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How do we bring innovation into the world of Public Accounting?
The Truth About Marissa Mayer: An Unauthorized Biography by Nicholas Carlson popped up in the recommended news section of my Linked In account this weekend. Thinking I would just scan through it, I later found it was a lengthy but intriguing article which I read in two sittings. Two areas really resonated with me. 
The first was listening to Marissa speak to a Stanford class about the lessons learned at Google around Innovation .
Google’s 9 Theorems on Innovation
So how do we apply these conceptions in public accounting?
Ideas can come from other industries. What models can we change?
I want to know what you know! Engage in conversation. Contribute. There is so much information available today that we can get swept up in information overload. Share what you have found.
Surrounding yourself with smart people has always been a business axiom. I love being challenged to rethink.
Google provides the opportunity of using 20% of your time to work on anything you want. I have always thought that public accounting for me was a great forum to pursue dreams. Find your path. Find support. And then go for it.
Develop new products, methods of delivery, packaging. Throw them out in the marketplace. They don’t need to be perfect. Adjust as you go.
So we are accountants. I know. The numbers have to be right. The law has to be followed. I’m a stickler for getting it right. But there are so many other ways we can be creative and innovative.
The second area of Marissa’s bio that intrigued me was her work philosophy. She said it, “I like to work.” Now this is something I can really relate to. Marissa said she has been called a workaholic. I’ve been called the same. But it’s that I really like the work. I like being challenged and learning and relationships… it goes on and on. So here is an excerpt from the article relating to her transition into Yahoo:
“Some of the people in the room were growing frustrated with the pace, but others began contributing. Among those who contributed, Mayer learned who to trust. Those trusted people began to grow in confidence and they started to contribute even more. Once we learned how to operate on that level of intensity with her, she softened and it became more of an interaction.”
“She was pushing the pace…She was teaching…She was creating…She was using data to empathize with hundreds of millions of people all at once, as she had learned to do at Google.”
“I’ve never seen anybody like [her],” says someone from those meetings. Mayer, he says, was “somebody who could see a whole collection of possibilities and could just talk about her experiences and principles.”
One Yahoo executive said that before Mayer arrived, “what was missing was leadership from the very top, which was able to cut to the chase and get some tough decisions made, get focused in the right places, get the sense of urgency, and also somebody who could really be the chief quality control leader of the company.”
Quality control a must. What goes out is what everyone sees.
Another stickler for quality…Steve Jobs. So as if I hadn’t read enough on technology leaders, I decided to check out the new Steve Jobs movie. Similar philosophies? Yes. Surround yourself with smart people. Make quality products. Steve also had the same attention to minute detail as Marissa. Think, what does the consumer want? Steve wanted to be Different not Better.
So how do we do that in the accounting world? Be Different? Find innovative ways to engage the consumer. Make accounting their world? Make the numbers matter for them? Make them simple and understandable?
What do you think? Ideas come from everywhere.
There are so many good things going on in Reno right now, and you don’t have to look far to find them!
When you ask the question, What makes a neighborhood great?, the answers include “It’s always a bunch of individuals coming in who think the potential for their community is bigger.” And “A great neighborhood usually evolves organically with its residents.”
MIDTOWN is a prime example of this. Check out the latest edition of Reno Magazine’s profiles of 17 Midtown pioneers who invested in Midtown, whether 17 years ago or six months ago and are fueling its renaissance. This group believes and is totally invested in “Buying Local” and caring about local business.
Sam Sprague, Micano Home and Garden: “When people starting thinking about buying locally, it will help Reno out so much – that’s when the sidewalks will change, the economy will change, the money will be going back into our community.”
Christian and Kasey Christensen, SÜP Restaurant: “The couple envisions Midtown as a spot reminiscent of San Diego’s Gaslamp District with its destination feel and dense population of businesses.”
Bernie and Tim Carter, Carter Bros Ace Hardware: “What Midtown has developed into is a philosophy: To develop that old-town center core in Reno,” Bernie describes. “That’s why we’re involved with mom-and-pop type stores.”
Next project up for the Carter Brothers…the historic, 81 year old, former downtown Reno post office designed by famed architect Frederic DeLongchamps. Can’t wait to see that one!
Arthur Farley, Brasserie St. James: “…all my favorite neighborhoods aren’t downtown, they’re right at the edge of downtown.”
Other Midtown owners and businesses include Hillary Schieve, Plato’s Closet & Clothes Mentor; T. Duncan Mitchell, Chapel Tavern; Eloy and Rachel Jara, Midtown Wine Bar; Eric and Monique Baron, The Melting Pot; Esther Dunaway, PolyEsthers; Christopher Costa, Reno Public House; Peter Burge and Laura Conrow, Wedge-A Cheese Shop; Tammy Borde, Chocolate Walrus; and Amber Solorzano, The Creative Coalition of Midtown.
What makes a great neighborhood? Just ask the Midtown folks.
And while you are reading through Reno Magazine catch the interview with Monica Harte, General Director of the Nevada Opera Association. Monica is bringing a fresh new perspective to Nevada Opera with a goal of introducing opera to new audiences in our community while maintaining exceptional productions for seasoned opera fans. I’m now one of those new to the opera fans!
Finally, if you haven’t heard the new bustle about town, check out the Biggest Little City Campaign. 
This is another grassroots project that’s all about showing the good things in our community. Go to their website and read stories of why people live in Reno. Share your story. What’s your Big…and Little?
So what’s happening in Reno? Plenty to be proud of. Pioneers are paving the way. Jump on board.
The Government Finance Officers Association held its annual conference in San Francisco this past week. Edwin Lee, the mayor of San Francisco opened the conference speaking about transparency in government including sharing data with innovative businesses that develop mobile applications that can be utilized by everyone.
In San Francisco looks to tap into the open date economy, Alex Howard identifies San Francisco as one of the first cities to launch an open data platform. 
One app cited is the Rec & Park app, built by San Francisco-based startup Appallicious, which enables citizens to find trails, dog parks, playgrounds and other recreational resources on a mobile device. At the conference the Mayor talked about a mobile app to identify parking space availability. How great is that? When you are looking to find a parking place, no more driving around block after block. In all honest, I can’t claim to be a big app user but the thought of utilizing government data to make our lives run more smoothly is very attractive to me.
California Lt. Governor, Gavin Newsom, (also a former Mayor of San Francisco) delivered the keynote address on Tuesday. Much of his speech revolved around his new book, Citizenville, which explores the need for citizens to become more involved in their government and how technology can help facilitate this endeavor.
As you might suspect, Citizenville is a play on Farmville, the popular game in which players spend hours maintaining their virtual farms. Newsom’s Citizenville’s concept is to combine the fun of a game with the social good of solving problems. A way to engage from the bottom up instead of the top down bureaucracy.
Newsom believes in complete transparency for every agency with exceptions only to protect public safety or personal privacy. Opening up the data and making it available to ordinary people. Encouraging people and businesses to use that data in a useful innovative manner. Engaging people on their terms with new technologies and social media.
Innovation should drive change and provide solutions. Who wants to play?
I consider myself one of the lucky ones that had the opportunity to participate in the first TEDx held in Reno at the University of Nevada. I didn’t know what a TEDx event was, but happened to run across it on a LinkedIn message from Bret Simmons, University of Nevada College of Business associate professor and TEDxUniversityofNevada event organizer. I jumped on it and bought a ticket. It sold out within 24 hours.
17 speakers were selected from 70 proposals. These great stories are depicting what is happening in our community. And imagine, if these were only 17 out of the 70, how many more are out there. Most, if not all of these speakers have a local connection, either as UNR graduates or current members of our community.
The speakers were divided into four areas:
Shawna Korgan, wife of author and motivational speaker Grant Kogan; Matt Bernardis, COO of First Warning Systems, Inc., a software and medical device company addressing early breast cancer detection; Michael Morkin, M.D., an ER physician at Renown Hospital who was on duty the day of the Reno Air Races crash; and Leilani Schweitzer, using her own experience with medical errors to become a patient liaison at Stanford Hospital.
Pedro Martinez, Lauren Ford and Deyanira Baca; superintendent for Washoe County School District, principal at Hug High School and a senior at Hug High School determined to succeed despite her difficult circumstances; Deanna LeBlanc, 2012 Nevada Teacher of the Year; Veronika Scavacini, an eighth grader with a mission to continue delivering LifeStraws to Kenya; Logan LaPlante, a 13 year old taking a different path he calls “hackschooling”; and Grant Davis, a singer/songwriter and survivor of the impact of his sister’s drug addiction on the family unit.
Ryan Dolan, General Manager of Dolan Automotive Group; James Kosta, CEO of 3G Studios; Laura Zander, Co-owner of Jimmy Beans Wool and Mark Estee, chef/owner of Campo Reno.
Brian Williams, youth motivational speaker challenging schools to compete in acts of “Kindness”; Robb Smith, a social entrepreneur and Grant Korgan, recovering from a spinal cord injury to trek to the South Pole.
So as a community let’s focus on the positive things that bring us together. What we can do individually and collectively to improve the Reno Tahoe area. Let’s keep the conversation going. I’ve tried sharing the stories from my TEDx experience but it’s tough to convey the depth of enthusiasm and emotion of those on stage. You might not want to miss the next Reno-area TEDx event that will take place on April 26th. Details: www.tedxreno.com
With so much of your retirement funds invested in the market these days, the thought of retirement is a risky proposition. I personally don’t have plans to retire anytime soon; however, listening to Bill Hampel, an economist for the Credit Union National Association,
speak at the AICPA National Conference on Credit Unions, one take away for me was “how much shock are you willing to take to your portfolio?”. This is something you need to determine up front before you retire. Based on historical data, this can be as much as a 50% hit.
So as you work with your financial planner to determine that timeline when you can retire, keep in mind that the market is volatile. Why do you think that so many people have continually delayed their retirement date? I find it interesting that when you ask someone that is heading towards a “normal” retirement age when they plan to retire, the answer is typically five years.
What is so magical about this FIVE year number? Is it a safe number? Does it appear to keep you vested in the company and not perceived as a short timer? Is it real? Or will it keep getting deferred?
The winners in this downturn of the economy have been the ones that have had the ability to defer their retirement. Not so lucky have been the ones that retired and then saw their nest egg and home values plummet. Until we see a resurgence of the economy we will probably continue to see the retirement age generation pushing out that date FIVE more years.
A recent Harvard Business Review article, What You Can Learn From Family Business, compared the performance of similar sized family businesses to traditional public companies with some interesting results.
Their conclusion: family businesses focus on resilience more than performance. 
Forgoing excess returns in the good times to ensure survival in the down times.
Seven key difference were identified:
We’ve all seen that many of the businesses that have survived this recession have done so because they have strong balance sheets. Strong in that they are holding significant amounts of cash and little debt. 
Family run businesses seek to be self-sufficient and not beholden to lenders. They take the long view of protecting family wealth. So, they may not be the innovative risk takers and therefore miss some opportunities; however, they are the backbone of business that provides stability in this ever volatile world.
Credit scores…do we really understand where they come from and how they are used? A study just released by researchers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that credit bureaus sometimes provide Americans with credit scores different than those used by lenders in as many as one out of four times. The study was based on a random sample of 200,000 credit files from the three major credit reporting agencies – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will now begin supervising credit-reporting firms…about 30 companies. Another layer of bureaucracy required because these firms cannot be relied upon to self monitor. And what is the benefit to being inconsistent? It’s not too difficult to provide the same information to the consumer that you are providing to the lender.
Now that consumers are well informed about the necessity to monitor their credit scores, it’s only fair they receive the same information. Credit scores are used in determining who does and doesn’t get a loan, what your interest rate will be, etc. Really important factors. To both the borrower and the lender. Let’s get it right…and be consistent.
