Off the Ledger
Your days as a college student are almost numbered. The working world is calling. As you get ready to embark on your career, you have to be thinking, “What am I going to do when I graduate?” “Is a job in public accounting right for me?”
Where do you want to go?
You have so many options. Big firm or small? How do you decide? Where can you go to get the real, honest look at a career in public accounting? What is it REALLY like to be an intern? What will my life be like as a staff accountant?
See your future...
At Porter Keadle Moore, LLP (PKM) we’re here to help. We’ve created this blog site just for you! To help you find answers to these and other questions about working in a public accounting firm. Real interns and brand new staff accountants chronicle their experiences with our firm. Read what they have to say. Ask questions, share your opinions and we’ll respond.
CEO - The Path to Effective Leadership
Barbara Owen - Audit Staff
C. E. O.
What do these letters mean to you? If your response is “Chief Executive Officer,” you are right!
Here is a different spin on those letters, courtesy of a seminar I attended recently - “Transitioning from Management to Leadership” presented by Dr. Perry Buffington (“Dr. Buff”).
C - Charisma, creative as in creating the reality or illusion of order. Order is the important word here — the notion or feeling of order.
E - Extraverted personality type. This type is expert at creating the feeling that he or she thinks just like you do - on everything! This nice, cozy feeling makes you like him or her, and willingly do just about anything he or she asks of you!
O - Optimist. This personality component creates the feeling of hope. Hope is critical. We all need it.
All three of these make up the psychology of a leader in today’s world, a world with an ever-evolving work culture in need of a new breed of leader.
If, as the CEO, I have created the illusion of order in my organization, connected with co-workers in a like-feeling and empathetic way, garnering trust, AND relayed hope that if they stick with me, all will be well, I have succeeded. I have sold the belief that we are all in this together and our work is for the common good and success of the entire group.
Think about people you consider to be charismatic - the good, bad and ugly. Some that hop to mind are Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Jim Jones, Oprah, Billy Graham, David Koresh, to name just a handful. Do you see the common thread?
As you interview and consider job opportunities, keep these characteristics in mind. An effective leader will have these distinctive qualities and they will be readily evident.
Visit http://www.drbuff.com/index.htm for more from Dr. Buff - a psychologist, media personality and all-around good guy. If you have an opportunity to hear him, do not miss it!
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