Tenured Members Add Value to Our Chapter

By Joseph A. Forlenza, CPA

I am pleased to announce that we recently held our first past president’s breakfast, which was a whole lot of fun and very well-received. It was an opportunity for our chapter’s past leaders to come together to rekindle old relationships and ponder the possibilities of relationships yet to be. I hope our more tenured chapter leaders will take the opportunity to become more involved in our chapter.

Because many of these members may not be as concerned with the daily grind as they were in the past, perhaps they can spend more time influencing the future of the profession and playing a more active role in our chapter. By mentoring, helping with financial literacy, joining a committee, attending more events and getting involved, you will add to the richness of our chapter’s culture, and your efforts will be much appreciated. It is by drawing on the experience of our past leaders that we can more effectively reach out to our future. What a wonderful opportunity to have some fun, meet new people and help the profession grow.

I believe that people need to make a difference in their own and in other people’s lives. I also believe that the role of mentoring gives people what they need to make this difference. It was my experience with my mentor that has most strongly affected my ability to do what I feel is right in life. By being true to myself and to my situation, I am able to make both professional and personal choices that reflect my values and give me the strength to do what I know is right.

Today’s world makes this ever more evident to me. What allows a person to connect book learning with reality is the ability to trust their gut. So often I see people working hard to fit a situation into the book. For example, people often say: “The book says we should do this … based on this … .” Actually, what we usually need to do is first look at reality and the situation, and then consult the book.

Today we live in a world of computer models and programmed responses to these models. Too often we gather around the consensus without considering what triggered the question in the first place. We buy because everyone else does, and then we sell for the same reason. It makes no sense at all. By having the guts to stand back and take the time to assess a situation, we usually are able to find a solution. By having a belief in yourself, you are better equipped to do this. And by having a real mentor, people often have a stronger belief in and better knowledge of themselves. This belief in one’s self is what allows individuals to break from the herd mentality and do what feels right.

And now on to chapter business. I am pleased that our chapter’s CPE events are doing well. We draw between 20 and 30 attendees to our meetings, and I would like to thank all of our chapter interest group chairs for doing such a fine job of bringing relevant speakers and topics to our members. Check out our website to see the educational opportunities our chapter has to offer. We had our first chapter networking End of Summer Bash at the Catamaran hotel in Pacific Beach and hope to make it an annual event. We had a great turnout that included YEP members as well as some past presidents. It was a great opportunity to get together outdoors and have some fun.

Due to the very successful joint mixer with the SDCBA, we will host another opportunity to network and interact with attorneys and our membership Wednesday, Oct. 21. At this event we will be having a SDCBA/CalCPA joint economic update featuring Dr. Alan Gin from USD. This will be a lunch event held at the San Diego County Bar Association Bar Center providing an opportunity for CPE credit and networking. Check out our website for further details. This year’s holiday bash will be held downtown Wednesday, Dec. 9 at the happening Hotel Solamar. The Marines will be there once again to collect Toys for Tots. Mark your calendars!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 4:55 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.