octobernovember2022 - 25

THE MILLENNIAL ADVISOR
Change is Hard
GARRETT WAGNER, CPA
CEO/Founder, C3 Evolution Group
garrett.wagner@cpapracticeadvisor.com
IF WE CAN all agree on just one small detail after the past few years, it may simply be
that change is hard. It doesn't matter if that change is planned on, desired, or forced upon
us, change in any shape or fashion is hard to do both at the individual level and at the
organizational level. As a profession, we have been called many things when it comes
to our pace of change: slow, stuck in the past, old-fashioned, or my favorite, inexorable.
AVOIDING CHANGE
No matter what you call it,
accountants' actions are governed
by the old saying: If it ain't broke,
don't fix it.
According to Wikipedia, this
phrase originated in the early
1970s, and was popularized by
Bert Lance, who was the director
of the Office of Management
and Budget under President
Jimmy Carter.
Lance believed like many
accountants that the secret to
success was to avoid change; you
know he would have been a huge
friend of SALY too. Under this
mantra, you avoid change on most
occasions under the view that
you will have more success doing
the same thing as the day before
versus adapting to the challenge
tomorrow brings.
AVOIDING HARM
Now while Lance's saying has gotten
a lot of attention and certainly could
be a rallying cry for accountants,
another famous saying should be
getting our attention in these modern
times. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral
Grace Hopper has been credited
with the most dangerous phrase in
the English language: " We've always
done it this way. "
Think about that for a minute.
While Lance's phrase is easy, Hopper
hits the nail on the head. She
recognized in her brilliance that
while change is hard and difficult, it
is unavoidable. While we may wish
day. That is one of the undeniable
truths of existence, tomorrow will
be different than today. Before we
run away from the idea of change,
we need to acknowledge that one
of the main reasons most people
avoid change is due to fear. Fear of
the unknown, fear of doing things
differently, and fear that what we
change may not make things better.
FEAR
You see, one of the things that
Hopper understood which eluded
Lance, was that despite our fears,
change isn't about always having
the right answer. Change is about
adapting to the world around us and
is filled with tales of her innovation,
adapting, and breakthroughs. She
was not without fear and caution,
but she was always looking to solve
that next problem in her work, and
that is the core principle we see in
her famous saying, that push to
overcome fear of failure and reach
for success.
BABY STEPS
As we move closer to yet another
year, we need to leave old Lance's
mindset in the past and realize
the future is coming no matter
what. But this doesn't mean we
need to overwhelm ourselves;
instead we can take it slow. You
for things to stay the same and for
tomorrow to be like today, the truth
is that the world, our lives, our
clients, our schedule change each
having the courage and strength to
try something different. In addition
to being a rear admiral, Hopper was
a computer scientist and her career
see, change doesn't mean massive
broad sweeping change, change can
simply mean one small change to
get started on the path. Instead
of getting all excited by this
article and deciding to change
everything and then feeling
overwhelmed, take a step back
and try this instead.
Write down five things that
you want/should change right
now. Now instead of tackling the
hardest or the most impactful
first, I want you to do something
different. Look at your list and
pick the one that will be the
easiest change to make. Allow
yourself an easy win, an easier
fear to overcome and then build
upon that success.
POSSIBILITY
While accounting as a whole
may not be broken, one thing is
clear, it is undergoing major change
in all aspects. We cannot allow ourselves
to bury our heads in the sand
any longer with our buddy Lance.
We need to do something different
tomorrow than we have done
today, because what other choice
do we have? We can overcome our
fears, and if we start small we can
build upon our success at making
change happen and stop being
afraid. Just image if you were not
struggling today with all the challenges
you are faced with, because
you had already been adapting to
the future. ■
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
25

http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

octobernovember2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of octobernovember2022