CLA Mobility Philosophy

• June 7, 2017
• Denny Schleper

There are great opportunities for many of us to take on new roles within our careers at CLA. In this podcast, CEO Denny Schleper shares the purpose behind our CLA mobility philosophy and his personal stories about relocation.

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Transcript

NARRATOR: Welcome to “Own the Promise,” a CLA podcast created to share what guides every decision we make and every relationship we cultivate.

DENNY SCHLEPER: Hello, CLA family. You know, within our career building firm documentation and philosophy, there’s built within that a CLA mobility philosophy. You can find a lot of information on this mobility philosophy within myCLA, however, I just wanted to spend some time with you really addressing what this mobility philosophy is really trying to do for you and for the firm.

Clearly, the mobility addresses our ability to maybe move from one industry to another industry, or maybe from one service line to another service line, but it also gives us a great opportunity to be mobile within our geographies.

I’d like to spend some time on this mobility of the geographies. You know, within the firm we’ve had hundreds of people that have decided to make geographic moves. Now, clearly, this is a difficult decision and it’s a difficult topic because all of use, as we look to balance our careers, we also have other priorities in our lives; our families, our friends, and so forth. And so it becomes a very difficult issue.

I know this because I was one of those hundred-some people that have made that type of career decision. I know when I was in
Minnesota I had an opportunity to commit to relocate to St. Louis, and I actually made that verbal commitment at work one day, and then decided, “How am I going to communicate this to my wife?”

So, untraditional for me–I’ve told this story many times–I went and picked up some Chinese food, brought it home, walked in
the door, and my wife looked at me and simply said, “What’s up?” ‘Cause she knew this was not something I would normally do.
And then I told her that I made a verbal commitment to relocate our family to St. Louis. She paused, looked at me again, and
then said, “What kind of Chinese food did you get me?”

Now, clearly, I was very fortunate to have a partner that understood that making some tough decisions is really required within building a career and building a career that benefits not only your career and your work life, but also your personal life. You
know, I had another opportunity about seven years later to relocate to Philadelphia, and this time, my children were older so I had to include them in the decision.

So I decided to call and hold a family meeting. Now, that was the first and only family meeting our family has ever had. But I went into that meeting very, very nervous, of course, not knowing what type of reaction I would get from my wife and my children. And of course, the result was incredible for me. I was so proud of them.

So proud of my children for their willingness to understand that a move like this could have some wonderful benefits, and they understood the downsides that it would have as well. And the thing that you would find if you spoke to, again, the hundreds of people that have made these types of moves, you would find some wonderful, wonderful stories of the experiences they have–had, not only within their careers, but also personal experiences.

And, as we know, there’s always some downsides as well. There’s some sacrifices that go into this. But the reason I’m asking
all of us at CLA to rethink and consider this mobility issue as part of our careers is because of the great need that we have
within the firm. We have the need in many geographics for the opportunity for people to relocate.

With relocations in the mobility philosophy generally comes leadership opportunities that may not have otherwise have been
there and afforded to you within your career. So it gives you that opportunity, again, to experience things you maybe would not have experienced. So I guess what I’m asking for all of us at CLA is if you perhaps are at that point within your career where you could consider some type of a relocation,

I would ask that you meet with your service industry, or office lead. I personally would always love to have a conversation with
any of you regarding this aspect. Or you could go to, again, the hundreds of people that have done this within the firm and–to get their perspective on how it’s helped their careers and also their personal experiences.

And for those of you that maybe are at the earlier stages of building your career, I just ask you to always keep this in mind
as you start to lay out your career goals within CLA and understand that there’s a great opportunity geographically. Clearly, with around 120 locations throughout the country, there’s opportunities in many, many of these.

And again, generally, there’s leadership opportunities that comes with these opportunities as well. So I know that this is a difficult issue, but it’s one that’s a great need within CLA. I ask you to, again, spend some time on myCLA. You’ll see all kinds of articles, and you’ll see the CLA mobility philosophy just that you can start to think about this as you continue to build your career at CLA.

It’s one of the great advantages we have as a career building firm. So thank you for your consideration. Again, I know it’s a difficult discussion to have, but once again, I offer my attention to you if you need to reach out to me and I could personally help you build your career. Thank you and have a great day.

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