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They Call Us The “Radical” Practitioners
There’s an uprising of innovative CPAs in the accounting profession. This group created a new support community that is no longer driven by the establishment. The establishment can’t control the conversation. In fact, they almost missed it.
When I first started doing this, I wasn’t aware of anyone doing what I was doing. Then I went to Twitter. That’s where I really met my peers. We were learning from each other from day one and that same community of support is still happening today. By 2010, someone called us a “movement.”
A “radical” practitioner is a person who calls upon himself and others to redefine their firms and their lives by moving away from the traditional firm business model.
Why Do We Use the Term Radical?
rad-i-cal adjective \ra-di-kl\ : very new and different from what is traditional or ordinary: very basic and important: having extreme political or social views that are not shared by most people.
The term radical applies because what we are doing to our firms and indirectly to the profession is fundamental to its core. It’s abrupt, disruptive, unexpected, and far-reaching. We are shaking up the status quo.
We are changing because our customers and the world are changing around us. Some might also perceive radical to be a negative term. It’s not. Our movement is more likely following the happy expression, “that’s radical, dude,” We want everyone to learn and join us.
Why Should I Be Radical?
CPAs must be “radicalized” so they cannot be lulled into complacency and driven by reaction to their current firm or livelihood. The changes that are happening in today’s fast-paced world need to be addressed. You and your team have already felt the changes. The silent majority of many employees are hurt, suspicious, and feeling unheard. They see and experience the changes happening around them and don’t understand the complacency or the resistance to change from firm management. You may even be feeling this yourself within your firm of one. This toxic condition within many firms is corrosive and detrimental. Employee frustrations are mounting to the point of revolt and indifference. An employee who is indifferent is more destructive to a firm then one who is leading a revolt. Many of us fight with the idea of rationalization, where we say it’s not that bad. We can wait before we take action. “Let the next generation make the changes, I’m retiring.”
However, we can wait no longer. The world isn’t waiting. Neither can we.