Crunch Time - CPA Firm Survival in a Predatory Environment

By Gary Sturisky

In the concrete jungle, there are seasons of rain and plenty, followed by seasons of drought and scarcity. Whether or not we survive depends on how prepared we are for these changes, and how willing we are to evolve in order to remain relevant. Leaders who ignore the shifting seasons will soon find themselves and their firms fading into obscurity.

Whether we shy away from it or actively seek it out, change is never easy. In these rapidly changing times, surviving means stepping away from the herd and venturing out onto the road less traveled. It means sharpening your claws and taking a bird's eye view of where your business is at, and learning and evolving during the times of plenty before the season of drought and hunger returns. This may mean taking down predators, it may mean diversifying or specializing, and it may even mean seeking out new hunting grounds. Whatever it is, the secret is never to lose hope.

Join us on an African safari as Gary Sturisky, a world-renowned transformation consultant, takes you on a journey through the vast open plains of the Serengeti and down the narrow corridors of the concrete jungle to uncover practical tools to help your company evolve into the CPA firm of the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Sturisky
• Release date: Feb 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393046400

Book preview

Introduction

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle—when the sun comes up, you'd better be running. ~ Thomas L Friedman

Many stories have been told about Africa, the land of my birth, but the story I am about to share with you is unlike any that you may have heard before. Our story begins on the great plains of the Serengeti, a twelve thousand square mile national park in Northern Tanzania on the continent of Africa, the birthplace of humankind. It is here that we bear witness to the great annual wildebeest migration, where a staggering two million frantic wildebeest and twenty thousand other grazers who inhabit the great plains of the Serengeti cross the great Mara River as they migrate to Kenya’s Maasai Mara, in search of greener pastures.

In another world, far, far away from the vast, open plains of the lush African wilderness, is a world inhabited by two-legged mammals, clad in suits, generally located within giant, grey buildings, neatly positioned into cubicles with desks and chairs, computers and telephones.

These mammals, much like their four-legged counterparts in the Serengeti, are on a constant quest to find new feeding grounds. As they traverse their great corridors and bustling highways in their search for new opportunities, they are being watched. Survival is a dangerous game and, if you’re not the hunter, there’s a good chance that you’re going to be the hunted. It’s an equal playing field of skill and wit, and if you’re fast, if you’re alert, and if you’re smart, the smorgasbord is yours for the taking.

For the grazers of the Serengeti, their journey is one of over three hundred miles as they follow the rains in a clockwise pattern through the region in search of lush, green grass on which to feast. It is a journey fraught with danger. In rivers, crocodiles lie in wait, their snouts and eyes peering above the surface of the water, their stomachs grumbling, ready to lurch forward the moment an unsuspecting victim walks past, thrashing their prey about and drowning it, before disposing of it with a few swift crunches of their mighty jaws and knife-like serrated teeth. In the shadows of the long grass, lions and cheetahs wait patiently, watching as the herds of unsuspecting wildebeest, buck and zebra pass by, searching out the weakest, preparing to attack when one breaks away from its group.

In the bush, as it is in the concrete jungle, success rarely goes unnoticed. Lurking nearby are the hyenas and vultures, scavengers who feed off the remains of the kill. If they’re nimble enough (as the hyenas often are), they will steal the kill right from under the hunter’s nose. In the tall, grey buildings in the land far away, eyes watch from dark corners, waiting to attack. As every leader in this world knows, becoming complacent often leads to sudden death, and the only way to remain on guard is to ensure they sleep with one eye wide open.

1 The Lay of the Land

Africa gives you the knowledge that man is a small creature, amongst other creatures, in a large landscape. ~ Doris Lessing

It is the end of the rainy season. The elephant, the lion, the zebra, the baboon, the waterbuck, the leopard and the warthog celebrate the arrival of new additions to their families. In the distance, the sky rumbles for the last time, and flickers of light dart across the sky. The sun beats down on the plains of the Serengeti, coaxing water droplets from the overflowing dams and rivers to join it in the sky. The tall green grass sways in the gentle afternoon breeze and, for a short while, life is perfect.

Back in the tall, grey buildings in the far-away world, it’s business as usual for the two-legged mammals. The economy is booming, business is flourishing, and new opportunities abound. But, as we all know, nothing is ever as it seems, and change, ever-present, happens slowly, and then all at once. Whether we shy away from it or actively seek it out, change is never easy.

With every season comes new challenges. With every new life, there is an accompanying death. Species that once abounded might find their numbers dwindling, unable to adapt to changing conditions. It is no different in the concrete jungle. If the two-legged mammals are to survive, they need to draw on every resource they have to avoid being decimated by others who are smarter and stronger than they are.

In the concrete jungle, as it is on the Serengeti plains, inhabitants know that with every opportunity comes competition. Resources can become scarce when your competitors are smarter or faster than you are. Whether clad in a suit or fur, each one of them knows that if battles are to be won and territory is to be gained, the law of the African bush must be followed—show no fear, and face danger head-on.

If I may, allow me to close the curtains on the scenes playing out on the Serengeti plains for a while, so that I might introduce my reason for writing this book—a reason that has more to do with the goings-on in the fast-paced concrete jungle than the gentle ebb and flow of life for the grazers, the predators and the scavengers of the African bush.

While life in the bush is, to some degree, predictable in its simple uncertainty, the world of the concrete jungle is ever-evolving. It is not just a world of beast against beast; it is a world of human against computer—skills and competencies that far exceed the capacity of the average Homo Sapien brain. Physical strength and mental prowess are useful—if not essential—attributes to getting ahead, but the arrival of technology on the business stage has left many firms floundering and facing certain extinction. Whereas professions once existed to provide practical expertise to those who did not possess the necessary know-how, these professional gatekeepers (for lack of a better word) are being replaced by online repositories of free information—think of web sites like WebMD—and online educational platforms like Khan Academy where you can learn everything from analyzing a historical text to writing code to quantum physics to understanding supply and demand, and market equilibrium—without having to pay a cent. Khan Academy, which sees education as a basic human right (and is actually doing something about making it accessible to everyone with an internet connection) recently recorded over ten million unique users across the globe. One up on web sites are mobile-based apps available to replace a human being in seconds. Even the Vatican has a confession app that’s been dubbed Sindr by some media and online commentators.

I have spent more than twenty-five years in professional services, including more than a decade as a managing partner, building and transforming sustainable, high-performing practices at the fifth-largest CPA firm in the