Where is the next generation?

As the good and great met at the AccountancyAge Awards last Wednesday I could but help wondering: where are the next generation of professional leaders? As my host pointed out, the awards event is aimed at senior managers, FD and CFO types so you wouldn’t expect to see the younger generation invited.

Perhaps, but then many of the awards themselves struck me as predictable, stale and dull. Constant use of the word ‘innovation’ in the citations struck me as overly done. The ones that made me smile were the Small, Medium, Large and Global Firm of the Year. They’re always something of a lottery driven slap on the back. I firmly expect Intergalactic Firm of the Year entering the frame in 2009. One has to wonder whether BDO will make a showing in 2009, given the pending outcome of the Banco Espirito Santo case. I’m sure Francine McKenna will have fun with the citation for Deloitte as Employer of the Year:

A reading of the voters’ comments reveal a staff body impressed by the firm’s commitment to quality, its focus on sustainability, its ability to create a sense of belonging and its concentration on maintaining a tolerable work-life balance for its staff.

Gavin Hinks provided the mericfully short opening address. It’s a pity I didn’t record it but the gist went something like this: ‘We’re in great shape, we’re innovative and by the way, don’t listen to those who say professionals are in any way to blame for the financial meltdown.’ Feel good stuff, but hollow sounding. He was followed by comedian Dara O’Briain (see video above):

Well done you, giving yourself awards during the worst financial period on the planet…I’ll call this the ‘fiddling while Rome burns awards shall I…it’s like some crazy Berlin in 1932?

drew a laugh. But how true? People I spoke with seemed genuinely bemused by the current financial crisis and had little to say about solutions.

There was a time when I’d attend events of this kind in the UK and smile as the names remained the same while the badges changed. That joke’s become stale, especially as the technology providers were thinly represented. Even so, it was good to see Access Accounting pick up a gong with its work on carbon emissiions. I’ve now lost count how many times CODA has won and this year was no exception. If gongs turned directly into business deals, CODA would be head and shouulders above the rest.

We need the youngsters to be seen and heard. That’s where innovation will come. Not from the crusty old farts like me, all booted and suited like a bunch of cloned penguins but ultimately with nowhere to go.

The good news is that the Age has recruited an ICAS student to write a blog on his training experience. The fellow seemed a tad nervous. When asked why he’s doing it, he said that training contracts are harsher and that he saw this as a way of possibly protecting himself in the event of exam failure. Sign of the times?

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