What Inspires Me: The Wisdom of the Crowd

I confess, I have been in a bit of a funk lately. A case of information overload. Too many spinning plates to keep from dropping, not enough time, you know the feeling.

Then last week in my office with my senior management team, as we struggled with business model innovation and positioning the association in a very uncertain, rapidly changing and complex marketplace, it hit me. The secret to solving our "wicked problems" is tapping the wisdom of the crowd and shifting from "I" to "we". As soon as we talked it out and developed a plan to move forward, I could feel the funk dissipating, like the morning mist being burned away by the early morning sun.

That is what inspires me. Moving forward, together. Tapping the power of "we" to achieve the impossible, to beat the odds, together. Our "plan" involved tapping individuals to help us analyze the situation and gain insights which would be turned into creative pathways that would be exposed and developed with our team and members and partners.

Insights to ideas and ideas wrapped in purpose. Engaging people with purpose and ideas to ignite passion. Passion that fuels commitment and propels people to put their shoulder to the flywheel and move us forward, together.

As I look back, I can find lots of examples of the source of my inspiration. The roots go back to my high school football team when we made the divisional championship. The morning of the big game, the local newspaper reported that we were expected to lose. We were outmatched and the paper predicted we would lose by 14 points.

We went on to win that day 34-6, a forty-two point difference! I saw my three sons repeat that same come from behind, against all odds, underdogs win phenomena during their high school sports careers. The 2013 World Champion Baltimore Ravens are yet another example of the power of inspiration and teamwork overcoming impossible odds. Regardless of whether we won or lost, the esprit de corps of committing to a goal and giving your all, together, is what mattered. The power of I becoming "we" fueled by passion that creates the collective power that propels us to victory. That is what inspires me.

But what about business? Can you get that same feeling and energy in the world of Certified Public Accountants?

As the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs, I lead a workforce of nine thousand. Thirty-one FTEs and eight thousand, nine hundred and sixty-nine volunteers. I cannot threaten them, adjust their compensation, or command them to do the work of the association. Instead I have to inspire them to participate in creating and committing to our agenda.

Pictured above are almost two hundred CPAs who volunteered during the beginning of their busiest time of year (tax season) to attend our annual CPA Day in Annapolis to protect their Profession in January 2013. The result was the accomplishment of our entire legislative agenda, a success we have repeated over and over again.

We had a similar experience when one hundred CPAs representing all four generations in the workplace (including students) came together to work on the generational problem last month and the results were incredible (you can see them here). We did that with a group of the top finance chiefs of Maryland's largest public companies last month and with young professionals and with CPA Firm administrators, CFOs, and well, you get the picture. All of these examples involved lots of volunteers coming together to create and innovate.

In every one of those examples, major insights and actions were developed by the group and in the words of author, John Hunt, "We are all equal before the idea." That is the other key point of my inspiration, collaboration and participation are the rocket fuel that mixes with purpose to propel the idea, the project, the team forward.

That is what inspires me. People. People committed to the mission.

People collaborating to innovate and find creative pathways. People committed to a common purpose, goal, or agenda that act as one. People willing to give their absolute best to the cause. People that accomplish impossible things, together, and as Michelangelo said, even if they miss the moon, they will fall among the stars.

So, what is the source of your inspiration?