Leadership Lunch Chat: When People Give or Ask for Feedback, Are We Following Through?
Release Date: 09/20/2024
HR Huddle: Leveraging the Sales Pipeline for Proactive, Strategic Talent Capacity Planning
Inspired Ideas
On the June 8, 2026 HR Huddle, Tamera Loerzel and Samantha Mansfield discuss how the sales pipeline serves as a vital management tool for forecasting future capacity and resource needs. By including talent leaders and schedulers in sales pipeline discussions, firms can transition from reactive staffing to proactive talent planning, ensuring the right skills are in place before client are onboarded. This integration allows HR to identify service trends early, guiding strategic decisions on recruiting, upskilling, and outsourcing to prevent team overload. Additionally, tracking new business team...
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HR Huddle: Talent, Marketing, and IT Unite to Maximize AI Transformation
Inspired Ideas
On the June 1, 2026 HR Huddle, Tamera Loerzel and Jennifer Wilson encourage Talent leaders to form strategic partnerships with Marketing and IT to navigate AI business model transformation. They emphasize that HR cannot re-imagine the shifting roles and skills in a vacuum; instead, talent must work closely with those reimagining the firm’s value proposition, service offerings, and business processes to create new hiring and learning approaches. Join us live every Monday at 4:15pm CT/5:15pm ET to explore the latest trends in talent management and HR!
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Leadership Lunch Chat: AI and the Critical Need for Anticipatory Skills
Inspired Ideas
In the May 15, 2026 Leadership Lunch Chat, Jennifer Wilson and Amy Vetter discuss the tremendous opportunity firms face as AI frees up time from traditional compliance work. As the traditional deliverables require less time and attention to get through, firm leaders must identify and develop anticipatory skills so we can make a bigger difference for clients. Firms must reimagine how they relate to and serve clients and how they can make a truly transformative difference for clients. Join us next week for a live discussion of all things leadership – in the profession and in our communities...
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HR Huddle: Strategic Pruning: Creating Space for Team Growth and Excellence
Inspired Ideas
On the May 11, 2026 HR Huddle, Tamera Loerzel and Jennifer Wilson discuss the necessity of "pruning the talent tree" as firms move out of peak season and into performance review cycles. They reframe the difficult decision to let go of underperforming or poorly fitting team members as a "gift" that allows individuals to find a role where they can truly be successful while protecting the morale of high performers. By proactively addressing performance gaps—from interns up to long-standing partners—firms create the necessary "space for growth" and increased team performance for the remaining...
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Leadership Lunch Chat: How AI Will Reshuffle Your Talent Deck
Inspired Ideas
In the May 8, 2026 Leadership Lunch Chat, Jennifer Wilson and Amy Vetter discuss why accounting leaders must be "hyper-focused" on talent as AI fundamentally reshuffles the deployment of people. They highlight the need for firms to move beyond technical processing toward developing anticipatory, relational, and advisory skills. Rather than relying on traditional hiring cues and qualities, they suggest looking for curiosity and conceptual candidates with natural communication abilities—in different education majors such as hospitality or entrepreneurship. Ideally, we’ll hire more people who...
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Leadership Lunch Chat: Optimizing Talent and Tech After Peak Season
Inspired Ideas
In the May 1, 2026 Leadership Lunch Chat, Jennifer Wilson and Amy Vetter focus on talent management and operational innovation as firms emerge from the busy season. They emphasize the importance of conducting healthy "post-mortems" to gather structured, actionable feedback on how AI and technology platforms performed during the crunch, warning leaders not to dismiss staff frustrations. Rather than authoritative mandates, they encourage collaborative "how we work" conversations to align expectations around mindset and the strategic use of downtime—urging staff to shift from automated...
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HR Huddle: Building a Sustainable Legacy: The Strategic Advantage of ESOPs
Inspired Ideas
On the April 27, 2026 HR Huddle, Tamera Loerzel and Jennifer Wilson welcome Michael Bannon of CSG Partners to discuss Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) as a powerful alternative for firms seeking an exit strategy that preserves their independence. They explore how an ESOP acts as a broad-based "ownership strategy" that empowers all talent, not just partners, providing a distinct competitive advantage in recruiting and fostering retention rates that are 50% higher than non-ESOP firms. With an ESOP strategy firms can create a sustainable legacy while accessing incredible tax benefits which...
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HR Huddle: Cultivating Hope: Mastering the Post-Peak Season Debrief
Inspired Ideas
On the April 20, 2026 HR Huddle, Jennifer Wilson and Samantha Mansfield discuss the importance of conducting post-peak season debriefs that generate hope and future possibilities rather than becoming sessions for unproductive complaining. They introduce a reframed KSS outline focusing on the "Three W’s" - Wonders/Wows (celebrating what worked), Whoopses (identifying things that didn’t work), and What’s Next (actionable solutions) - to ensure conversations remain balanced and constructive. By encouraging team members to take 100% responsibility for mistakes and avoiding "barfing"...
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Leadership Lunch Chat: Reclaiming Value through Transformational Relationships
Inspired Ideas
In the April 17, 2026, Leadership Lunch Chat, Jennifer Wilson and Amy Vetter discuss how AI provides a unique opportunity for accounting leaders to return to the profession's roots of making deep human connections and providing transformational advice. They warn that as AI commoditizes deliverables, firms must move beyond being transactional and instead integrate curiosity and specialized team strengths to provide the insights and peace of mind that technology alone cannot offer. By shifting the focus from simply "punching out" deliverables to truly knowing and anticipating client needs,...
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HR Huddle: The Peak Season Pivot: Leveraging Gratitude and Recovery to Fuel Proactivity
Inspired Ideas
On the April 6, 2026 HR Huddle, Jennifer Wilson and Samantha Mansfield discuss the essential transition from peak season into a "period of proactivity". Jennifer and Samantha outline a strategic communication framework comprised of three buckets designed to maximize the summer months—gratitude, recovery, and proactivity. By adopting a "one-size-fits-one" approach to gratitude, firms can ensure that all service lines and remote team members feel seen, regardless of when their specific "finish line" occurs. Leaders must actively support recovery by encouraging "classic offenders" to plan...
info_outlineIn the September 20, 2024 Leadership Lunch Chat, Jennifer Wilson and Amy Vetter discuss the importance of transparent, honest, and timely follow up with others - especially future leaders - when they give or ask for feedback or change. Join us next week for a live discussion of all things leadership -- in the profession and in our communities every Friday at 11am CT/12pm ET!