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There’s hardly a business that will remain unaffected by blockchain technology.

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With Steven Sacks

In Blockchain Basics for Business, Steve Sacks interviews Jack Shaw on the elements of the technology, its early beginnings, the industries impacted, and the practical business applications.

MORE VIDEOS and PODCASTS: The Art and Science of Hiring: Three Essentials for the COVID Age | What’s a Bot? New Tech Tools to Boost Your Practice | Your Competition Isn’t Who You Think It Is | Don’t Get Burned by These PPP Pitfalls

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Key takeaways:

Bitcoin is only an application of Blockchain which is the platform
Decentralized nodes eliminate the possibility of hacking
Blockchain has many business uses in the financial, insurance, media, medical, consumer and supply chain
Industries impacted by blockchain include energy, entertainment, manufacturing and transportation
Blockchain stores records such as identities, ownership of assets, business transactions and contractual commitments

^ Download and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here

Jack Shaw is an innovation and change management consultant, who has been voted one of the world’s top 25 speakers and one of the top 5 technology futurists. Jack integrates his executive experience in Industry, technology, and consulting to speak on Innovation, Change Management, and Transformational Leadership. And, he has decades of experience designing, developing, and implementing emerging technologies and how these will impact business and society.

Jack has advised key decision-makers at such Fortune 500 organizations as Mercedes Benz, Bosch, GE, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Oracle, and SAP. Jack has delivered over 1,000 keynote presentations and executive forums in 26 countries and every state across the U.S. He is a Yale University graduate, and holds a Kellogg MBA degree specializing in Finance and Marketing.

Jack’s expertise is in the strategic impact of leading-edge technologies, including Blockchain technology, 5G, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. He can be reached at https://jackshaw.io

TRANSCRIPT and SLIDE DECK (for PRO Members)

Blockchain Implications for Business

January 4, 2021

By Steven Sacks

There’s hardly a business that will remain unaffected by blockchain technology.

^ Play the video

With Steven Sacks

In Blockchain Basics for Business, Steve Sacks interviews Jack Shaw on the elements of the technology, its early beginnings, the industries impacted, and the practical business applications.

MORE VIDEOS and PODCASTS: The Art and Science of Hiring: Three Essentials for the COVID Age | What’s a Bot? New Tech Tools to Boost Your Practice | Your Competition Isn’t Who You Think It Is | Don’t Get Burned by These PPP Pitfalls

Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin is only an application of Blockchain which is the platform
Decentralized nodes eliminate the possibility of hacking
Blockchain has many business uses in the financial, insurance, media, medical, consumer and supply chain
Industries impacted by blockchain include energy, entertainment, manufacturing and transportation
Blockchain stores records such as identities, ownership of assets, business transactions and contractual commitments

^ Download and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here

TRANSCRIPT and SLIDE DECK (for PRO Members)

Organizational Change Starts and Ends with People

January 3, 2021

By Steven Sacks

What is your firm’s social contract?

By Steven E. Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals

You read about companies every day: those that separate themselves from the competition by disrupting the norms and those that remain steadfast, much to their detriment. For the former, think about Amazon, Uber, Netflix and other “change agents.” Now, think about the latter: JCPenney, Kmart and Sears.

MORE: SWOT’s the Purpose? | Another Meeting?!?! … Sigh | Organizational Trust: Top-Down and Bottom-Up | How Can Change Management Really Produce Change? | Trust: One Building Block of Success
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As the late chairman and CEO of Intel, Andy Grove said, “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”
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Heading Off Course? Time to Correct

January 1, 2021

By Succession Institute

Be ready to forgive yourself.

By Bill Reeb

We need self-acceptance that as human beings we are emotional, have faults, are regularly scared, will make mistakes, are very self-critical, expect more from ourselves at times than is reasonable, and more.

MORE: It’s All Right to Enjoy Success | Make Worry Work for You | Why We Have to Deal with Guilt | Are You Right Where You’re Supposed to Be? | Letting Go Is Not Giving Up | Your Obligation to Yourself | Why We Risk Change
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We need to accept the fact that we will commonly sabotage or undermine our own efforts, sometimes consciously, often subconsciously. When we find our psychological and physiological energy heading down one of these destructive paths, rather than pile on and beat ourselves up even more, we need to accept that these detours are both expected and predictable so that we can quickly refocus on more constructive responses.
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Sales Shouldn’t Be Scary

December 31, 2020

By Ty Hendrickson

How a funnel will get you there.

By Ty Hendrickson

No, I haven’t lost my mind, I truly believe that all accountants should love sales.

MORE: Sell Your Services on Value, NOT Price | When Did Our Reaction to “NO” Change? | Build the Practice You Want in 4 Steps | Get Goal-Ready for 2021 | Maybe the Pandemic Isn’t All Bad | The REAL Problems Created in a Remote Workforce

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It is well known that the general sentiment in our industry is that business development is terrifying and not what we were trained to do as accountants. In reality, the fundamentals of sales are actually what accountants do best – number manipulation. Once the framework of sales is broken down to a numbers game, it becomes fun, exciting and dare I say, EASY!
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You’re Selling the Wrong Stuff

December 30, 2020

By Matt Solomon

It comes down to giving clients better business results.

By Matt Solomon

When you’re struggling to grow your business, success can seem mysterious. You feel like you’re doing everything right: you’re good at what you do, you give clients what they ask for and you work really, really hard. So what’s missing?

MORE: The Path to a Conscious Business | Are You Running Your Practice by Default? | Your Secret Weapon for Exponential Profits
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The answer is hiding right in plain sight. If you aren’t seeing the growth and success you want to have, chances are that you aren’t selling what clients really want.
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How to Train Clients

December 30, 2020

By Frank Stitely

Skip this, and both service and satisfaction decline.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

You’ll hate me after this post. I’m about to reveal that many of the behaviors that you rationalize as good client service are really just desperate measures to avoid losing bad clients. We’ll talk about getting out of that mess later.

MORE: Avoiding Projects Hung Up in Process | When Clients Create Errors | How We Killed the Tax Season Client Meeting | Why Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | There Are No Easy Answers | How to Thrive as a 21st-Century Firm | Farm-Aid for Accountants? | Whittle Down WIP
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Clients are trainable – at least as trainable as Jack Russell Terriers. That is to say, they’re somewhat trainable. However, like Jack Russell Terriers, you train clients or they’ll train you. Somebody’s getting trained. Here’s an example of how that works.
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20 Best Practices for Staff Training and Retention

December 30, 2020

By Edward Mendlowitz

Are they employees or team members?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

Colleagues complain that it is hard to train staff because they do not listen, and even if they were trained properly, they would then leave, preventing recoupment of the training costs.

MORE: Why Create an Accounting Firm Business Model? | Advice to New Accountants | Clients Don’t Lose Sleep for Overpaying Taxes | When Time-Based Pricing Works | How Auditing Is Like a Pirouette | ¿Que Es Bookkeeping?
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I hear what they are saying but do not agree with either premise. Training is essential and must be committed to by the partners and owners and become part of the firm’s culture.
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Five Edge Computing Predictions for 2021

December 29, 2020

By Rick Richardson

Welcome to private 5G networks.

By Rick Richardson

One of my “go-to” technology research firms is Forrester Research. Recently, the firm said 2021 would be the year that edge computing graduates from experiment to practically applicable technology, primarily driven by AI and 5G.

MORE TECH THIS WEEK: Is Amazon Stealing Your Internet? | Will Fast Charging Become Tomorrow’s Gas Station? | Add Live Captions to Your Zoom Meeting | The 2020s Will Demand More from Your Tech | 5G Timeline for Vehicle Automation | Three COVID-19 Opportunities for Robots | FBI Warns of Back Doors in Chinese Tax Software | The Top 5 Technologies for the Next Decade
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Edge computing is a technology that places the processing close to the data source rather than concentrated processing at a distant central location.
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Strategic Planning for the Small Firm

December 29, 2020

By Edward Mendlowitz

Plus actionable tips for each area.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

QUESTION: Do you recommend strategic planning for a small accounting practice?

MORE: Does Your Staff Know All the Services You Provide? | Four Tips for New Partners | An Alternative to Pro Bono | 14 Better Uses for Timesheet Data | 9 Must-Haves for Firm Growth
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ANSWER: I recommend it for everyone. It is important for larger firms to make sure the partners are on the same page.
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