While building Anchor's Together Summit, we partnered closely with three of our customers to co-create sessions that would go beyond the usual conversations. No fluff, no recycled panel topics – just the real issues firm owners are navigating right now.
What emerged were three themes. Not trends. Not tools. But deep, structural mindset shifts that reflect where the profession is heading, and what it will take to grow through it.
These weren’t chosen in a vacuum. They surfaced organically, through honest conversations about the daily realities of running a modern firm. And while every firm is different, these three shifts kept coming back, again and again.
Shift 1: Communication is no longer about more - it’s about intention
Most firm owners are overloaded with inputs: emails, client pings, Slack messages, daily standups, and team check-ins. And in the rush to keep up, communication often turns into noise: reactive, scattered, and emotionally unclear. The result? Confusion, misalignment, and a creeping sense of distrust – even when everyone means well.
The shift here isn’t to talk more or less. It’s to intentionally communicate. That means being mindful of timing, tone, emotional impact, and clarity. It means reading between the lines, not just responding to what’s being said. And most importantly, it means taking ownership of how communication shapes your firm's culture and decision-making.
Intentional communication is how firm leaders move from being managers to leaders. It transforms meetings into momentum. It turns difficult conversations into clarity. And it creates space for others to lead. When this shift is made, team energy rises, client relationships stabilize, and execution speeds up – not because people are working harder, but because they’re moving with aligned focus.
This is the heart of Stop talking: Introducing “intentional communication” for firm leadership, a Together Summit session built with Dan Luthi and Rom Lakritz. It explored how intentionality in language, space, and tone can eliminate second-guessing, reduce emotional drag, and help leaders move from “always on” to truly present. It’s not about talking less – it’s about creating more meaning every time you speak.
Accounting firm owners are used to managing their time. But in the modern firm, it’s not time that’s in short supply – it’s energy. Cognitive, emotional, and creative energy are being depleted faster than they’re being renewed, and that’s a system-level problem, not a personal one.
This shift is about moving from time-based productivity models to energy-based performance systems. Instead of asking, “How do I fit more in?” the question becomes, “What’s actually worth my best attention?” That mindset changes everything – from how you prioritize your day to how you build a culture that doesn’t glorify exhaustion.
Unmanaged energy shows up in subtle but costly ways: unclear decisions, dropped balls, lack of follow-through, and a revolving door of burnout. Managed energy, on the other hand, creates sustainability. It sharpens thinking, improves resilience, and makes room for innovation – not as a luxury, but as a baseline.
That’s what The accounting athlete: Balancing energy for peak mental performance, with Nick Boscia and myself, set out to explore. We applied the principles of elite performance – training cycles, recovery, mental clarity, and boundary design – to the everyday chaos of firm leadership. The session made it clear: the goal isn’t just avoiding burnout. It’s building an internal system that prevents it from ever being a threat.
Client Advisory Services (CAS) is more than just the next frontier of firm growth – it’s a signal of how the entire profession is shifting. But firms that approach CAS as a bolt-on service – a list of add-ons or templates – often struggle to scale it, sustain it, or sell it with confidence.
The deeper shift is one of identity. Advisory firms don’t just offer new services – they redefine the role they play in their clients’ businesses. They move from passive service providers to proactive strategic partners. That change impacts everything: how you price, how you train your team, how you engage clients, and how you measure success.
This mindset shift demands boldness. It asks firm owners to stop anchoring value in deliverables and start anchoring it in impact. To lead conversations, not just fulfill requests. And to design client relationships that are built on outcomes, not outputs.
We addressed this in Scaling CAS 2.0: From compliance to strategic advisory, a Together Summit session with Tal Ben Bassat and Deborah Deffer. It wasn’t about theory – it was about making CAS work in the real world. The session unpacked common growth blockers, explored pricing strategies that reflect value, and emphasized the need to train advisory instincts, not just expand service menus. Because CAS isn’t a product. It’s a posture.
Leadership. Energy. Advisory.
These aren’t surface-level buzzwords. They’re deep adjustments to how firm owners think, lead, and grow.
At Anchor, we’ve always believed that innovation doesn’t start with features – it starts with mindset. And the Together Summit was built as an extension of that belief: not just to share ideas, but to co-create clarity in a time of rapid change.
This article isn’t a recap. It’s an invitation.
To step back. To re-evaluate.
To shift something in the way you show up, lead your firm, or serve your clients.
💻 Where: Virtual
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