Author: Ric Payne

A Couple of Things We Could Learn From Sam Walton

The richest family in the world – The Waltons, estimated total wealth $150 billion – owe their fortune to the genius of Sam. From what I have read about his he would be the first to say he was nowhere near the vicinity of genius but if seeing what others don’t see and persevering in the pursuit of a vision is genius then he most certainly was. Continue reading “A Couple of Things We Could Learn From Sam Walton”

Your Brand: Your Mindset: Your Success as Change Maker

Your brand represents the public image of who you are, your values, what you stand for, your core competency – in short, the value you bring to the table for anyone who might want to work with you or for you. The more strongly you can position yourself on all of these dimensions in a way that differentiates you from other people (or firms) that operate in the same space the more likely you will be to drive success for yourself and those with whom you work. Continue reading “Your Brand: Your Mindset: Your Success as Change Maker”

A Webinar on Strategy in the Emerging Competitive Landscape

The accounting services industry is highly fragmented and intensely competitive and as is the case with all mature industries its principal services are commoditized which inevitably puts downward pressure on margins. In this webinar, I discuss why this occurs and what you can do about it. Continue reading “A Webinar on Strategy in the Emerging Competitive Landscape”

A Glimpse at The Firm of The Future

I was talking to a previous Results Accountants’ Systems team member yesterday about how technology has caught up with the ideas I had talked and written about extensively back in the last century. He reminded me of a paper I wrote called “I had a Dream” that from memory was circulated internally at RAS in which I outlined what I saw as the evolutionary changes that were playing out in our profession. These ideas were detailed in a presentation I did for the Kentucky Society of CPAs in June 2000.  Continue reading “A Glimpse at The Firm of The Future”

It’s Lonely At The Top: A Mentor Makes the Difference

By far the most enjoyable part of my work is the formal and informal mentoring I do with leaders of forms around the world. The main reward I get is the learning experience it offers me and the sense of contribution it brings. I have to confess I’d do it whether I was paid or not. Continue reading “It’s Lonely At The Top: A Mentor Makes the Difference”

Collaborate and Grow Further and Faster

I first started talking to accounting firms about growth strategies in 1982 when I was just a kid. One of the things I noticed even then was that multi-partner, multi-manager firms that embraced a “whole firm” approach to meeting client service needs seemed to grow further faster than those built on an “eat what you kill” approach. Continue reading “Collaborate and Grow Further and Faster”

The 25 best pieces of advice I have given or received

Over the years I’ve been given or have picked up from my reading lots of good advice that I have acted on. I thought I’d put together a list of my top 10 but before I knew it I had about 30 ideas that came to mind. So I filtered them to 25 and I intend to work on this a little more but for now here’s what I’ve come up with. Continue reading “The 25 best pieces of advice I have given or received”

Non-creativity is a learned trait and the good news is, so is Creativity

In 1993 George Land, who is a US general systems scientist (whatever that means) undertook a longitudinal study of 1,600 children of various ages in which he administered a modified standard creativity test that had originally been developed by him for NASA to help in the selection of engineers. Continue reading “Non-creativity is a learned trait and the good news is, so is Creativity”

Personal Development first: Warren Buffet’s View

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about those so-called personal development gurus like Dale Carneigie, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Stephen R. Covey, Napoleon Hill, Jack Canfield and many others who, I must say, have played a major role in my life and my outlook on people and life. Continue reading “Personal Development first: Warren Buffet’s View”