If your best accountants are walking out the door, it’s probably not about the money.
In this episode, Tim Schurrer (CEO of David Novak Leadership and author of “The Secret Society of Success”) reveals the leadership principle that grew Yum! Brands from $4 billion to $32 billion, and it has everything to do with solving what’s plaguing CPA firms right now: the talent crisis.
Here’s the reality: when your senior accountant flawlessly closes out another month, files returns ahead of deadline, or navigates a complex client situation without you even knowing there was a problem, they become invisible.
That’s the curse of excellence in accounting.
And while you’re focused on billable hours and realization rates, your best people are quietly wondering if anyone actually notices the value they bring.
We talk to Tim about how his company studied companies that built decades-long dynasties (Walmart, Southwest Airlines), and found one non-negotiable: they created cultures where everyone counted. Not through pizza parties during busy season or casual Friday perks, but through systematic recognition that made people feel genuinely seen for their contributions.
Tim breaks down how this translates directly to CPA firms struggling to keep talent.
In this episode, we cover:
- The “empowerment is an earned right” framework that lets you delegate without losing quality control
- The two reasons people quit (spoiler: your compensation package isn’t fixing either of these)
- The danger of taking “the joy of the decision” away from your team, especially during tax season when you’re tempted to control every client interaction
- How firm owners can stop micromanaging review notes and start empowering staff to own client relationships (with the right training framework)
- Why so many managing partners hit burnout chasing revenue targets that don’t actually align with what success means to them personally
Tim shares what he’s learned working alongside icons like Steve Jobs, Donald Miller, and David Novak about humble confidence in leadership. So many accounting firm leaders believe they have to be the technical expert in the room, the final decision maker on every client issue, and the person working the longest hours. Tim shows a different path.
We also tackle the uncomfortable truth about what happens when partners demand recognition for themselves (“they’d be so screwed without me”) instead of creating a culture where recognition flows freely. If you’ve ever felt that way about your clients or your team, this episode will help you reframe that frustration into something more productive.
Whether you’re an accounting firm owner trying to avoid another resignation during your spring recruiting cycle, a manager wondering how to keep your team engaged when everyone’s working 60-hour weeks, or a partner questioning whether this path to equity was actually worth it, this episode gives you practical tools to shift your firm culture starting today.
The best part? Tim walks through a two-minute recognition exercise you can do right now (literally pause the episode and try it). No budget required, no new systems to implement, just a simple habit that starts rewiring how your team experiences working at your firm.
We wrap with Albert Schweitzer’s quote that perfectly captures what drew most of us to accounting in the first place: “The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
Turns out the accountants who find the most fulfillment aren’t the ones chasing the biggest client lists or the corner office. They’re the ones who’ve figured out how to help others win.
Recommended books in this episode:
- The Secret Society of Success: Stop Chasing the Spotlight and Learn to Enjoy Your Work (and Life) Again
- Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking (Overcome Toxic Thought Patterns and Take Control of Your Mindset): Jon Acuff
- How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World’s Most Successful People
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00: Redefining success beyond fame, money, and power
01:27: Introducing Tim Schurrer and his leadership journey
03:16: What makes a great leader? The Michael Collins story
05:20: Why clearly defining success matters
08:21: Burnout, reflection, and choosing a different path
09:49: Building a dynasty culture at Yum! Brands
11:10: Recognition as a leadership superpower
14:14: Positive reinforcement vs. management by exception
16:03: A simple exercise every leader can do today
18:18: Why great work often goes unnoticed
20:21: Recognition, retention, and the talent shortage
22:08: Empowerment and decision-making in leadership
23:59: Leadership lessons from Apple and Tim Cook
26:59: A meaningful career story: service beyond business
30:40: Helping others win as a definition of success
32:13: Book recommendations for leaders
34:10: Final reflections on servant leadership and fulfillment
Disclaimer: The following is an unedited transcription of the episode and has not been combed for errors.
00;00;00;00 – 00;00;06;27
Tim Schurrer
it’s very easy in the world that we live in to think success is fame, money and power.
00;00;06;29 – 00;00;36;23
Tim Schurrer
And perhaps we’ll talk about this. I had a dream of being the next John Mayer. That was my big dream, before I moved to Nashville. It’s what got me to Nashville. But I’ve been on this journey ever since to really start to think about what success actually is. And people like Michael and other leaders that I have met along the way have really gotten me to kind of look at this in a different way.
00;00;36;23 – 00;00;43;05
Tim Schurrer
And frankly, it’s a question that I think a lot of us really need to be wrestling with. What is success?
00;00;43;05 – 00;00;57;02
Brannon
I’m Brandon Poe, and this is the county’s Flight Plan podcast, where you can enjoy engaging conversations about mergers and acquisitions in accounting, practice management. Listen in on strategies to build a more fun and valuable accounting firm.
00;00;57;03 – 00;01;27;11
Brannon
Welcome to an Accountant’s Flight Plan podcast. I’ve got an interesting guest today. He’s a little different than, I guess some of our normal guest. Normal guests, whatever that means. But hear me out. Tim sure is with us today. He’s the author of The Secret Society of Success and host of the Build a Winning Team podcast, where he challenges people to consider helping others win as the North Star for how they should live and lead.
00;01;27;14 – 00;01;56;18
Brannon
He’s also the CEO of David Novak Leadership, which is a nonprofit that’s a private operating foundation whose mission is to make the world a better place by developing better leaders in every stage of life. So, David, was the CEO of yum brands, if that’s not some, not mistaken, rice, right? Yeah. And if you’re not familiar with yum brands is KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut.
00;01;56;20 – 00;02;28;19
Brannon
And David grew that business from 4 billion to 32 billion and did it by creating a culture of recognition where every employee felt seen and valued for what they contributed. So I love this. This is, such cool stuff. Your career is very impressive for a young man like yourself. If you spent a decade launching two brands, The Story Brand and Business Made Simple and CEO alongside New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller.
00;02;28;19 – 00;02;55;23
Brannon
And before that, you worked at Tom’s and Apple. And you live in Nashville, Tennessee, with your wife, Katie, and two children. Busy, busy, man. It’s so busy, it feels, I think, more at home that at work, to be honest. You know, well, it’s really, you just kind of an interesting experience that. And I’m so excited to have you all.
00;02;55;23 – 00;03;16;11
Brannon
And we’re going to talk about leadership today. I think that’s what makes you kind of a different sort of guest is we have a different sort of topic. We’re going to talk about leadership from a different angle. So let me just kind of dive into my first question. And that is what do you think are the qualities of a good leader?
00;03;16;13 – 00;03;21;16
Tim Schurrer
You are right in that I’m not an accountant. So.
00;03;21;19 – 00;03;54;11
Tim Schurrer
We didn’t admit that part of my background. And yet I actually think that in a lot of ways my story is is very similar to yours and a lot of people that are going to be listening to this. And, you know, I’ll start with this in answering your question. There there’s a guy that I became familiar with his story, and it just really rocked me in the best possible way and showed me a lot of what I believe good leadership looks like.
00;03;54;13 – 00;04;19;19
Unknown
And, you know, everyone knows the story of Apollo 11. You know, man’s first trip to the moon, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. But most people don’t know there’s a third astronaut on that mission, and it’s this guy named Michael Collins. So Michael’s job on this mission, he Ubers Neil and Buzz to the moon.
00;04;19;21 – 00;04;58;16
Unknown
So he gets them all the way there, drops them off. And those guys then do everything that they have to do on the moon’s surface. But he stays in the command module and orbits the moon 26 times until those guys are ready to be picked up and brought back to earth. So what I love about this story, and why Michael has really stood out to me, is because when he gets back to earth, sits down with the press, he talks about how content he was to have had one of those three seats.
00;04;58;18 – 00;05;19;27
Unknown
And that’s just not how most of us would show up in a moment like that. We would probably respond in such a human way, you know, hinting at or even being pretty overt about the, you know, how nice it would have been to walk on the moon, having done all of this training to get to that point.
00;05;20;03 – 00;05;49;02
Unknown
And yet he was this close to walking on the moon, did not get to do it, but to have that contentment about his role, I think is really special. And what to me, it shows like a larger theme of both Michael and other leaders that I really respect, is they have defined success clearly for themselves, and
00;05;49;02 – 00;05;55;29
Unknown
it’s very easy in the world that we live in to think success is fame, money and power.
00;05;56;01 – 00;06;25;27
Unknown
And perhaps we’ll talk about this. I had a dream of being the next John Mayer. That was my big dream, before I moved to Nashville. It’s what got me to Nashville. But I’ve been on this journey ever since to really start to think about what success actually is. And people like Michael and other leaders that I have met along the way have really gotten me to kind of look at this in a different way.
00;06;25;27 – 00;06;32;09
Unknown
And frankly, it’s a question that I think a lot of us really need to be wrestling with. What is success?
00;06;32;09 – 00;07;04;07
Unknown
Yeah, I mean, as you’re describing this, I’m like, how do you how do you clearly define what success means to you? And, you know what? You know, what is it that makes you know a person? Go off that sort of well-beaten path of like, money, power or success in those sort of traditional terms, you know, I guess, I guess.
00;07;04;09 – 00;07;32;01
Unknown
How do you think about success differently? I mean, is there a structure for it? Is there a exercise people can take to kind of walk down this path and figure out what success means for them? Do you have any guidance around that? Well, a lot of people start asking this question after they’ve really suffered or struggled because most people aren’t really thinking about it’s subconscious.
00;07;32;03 – 00;07;51;00
Unknown
We know that we’re being pressured into some of these things, like your company needs to be X number of dollars in revenue, you need to have this many employees, and we kind of look to our left or right and our friends or, you know, people, other people in our industry are kind of doing that. So we then kind of do it and then we’re like, go, go, go, go, go.
00;07;51;00 – 00;08;21;01
Unknown
And then they feel burnt out and they’re like, this isn’t working. I gotta figure it out. And it’s like, well, what if you don’t have to get to the point of burnout to start asking these questions? Because there will come a time when you say, when is enough, enough? Like, this ain’t working. And I don’t think it takes a health crisis where you’re in the hospital full of stress and anxiety.
00;08;21;03 – 00;08;46;03
Unknown
Your body is like shutting down. I don’t think you have to get to that point. We can actually get to this a little bit faster. But it really does start with asking this question what is success? And the great news is your version of success can be different from mine, right? Right. Absolutely. Yeah. It’s an interesting it’s an interesting question.
00;08;46;03 – 00;09;21;26
Unknown
And you said people have to kind of hit a wall. So to speak. I think you’re right. I think that we often, hit these hit these walls. Either it’s burnout or, or maybe it’s a health problem that’s, you know, your body’s telling you, hey, this isn’t working. So that’s an interesting observation. And, yeah, I think, you know, one of the things that I think people, business people, business owners, which is a lot of our audience, don’t always they don’t take time to sit back and kind of reflect.
00;09;21;26 – 00;09;48;28
Unknown
And, I think that’s a good question to to reflect on when you got time to not be pressured. You know, you get kind of really some maybe on vacation or something. You can think about these kind of bigger philosophical questions. So, you know, we talked about, David and his success at yum going from 4 to 32.
00;09;49;00 – 00;10;19;06
Unknown
That’s definitely a widely, widely measure of success. That, that level of growth. But maybe he didn’t grow the way people may traditionally think of that growth. What was that growth path like? If you had to kind of sum it up? So David was working at Pepsi, and Pepsi decided to spin off these restaurant brands, KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and so he is a co-founder in what became yum!
00;10;19;06 – 00;10;47;19
Unknown
Brands. And right at the beginning, they started to ask, what kind of culture do we want to create here? And so David is one of the things that is so great about and is he does what he calls best practice visits. Let’s go talk to people who have done what we want to do, have them successful, and then how do we pull their best practices and apply them to our own situation?
00;10;47;21 – 00;11;10;18
Unknown
So they went all over the country and talked to some of the most successful companies. And he one of the motivations here is he said, look, we don’t want to just get good results one year. Who are the companies that have created dynasties that just have found a way to be successful year after year after year? Let’s go meet with them and codify the learnings and then do it here.
00;11;10;22 – 00;11;36;13
Unknown
We want to build a dynasty. And so they met with, you know, at the time, guys, one of the top companies in the world, you’ve got the Walmart, Southwest Airlines, all, you know, people like that. And the number one thing that every single one of them did in creating these dynasties is they created a culture where everyone counted.
00;11;36;15 – 00;12;07;19
Unknown
And David had a pretty amazing experience when he was at Pepsi. That really shaped his thinking around some of this really seen every person’s contribution valuing people. How do you recognize the people in your organization? I thought that was something that he really drove home. And, and so this is this is something that he made. The number one behavior in building the culture at yum was recognition, recognizing every person’s contribution.
00;12;07;21 – 00;12;42;04
Unknown
And so David knows and everyone listening to this knows leaders casts a shadow. People do what the leader does. And so what David knew is he’s got to go first. So what he would do is, he would actually go all over to various restaurants and, you know, in other parts of the business. And he would try to catch somebody doing one of the behaviors that he knew would drive results in their business, and then he’d recognize them and he’d say, hey, you know, here’s this award.
00;12;42;04 – 00;13;04;01
Unknown
He had this, what he called his personal recognition awards when he was at, KFC. He, he, he did a floppy chicken when he was at Pizza Hut, he had a cheese head, you know, so he was giving out these awards, and he’d he’d always make it fun. He’d sign it and let him know, kind of what it was about them, like, sign a really nice note on on these things.
00;13;04;04 – 00;13;20;15
Unknown
And so then David would say, hey, do whatever you want to do with, sorry. He said, I want to take a picture with you. He then would say, I’ll send a framed copy to you, do whatever you want to do with that picture, but I’m going to take a framed version of this photo and put it on the walls in my office at.
00;13;20;15 – 00;13;46;03
Unknown
Yeah, because when people come to a big company like that, they want to see the CEO’s office. And David says, when people walk in this office, I want them to see that you’re the kind of person who’s making stuff happen around here. Oh, so he just started recognizing people, and then he expected other leaders in the company to also the the drivers of recognition have their own recognition awards.
00;13;46;05 – 00;14;14;19
Unknown
And so you would think a guy who grows a business from 4 to 32 billion, you wouldn’t guess that recognition would be one of the key drivers to his success. But, you know, that’s exactly what happened. Wow. Well, it’s it’s in sharp contrast to what I call management by exception, where, you know, you’re calling out things that are not being done the way they’re supposed to be doing.
00;14;14;22 – 00;14;51;07
Unknown
And I think so many times leaders default to that management style out of perceived efficiency. You know, it’s like everything’s going fine. I’m not going to notice it. But if something’s out of place, I’m going to call that out. Whereas what he has done is create more of that positive reinforcement loop, which, it’s funny because when when my children were little, I had two boys and, and a daughter and, one of the kids was, let’s say he was he was a little bit difficult.
00;14;51;09 – 00;15;18;08
Unknown
There’s always that one if you’ve got children. And, we adopted this practice of instead of calling out his bad behavior, we would call out the behavior of the other two when they did some and him as well, like when they when something was doing, they were doing something that was good. And man, it just really did. We saw it in our children.
00;15;18;08 – 00;15;53;29
Unknown
How how that impacted their desire to like step up and be better. It just it worked. It worked on an on a family level. So it’s it’s incredible how you put this to practice in an organization as big as a company like you. And any time I’m speaking at an event, I’ll often tell this story. And I’m a big fan of hearing something and trying to put it into practice because so many of us just hear a lot of information.
00;15;53;29 – 00;16;03;18
Unknown
We don’t do anything with it. So here is something very simple that everybody can do.
00;16;03;20 – 00;16;21;28
Unknown
The next time you have, you know. Right. I mean, you can honestly pause this podcast and do this right now. So I always tell people, all right, let’s give somebody a shout out who is somebody behind the scenes doing something that may otherwise go unnoticed. If you don’t just take a second to call it out, it could be a text message.
00;16;21;28 – 00;16;37;29
Unknown
It could be a quick email, pick a phone, call somebody. But I’ll say, all right, just grab your phone. Let’s give somebody a shout out. I’m going to put two minutes on the clock. I’m going to grab my phone and do the exact same thing with you right now. Let’s shout some like give some people some shout outs.
00;16;38;01 – 00;17;05;12
Unknown
So then we pause. I just have like music playing for two minutes. So what you’ll find is how easy it is to recognize somebody. And and you are going to get a text back because these words that we say to people about who they are and the value that they bring, it means so much to people. And yet a lot of leaders, they just don’t do it.
00;17;05;14 – 00;17;34;10
Unknown
And so that is something that I just think is so easy to do. And I live in Nashville, like I said, and one of my favorite places to watch shows is at the Ryman Auditorium. If anybody’s ever been in Nashville, they’ve had a chance to go to the Ryman. It’s it’s amazing. And I was at a show one night where the the, the lead singer was playing guitar, standing in the center of the stage.
00;17;34;13 – 00;17;57;20
Unknown
And 3 or 4 songs later, he moves on to a piano and it’s a few steps back, a little bit deeper on on the stage. And what happened in that transition from playing guitar to playing piano is the person running the spotlight lost him. Just everyone in the crowd knew was going on. There’s figure eights happening in the center of the stage like everyone’s kind of like, all right, something’s not going right.
00;17;57;22 – 00;18;18;14
Unknown
And the lead singer calls this person out in a joking way, like, gotta stay with me, bro. You know, the show goes on, but I’m sitting there thinking, isn’t it interesting if the person running the main spotlight would have been doing their job with excellence, they become invisible.
00;18;18;16 – 00;18;53;09
Unknown
As an accountant, if you are doing your job with excellence, you become invisible. But there is this desire in all of us to feel seen and appreciated and valued. So what do you do on the day when you’re not feeling that grateful about your clients? And in fact, they’ve kind of frustrated you? Maybe something happened where you are having this internal dialog, like, they would be so screwed without me.
00;18;53;11 – 00;19;22;24
Unknown
When you start saying things like that, you are not in a good headspace. Yeah. And so, you know, what do we do about that? And what I have tried to do is you cannot control somebody else. I mean, I cannot make people recognize me. Right. Like it’s if you are demanding attention, that is, I just think you’re not that’s not us at in our, in our healthiest headspace.
00;19;22;24 – 00;19;51;19
Unknown
That’s not us at our best. And and so what I have tried to do in every culture, every environment that I have, been able to lead, that a part of, we try to make recognition, giving people shout outs a really big part of what we do. And the back to the point of like the text message and how easy it is, even though it’s so important, most leaders just don’t do it.
00;19;51;22 – 00;20;21;19
Unknown
And so we can combat this recognition deficit simply by showing up us. At least be change agents. Be the people who decide to show up in this way. And and while I can’t control everybody, I can control whether I have a team of 5 or 50. I can control how I show up for them, helping them feel, a little more seen and a little less invisible.
00;20;21;22 – 00;20;51;12
Unknown
I love it. And, you know, with account with the accounting industry right now, there’s a big talent shortage. I hear it all the time. And one of the things that I’ve recognized going back to the story of best practices and looking at I’ve talked with firms that have don’t have problems getting talent to come on. They don’t have problems keeping people, they don’t have a lot of turnover, and they have great cultures.
00;20;51;15 – 00;21;16;09
Unknown
And it would be interesting for me now to go back and say, you know, what are you doing for recognition? I wonder how big of a component that is. Are there some other things that you think leaders do to build a good culture, to make a more collaborative team? Or do you think recognition is like the main thing?
00;21;16;09 – 00;21;23;20
Unknown
If you focus on that, the other things just kind of naturally occur? Yeah.
00;21;23;22 – 00;21;48;27
Unknown
I think recognition is a big part of it. How do you keep people, you know, we’ve found so through so many different studies, the, the two reasons why people quit their job is they don’t feel appreciated or they don’t like their boss. And you as a leader, showing up, recognizing your team members, letting them know they are valued and you know, are critical to all that you’re doing at your company.
00;21;48;29 – 00;22;08;19
Unknown
They’re probably going to like you a little bit more, and they’re going to feel appreciated. They’re probably going to stay right. So I do think recognition is a really big part of one is a big part of it, but something that I have learned getting to work alongside David, I mean, I am just soaking up so much about what good leadership looks like from having time spent with him.
00;22;08;21 – 00;22;34;07
Unknown
And there is something that he does with me that really makes me love what I do. David always says, when you take the joy of the decision away from somebody, you take the joy of the job away. That’s huge. And I think for a lot of leaders, they.
00;22;34;10 – 00;23;02;25
Unknown
Believe the lie that they have to make every decision where that comes from is probably a little bit different for everybody. They probably want to feel important. You know, they have control issues, whatever it is. But when you take the joy of the decision away from somebody, you take the joy of the job away. So recognition being one but two, look at how you’re making decisions as a company.
00;23;02;28 – 00;23;28;19
Unknown
And are you empowering people to take the lead on some of that? But a little caveat to that. David also says empowerment is an earned right. It’s kind of like teaching your kid how to ride a bike. You don’t just say, off you go, you know, there is a training and a process to this where people have earned the trust to make the decisions.
00;23;28;21 – 00;23;59;17
Unknown
So figuring out what that process looks like is, is important. But there’s a third thing to. And I actually learned this one from my time at Apple. So when I first started Apple, Steve Jobs was CEO to get to work with Steve Jobs as a CEO. I just don’t even think I’ve appreciated it until, you know, a lot later how incredible that was.
00;23;59;17 – 00;24;35;06
Unknown
You get to see one of the icons in, you know, history. So when Steve Jobs passed away, though, Tim Cook takes over as CEO and Apple does these big keynote presentations, right, announcing new products. These are huge events, huge moments. So Tim Cook is being interviewed after they released the Apple Watch, this big announcement. And it was a pretty big moment for both Tim and Apple, because this was the first new product in a new category that had been released since Steve’s passing.
00;24;35;06 – 00;24;52;17
Unknown
So everyone’s eyes are on Apple and how are they going to do is this company going to make it? So, on national television, Tim’s being interviewed and, David Muir asked him, is this the moment for you, the moment of your career at Apple?
00;24;52;20 – 00;25;21;29
Unknown
And Tim doesn’t hesitate. He says, well, it’s a moment for Apple. I don’t really think about myself that much. In those two sentences, tell me everything that I need to know about how Tim Cook shows up as a leader. And to me, it’s humble confidence. I mean, he has enough humility to know that to release a product like an Apple Watch takes hundreds, if not thousands of employees.
00;25;22;02 – 00;25;45;00
Unknown
But he also has enough confidence in himself that he knows what he brings to the table. He doesn’t have to remind everybody about it. And, that his his response actually reminds me a lot of this plaque that sat on Ronald Reagan’s desk when he was president. And it says this there is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind.
00;25;45;00 – 00;25;48;16
Unknown
Who gets the credit.
00;25;48;18 – 00;26;32;26
Unknown
And when you have the opportunity to work in a company where a part of the culture is not minding who gets the credit. That to me is another huge thing that, I think people really appreciate. These are these are really gold for creating the culture. And I hope our listeners are going to take some action on some of these ideas because, it is easy to just go, you hear something and you don’t adopt it, but, you know, if it’s good enough for all these other companies and it’s let’s set them on a path to success.
00;26;32;28 – 00;26;59;15
Unknown
It’s clearly it’s clearly working. It’s clearly working. I mean, these are billion and trillion dollar businesses. Like, if it’s working for them, it’s probably going to work for, probably going to work. Yeah. Yeah. For for the rest of us. Love it. Well, I got a couple more questions before we wrap up. I like to ask all of our guests these questions, and I get some really interesting answers on one.
00;26;59;18 – 00;27;24;20
Unknown
What has been the most memorable or interesting experience of your career? Do you have a story? A career story you can share? That’s maybe a little funny here. This one, one of the more memorable things has been something that, I’ve been doing the last year. I was like a volunteer working with Eric Church on a project in western North Carolina.
00;27;24;20 – 00;27;51;23
Unknown
After Hurricane Helene. That area just got completely devastated. And, David was friends, you know, is friends with Eric Church. And, you know, Eric is from that area, spent about half of his as a half of his year there. And, Eric and Luke Combs did an event concert for Carolina. They raised almost $25 million for Halloween. Relief.
00;27;51;26 – 00;28;23;02
Unknown
And so Luke gave to a lot of different nonprofits in the area. But for Eric, he really identified that what makes these small towns in western North Carolina so special is the community of people, and in them. And for a lot of these people, their homes might have been completely devastated and they might be looking to go somewhere else, or, you know, somebody who’s renting in the area that, you know, FEMA is not helping them.
00;28;23;02 – 00;28;54;16
Unknown
And there’s now an even greater housing shortage. So that person now has to go somewhere else. But Eric wanted to keep the people in the community that make the communities so special. So, actually broke ground on some property in April, and there’s 38 homes that are being built. And what Eric’s doing is after these people go through an application process and these families are selected, they’re going to live for ten years rent free.
00;28;54;19 – 00;29;22;21
Unknown
And then after ten years, they’re going to, you know, give them ownership of the home. Transfer the ownership, really create a generational shift and an opportunity for people that, may have, you know, otherwise not been able to do it. So it’s been really neat to be a part of, of that group. And every week I’m on zoom call just like this with Eric and his team.
00;29;22;21 – 00;29;44;15
Unknown
And there’s a really great group of people who have come around this and, you know, so because of of David and Eric’s friendship, you know, I’ve been able to to be a part of this. And it’s been it feels special now. But I also think years down the road, I’ll look back on this season and, with a lot of gratitude, just we’re helping people get into the home.
00;29;44;15 – 00;30;16;00
Unknown
So the whole operation has been built from the ground up and incredible private donors and even, Cisco, the corporation has given some money to the effort as well. And, and some of the families are already selected. And so these first 38 homes. But there’s additional property that just was acquired in a nearby county and, you know, trying to build somewhere between 150 and 200 homes in, in western North Carolina.
00;30;16;03 – 00;30;40;28
Unknown
Yeah, they did get hit really hard. I mean, that’s only about a four hour, four hours from Charleston where I am. Yeah, it’s it was that was such a weird storm, too. It’s. But what I love about Eric is. And I think that this is important. You know, my book is called The Secret Society of Success. Stop chasing the spotlight and learn to enjoy your work in life again.
00;30;41;00 – 00;31;01;13
Unknown
And one of the big ideas I talk about is the spotlight is actually not the problem. You know, to to be the person sitting in the in the center of the stage, that is not the enemy. It’s more how you show up in your life, like your mindset. Are you somebody who is demanding attention? And like everybody, look at me.
00;31;01;13 – 00;31;28;18
Unknown
I want to be in the spotlight? Or are you somebody who’s willing to look at success as helping others win? And Eric is another one of those people who is really shaping my view of success, because here’s a guy who has millions of fans and and yet he’s leveraging his position, his platform, his stage, the spotlight to help others.
00;31;28;21 – 00;31;51;17
Unknown
And then when people see his generosity in the time that he is just giving to help others, when it makes others want to do the same. And so Eric is somebody to me that has a very clear view of what success is. And it’s not the fame, the money, the power, like he is somebody who shows up kind of with that, serve others mentality.
00;31;51;17 – 00;32;13;23
Unknown
So that’s been really neat to to see and experience up close as well. Yeah. Yeah. What a great story. All right. Tell us tell us the book again title that you just mentioned, The Secret Society of Success. Okay. Do you have another book recommendation as well. Who do you know? Oh man, I have a lot of a couple.
00;32;13;23 – 00;32;43;24
Unknown
I’ll, I’ll, I’ll give. There is a book from a guy named John Acuff called soundtracks and for all of us, we have these soundtracks playing out in our minds all the time. And John helps people discover. How do you know if it’s a broken soundtrack and then what do you do about it? So replacing these broken soundtracks with with better ones has I have learned so much from that book.
00;32;43;27 – 00;33;07;01
Unknown
David Novak has a really good book I, love came out last year called How Leaders Learn and yes, recognition and all these things that he did at Yale made him really successful. But actually, I think his superpower that people discover from this book is, how do you become a learner? How do you make learning a habit?
00;33;07;01 – 00;33;29;16
Unknown
And, you know, this whole idea of knowledge into action, you know, don’t just take the the insight, like, how do you you know, help it drive you forward. He he helps people in that book. He says moving from avid learners to active learners don’t just consume for consuming sake. Be an active learner, learn something and then do something with it.
00;33;29;18 – 00;33;49;24
Unknown
Gather a best practice and put it into practice. And so how leaders learn is a really, really good one. And you’ll learn even more about David and, his incredible career. And and it he I’ve learned so much from him and, so other people can kind of learn a lot from him, too, by just read those pages.
00;33;49;27 – 00;34;10;28
Unknown
Well, this has been great. Tim, thank you so much for coming on. And, I really appreciate the the value that you’ve given to our audience. And, I hope people will will grab some of these books or at least one of these books, and grab some of these ideas and put them into action. So, yeah. And I’ll just I’ll love you.
00;34;10;28 – 00;34;31;25
Unknown
I’ll leave you with this one thought. And for me, it’s this quote that I love from this guy named Albert Schweitzer. And, this has been a North Star for me. And, he says this. I don’t know what your destiny will be. Some of you will perhaps occupy remarkable positions. Some of you perhaps will become famous by your pens or as artists.
00;34;31;25 – 00;34;59;15
Unknown
But I know one thing. The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found held to serve. And that, to me, is like what accountants do. They seek to serve. And if we can really look at our lives, be content in the seat that we are in and look at success is helping others win.
00;34;59;15 – 00;35;16;21
Unknown
To me, that is us on on a much better path of it. Yeah. And you’re right, accountants are very, very much there’s a lot of servant leaders in the accounting profession for sure, which is wonderful. So thank you so much for having me. I enjoyed it.
00;35;16;21 – 00;35;37;09
Unknown
Thanks for listening to the Accountant’s Flight Plan podcast. You can keep the momentum going by subscribing and sharing your thoughts with us. Visit our website at home. Group advisors.com for more resources and tune in next time for more exciting conversations like this one. This podcast was produced and edited by Liesl Eppes of her group advisors. Thanks for listening.
