Stewardship: Careful & responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care

Plante Moran is more than just a business. It’s a unique organization built over many decades by talented people buoyed by an award-winning culture. It’s something very valuable, and something that’s been entrusted not only to my care, but also to the care of each of our 1,600+ staff. You might say we’re stewards of our firm.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “stewardship” as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.” We are stewards of our firm in a number of ways:

• We’re stewards of our clients.
  They entrust their affairs to us, a responsibility we take very seriously. Each day, we strive to view things through the client lens, to put ourselves in their shoes and become their universal advisor.
• We’re stewards of each other.
  All we have is our people. Our challenge is to be the best mentors, teachers, and developers of our staff. As I wrote in a previous blog, partners help create other partners, and the professionals leading our firm today are strong largely because they benefited from those who came before them.
• We’re stewards of our culture.
  Culture is our great differentiator, and we’re fiercely protective of it.
• We’re stewards of our communities.
  We’re proud of the communities in which we live and work, and we give back by donating our time, talent, and dollars in a variety of ways.

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” Our goal is to one day pass our great firm on to those who are just now joining, even better than we found it.

What about you? What are your thoughts on stewardship?