Lessons Learned

Community Comments

How to Survive a Tragic Twist of Fate

By Dana Magliari

     Ernie Gini was one of two senior partners with the Sacramento-based accounting firm of Macias, Gini & Co. LLP.  He traveled regularly among the firm’s four California offices, dealing with some of their toughest, most important clients and logging “the ridiculous hours that accountants work,” in the words of the firm’s founder and managing partner, Ken Macias.            
     An automobile accident in 2001 changed that. Now a quadriplegic, Gini is in a motorized wheelchair, using voice-recognition software to do his work. In a moving personal comeback story, he returned to work, although in a modified and reduced role with the firm. But with the sudden loss of Gini’s services, temporary though it was, Macias faced unforeseen threats to the firm.            
     Other than a partnership agreement signed before the accident stipulating that if either became permanently disabled he could no longer be a partner, Macias had no contingency measures in place.            
     Faced with his personal grief, Macias needed to reassure employees. Morale was at a low point as everyone waited to hear Gini’s prognosis. “Will he be all right? How will this affect the company?” they wondered.                
     “The loss of a key employee can have a tremendous effect on company morale,” says Larry Hansen, a financial representative for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Sacramento, who has spent 13 years helping senior executives plan ahead for catastrophic events. “Suddenly, your employees aren’t sure if the company will survive.  Competitors can exploit this fear by hiring away some of the affected company’s key people.”            
     “The values and culture of the firm were clearly evident based upon how Ken handled a very difficult situation,” says Kurt Glassman, a business transition specialist and president of Leadership One, in Sacramento. “In tough times, values and company culture will be tested.”            
     For Macias, the reactions of other CPA firms also needed immediate attention. Macias recalls how some competitors tried to convince his clients that Gini had been the firm’s real driving force.  “Once they smell blood in the water, they’ll start telling our clients that we’re no longer strong,” says Macias. He had to assure his clients, and the business community in general, of his firm’s ability to continue working with them.            
Continued...

• Share
  • Digg This
  • del.icio.us
  • Newsvine
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Furl It
  • !Y My Web
  • Google
• Email
• Print

Recommend This

Community Comments