Fundamentals for Me
4 years, 4 months, 1 day
10 March 2025
Some reflections from my approaching 22 years in KPMG, before I retire from the firm at the end of September.
The fundamentals for me and what I believe we need for our teams, are the following four things:
Purpose. It doesn’t need to be earth-shattering or globally-transformational, but knowing what it is that causes us to want to spring out of bed each day and makes the time we spend worthwhile, is important to our energy and wellbeing. Alignment between what we feel our purpose is personally and the purpose of our team, means work isn’t work, but a reason for our existence. For me that purpose has always been around infrastructure as the foundation of our civilisation, and the quest for sustainable qualify of life for everyone everywhere.
Passion. I love being in the company of energy-emitters. Those who come into the room with a smile, jump into the action, and radiate positivity. I know if we are all on full volume all day we will fatigue, and there is a valuable place for the quiet and contemplative (and I myself am often that person). But being alive with the excitement of what we are achieving is contagious, and deeply motivational, both to the self and those around us.
Curiosity. It seems to be innate in us as children, but too often we lose sight of the joy of it. Friendships are built not on delivering work to a person as a client, but on being interested in that person as a person and curious to know what matters to them. Some of us make friends easier than others, and I know I have always been slower to build strong friendships, but the older I get the more I want to spend time knowing people. As an introduction to the surprising insights that can come from spending less than an hour getting to know someone, I cannot recommend more highly the podcast series ’Strangers on a Bench’ that is available on Spotify.
Determination. We in KPMG are working on some of the most complex challenges facing our clients, and some of those are part of the most complex challenges facing the world. Of course they are not easy to solve, they take time, and sometimes every step forward seems to be followed by one back. We are part of a huge organisation, and things often take time to get agreed, and even slower if we have partner organisations and external stakeholders. But if we know what is important, we must keep aiming for it, even as we get buffeted side to side. You get used to this in infrastructure as projects are often 30 years or more from concept to realisation.
Purpose. Passion, Curiosity. Determination. These are the fundamentals for me. I wonder what yours are?