Les Brown, Huntsman Gay Global Capital

Last week we were privileged to have Les Brown come and teach us about work-life balance.  Les Brown is the COO, CFO, CCO, and a partner at Huntsman Gay Global Capital.  He first took time to explain his background.  He got his masters here at BYU and worked a lot with Professor Budd in Beta Alpha Psi.  He wanted to encourage us to use all of the resources that we have here at BYU.  We have so many great opportunities at BYU.

Work life balance is a hard thing to find when you are in the profession of accounting.  It is in the nature of the profession to be into work early and go home later than the others because we are the custodians of the business’ assets.  It may be hard to find a balance, but it can be done!  Les gave us four things that will help us become better professionals, students, and family members with balance in our lives.

The first thing that Les spoke about is the need Manage our Expectations.  To do this we need to communicate with our colleagues at work and with our families at home.  Let them know what you will be able to do for them.  He also found that it is common for most people to over promise and under deliver.  We need to overcome this habit so that we do not have as much time pressure from both sides.

The second point is that we need to Make Time for Family, be Present When you are There, and Keep Appointments and Promises.  Just like the Mormon ads used to read “Family, isn’t it about time?”  When we are at school, home, or work we need to focus 100% on what surrounding we are in.  If in the office, be in the office.  If it is family time, be with your family.

The third point is to Distinguish Between the Importance and Urgency of the Tasks you Have in Your Life.  Les referenced Steven Covey’s Book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Here is a link to some quotes from other sections of the book.  http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/07/18/steven-r-covey-quotes-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people-quote/.  Importance is related to activities that lead to our personal and professional goals.  Urgent is related to activities that demand immediate attention and are often associated with the goals of others. We have four sections in the urgent-importance chart.

1. High importance and urgency: Critical Actions, We do not want many of these, do not procrastinate, and set aside some time to deal with emergencies
2. Low importance and High urgency: Interruptions, these happen, learn to say politely say no or not now, or you can set a time when people can bring you their questions.
3. Low importance and urgency: Distractions, roadblocks to our goals; down time is good but it still hinders us from getting important tasks done.  Avoid if possible.
4. High importance and Low urgency: Essentials to your goals, where you want to spend most of your time.  Plan time every day where you can focus on these activities.

The last advice he wanted to give us was to Identify and Emulate Effective Role Models.  He gave us nine great role models by showing us a clip about “The Mormon Way of Doing Business: How 9 Western Boys Reached the Top of Corporate America.”

Here is the clip he showed us http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-GllaD4FEM, and if you want to find out more go to http://www.fm.co.za/lifestyle/books/2012/11/01/the-mormon-way-of-doing-business and look around.