Risk and Reward - Who Can you Trust?

Trust – I routinely look up the definitions of words. Oddly enough, I love reading the definitions of everyday words as I believe it re-educates us on messages we are trying to convey, and more importantly how the recipient processes and receives the message.

Traditional and urban dictionary definitions are my go-to, and below is what I pulled for the word trust:

Trust (traditional dictionary definition): firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

Trust (urban dictionary definition): the hardest thing to gain and the easiest thing lose.

Definitions are great and may work for me, but I have found that anecdotes are better sticking points with many individuals. In a world chock-full of negative association with the word “trust” – I wanted to share a story where I was positively rewarded by placing my personal trust in someone.

When I was in grad school at Arizona State, I had little to no cares in the world. I was part of a successful Master of Accounting program and upon completion of my degree, I had a job offer waiting for me from one of the prestigious Big 4 accounting firms, KPMG. Further, I had passed all 4 Certified Public Accountant exams shortly before starting my career. Things were looking great, but I must admit, this young Josh was a tad naïve.

When I started at KPMG in their audit practice, I was eager to learn and quickly showed that I was ready to put in the hours. My drive, coupled with a gregarious and out-of-the-norm personality for a CPA, landed me a spot on the toughest client in the office. This was a global start-up company that seemed intriguing and interesting – the perfect opportunity for a young professional to showcase his expertise.  Or so I thought.

The client was in the middle of filing their first registration statement (form S-1) - the document required for a company looking to issue an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This filing is a behemoth – and like all annual reports filed with the SEC, they must be audited by an independent accounting firm. This is where my naiveness came into play. When a company files their first document with the SEC, there is a heavy and complex workload to be completed by both the company’s accounting team, and their auditors in a short amount of time. I was not prepared for the road ahead.

I quickly became overwhelmed with my responsibilities, and due to a shortage of staff in our office, I was thrust into a leadership role very early in my career.  

This forced me to learn how to prioritize and manage my day – anyone who has had to manage multiple deadlines, competing priorities, team members, and clients can relate to how quickly the day can escape you. My to-do list grew longer each day, and with that, my stress. The engagement lasted for a long 5-month period where I on average worked 75 hours a week over that period – bit of a shock from someone who just began their professional career!

I had my low moments and questioned many times why I was even doing this. My lack of sleep, eating every meal away from my wife, deadline after deadline, and spending all waking hours with my co-workers began to negatively affect me. Further, at the last second, the company we were auditing decided in the final hour against going public. It was difficult to put in all that work, and then to ultimately have nothing to show for it. Alas, as with any hardship faced in life, usually there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

After the completion of that engagement, I sought out a mentor – a partner who worked at KPMG for 30+ years, worked on numerous IPOs, debt offerings, and was the lead engagement partner on some of KPMG’s most important public clients in the United States. I needed guidance and help on navigating this job – his experience and expertise were obvious, but what drew me to seek him out was his personality. There were so many technically sound people at KPMG, but what stood out about him was that he simply seemed like someone I could trust.

This partner quickly suggested we schedule quarterly lunches.  I remember being so nervous walking into the first lunch meeting – questions kept racing through my head:

·         Can I be vulnerable with him?

·         Will he think I cannot handle the work?

·         Should I just say everything is fine?

·         Will he see me to be a complaining young professional who did not know what I was talking about?

·         If he is not satisfied with my story, could this negatively impact my future career?

As soon as we sat down – I was greeted with a warm personality and a smile.  After we had bantered back and forth on some initial small talk, the crux of our conversation began with him asking me such a simple question – how are you Josh?

Not what I was expecting! This question gave me the confidence to be vulnerable, dismiss my previous doubts, and communicate how I truly was feeling.  His bedside manners in this moment earned my trust – and led to us dialoguing on finding solutions.  He provided clarity, understanding to my situation and difficult truth when I needed it.  He was the mentor I needed.

This relationship, along with a couple of others, allowed me to stay at KPMG much longer than I expected.  I worked on that same difficult client for more than 4 years.  Eventually, they did successfully file their IPO – and that invaluable experience is something I still lean on to this day.  However, I fondly look back at one specific memory from my time at KPMG outside of my time working on the IPO - I was fortunate to be part of the team that turned that the toughest engagement in the office into the job that everyone competed to be on.  Big difference in culture from when my first day!

I ultimately left KPMG not because of the frustrations I felt in my first year, but because of an opportunity that opened for me at AWM.  Long have I had a passion for finance, but to be given the privilege to help protect, grow, and guide wealth for individual households? I could not pass it up.  One of our co-founders, Erik Averill, had sold me long ago on the profession, and I was privileged to have been given a role within the company – one that I hold with great pride.

My time at KPMG taught me many things – but the greatest value learned was the ability to persevere during struggle. I love the word gritty. Back to definitions, grit is defined as “showing courage and resolve.”Showing Grit is one of AWM’s core values and should be viewed hand-in-hand with the word Trust.The word is fitting; the long hours I spent auditing at KPMG educated me on how I can help coach clients to stick to their long term financial goals, create for them a financial structure they can understand and believe in, and realize the outcomes they wish to.