Compensation as a Strategic Asset

CHAPTER 2HOW TO GROW THE COMPENSATION PIE: THE LEADERSHIP FACTOR

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

—Rosalynn Carter

Do not bemoan the fact there is shortage of future leaders in your firm. In fact, there is a shortage of leaders not only in the accounting profession, but in corporate America as well. The shortage is not going away, so it will be up to you to identify and develop new leaders.

You may be wondering what it takes to be a successful leader in today’s rapidly changing, often confusing, and intensely competitive environment. To that end, you may want to throw out what you currently believe about leadership and what you currently believe leaders do. A challenge for most accounting firm leaders, however, is they have a lot invested in the past. They got to their current positions because they did incredibly well at yesterday’s activities. One common characteristic of unsuccessful leaders is that they are often committed to outdated strategies and ideas. “Anyone who believes that anything they have done in the last 20 years makes any sense at all compared to the next 20 years should not even be in a position of leadership,” argues management guru Tom Peters.

Take a minute or so and ask yourself the following questions to determine your readiness to become a more effective leader:

▮ Am I operating based on new beliefs?

▮ Am I moving the firm’s strategic vision ahead?

▮ Do I ...