Anticipatory Is a Big Word

Anticipatory is a big word—I wish I had been more anticipatory on what to blog about this week. I had a relevant fishing story I was really excited to share, but that was shelved (next week, I promise!).  Instead, I felt compelled to share why I was participating in next week’s webcast Will Your Firm Thrive or Just Survive? The Critical Competency for Today’s Practitioner hosted by CPA.com. 

I will join CPA.com president and CEO, Erik Asgeirsson, Futurist Daniel Burrus and the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs, Tom Hood for a webcast to discuss the critical anticipatory competency. We will share why anticipatory is such a big word today including:

• The difference between hard trends and soft trends
• Why it is important to identify trend types
• Use cases of how these skills are being used in the profession

Why am I participating and why has our firm committed to this skillset as one of our pillars for client experience going forward?  The easy answer is that clients are quickly moving to and building relationships with firms that can collaborate on anticipatory insights that generate opportunities and help predict and prevent problems. 

Research confirms that clients have plenty of information—they want us to be more proactive with anticipatory insights and to collaborate with them on their opportunities and challenges. How do we move from being historians to being anticipatory?  What can we do to de-commoditize our services to clients?

The answer is that big word—by being anticipatory.  What if we had the skills to predict future trends and realize they are really future facts? As Daniel Burrus says, “Our future view will determine our future.” I believe that the opportunities for CPA firms have never been greater IF we understand that we must use new skills and new ways of serving clients to capture those opportunities. 

Searching for how to be relevant in the future? This webcast will address being relevant.  If you have never listened to Daniel Burrus speak on being anticipatory, I challenge you to participate with us next week. I guarantee you will learn a new nugget of wisdom that will help you on the path to being relevant for your clients and your firm. Erik Asgeirsson will help us understand the challenge we have today in the profession. Tom Hood and I will share how we are using these skills within the profession and within our firm. 

I encourage you to register for the webcast. Share this with your peers and encourage them to attend. It’s time to look each other in the eye and hold ourselves accountable to an even better client experience and a higher level of anticipatory service.

Yes, anticipatory is a big word—and it is our future.  

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