Driving growth by being intentionally authentic, curious, and empathetic

Whether you are part of a larger organization, run a firm, or a solopreneur, professional and personal growth are needed. You must make choices related to a course of action—specifically what successful growth means to you. Most “successful” people I see in the profession base those decisions on factors or values that are important to them and their unique situation. Firms of the future that thrive will intentionally align decisions with their long-term goals, while being authentic to themselves and their values, maintain curiosity, and work empathetically.

Intentionality requires you to know what is motivating you. Why are you doing what you are doing, and most importantly, what path do you want to be on? Is it promotion, financially driven, family, or freedom? What do those even mean to you? The choices you make along your journey need to be led by that guiding light.

Those changing the profession the most are making choices to put themselves in an environment that favors their view of success. I have observed leaders who work less hours in the office, travel, favor financial independence, participate in partnerships, enable succession planning, spend more time with family, choose the type of work they prefer—CAS, tax, bookkeeping—enjoy a client mix, and want reduced stress and personal health. Any one of these is an individual preference.

Let's look at scheduling. You could prefer to work more around deadlines (there is always one, right?), want to be slower at other times to bike through national parks, or have the summer off while your children are out of school. Your goal could be to avoid a true busy season and spread work throughout the year, never working more than a set number of hours a week. Not all of us have full autonomy to make those decisions in every role, but it can be that course direction for the decisions we do get to make. The choice is yours by aligning that intentionality with authenticity.

Authenticity to me is being true to yourself, which allows for growth because you are not worried about trying to be someone else for everyone you interact with. It doesn’t mean you don’t change how you communicate with others or adapt to situations; it means you have self-awareness that allows you to do those things effectively. Being yourself allows others to trust your motives, expect reactions, and anticipate actions.

The best clients, peers, and bosses I have worked with are predictable to some degree. Not that they are boring or risk adverse, but I was confident in knowing how they would act in a certain situation. Why? Because they were authentic. I enjoy working with those where I can be myself as well. Who can afford to walk on eggshells these days?!

Curiosity combined with authenticity allows you to understand your counterparts’ values and interests. Whether you are discovering the business needs of a client or prospect, or a colleague’s or employee’s motivation and intent, being naturally curious while being authentic is a powerful tool for growth. You know your motivation and perspective, especially if aligned as described above—but you must uncover their motivation and perspective. You cannot assume their point of view is the same as yours, so understanding where they are in the process is paramount to successful communication.

Empathy is the ability to take what you have learned by being curious and understanding the point of view of those you are working with to form a better overall relationship. This is key for development because people make decisions based on their feelings. If they are to buy from you or work with you, someone must trust you have their interest in mind and an associated goal. If you don’t know what they appreciate or dismiss its importance to them, the relationship can suffer. Being empathetic allows someone to leverage their experience, but compassion for others drives decisions and growth.

My perspective is created by my experiences and environment, while your point of view could be quite different. Recognizing that there can be multiple approaches to growth can be vitally important, as we often look to see what others are doing to make our own decisions. Observation, adaptation, and implementation are a huge part of growth. Aligning those decisions with the values we hold most dear makes achievement more worthwhile. If you can be authentic, curious, and empathetic with intention, I think you have taken a long step down the path to growth.