M. R. Weiser and Company - Part I - Out With the Old - In With the New
In many ways, the shift from a large global professional services firm such as Deloitte Haskins & Sells to a small regional firm, such as M.R. Weiser, was quite a culture shock. Everything was different.
At DH&S a dress code was strictly enforced, and everyone wore custom-fitted suits in the latest styles. At Weiser, you wore appropriate business attire, but with the exception of some of the younger accountants, most people wore outdated, even worn, suits. Many of the older accountants looked as if they came out of a black-and-white Alfred Hitchcock movie.
I had never met anyone at DH&S who was older than retirement age, but at Weiser, it was not uncommon to see employees and partners who were in their 70’s, even late 70’s. One partner, Lester Davis, was close to 80 years old and everyone thought he would die at his desk.
The biggest difference, at least when I arrived in August of 1983, was technology. DH&S employed the latest technology and had entire departments of computer programmers and word processors. This is compared to Weiser where some of the older accountants still used manual crank punch-key adding machines. However, even though Weiser was behind the times with technology and office protocol it was obvious to me that their accounting, auditing, consulting, and tax departments were on top of their game.
As advertised by Joel, the executive recruiter whom I never met in person, I was certain that I would obtain a lot of knowledge and experience working at M.R. Weiser. When I look back on my four years at Weiser, from August of 1983 through September of 1987, it is obvious to me that the experiences I had while working there laid the foundation for my success during my career journey. It was during this time that I began to fully learn and understand the full scope of business finance. More importantly, I began to develop self-confidence in my abilities. At Weiser, there were no judgments regarding the schools you attended, or where you came from. The only concern was the quality of your work. It was a refreshing change from the politics of DH&S.
This was the early 1980s and the business world was changing, for both large companies and small. Desktop computers, fax machines, small word processing machines and more sophisticated hand-held calculators were being introduced. With the help of Weiser, I dove headfirst into this new world of technology, beginning my willingness to take risks which would become the defining trait of my success. It also created a restlessness that made it difficult for me to stay in one place for too long.
As I mentioned, at first glance it appeared that Weiser was a very “old school” accounting firm, very set in their ways. However, there were some young accountants at the senior and management levels who were anxious to incorporate the new business technology into the firm, including the latest business tool at that time….the spreadsheet. As a result, Weiser became a bit dichotomous. The old guard at the firm continued with their old ways and stubbornly refused to adopt the new technology, while the younger members passionately embraced these new tools and the potential opportunities they presented. This push/pull lasted only a short while since our clients began to embrace the new technology the older partners had no choice but to relent.
Prior to the early 1980s the only way to share documents from one location to another was to either hand deliver them or to use the U.S. Postal Service or other delivery services such as United Parcel Service or the newly discovered Federal Express. To me, the ability to transfer a document via a phone line was something from a futuristic science fiction movie. Then Weiser purchased something called a facsimile machine, which became known as the fax machine. Having the contents of a document copied at one remote location and then transmitted digitally over the phone lines to another location where it was then reprinted was nothing short of magic in my eyes. Granted, one page took a very long time to print, but since we had nothing to compare it to at the time, we ignored the speed.
It was also at Weiser where I was introduced to and learned to use spreadsheets. The predominant spreadsheet software at that time was called Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft developed Excel and introduced it in the early 1990s when it took over the market, but for the first decade, everyone used Lotus 1-2-3. Learning how to effectively use a spreadsheet was, without being hyperbolic, one of the most important events of my career. Most of what happened in my career from this day forward was a result of learning how to use this tool and becoming comfortable with technology.
In 1983, digital technology had already been around for decades, but it wasn’t until the introduction of the Commodore 64 personal computer and the IBM personal computer that this technology was taken from the big technology companies that used it to power very large, room size, mainframe computers, and placed on desktops in businesses and in homes. Soon after this, a start-up technology company called Microsoft developed software to run personal computers (called a disk operating system – DOS) and almost all personal computers began using this operating system. (As an interesting side note, one of the first digitally released popular songs to be available to the public on something called a “compact disc”, or CD, was the Billy Joel song, “52nd Street” in 1982). As we now know, once digital technology became available to the masses its progression, development, and acceptance began to grow at speeds never before seen in technology development. However, in 1983 this was all new to almost everyone. M.R. Weiser was one of the first small accounting firms to fully embrace this technological tidal wave.
One of the managers of the firm, Jeff Resnick, (who also happened to be the son of one of the most senior partners of the firm, Hal Resnick), became our expert in Lotus 1-2-3, and he taught a select few, of which I was one, how to use the software. With this new business tool being introduced, one enterprising young partner by the name of Stanley saw its potential. With the backing of Stanley and with the help of Jeff Resnick, me and another senior accountant, (whose name escapes me), we developed a spreadsheet template for building financial projections for potential corporate transactions. This was a game changer, not only for Weiser but also for me. The result was the beginning of my transition from auditor to business person/consultant.