Remembering Your Why

We recently held our TSCPA Midyear Board of Directors meeting in College Station. It had been a while since we visited the Brazos Valley for our meeting, and the local chapter members were out to show us a good time. They accomplished their mission and we had a great meeting. The chapter treated us to Blue Bell Ice Cream during one of our breaks – always a good way to the heart of a Texan or anyone who likes ice cream – and they hosted entertainment at our reception – the Aggie Wranglers, a dance team from Texas A&M, although dancing doesn’t quite describe what these young people do. It is more like a dancing/gymnastic combo. I got worn out just watching them! Their talent and enthusiasm was inspiring. My thanks goes to all who attended our meeting and especially to our local chapter leaders – Lyn Kuciemba, Tracy Stewart and Linda Johnson. They made us feel welcome and at home during our brief stay. At the meeting, our current TSCPA Chairman, Donna Wesling, provided a brief update to the board on recent activities and issues, and I highlighted the results of a membership survey we conducted back in the fall. This information is important so that board members know what we have been doing. We spend a lot of time at TSCPA making sure members know what is going on and what we do for them. But it also got me thinking about the fact that while we are always making sure we tell our leaders and members what we do, perhaps we don’t focus enough on reminding them why we do it. Understanding and promoting your “why” is critical for any organization (or person). It helps employees and customers appreciate your purpose for being. What you do – actions, programs or services – are all results. So are money or profits. They don’t explain why you exist. They don’t define your purpose, cause or belief. You can get a better appreciation for this concept by reading some of the works of Simon Sinek. One of his books, Start With Why, explains that all highly successful organizations and people start with defining their why. They work the opposite of most people, who instead start with what they do, perhaps describe how they do it and rarely get to why they do it. Highly successful and innovative people always start with defining the “why” of what they do, and Sinek provides a number of real-life examples that are interesting to read about – Steve Jobs/Apple, the Wright Brothers and Dr. Martin Luther King. In the case of TSCPA, perhaps we can look to our founding members and how they described our “why” in the Articles of Incorporation of TSCPA: “The TSCPA is established to promote and maintain high professional and moral standards; to advance the profession of accountancy by research and cooperation with other organizations of professional accountants; to protect the interests of its members and of the general public; and to act in a representative capacity for the profession.” What’s your “why?” It’s worth thinking about.