Great Ideas are Meaningless Without the Ability to Do ONE Thing.

I’ve had some progressive ideas throughout my career.

Whether it be exploring disconnect days during ‘busy season(s)’, billing by outcomes instead of chargeable hours, embracing remote work in the CPA profession, or building firms fully supported by AI…

A lot of these progressive ideas have led to meaningful results.

As a team, we grew Baker Tilly from $475m to $1.5B during my time as CEO.

If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, I’ve got to imagine you’ve had some progressive ideas in your career too.

So what’s the difference between progressive leaders who are able to bring their ideas to life and those who aren’t?

As I reflect on my experiences and continue to consult with organizations of all sizes, I’m realizing a critical (and often overlooked) ingredient to achieving intentional results…

The most effective leaders are able to do one thing that leads to the most meaningful results: change mindsets.

In today’s email: why great ideas aren’t the most important thing leaders bring to the table, what changing mindsets REALLY looks like, and my formula for how to go about doing it.

Ideas Aren’t King.

Look, ideas are a dime a dozen.

Lots of people have them. In fact, there’s lots of leaders filled with progressive ideas of how to change their profession or transform their business that aren’t experiencing differentiated results.

So if that’s the case, is it really the ideas that separate the most effective leaders and the most progressive organizations from the rest? Or is it something else?

I often think back to a conversation I had with a senior leader during my time at Baker Tilly.

I wanted to implement a new system that aligned with our growth strategy. It meant making some transformational change and although I was enthusiastic about it, I was met with some resistance from people on my leadership team.

As I was discussing the change with one individual, they said something that I’ve never forgotten:

“Alan, it’s not what you’re asking us to do that’s hard. The hard part is leaving what we’ve always done.”

People are creatures of habit! Why leave something that’s familiar and comfortable? No one wants to do that, especially when they have done that thing hundreds or thousands of times! And that’s ok.

That was a pivotal moment in my career.

It taught me that the ideas I had weren’t the most important thing. I was never going to get those ideas implemented and more importantly, align an entire organization to those ideas if I wasn’t able to alter people’s mindsets.

The Tortoise and the Hare—Alignment Version.

Let’s say there are two leaders. They both have the same progressive idea to move from billing by chargeable hour to billing clients based on outcomes.

​(More on why I support that shift in this edition of the newsletter)​

For the sake of this example, let’s say both are receiving pushback from their leadership teams.

The Hare Leader (Leader H) forces their idea through (despite the pushback) to get this billing change implemented firm-wide as quickly as possible.

The Tortoise Leader (Leader T) notices the pushback and slows down. They intentionally allow time for the idea to marinate as they have conversations with team members, gather feedback, and learn.

Like the classic story of the tortoise and the hare, Leader H is ahead out of the gate. They’ve quickly changed the billing model and are moving swiftly toward becoming the firm of the future (or so it appears).

From my experience, that same leader is likely missing a key element to any transformational initiative… alignment.

When I say alignment, I don’t mean that people can recite a strategy chapter and verse when prompted.

Alignment is executing strategy the way it was designed to be executed...and with the appropriate, swift pace.

Alignment is when people are rowing in the same direction because they share mindsets and beliefs about where they’re going and what they need to do to get there.

Leader T, on the other hand, is taking intentional steps to gain alignment by shifting people’s mindsets (more on how to do that in a moment). They are moving slower and evidently, appear to be behind.

As the old tale goes, although Leader H may appear ahead out of the gate, I’ll bet Leader T is the one who wins the race—effectively building a relevant and sustainable firm in the future.

Why? Because they’ve slowed down to do the necessary work of changing people’s mindsets to gain alignment. Without it, the “facade of progress” that Leader H built is likely to fall apart.

The ADW Formula for Changing Mindsets.

With an understanding of the importance of changing mindsets and gaining alignment, here’s my formula to gain buy-in to your ideas:

Step 1: Let go of the expectation that change happens quickly.
Step 2: Be consistent about sharing the vision and strategy.
Step 3: Communicate how a change enables strategy execution.
Step 4: Have intentional conversations with people opposing the change.
Step 5: Take that new understanding and refine your message.
Step 6: Be patient. A lot more patient.
Step 7: Repeat.

Look, changing people’s mindsets is one of the most difficult things you’ll do as a leader.

It took us two years (yes, two years) for a new strategy to take hold at Baker Tilly!

Your job, as an effective leader, is to take the time to understand people and deliver a consistent and well-thought-out message.

- Why are they opposed to where we’re going?
- What, in particular, are they concerned about?
- What’s important to them?
- What ideas do they have about where we are going?
- Where’s the common ground between what they want and your vision?

If you want to create transformational change in your organization you have to bring EVERYONE into the process so they feel a part of it—otherwise, it’s unlikely to gain the buy-in necessary to achieve something great.

When people feel heard, understood, and like they are able to contribute to the solution, they will not only be willing to change their mindsets, they are more likely to be bought into the strategy and vision for where you’re headed.

THAT is true alignment—and an organization that has true alignment is going to outperform the ones that don’t ten times out of ten.

Slow down to speed up.

Think about a progressive idea you’d like to implement in your organization.

If you are receiving pushback (or afraid you will)... how can you be intentional about using the formula I’ve shared to slow down, gather input, change people’s mindsets, and move forward (effectively) with your idea?

If you’re experiencing pushback or friction, it doesn’t mean your idea is flawed! Those are simply signs you may need to alter your approach.

Take time to slow down to try to understand and change people’s mindsets and you can change the entire trajectory of your organization.

As always, I'm a phone call away if you'd like to discuss any friction points you're experiencing or discuss your unique situation.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman