | What Sets Your Firm Apart … If Anything? | Why Deadlines Get Missed | Too Busy? You May Need to Reprioritize | Is It Time to Outsource? | Five Reasons You’re Not SWOT-Ready | Who Needs Another Meeting? | 4 Questions for CPA Firm Boards
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

What about creating value and finding purpose and meaning from work? More to the point: Can meaning and purpose be derived from a job?

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