CEO's Message—Second Quarter 2017

Redefining Our Profession

(2017 Annual Conference Theme)

I suppose each of us conjures a different interpretation when we hear the theme of this year’s conference, Redefining Our Profession, so I thought it might be helpful to give you my take on it.  But first, we must all agree, the world around us has changed.  Things are not the same as they were when NACVA came to life 26 years ago.  For that matter, they are not the same as they were 10 years ago.  Just look around—technology continues to advance at breakneck speed; the way people communicate and gather information evolves yearly; the distinctions between generations (Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials) seem confusing and obscure; people’s motivations, and the way they think about life and career, reaches for greater balance but puts less emphasis on the future; shopping online has become the norm and retail establishments are “dropping like flies.”  The world is definitely a different place.
 
This reality must be embraced for one to succeed, and that applies to organizations, industries, and fields of discipline.  Just look at the leaps and bounds in manufacturing with robotics, automobiles with electric and driverless cars, and the field of medicine—wow.  Thus, the responsibility for self-evaluation as individuals and as a profession falls upon us to assess how we could Redefine Our Profession, to move us forward into a vital and prosperous future, embracing the 21^st Century.  There are many moving parts to our profession and NACVA is prepared to lead the way, as we have been for the last quarter-century.
 
What does “leading the way” mean/look like?  We hear organizations boast all the time, “we are the leader; leading the way; building a better future; shaping the world; defining the landscape; blah, blah, blah.  We hear that “crap” (which it often is) so much that when anyone says it anymore, it either falls on deaf ears or is glossed over as being irrelevant or insignificant.  You can correlate this to a fast food burger joint claiming, “Rated the Best Hamburger in the State.”  This is no exaggeration, I know of at least six places in my town that make this claim.  They cannot all be right, can they?
 
So how is it that I can claim we are leading the way redefining our profession?  First, I am not going to bore you with all the specifics, though I will refer you to my three-part series CEO’s Message published last year entitled, “History in the Making,” and I will refer you to my 1st Quarter 2017 CEO’s Message entitled, “Change is Our Middle Name.”  Between these two historical and present day overviews of our Association, I believe I have made a convincing case that NACVA is unequivocally the leader of this profession, and demonstrated that if anyone is capable of redefining the profession, we are.  In fact, we defined it and the facts bear this out.  You can be sure we will always be one-step ahead leading the professions of business valuation, financial litigation, forensic accounting, expert witnessing, and all the adjacent services under the financial forensics umbrella, as we have since our inception, 26 years ago.
 
It is exciting times and we look forward to the future with great enthusiasm.  So, hang on for a fun ride.

Parnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA

Chief Executive Officer