Archive for September, 2012

Happy 100th, UT Department of Accounting

Published September 24, 2012 College , Life Leave a Comment
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Debits on the left,

Credits on the right,

Stand up, sit down,

Fight, fight, fight!

If you don’t know that one, then you are probably not an accountant.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Department of Accounting.  I am proud to say that I was a part of that history for five of those one hundred years and that I received 2 of the  25,605 accounting degrees conferred since 1912.  In fact I even went down to the campus recently to take a picture of The Tower lit up in honor of the occasion.

While I left the accounting profession fairly early on in my career, I attribute much of my professional success to the educational foundation I received while attending the McCombs School of Business in pursuit of an accounting degree.  I call my accounting degrees from UT “my dirty little secrets” since technology professionals tend to have less than high regard for accountants.  But not very closely held secrets – since my diplomas are proudly displayed on the wall behind my desk.

Many people think that majoring in accounting means just learning the mechanics of debits and credits, memorizing all those mind numbing Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and just adding and subtracting numbers.  At some schools that may be the case, but at UT the professors actually taught us about business –  not just how to keep score. They also brought in real world business leaders that brought the theoretical to life.

You may think that I am just a homer that thinks that his university has better academics than the rest of the schools in the country.  But in this case, I think it is more than just my opinion.  Just check out these facts and figures about the McCombs Accounting Department:

So Happy 100th to the best accounting program in the country, and thanks for shaping my business mind and the minds of so many others.  Hook’em!

The Love Train

Published September 19, 2012 Career Development , Leadership , Life , Music 1 Comment
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When love comes to town,
I’m gonna jump that train
When love comes to town,
I’m gonna catch that flame
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down,
But I did what I did before love came to town

Nothing like a little BB King and U2 to start things off.

I have written a little on this idea of love in business in the past. You may recall a blog centered on Kip Tindell from Container Store and a keynote speach I heard from Chris Lowney reflecting on the Jesuit philosophy on leadership. Since then I have not been able to shake this idea of business love.

I will be the first to admit that I have never been the poster child for touchy feely leadership. For the most part the places I have worked over the past 20 years had management teams that were cut from the same cloth – the cloth of management with a good dose of fear perhaps sprinkled in with a jagged version of tough love. Now don’t get me wrong, I have worked under some highly intelligent, highy motivated, and sucessful leadership teams. But I doubt many would use the word “love” to describe those leaders.

Those radical Jesuits had a different idea about this leadership thing. Their version of leadership was to see the potential in each employee, to make a commitment to unleash that potential and to cultivate the resulting loyalty and support to unite and drive a team to success. That is their idea of love-based leadership. To see the potential in a person and to help that person reach that potential. It is a concept that is based on the thought that all employees are self-motivated to achieve success and that the leader’s role is to help by putting each person in situations to succeed and to give them the tools they need to succeed.

For me, I doubt the majority of the management teams I have worked under in my career would ever be considered as the face of “love-based” management. There may have been moments of love and compassion but for the most part the management styles have been motivation by fear and tension. That said, those teams and the resulting business results were generally succesful, but it makes you wonder if the results could have been even greater with a more loved based leadership approach. There is no way to go back and replay the past, so all we can do is ponder that thought and perhaps learn from it.

It is said that your style of management is shaped by those who have managed you, and I think that is true to an extent. While I don’t think I am as hard core as some of my former bosses, I do think my style has been influenced by them. Fortunately, I also think that you are influenced by others around you and what you read and hear. I am grateful to have been able to watch strong leaders succeed using techniques more in line with the Jesuit style of leaderhship and to be exposed to books, articles and speakers that get there is more than one way to lead. Whether it is listening to the likes of Kip Tindell, watching how my own father lead a school district or reading books on the subject; I have come to realize that one can lead and manage without using fear as the main motivator.

I am not fully on the “love train” just yet, but I have jumped into the boxcar and am slowly pulling my body all the way in. Hopefully some day I will make my way to the engine and drive that train.

So once again, here’s to love in business and hoping it comes to a company near your soon.

2012 – The Summer of Long Anticipated Concerts

Published September 16, 2012 Life , Music Leave a Comment
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As you can probably tell by the long list of concerts I have on this site and my frequent use of song lyrics in my writings, I love music. While the number of concerts attended tailed off over the last decade (seems to coincide with start of fatherhood), I have not lost my passion for live music.

Fortunately the Summer of 2012 brought the opportunity for me and the Lovely Mrs. Neill to see three acts that for many years I had wanted to see but for one reason or the other had not seen. The three acts: Everclear, Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett.

Everclear was first up on our Summer of Music tour. I have been an Everclear fan since the early 90s. Those that only know the 40+ me may find this surprising but it’s true. There is just something about that hard SoCal alternative rock sound. Everclear was a part of a five band lineup in the Summerland tour. We decided to make a long weekend around the concert so we headed to Ft Worth to see the show at Billy Bobs – the world’s largest honkytonk. It was a strange place to watch a bunch of alternative 90s bands to say the least. The weekend was great, but Everclear failed to wow me. In fact I was disappointed – the sound was bad and the energy that made me love their music was just not there. I am still happy to be able to check them off the list, but this was one concert I probably should have seen in my 20s, not in my 40s.

Concert number 2 was Dwight Yoakam. While I wouldn’t put Dwight in my Top 10 of musicians I just had to see, there is a history here that made this one special. Back in 1993, I had fallen madly in love with a recent UT graduate but she wasn’t feeling quite the same way just yet. I scored some free tickets to a Dwight Yoakam concert in Austin and invited her to go to the show with me. Long story short, she cancelled last minute on me and I ended up not going to concert. So fast forward to 2011. I had ended up marrying that fellow UT grad in 1994 and 17 years later we yet again had tickets to go see Dwight Yoakam. I was excited about it because it was the “date” that never happened back in 1993. Well as fate would have it, days before the show, I ended up having to make a last minute trip to the Philipines for work. So I had to cancel and dump the tickets. Luckily less than a year later Dwight booked a return gig in Austin at the ACL-Live venue. This time we bought 4 tickets so our daughters could go with us. What a treat it was. This time I got to go with three beautiful girls. We had a fun dinner beforehand, the venue was great, and Dwight put on a fantastic show. I have no doubt it was better in 2012 than it would have been back in 1993.

The final show in the trio was the legendary Lyle Lovett. I am almost ashamed as a born and bred Texan to admit that I waited this long to see Lyle. He is hands down a true Texas music legend. The show was once again at the ACL-Live venue. This time we left the kids out home and grabbed a great meal downtown before the show. Lyle brought along his Large Band for this show, and I think it may have been one of the most enjoyable concerts ever. There was also a special guest appearance by Shawn Colvin – one of my Austin favorites. The small venue feel was awesome and the musical talent was off the charts good. It was a fitting end to the trio of concerts. I would go watch Lyle anytime, anywhere.

Overall the Summer of Music was a success even if Everclear did not live up to my expectations. All three shows gave me a chance to relax and forget the chaos of work and life in general. I got to relieve some memories and hang out with my best friend. I can’t wait to do it again in the Summer 2013.

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