BrainTrust 2019 Spring Issue

Country Music Hall of Famer

Ronnie Dunn

Creates Music for the Eyes THE SEARCH FOR SELF Being an effective leader begins with discovering and accepting who you truly are MAN IN MOTION George Hincapie opens up about passion, teamwork, and positive thinking

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THAT IS A QUESTION FOR THE BOLD Where would you rather be? What will you dare do? What does winning mean? What will you leave behind? – questions for the bold. The answers set our course and reveal the map to success. Knowing you by name, how many kids you have, and remembering your birthday are one thing. Knowing what you believe in and fight for is everything. For nearly a century, Elliott Davis has provided tax, accounting and financial consulting service solutions to some of the most respected public and private companies. Our experience in these disciplines is unmatched, our reputation beyond reproach.

And with business moving at the speed of thought, there is no substitute for accuracy. Trust can be found in the numbers.

However, the numbers no longer add up to enough. Building trust requires more and starts with people. People who ask the good questions. People who are here to make a positive impact on every life we touch. Let’s get started.

Contents

TEEKAY

ISSUE 1, VOLUME 1

F E AT U R E S

26 Leading From the Middle of the Pack George Hincapie on passion, teamwork, and positive thinking

By Lydia Dishman

34 A Tale of Two Journeys Leaders, leadership, and the search for self

By Lydia Dishman

40 Anticipatory Thinking In the Cognitive Era Turning disruption and change into opportunity and advantage

By Daniel Burrus

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BRAINTEASER

46 Research offers new clues about where numbers are processed in the brain

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Boot Scootin’ & Photo Shootin’

When he puts down the guitar and picks up a camera, Ronnie Dunn, half of the Country Music Hall of Fame duo Brooks & Dunn, brings music to the eyes. It’s like a whole cowboy song you can see in one moment in time Images by RONNIE DUNN

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D E PA R ER NTTM SENTS DT EM PA G R A Y GMRAT ER A YT M AT T E R

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Insights, musings, Insights, musings, and perspectives on on and perspectives business trends and and business trends timely topics timely topics Management Consulting 12 Management Consulting 12 Nonprofit Tax 14 Nonprofit Tax 14 Cybersecurity 16 Cybersecurity 16 Opportunity Zones 18 Opportunity Zones 18 Innovation 20 Innovation 20 Tax Reform 22 Tax Reform 22

B R A I NB R WAAIV S AV E S NEW

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Unique products and and Unique products creative twists in creative twists in traditional markets traditional markets “Stangpede” “Stangpede” Mustang Monument Mustang Monument Wells, Nevada 2018 2018 Wells, Nevada

(above)(above) Opportunity The cupboard at Opportunity (below)(below) The cupboard at Zones could spur is filledis filled Zoneshelp could help spurHusk Restaurant Husk Restaurant economic growthgrowth while while with secret ingredients economic with secret ingredients providing tax benefits thisset Southern providing tax benefitsthat set that this Southern for investors. eatery eatery apart. apart. for investors.

West Ninth Vintage 62 West Ninth Vintage 62 Counter Culture Coffee 64 Counter Culture Coffee 64 Songbirds Museum 66 Songbirds Museum 66 Husk Restaurant 68 Husk Restaurant 68

W H E RW E HDEOR W GO E E DO W E 71 GO

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Commune with with nature Commune nature and get fromfrom it andaway get away it all with a trip to a all with a trip to a captivating destination captivating destination Blackberry Farm 72 Blackberry Farm 72 Kiawah Island Island Golf Resort 74 Kiawah Golf Resort 74 The Resort at Paws 76 Up 76 The Resort at Up Paws

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What does it really mean to do “good” business? We believe it’s more than what you get out of business – it’s what you give through business. At Elliott Davis, we want to make a positive impact on our clients and the world. Our core tenet of Serving Others goes beyond just meeting the accounting and advisory needs of private, national, and international firms. We want the impact of our passion and commitment to be felt beyond our office walls, extending outward to our communities and neighbors in need.

The Elliott Davis Culture of Service supports 800+ employees in finding meaningful ways to give back and serve every day of the year. Our employees donate millions of dollars worth of time and resources annually to philanthropic causes including education, the arts, medical research, and more.

Success isn’t just about budgets and bottom lines. It is about making others successful: our clients, our employees, our communities, our neighbors. It’s about doing well by doing good. It’s taking every opportunity to make it count. That’s the Elliott Davis way.

It’s what we do. It’s who we are. Where would YOU rather BE?

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TONY CALDWELL CPA | Senior Greenville Recipient of the Elliott Davis Community Service Impact Award

RICK DAVIS, CPA

Chief Executive Officer

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE LUANNE RUNGE Chief Operating Officer

RICH WAYCASTER, CPA Chief Financial Officer

KAY BISCOPINK, CPA Shareholder

SCOTT MCCLELLAND, CPA Shareholder

JEFF WALKER, CPA Shareholder Audit and Assurance Strategic Leader

JOHN OTTEN, CPA Shareholder Tax Strategic Leader

CHARLES DUKE Full Principal | Consulting Practice Leader & Strategic Specialty Leader

TIM GROW, CPA Shareholder

PRACTICE LEADERS BARBARA RUSHING, CPA Shareholder Financial Services & SEC Specialty Group Leader

ERIC SCHMID, CPA Shareholder Manufacturing and Distribution Specialty Group Leader

MIKE VADEN, CPA Principal Entertainment and Sports Specialty Group Leader

FRANCIS PATTERSON, CPA Shareholder Personal Financial Services Specialty Group Leader

RENEE FORD, CPA Shareholder Investment Companies Specialty Group Leader

ERIC PITTS, CPA Shareholder Private Equity and Transaction Advisory Services Practice Leader

BOBBI JO LAZARUS, CPA Shareholder Real Estate and Construction Specialty Group Leader

TOM UVA Management Consulting Services Practice Leader

MARK RUDOLPH, CPA Shareholder Dental Specialty Group Leader CINDY BRAMS, CPA Shareholder Government/Not-forProfit/Higher Education Specialty Group Leader DREW ROGERS, CPA Shareholder Closely Held Business Specialty Group Leader

ASHLEIGH SUTTER, CPA Director Consulting and Accounting Advisory Operations Leader DENISE BAILEY Principal Accounting Systems Consulting Technical Specialty Group Leader JAY GIBSON, CPA Shareholder Forensic Valuation and Litigation Services Specialty Group Leader

KAY BISCOPINK, CPA Shareholder International Services Specialty Group Leader PETER BARTON, CFA Director Business Advisory and Consulting Group TERRI MCNAUGHTON, CPA Shareholder Employee Benefit Plan Specialty Group Leader

JIMMY BUDDENBERG Risk Advisory and Cybersecurity Practice Leader JEREMY MIGLIARA, CPA Principal State and Local Tax Specialty Group Leader JD LEWIS Principal Tax Methods and Credit Services Specialty Group Leader

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP LUANNE RUNGE Chief Operating Officer

RICK DAVIS, CPA Chief Executive Officer

RICH WAYCASTER, CPA Chief Financial Officer

BOB JAMISON Chief Innovation Officer

BOB WILSON Chief Shareholder Development

JACK BACOT Chief Marketing Officer

JACK BACOT Editor-in-Chief LAUREN ROACH Director of Marketing LAURA HINSON Project Manager

ROB HEWITT Design Director

ASHLEY HUSTON Senior Graphic Designer

RONNIE MUSSELWHITE Managing Editor

AMANDA THOMPSON Digital Manager

DONNA LEVINE Senior Copyeditor

KRISTIN DECKER Event Manager

LIZ ARNOLD Marketing Coordinator

CONTRIBUTORS Raymond Biesinger |Cindy Brams | Jimmy Buddenberg | Daniel Burrus | Lydia Dishman | Ronnie Dunn | Bob Jamison | Ya n n Ke b b i M. Linda Lee | Alison Lewis | John Otten | Cory Ouellette | Emmanuel Polanco | Alison Quarles | Adam Simpson | Steven Tingle | Tom Uva

BRAINTRUST (Vol. 1, No. 1) is published biannually (two times per year) by Elliott Davis LLC, 200 East Broad Street, Suite 500, Greenville, SC 29601, (864) 242-3370. BRAINTRUST is distributed free to clients of Elliott Davis and qualified subscribers who have chosen to receive the magazine. The articles and other information in this publication are advisory only. ©2019, Elliott Davis LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Printed in the U.S.A. Postmaster: Send address changes to Elliott Davis LLC, 200 East Broad Street, Suite 500, Greenville, SC 29601. elliottdavis.com For additional information please contact braintrust@elliottdavis.com.

DELIVERING

PEACE OF MIND For nearly a century, Elliott Davis has provided tax, accounting, and financial consulting service solutions to some of the most respected public and private companies. Our experience in these disciplines is unmatched, our reputation beyond reproach. And with business moving at the speed of thought, there is no substitute for accuracy.

Trust can be found in the numbers. However, the numbers no longer add up to enough.

Building trust requires more and starts JEFF WALKER CPA | Shareholder Greenville

with people. People who ask the good questions. People who are here to make a positive impact on every life we touch.

Let’s get started.

elliottdavis.com/braintrust

Augusta, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Columbia, Greenville, Nashville, Raleigh

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CEO Letter Leading Teams

Leading While Enjoying the Ride Allowing team members to do the jobs for which they’ve been trained is fundamental to success

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By Rick Davis, CEO, Elliott Davis

IN EARLY 2018, I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE

a backcountry dog sledding tour at Krabloonik in Colorado. As exciting as the experience proved to be, I was equally intrigued by the parallels I observed between sledding and working in a corporate setting.

To be fair, there’s no shortage of information when you search the internet for analogies comparing sled teams and teams in the workplace. However, it wasn’t until I was sitting in that sled, witnessing the unity of the pack and the rhythm of their movements, that I began to truly understand the magnitude of their spirit and mechanics. It was then that I saw collaboration in one of its purest forms.

Even though the group was working toward a common goal, each dog had a specific individual role to play in the group’s collective success. The wheel dogs (those harnessed closest to the sled) used their strength to

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pull the majority of the sled’s weight, while the swing dogs helped pace the rest of the pack. The lead dogs, for their part, communicated with the musher on speed and direction based on the condition of the trail.

Perhaps the most obvious business comparisons can be drawn between the swing and lead dogs. In sledding, swing dogs travel directly behind the leaders and are typically in training to assume that role in the future. They follow the leader, a phrase that sometimes carries a negative connotation in business and society in general.

Truth is, the swing dog—much like those who “follow” in the

Those who “follow” in the workplace serve a misunderstood and undervalued role. By diligently performing their duties, they substantiate the work of the leaders. Without these crucial members of the team, the group couldn’t achieve its goal.

workplace—is a misunderstood and undervalued role. By diligently performing their duties, the swing dogs waste no time vying for the lead; rather, they substantiate the work of the leaders by maintaining the steady pace. Without these crucial members of the team, the pack couldn’t achieve its goal.

In many ways, George Hincapie, the retired cyclist we profile in this issue (“Leading From the Middle of the Pack,” page 26), played the role of “swing dog” during his 19-year professional career. A decorated rider who competed in 17 Tour de France races and won three U.S. National Road Race championships, Hincapie served as domestique for the U.S. Postal Service cycling team.

His job was to put the leader in a better position rather than personally trying to win the race—much like a swing dog in sledding. The way Hincapie describes it, “the team was always more important than the actual leader.”

As business leaders, it can be easy to succumb to the weight of the responsibility we feel to ensure our teams function optimally. We want to step in and change the course if we think the team isn’t on the most efficient path. Instead of allowing each team member to pull his or her proverbial weight, we want to take over and do things a “better” way.

However, as the examples of the swing dogs on my sled team and of Hincapie as domestique for USPS cycling illustrate, collaborating and trusting those around us to do the jobs for which they’ve been trained can yield results far greater than the sum of their parts.

That’s a lesson we as leaders can all take to heart.

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CEO Letter Leading Teams

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THANK YOU WAYLON Waylon Jennings was one of our first entertainment clients back when outlaws roamed “The Row,” and the world spun on vinyl. Over time, we built a top business management firm with the help of legends like Waylon and other talented men and women much like you, who are determined to make a mark in entertainment. For more than forty years our team of professionals has been providing worry-free business management, tax advisory, and consulting services. We help make sure honky-tonk heroes who’ve always been a little crazy, and those growing up to be cowboys, performers, producers, writers, managers, rambling men and good-hearted women, never have to work without a net. So go ahead, focus on growing your fame. We’ll work hard to protect your fortune.

Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n v i s i t v a d e n g r o u p . c o m Vaden Group I Elliott Davis

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Music Row

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Roundabout Plaza

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1600 Division Street, Suite 225

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Nashville

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615.248.5500

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Gray Gray Matter Matter Illustration Illustration

by Emmanuel

by Emmanuel Polanco Polanco

Lines Linesof ofThought Thought

Management Management Consulting Consulting p. 12 p. 12 Nonprofit Nonprofit Tax Tax p. 14 p. 14 Cybersecurity Cybersecurity p. 16 p. 16 Opportunity Opportunity Zones Zones p. 18 p. 18 Innovation Innovation p. 20 p. 20 Tax Tax Reform Reform p. 22 p. 22

Insights, Insights, musings, musings, and and perspectives perspectives onon business business trends trends and and timely timely topics topics

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Gray Matter Management Consulting

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MORE THAN 2,500 YEARS AGO, GREEK PHILOSOPHER HERACLITUS proclaimed, “The only thing that is constant is change,” an oxymoronic quote that encapsulated his belief that ever-present change was the fundamental essence of the universe. It’s safe to assume Heraclitus had no idea when he first uttered the phrase that, thousands of years later, it would continue to ring true in virtually every situation and subject in which it has been (and continues to be) applied—particularly business.

Yet here we are, in 2019, and no more accurate words could be used to describe the transformations that take place within companies around the globe every second of every day. These “disruptions” are driven by shifts in consumer behavior, innovations in technology, and the never-ending quest for greater profitability. Businesses that fail to adapt their operations to these and other internal and external forces become paralyzed by production-halting mistakes, underperforming business segments, revenue-draining inefficiencies, and ineffectual processes.

Take, for instance, one organization—a $1 billion company with offices and operations throughout North America—which was expanding so rapidly that key operational issues were being addressed with short-term “fixes.”

Company leaders intended to eventually implement more thorough corrections, but the pace of growth, overallocation of staff, and an inability to optimize processes enabled stopgaps to remain in place as long-term solutions.

Partnering with a seasoned consultant, the project team identified

Standing the Test of Time Business consultants continue to prove their worth by providing the guidance and training needed to span generations

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214 critical workflows, assigned probable “waste” values and other metrics to those areas, and then delivered an inventory of approximately 65 touch points targeted for refinement. The initial round of improvements spanned 18 processes and yielded an estimated recovery value of $10.5 million.

After the first seven months, $3.1 million of process waste was also identified and recovered.

Another organization was saddled with technology contracts that were developed on a case-bycase basis and had no overarching supplier strategy or recognition of lifetime value. These poorly crafted agreements cost the company—a recognized leader in the aerospace and defense industry—millions of dollars over the collective term of the deals.

After discovering these flaws, the consulting team worked with the client to create a multiyear technology blueprint that aligned with the company’s overall strategic vision.

The plan restructured the mix of technology suppliers, identified operational synergies and, most important, introduced a new contracting discipline to ensure all agreements moving forward were developed consistently and with the company’s best interests at the core. Ultimately, they were able to negotiate or renegotiate more than 35 contracts, yielding in excess of $10 million in net savings during the new contract periods.

Results like these illustrate just how damaging it can be for companies that fail to quickly address process shortcomings, organizational misalignments, and operational weaknesses. This is especially true among small- to medium-sized businesses whose annual revenues range from $50 million to $1 billion. Experience and research

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Gray Matter Management Consulting

Consultants view organizations through an objective lens.

prove that these organizations have many of the same challenges of much larger corporations, but they typically lack the financial or personnel resources to address and effectively resolve the problems.

Considering the financial stakes and the speed at which evolution in business is taking place, the need for consultants has, in many ways, never been greater. Experienced professionals from outside an organization have an objective lens through which to view the entire enterprise and are unencumbered by workplace norms and traditional modes of thinking. Leveraging knowledge gleaned from working

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with other businesses in myriad industries, consultants can provide the guidance, support, and skill transfer companies need to deal with their challenges in a more confident and self-sufficient manner.

When searching for a consultant, leaders would be well served to seek one who will foster a collaborative partnership grounded in mutual respect. Building a strong relationship removes barriers, freeing the client and the consultant to develop a clear, cohesive strategy that aligns with all departments within the company.

By listening closely to the client and understanding the company’s “hot spots”—those areas or challenges

Shifts in consumer behavior, innovations in technology, and the neverending quest for greater profitability are transforming the way companies in every industry do business.

within the business that are keeping the organization from reaching its potential—the consultant becomes an extension of the company’s team.

Equipped with an intimate understanding of the client and the areas within the business that are disrupting productivity and profits, a seasoned consultant will then pinpoint the root cause of the issues, identify alternatives, and develop a customized course of action. The strategies should be “industryagnostic” and vetted by hundreds of highly successful applications in companies of every size and type.

In many instances, the consulting arrangement ends at this point, with the delivery of a lengthy report that frequently goes unread. However, the most successful clientconsultant partnerships go beyond the strategy phase and continue through execution. Taking this extra step provides the client with the knowledge to replicate the processes across his or her organization.

No doubt, the world has changed dramatically since Heraclitus made his prophetic declaration so many centuries ago. One thing that hasn’t changed is the basic need for humans—and by extension, businesses—to seek the help of others in times of need. That’s a reality that promises to hold true for millennia to come.

TOM UVA is director of the Management Consulting Services practice at Elliott Davis and an adjunct faculty member in graduate-level programs at Clemson University and Syracuse University. He can be reached at tom.uva@elliottdavis.com.

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Gray Matter Nonprofit Tax

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Although ASU 2016-14 simplifies the classification process, organizations must continue to disclose the nature and amounts of donor restrictions on assets with restrictions. In addition, nonprofits are now required to disclose year-end balances and policies for managing board-designated funds.

TWENTY YEARS. A LOT CAN HAPPEN DURING THE SPAN OF

7,300 days. Just reflect on the time between 1999 and today and consider some of the monumental events that took place over that period. The tragedies of September 11, 2001. The rise of the internet. The first African American president.

The proliferation of smart phones and social media. In our communities, workplaces, and homes, virtually every aspect of life evolved.

One thing that didn’t change significantly during the past two decades, however, was the reporting standard for financial statements of nonprofit organizations. Until now.

Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-14, which was issued in 2016 but officially took effect for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, makes significant alterations to the financial reporting model for nonprofits that has been in place for more than 20 years. This means that all financial statements from the end of 2018 moving forward must adhere to ASU 2016-14 rules.

Designed to simplify and improve the way financial statements are pre-

sented, the new standard outlines how nonprofits classify net assets, helps boards of directors better understand how expenses are categorized and support programs, and details how board members and others understand a nonprofit’s available cash flow. The four most notable enhancements relate to:

Organizations should work with their accounting and assurance advisors to determine how the new rules impact their reporting practices and what’s needed to ensure statements comply with the standard.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF NET ASSETS. Previously, net assets were categorized as unrestricted, temporarily restricted, and permanently restricted. There are now two classifications: net assets without donor restrictions and net assets with donor restrictions. Consolidating the assets with restrictions into one group reduces confusion and makes a clear distinction between what is restricted and what isn’t.

Setting a New Standard An update to reporting guidelines requires nonprofit organizations to adjust the way they present financial statements

By Cindy Brams / Illustration By Emmanuel Polanco

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LIQUIDITY AND AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES. In years past, organizations weren’t required to specify how much of their assets were liquid, leaving statement readers to decipher what resources were available to be spent. Under the new guideline, nonprofits must provide explicit details about how they manage liquidity and collect information that shows the amount of funds available and how they’ll be used for the next year.

This will no doubt create additional work and cause a few headaches. Since no two nonprofits operate or manage their liquidity the same way, statement preparers will have to think through what is entered in the footnotes rather than using an example and plugging in data. Challenges aside, the new reporting will allow board members and other statement users to better understand the nonprofit’s ability to meet future operating expenses and debt payments.

PRESENTATION OF EXPENSES. Under the new standard, all nonprofits will be required to provide an analysis of expenses by both functional and natural classifications. In years past, only voluntary health and welfare organizations were required to report this information. ASU 2016-14 also mandates that nonprofits disclose the methods used to allocate expenses to the functional categories.

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Gray Matter Nonprofit Tax

ENDOWMENTS. Nonprofit organizations will have to include additional disclosures about underwater endowments funds, those in which the fair value has decreased below the original amount or the amount required to be retained by

the donor. The disclosures include the aggregate fair value of these funds, the aggregate amount of the original gift, and the related deficiency. Any accumulated losses are now included in net assets with donor restrictions.

For mission-driven organizations, the path to providing more transparency and information begins now.

While ASU 2016-14 won’t change the way organizations perform their day-to-day accounting, it will likely require more work for statement preparers to provide the essential information for disclosures.

The good news, however, is that the exercise will allow management and board members to be more strategic in their decision-making by illuminating some of the more critical aspects of financial health. It will also provide nonprofits the opportunity to better tell their “mission story” by utilizing the note disclosures within the financial statements. This could prove particularly beneficial for potential investors, boards of directors, and anyone else who needs to learn more about the organization and its financial position.

By now, nonprofits should have prepared for and begun adhering to the new standard. For those that haven’t, it can’t be put off any longer. Organizations should work with their accounting and assurance advisors to determine how the new rules impact their reporting practices and ensure statements comply with the standard.

No one knows what the next 20 years promise for nonprofits or the accounting standards that govern their financial reporting. What’s certain, though, is that change is here, and for mission-driven organizations, the path to providing more transparency and information begins now, with the implementation of the new financial statement reporting standard.

CINDY BRAMS, CPA, is a shareholder in the Charleston, South Carolina office of Elliott Davis who focuses on providing assurance services to clients in the notfor-profit, healthcare, and professional services industries. She can be reached at cindy.brams@elliottdavis.com.

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Gray Matter Cybersecurity

Sign Of the Times Cyberattacks are becoming one of the biggest threats to business sustainability

By Jimmy Buddenberg / Illustration By Emmanuel Polanco

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GONE ARE THE DAYS WHEN OLD-FASHIONED COMPETITION BETWEEN companies was the biggest threat facing organizations; today, cyberattacks pose one of the most formidable challenges any business will encounter. For proof, you need look no further than news headlines, which are routinely peppered with reports of massive data breaches and cyber hacks at some of the country’s largest corporations.

Leading the way is Yahoo (known now as Altaba), which continues to pay fines and settle claims stemming from its August 2013 hack. In that case, cybercriminals stole names, email addresses, and passwords for 3 billion Yahoo customers.

The eBay breach of 2014 impacted far fewer people (145 million), but hackers were able to attain names, addresses, birth dates, and encrypted passwords of all the company’s users.

In 2017, a cyberattack on Equifax compromised the personal information (Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some cases driver’s license numbers) of approximately 143 million customers, more than 200,000 of which had their credit card data exposed.

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While security breaches on this scale garner most of the media’s attention, the threat of attacks on smaller companies is no less real— and far more prevalent. According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2017 State of Cybersecurity in Small & Mediumsized Businesses report, the percentage of small businesses that experienced a cyberattack increased from 55 percent in 2016 to 61 percent in 2017. What’s more, cyberattacks cost small- and medium-sized businesses an average of $2.2 million.

The effects of a security compromise can be particularly devastating to small companies, with the average cost ranging between $84,000 and $148,000. Worse still, 60 percent of breached organiza-

tions go out of business within six months of an attack.

Those figures will likely increase.

Cybercriminals are constantly finding new ways to infiltrate networks and information systems, and they’re discovering the path of least resistance is typically through smaller companies. It should come as little surprise, given the fact that many small and midsize businesses lack the resources to invest in adequate cybersecurity protection. Even those organizations that do have the means to address vulnerabilities often don’t understand where, why, or how to focus their efforts.

Considering the stakes and the impact that even a single cyberattack can have, the need for innovative solutions that mitigate risks has never been greater. That’s why, at a minimum, you should follow the steps outlined below to improve your chances of avoiding an attack or reduce the impact to your business should you be compromised: ASSESS YOUR OVERALL CYBERSECURITY POSTURE. Before you can develop a plan to protect your business, you need to understand your company’s current risks associated with cyberattacks, data breaches, and other threats.

Internal and external assessments, IT budget reviews, and technology testing and implementations can identify areas of strength and weakness, serving as a blueprint for your cybersecurity strategy.

DEVELOP A PLAN. Once you have a better understanding of your vulnerabilities, you can prioritize where and in what manner to invest within your organization. The plan should include processes, procedures, and best practices to reduce threats and ensure networks and client information are

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Gray Matter Cybersecurity

the threat posed by cyberattacks and data breaches, and are equipped to help protect the company. This starts with training all team members to avoid emailed or online links that are suspicious or from unknown sources.

These links can release malicious software, infect computers, and steal company data. Being able to recognize common cybercrime and information security risks is the first line of defense.

protected. It should also provide strategies to limit disruptions and speed recovery if and when a cyberattack occurs.

ENSURE COMPLIANCE. Developing and maintaining a cyber risk management program is only part of the strategy to protect your company from potential data breaches; you must also ensure

Cyber Theft In the C-Suite

your systems and processes comply with an increasingly stringent set of regulations and security requirements. Failing to comply with laws can result in significant fines and other penalties.

TRAIN EMPLOYEES. Quite often, employees are the weakest security link within an organization. That’s why it’s essential they understand

Despite the growing sophistication of cyber thieves, old-fashioned email remains one of the most popular points of entry. Known as business email compromise (BEC), cybercriminals will send fraudulent emails to employees throughout the company posing as a legitimate institution. When an employee opens the email, the cyberthieves gain access to the business’s digital environment, where they’ll spend weeks or months monitoring email traffic until they decide to attack.

In cases of executive-level wire fraud, hackers create a fake email account, include all history of the conversation between the controller and CEO, and when it’s time to initiate wiring instructions, send an email that appears to come from the CEO authorizing the controller to release funds for a particular transaction. Instead of going to a valid account, the funds are channeled through a fake domain into the hacker’s bank account. If not caught within 48 hours of the transaction, it’s unlikely the money will ever be recovered.

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The percentage of small businesses that experienced a cyberattack increased from 55 percent in 2016 to 61 percent in 2017.

What’s more, cyberattacks cost small- and medium-sized businesses an average of $2.2 million.

REMAIN DILIGENT. Protecting your business from cyber threats doesn’t end once you’ve developed and implemented a plan; it requires an ongoing commitment to protecting your data as well as your clients’ information.You must continually assess risks, make plans for mitigating them, implement solutions, monitor programs and processes to ensure they work as expected, and use that information as feedback for your next assessment phase.

John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco, once quipped, “There are two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those who don’t know they have been hacked.”

It’s uncertain whether or not he was being hyperbolic, but the underlying message is clear: What you don’t know can hurt you. Organizations that are unaware or choose to ignore the cyber threats currently transforming the business landscape do so at their own peril. Only those that develop and implement safeguards to protect their businesses, as well as their customers’ critical assets and data, are truly positioned for long-term sustainability.

JIMMY BUDDENBERG is director of the Risk Advisory and Cybersecurity practice for Elliott Davis LLC. He can be reached at jimmy.buddenberg@elliottdavis.com.

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Gray Matter Opportunity Zones

Seizing an Opportunity Designed to generate economic growth in low-income communities, the newly created Opportunity Zone program also provides robust tax benefits

By Cory Ouellette / Illustration By Emmanuel Polanco

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PICTURE YOURSELF HOLDING $100,000 IN CAPITAL GAINS from the recent

sale of an asset. You realize if you don’t do any tax planning, you’ll be forced to pay $20,000 or more in taxes. So, you meet with your tax advisor and then decide to put your money in a new tax-deferred fund that offers considerable long-term savings.

Fast-forward a decade. You paid the deferred taxes on the original $100,000 capital gains two years ago, and you’re ready to close the account. As it turns out, the fund performed well, and your investment is now worth $200,000.

Suddenly, you envision being hit with a tax bill for the additional $100,000 profit.

Will you be?

In this hypothetical scenario, the answer is no. That’s because the reinvestment vehicle you chose was linked to an Opportunity Zone, an economically distressed community where new investments are eligible for preferential tax treatment thanks

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to a provision buried within the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.

Originally sponsored by Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), the Opportunity Zone program is a federal incentive designed to stimulate economic growth in designated regions by allowing investors to defer taxes on capital gains income until 2026, provided 90 percent of their investment in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) stays in low-income communities via properties or businesses. The program goes on to reduce capital gains exposure from the original sale by 10 percent for investors who remain in the

investment for five years, and 15 percent for those who stay invested for seven years. After 10 years in a QOF, investors can permanently forgo paying capital gains taxes on the sale or exchange of their Opportunity Zone investment.

While the Opportunity Zone provision went relatively unnoticed the first half of 2018, it began to generate considerable buzz in the mainstream media in mid-summer.

In the months since, proponents have praised the rule as a way for the private sector to pump trillions of dollars into impoverished areas, helping to preserve or expand affordable housing options while spurring revitalization through equity investments in small businesses and real estate projects. Nationwide, more than 8,700 low-income community tracts stand to benefit from the program. That figure accounts for approximately 12 percent of the total number of census tracts in the United States, or one-eighth of America’s neighborhoods.

Opponents, on the other hand, argue that Opportunity Zones will only accelerate gentrification, driving up housing costs and pushing out longtime residents. They also fear that capital from QOFs could be used for projects that do little, if anything, to support affordable housing, create jobs, or fund new businesses.

Opinions may differ on the amount of economic growth Opportunity Zones will ultimately generate, but interest in the program increased dramatically during the latter part of 2018 and into this year. This can be attributed, in large part, to the fact that potential investors are starting to better understand the program.

Before the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations and other guidance last October, there were more questions than answers as

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to how the program would operate and what rules taxpayers would be required to follow. The proposed regulations provide clarity on many key points, including: ● the types of gains that qualify for the program (any that are treated as capital gains for income tax purposes); ● who can elect to defer a capital gain from a pass-through entity (the pass-through entity itself or the owners); ● the length of time an Opportunity Zone business has to deploy its funds into a qualifying property (31 months); and ● the meaning of “substantially all” as used to define the amount of tangible property required to be invested in an Opportunity Zone to qualify as an Opportunity Zone business (70 percent).

The proposed regulations, along with the concurrently issued Revenue Ruling 2018-29, also address the “substantial improvement” requirements related to acquisitions of land.

Under the guidelines, when land and

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buildings are purchased together, only the buildings must be substantially improved. This significantly reduces development costs, making it easier to convert a land and building acquisition into qualified property.

Although these new guidelines address many questions concerning Opportunity Zones, quite a few—including clarification of the types of transactions that could trigger inclusion of gains that were previously deferred through Opportunity Zone investments and an explanation of how penalties for failing the 90 percent asset test would be calculated—remain unanswered. Both Treasury and the IRS are working on additional proposed regulations that are “expected to be released in the near future,” but until then, some provisions of the law will continue to be debated.

The Opportunity Zone program is a federal incentive designed to stimulate economic growth in designated regions by allowing investors to defer taxes on capital gains income.

Before deciding to invest, consult a seasoned tax advisor.

While it’s uncertain when these proposed guidelines will be finalized or when the IRS and the Treasury Department will issue additional guidelines to address some questions left unanswered, one thing is certain: Investments should start to accelerate. Real estate developers, in particular, are poised to take advantage of the program, and in time, retailers and hoteliers will most likely utilize the provision to expand their bricksand-mortar footprints in select areas.

For individuals who own property in designated Opportunity Zones, the future is equally bright, as land will be in high demand.

Before deciding to invest in an Opportunity Fund, you should consult a seasoned tax advisor, ideally one who has considerable experience and relationships within the real estate sector. He or she can explain the nuances of the program, conduct financial modeling to show the after-tax impact of investing in an Opportunity Fund, and help you determine if the strategy makes sense for your particular situation.

Should you choose to invest, your advisor can help structure the deal to leverage all available incentives, and then provide ongoing guidance to ensure you remain in compliance with all regulations.

As with any investment, there’s no guarantee that Opportunity Funds will yield the types of returns realized in the fabricated story line described above. However, should you seize the proverbial opportunity of Opportunity Zones, you’ll most certainly enjoy considerable tax benefits as well as the satisfaction of knowing your money is being used for a greater good.

CORY OUELLETTE, CPA, is a shareholder and tax accountant for Elliott Davis LLC. He can be reached at cory.ouellette@elliottdavis.com.

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Gray Matter Innovation

T

THE PROFESSIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY—and ac-

counting in particular—is in a perpetual state of change.

Evolutions in consumer behavior, continuous advances in technology, and competition in myriad forms are threatening the health of any firm that fails to adapt.

Perhaps the biggest disruption currently impacting the marketplace is technology, specifically the cost and sophistication of it. While these advances have no doubt presented challenges as companies scramble to adopt and adjust, they’ve also created opportunities for organizational improvement. For instance, the ability to capture and report data in ways never before possible enables professional financial services providers to more quickly and

accurately identify new patterns or trends. Armed with this information, they can offer clients more consultative and predictive solutions.

Technology also affects the speed with which firms can deliver products and services. As organizations become cloud based, they’re able to deploy products in weeks or months rather than years.

Development schedules accelerate, and the time required to execute decreases dramatically.

The confluence of trends impacting the marketplace delivers a message that’s simple yet profound: Past solutions no longer guarantee future success; innovative thinking must drive every decision, every day.

Innovation in a Change-Resistant Industry With technology and other external forces reshaping the market, professional financial services firms are rethinking their approach to business

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Digital evolution isn’t the only factor disrupting the professional financial services marketplace, however; pressure is also coming from companies outside the industry that have begun offering lower-end tax or audit services. This new competition, coupled with the escalating commoditization of traditional tax preparation and the increasingly intuitive nature of off-the-shelf tax software, is siphoning off a line of work that has long been a mainstay of accounting practices.

Taken as a whole, this confluence of trends delivers a message that’s simple yet profound: Past solutions no longer guarantee future success; innovative thinking must drive every decision, every day.

Forward-leaning firms embrace this transformative mind-set and use it to guide the way they approach every aspect of their businesses. Some have committed so completely to this ideal that they’ve appointed a chief innovation officer (CINO) or another executive whose sole focus is to design and foster an innovation-friendly environment throughout the organization. These individuals are tasked with establishing company-wide best practices, developing new capabilities and architectures with team members, identifying new market spaces and opportunities, and facilitating the free exchange of ideas that fuel innovation.

This isn’t merely corporatespeak or the latest business fad; rather, it’s a fundamental shift in the way certain firms view their profession and serve their clients.

From the leadership down, these companies are exploring new ideas and developing a culture in which there are no sacred cows. Every process, every practice, every engagement—everything is being reimagined as firms seek to replace

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Gray Matter Innovation

transactional services with transformational solutions.

So what, exactly, does innovation look like in the context of professional financial services?

The answer will vary from company to company, but one way to view it is by dividing the concept into two categories: digital innovation and process innovation.

Digital innovation involves using technology to produce a better client outcome. Process innovation

primarily revolves around the improvement of operational practices and the way a firm delivers its products and services.

Within traditional firms, team members instinctively think of process improvement when the concept of innovation is introduced.

These enhancements are important and certainly have a place in the professional financial services field because they help drive down costs, but they don’t fit in the cur-

rent context of game-changing improvements. True innovation is the tangible manifestation of new ideas—a product or service that the company has never before offered.

Not surprisingly, trying to alter the collective mind-set of an organization—particularly one based in an industry that has historically resisted change—isn’t without its challenges.

One of the biggest obstacles is the accelerated pace of change taking place and team members’ capacity to absorb it and adapt.

Then, of course, there’s the issue of staffing itself. As they increase the scope and complexity of the services being offered, transformative companies are seeking individuals with more diverse skill sets than what might be found in a traditional firm. In addition to accounting professionals, progressive organizations are hiring more project managers, business analysts, and programmers, to name a few. The fresh perspectives and “nontraditional” talents that these team members bring enable agile companies to develop creative solutions that deliver more robust client outcomes.

Given the inherent learning curve that accompanies change, there will undoubtedly be missteps as professional financial services providers evolve their businesses.

Future-ready firms view these shortcomings as opportunities, subscribing to the idea of failing fast, correcting the mistakes, then moving on. They find value in the process and inspiration from the experience, knowing full well that the journey will ultimately lead to true innovation.

BOB JAMISON is the chief innovation officer for Elliott Davis LLC. He can be reached at bob.jamison@ elliottdavis.com.

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Gray Matter Tax Reform

Coming Into Focus More than a year since its introduction, some components of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are gaining clarity

By John Otten / Illustration By Emmanuel Polanco

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WHEN THE TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT (TCJA) WAS SIGNED into law in December

2017, it was hailed as the most sweeping tax reform in more than three decades. Bill supporters proclaimed that businesses and individuals alike would benefit from a number of provisions designed to decrease tax burdens and help spur economic growth in the public and private sectors.

As is so often the case with new laws, however, the TCJA as it was originally written produced more questions than answers, leaving everyone grappling to understand how the rules could and should be applied.

Fast-forward 16 months. The economy is indeed healthy, and consumer confidence, by and large, is high. While there’s no way to determine exactly how much tax reform influenced either measure, it’s safe to assume the legislation didn’t negatively affect either of the two categories. What is known, though, is that many specifics of the TCJA remain unknown. Or, at the very least, unclear.

That said, the legislation is gradually being updated through technical corrections and proposed

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regulations, providing much needed clarity on certain areas of the law.

Armed with this information, tax advisors are becoming better equipped to serve their clients and take full advantage of built-in incentives and deductions.

Several aspects of the TCJA are coming into focus and promise to impact tax planning and preparation moving forward. They include: PASS-THROUGH ENTITIES. Under the TCJA, many owners of partnerships, S corporations, and sole proprietorships—commonly known as pass-through entities— are now allowed to deduct up to 20 percent of qualified business income (QBI), provided they are not engaged in a “specified service

trade or business” (SSTB). Early on, this provision was met with excitement, as it promised substantial tax savings; however, the legislation failed to clearly identify what types of companies qualify as SSTBs. This, in turn, created a good deal of confusion and made it difficult for tax advisors to determine which of their clients could take advantage of the new rules and how best to incorporate it into planning.

The initial legislation defined a SSTB as any trade or business whose principal asset is the reputation or skill of one or more of its employees. This encompasses organizations operating in the fields of health, law, accounting, actuarial science, performing arts, consulting, and athletics. Also included in the definition of a SSTB is any business that performs services consisting of investing and investment management, stock trading, or dealing in securities.

In August, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations that provide guidance on what constitutes a SSTB, including definitions and details on the terms described in the legislation.

While the proposed regulations will no doubt disappoint taxpayers whose companies fall into these excluded categories, they do enable advisors to draw better conclusions and provide more prescriptive tax-planning solutions under the new rules.

OPPORTUNITY ZONES. Buried within the TCJA is a federal incentive that provides preferential tax treatment for individuals or companies that invest capital gains from the sale of an asset into economically distressed areas known as Opportunity Zones. The program

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Gray Matter Tax Reform

garnered little attention until the latter part of 2018, when regulators released proposed guidelines that defined some ambiguous language and provided more details about how the program would work. Potential investors are now beginning to understand the substantial returns that can be realized, prompting a wave of interest that should only grow throughout 2019. (For a more in-depth exploration of the Opportunity Zone program, see “Seizing an Opportunity” on page 18.)

QUALIFIED IMPROVEMENT PROPERTY. Prior to the TCJA, real estate improvements made to qualified leasehold improvements (QLI), qualified restaurant prop-

erty (QRP), qualified retail improvement property (QRIP), and qualified improvement property (QIP) were depreciable over 39 years and eligible for a 50 percent bonus depreciation. The new law eliminated the QLI, QRP, and QRIP categories, leaving only QIP now eligible for deprecation. Although the reclassification reduced the number and types of qualifying improvements, the TCJA intended to decrease the recovery period to 15 years and grant a 100 percent bonus depreciation for QIP placed in service after 2017.

Unfortunately, Congress inadvertently failed to specify the 15year recovery period of QIP when drafting the bill, and the TCJA was

The TCJA as it was originally written produced more questions than answers, leaving everyone grappling to understand how the rules could and should be applied.

signed into law without the provision. As a result, beginning with 2018, QIP will retain its 39-year recovery period and lose bonus depreciation altogether. A House bill currently being considered includes a technical corrections provision that would fix this oversight. However, given the current political climate and the fact that the IRS doesn’t have the power to rewrite legislation, corrections to the law may not be made before the filing deadline for the 2018 tax year, meaning many taxpayers may be unable to receive tax benefits they may have hoped to realize under the TCJA. While these are by no means the only areas of tax reform that have and will continue to evolve, they are representative of the far-reaching implications of the TCJA and illustrate the complexity of putting the rules into practice. Perhaps more importantly, they underscore the need—in fact, the necessity—for proactive planning and multi-year forecasting. Additional TCJA-related changes are virtually guaranteed during the months ahead, and businesses that fail to anticipate and adapt stand to miss potential tax-saving opportunities or, worse still, run afoul of the law.

By working with an experienced advisor to understand how tax reform impacts your business goals and develop strategies that take advantage of the appropriate incentives within the legislation, you can realize short- and long-term returns far greater than the initial investment of time and resources. In an era defined by constant change and uncertainty, that’s truly reformative.

JOHN OTTEN, CPA, is a shareholder and tax strategic leader for Elliott Davis LLC. He can be reached at john.otten@elliottdavis.com.

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UNDERSTANDING

HOT SPOTS Shifts in consumer behavior, innovations in technology, and the never-ending quest for greater profitability are threatening the health of every organization that fails to adapt.

Elliott Davis understands these market forces and can provide the guidance, support, and skill transfer you need to address your greatest challenges in a more confident and self-sufficient manner.

CONSULTING & ADVISORY Our specialties include: BUSINESS & FINANCIAL CONSULTING TRANSACTION SERVICES & DUE DILIGENCE

LITIGATION SUPPORT, FRAUD INVESTIGATION & FORENSIC ACCOUNTING MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES

BUSINESS VALUATION INTERNATIONAL TAX

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RISK ADVISORY & CYBERSECURITY

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By listening closely to you and understanding your ‘hot spots’— those areas or challenges within your business that are keeping your organization from reaching its potential— the consultant becomes an essential team member and an invaluable champion of change.

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CHARLES DUKE Full Principal | Consulting Practice Leader and Strategic Specialty Leader Greenville

Augusta, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Columbia, Greenville, Nashville, Raleigh

Credit: All photos courtesy of Hincapie Sports

George Hincapie on passion, teamwork, and positive thinking

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C K A P 27

By Lydia Dishman LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK

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George Hincapie became famous for his role as a domestique. That’s the French term for the rider who is

constantly working for the benefit of his or her team and leader, rather than trying to personally win the race.

When you think of leaders on competitive sports teams, no matter how many players are participating, the mind and eye automatically focus on the captain who rallies the rest behind him or her. George Hincapie isn’t quite that kind of leader.

• Over the course of his 19-year professional cycling career, Hincapie snagged victories in 17 Ronde van Vlaanderen races and a second-place finish at the Paris-Roubaix, the best placement of any American racer. Hincapie also competed 17 times in the Tour de France and won three U.S. National Road Race championships.

Getting to those victories took a combination of skill, passion, determination, and sheer will.Yet he wasn’t always leading the pack—or the peloton, as it’s known in cycling, which is that tight formation of riders whose legs are spiraling so close to one another they’re practically touching in a way that can unnerve even the most seasoned observer.

Instead, Hincapie became famous for his role as a domestique. That’s the French term for the rider who is constantly working for the benefit of his or her team and leader, rather than trying to personally win the

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race. The word loosely translates to “servant,” and to hear Hincapie describe his role, it’s fitting.

“The team was always more important than the actual leader,” he explains. That meant Hincapie would put it on the line for the best person competing on a given day.

“I was always really good at helping or making the decisions on the road,” moments when a curve, hill, or

sudden shift in the wind could mean disaster—or a competitive edge, depending on how he read it.

Hincapie’s utter commitment to the team was evident in an episode he now calls his biggest challenge. In 2009, he broke his collarbone during the Tour de France, but he refused to get an X-ray because it happened close to the finish. “The last five days cost you the most,” he notes. “I knew

“Passion can carry you.”

—George Hincapie

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Teams and Teamwork

Over the course of his 19-year competitive cycling career, Hincapie snagged victories in 17 Ronde van Vlaanderen

races, competed 17 times in the Tour de France, and won three U.S. National Road Race championships.

“The most effective leaders have a high degree of emotional intelligence.”—Daniel Goleman how important I was to the team, so stopping was not an option.”

Hincapie says his team-first mentality is something he learned over the course of his career. He began as a young boy and would eventually win 10 junior national titles and two world medals prior to joining the professional ranks. “I was on the best teams and learned a lot from my mentors,” Hincapie says.

Something else he learned that would dovetail nicely into the domestique role also has roots in his youth. “When I was 15, I was racing in Europe, and the culture and language at times felt really overwhelming,” Hincapie recalls. Looking back, he can see those experiences as an important crossroads “to keep pushing on

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learning about the cultures I was trying to live in.”

Although he doesn’t say it explicitly, Hincapie’s careful attention to those around him, their languages, and customs, played an early part in sharpening the skills he needed to rise in competition, whether he was actively out front or managing the peloton so another member of the team could shine. That certain skill is called emotional intelligence, and it’s one of the most highly prized attributes in our modern workplace. Rutgers psychologist Daniel Goleman wrote about it in Harvard Business Review back in 1998. The key traits of an emotionally intelligent leader are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation (defined

as “a passion for work that goes beyond money and status”), empathy for others, and social skills, such as proficiency in managing relationships and building networks. Goleman contended: The most effective leaders are all alike in one crucial way:They all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It’s not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant.They do matter, but…they are the entry-level requirements for executive positions. My research, along with other recent studies, clearly shows that emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership.Without it, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader.

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Hincapie prefers to boil it down to simpler terms. When asked what’s more important, technical skill or the desire to win, he ponders briefly before saying they’re equally important. “Once you turn pro,” he explains, “the riders are all at the top of their game.” As for who can turn in the best performance, he says it’s about figuring out what the small differences are (again, requiring careful observation and a nimble mind) and deciding “how bad you want it and how much you’re willing to work.”

Of course, sacrifice plays into it pretty heavily, according to Hincapie.

“I never had a normal summer,” he muses, meaning there were no trips to the beach or Disney vacations.

Even things people do on a daily basis had to be cast aside. Instead, he kept a grueling training schedule,

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Teams and Teamwork

riding as many as eight hours a day, measuring every morsel of food, and constantly maintaining a certain competitive weight. Hincapie didn’t have much of a social life, either. “My whole life was centered around rising as fast as I could,” he says.

One thing that allowed Hincapie to compete on a mental level was knowing his competitors were suffering just as much as he was.

But that mental mettle also has to be trained like a muscle in order to keep leading. Hincapie admits that he’s hit week-long or monthlong slumps and had to work with a mental performance coach to help him focus on positive thinking.

To that end, he kept a whiteboard in his closet that had a quote or phrase to prompt him to keep going. Although he doesn’t remember

any one specific quote, he does say they all helped to remind him of the times that he did succeed.

Daily training can’t be left out of the leadership equation. Riding every day, Hincapie says, was just as hard as the competition itself—sometimes harder. But it was necessary. “The more I hurt myself in training, the less I hurt in the race,” he notes. That, he says, made it a bit mentally easier to push forward in competition.

Minding the limits was also a hard-won lesson. Hincapie says he had a lot of epic rides, but one in particular in France in 2002 taught him a simple yet powerful lesson. “I was feeling really good for the first 100 miles, so good that even though it was 40 degrees and raining, I didn’t eat or drink more or wear a rain jacket,” he remembers. The lack

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of care took its toll. “I completely came unglued,” says Hincapie, who eventually finished in sixth place. “I could have potentially won had I taken care of myself doing simple things.”

It’s hard to imagine the softspoken Hincapie being arrogant, yet that’s how he describes himself in that moment. There’s no place for that in competition, and there’s certainly no place for it in his life now.

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After retiring in 2012, Hincapie joined his brother, Rich, at the company that bears their name. Rich had also cycled competitively as an elite amateur while attending business school. He founded Hincapie Sportswear in 2002 and eventually broadened the apparel company into such projects as upscale lodging and guided rides. The year George retired, the Hincapie brothers also started a developmental racing team, which has now grown to a Pro Continental team, and in 2018, they launched the Hincapie Cycling Society to encourage others to get into cycling.

All of these projects and their attendant staffs have echoes of the peloton for Hincapie. Weaving in and out of riders and being hyperaware of surroundings is definitely nerve-racking, but Hincapie says it’s prepared him to take on this latest role. Although not quite as high stakes as a race (“the moment you relax you lose a hundred places,” Hincapie says of cycling), the businesses and events are challenging and require focus.

The Gran Fondo, a series of excursions hosted in multiple cities that welcomes riders of every skill level for a weekend of riding, is one example. “When you have an event coming in three weeks with 2,500 people from all over, it’s important for me personally, and the team, to stay focused,” Hincapie says. Naturally, he doesn’t want anything to go wrong, but he says their main goal is simple: “Keep our eyes on what we know we’re good at, and everyone knows their role.” Just as they would on a cycling team.

Hincapie says it helps that everyone is cooperative and all talk daily.

“I speak to my brother on the phone five to 10 times a day, even though my desk is right next to his.” He also welcomes concerns, questions, and comments from the team all the time. “To me, that’s important.”

Ultimately, whether racing or riding, managing a business or an

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Teams and Teamwork

(opposite): Hincapie’s post-retirement ventures include opening a boutique hotel, dubbed Hotel Domestique, near Greenville, South Carolina. (left): Hincapie and his brother also founded an apparel company, Hincapie Sportswear, in 2002.

event, Hincapie advises, “don’t worry about things you cannot control.”

He admits he has to keep reminding himself that there are actually very few things you can control, but understands his reaction to whatever happens is something he can definitely manage. That’s the role of a domestique and a leader. Oh, and one more thing, he adds: “Passion can carry you.”

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A TALE OF TWO

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Scott Snook of Harvard Business School on the crucial difference between leader development and leadership development

By Lydia Dishman Illustrations by Raymond Biesinger

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Leaders vs. Leadership

One of the most debated questions about leadership is pretty fundamental: Are leaders born or made? Dozens of studies have been conducted to tease out the answer, but when you ask Scott Snook for his take, he says simply, “Yes. No.” He chuckles for a moment and adds, “It’s both. This is just a variation of our nature versus nurture debate that’s been going on for years, which is, in my opinion, a red herring.”

Snook, a retired Army colonel who’s now a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, believes some of us are born in the deep end of the gene pool when it comes to some of the attributes that contribute to being a successful leader.

“Others,” he says, “are splashing around in the shallow end of the baby pool.”

The good news is that despite certain genetic predispositions, we have the opportunity to make the most of them. Or not. “There’s no question that we can develop and grow into roles and become more effective leaders,” he says. How we get there—that is, to the top of the leadership game—is a matter of developing two key skills, according to Snook.

“Self-awareness and self-acceptance,” he proclaims. “Two lifelong journeys.”

Of course, it’s not that simple. In fact, Snook’s self-professed hot button is when people posit, “Isn’t it obvious?” It takes dedication to go the distance, as well as guidance. But the answers and the results are within each of us, he believes.

For Snook, who insists he was somewhere in the middle of the born/made spectrum, it was about figuring out early on how to navigate the former. As the son of a junior high school principal and an eighth-grade English teacher, he learned how to rise to the formidable trial of being an awkward preteen with both of his parents in uncomfortably close proximity.

“That was more of a challenge than being the younger of two siblings,” he says. “It was an initial crucible in my life. Boys at that age are like hormones in tennis shoes, and I was trying to figure out who I was.”

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Leadership Development Defined

There’s a clear distinction between leader development and leadership development.

Words that end in -ship, such as salesmanship, seamanship, sportsmanship, scholarship, and penmanship, can be learned by the

old 70-20-10 rule.

That means you learn to do any of them 70 percent by actually doing the thing, 20 percent by getting feedback and coaching, and about 10 percent in a classroom or from a book. So it is with leadership development.

1 Journey One:

Searching For Self-Awareness The crucible and the hot button are two things that Snook cites often when referring to leadership development. Of the former, Snook explains that one major psychological finding is that people under stress tend to revert to their dominant response. Citing his military experience, he details how in basic training, “we starve people and put them out in the cold and don’t let them sleep. That’s when you’re going to really figure out who people are.”

He contends that we can all be our best selves when everything’s going well, but things change under stress.

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In a similar vein, Snook maintains that what sets people off is also very telling.

“As soon as someone says, ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ every bone in my body wants to scream at them, no matter what they’re going to say, and say, ‘It’s probably not as frickin’ obvious as you think it is.’ If I was hooked up to a blood pressure cuff, my blood pressure would shoot up. That’s totally irrational, but it’s just a part of who I am. I believe the world is much grayer and not black and white.”

Homing in on these behaviors and hot buttons is important to Snook because

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Leaders vs. Leadership

“I believe the world is much grayer and not black and white.”

Scott Snook

Harvard Business School

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doing so identifies someone’s purpose and his or her very essence. Purpose is a tricky word, he says, because it easily devolves into clichéd statements. But it’s a different dialogue when you get at someone’s hot button. “There’s something so important to you that you’ll do stupid things,” he explains. “You’ll get literally hot, emotionally, psychologically hot, off-center, which means you’re right near who you are.”

Another way to get to the center of self-awareness, which is critical for developing good leaders, is to ask what people did when they had free time as children. “To go back with resources and the world unconstrained, what do you do?” Snook muses. He remembers one woman who worked in the healthcare industry detailing how as a child growing up in Scotland, she was always searching for frogs.

“She just lit up and started jumping up and down,” Snook recalls. “‘This is how I do my current job,’” he remembers her explaining, “‘and this is how I did my last job. They’re not frogs, but I’m the one who always finds the missing piece. No one else can see it, and I find it.’”

That was her purpose statement, Snook contends, and the words aren’t some ambiguous corporate-speak that sound good. “Dr. Martin Luther King said, ‘I have a dream.’

He didn’t say, ‘I have a mission statement.’”

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Journey Two:

Finding Self-Acceptance Once his students can get past this initial test of their hot buttons and stress behaviors, Snook says they can then gain a greater sense of comfort in who they really are. “Most of the work that I’ve been doing is to help people with the first question, to figure out what gift they have,” he says. If he were to stop there, “the arrow would be stuck pointing back at you, and I truly believe that’s the opposite of leading.” • Snook makes a very clear distinction on the first day of every program he teaches between leader development and leadership development.

He points out that words that end in -ship, such as salesmanship, seamanship, sportsmanship, scholarship, and penmanship, can be learned by the old 70-20-10 rule.

The Psychology of Leader Development

The crucible and the hot button are two ways to view certain aspects of leadership development. One major psychological finding is that people under stress tend to revert to their dominant response.

We can all be our best selves when

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everything’s going well, but things change under stress. In a similar vein, what sets people off is also telling. Homing in on these behaviors and hot buttons is important because it identifies someone’s purpose and his or her very essence.

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That means you learn to do any of them 70 percent by actually doing the thing, 20 percent by getting feedback and coaching, and about 10 percent in a classroom or from a book. So it is with leadership development.

If his students are interested in leadership development, Snook tells them to take a course on power and influence.

Having spent the bulk of his career in the military, he observed firsthand how rank and hierarchy play out in everyday settings. To illustrate this point, Snook cites a study that looked at all the different branches of the military and found that

Leaders vs. Leadership

the most top-down and hierarchical leadership styles were among Army chaplains and physicians. “Their actual personal style of leading had to be more directive,” he explains, while the most senior officers were the least directive. The greater the rank difference, the more empowering the leaders tended to be.

“Power is just potential influence,” Snook says. “When it’s formalized, you don’t have to use it,” so you actually start to develop the greater ability to use interpersonal skills to be a leader.

“Above a certain level of intelligence or charisma, it’s all about the social skills,

being able to engage other people,” he adds. “It starts with yourself and becomes interpersonal, and then the challenge is how you do that at scale.”

That’s why leader development, as far as Snook is concerned, is the same thing as human development. “By figuring out who you are, who you’re not, being comfortable with who you are and who you’re not, having a greater sense of clarity and comfort toward your true north, you’ll be more likely to step up and lead, be more effective at doing it, and as important to me as both of those, live a more meaningful life.”

“There’s no question that we can develop and grow into roles and become more effective leaders.”

Scott Snook

Harvard Business School

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Anticipatory Thinking In the Cognitive Era A ND

TURNING DISRUP TION CHANGE IN TO OPP ORTUNITY AN D ADVANTAGE

By Daniel Burrus Illustrations By Yann Kebbi

Editor’s Note:

In this excerpt from “The Anticipatory Organization,” author Daniel Burrus makes the case that the future is far more certain than we realize, provided we take cues from the world around us and apply that knowledge in nontraditional ways. Organizations that adapt this philosophy can shift their mindset from “the default of reacting and responding to changes coming from the outside into a place of empowerment by anticipating and shaping the future from the inside out.”

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WE ARE LIVING IN A TIME OF ACCELERATING digital disruption—not mere change, but game-changing, transformational change.

Revolutionary technology and business concepts are everywhere, rendering traditional systems and modes of thinking less relevant and often obsolete. • Moreover, all this extraordinary disruption and transformation is just getting started. We’re only at square one, the base of the mountain. And what once might have been a gradual slope of 45 degrees has sharpened to the point where innovation is taking place at a vertical incline. Unfortunately, our path up the mountain is shrouded by the fog of the issues and events of the moment. An Anticipatory Mindset allows you to see through the fog and identify the opportunities most will miss. • Consider: It took 32 years from the time the zipper was invented until the technology was in place to actually allow something to be zipped up. Television took 29 years from invention to production; the transistor, 10 years. These are examples of technology-driven innovation and change, of course, but at a time when tech-driven change was so slow that reacting and responding to change worked quite well. There was little in the way of rapid disruption. • We aren’t experiencing that tortoise-like rate of change anymore. The pace of change is getting exponentially faster every day and is literally changing the world on a daily basis. Need proof?

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Excerpted From:

“The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change Into Opportunity and Advantage”

by Daniel Burrus. Copyright ©2017 Daniel Burris. Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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Anticipatory Thinking

In 2015, at a gathering in Toronto, 200 people and I were treated to a meal created by a rather unusual chef—the IBM cognitive supercomputer, Watson.

To craft a meal that all of us would love, Watson read—and, more importantly, learned—the contents of more than a million cookbooks and everything that has been written about the sense of taste and smell. How long did it take Watson to do all this? One second! And that was a few years ago. It’s an absolute certainty that Watson will be able to do the same thing even faster in the years ahead.

Watson is just one example of the explosive type of disruptive change and innovation we’re experiencing. Unlike cy-

clical change, which repeats like the swing of a pendulum, this is a form of linear, one-way change that forms an exponential curve. Once it occurs, there’s no going back. You don’t have a multimilliondollar supercomputer in a room in your home, but you can use a supercomputer anytime you want when you use your smartphone or tablet to conduct a search or ask Siri, Google, or Alexa a question.

With a supercomputer right in the palm of your hand, linear, flat, one-way change morphs into exponential change.

Change and disruption are also coming from unlikely sources. Whether it’s a solitary hacker in some distant location breaching a corporate or government

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Anticipatory Thinking

firewall or a college kid who devises an industry-changing mobile app, disruption can now come from the most modest, unexpected sources. To quote The Economist: Newcomers can “incorporate online for a few hundred dollars, raise money from crowdsourcing sites such as Kickstarter, hire programmers from Upwork, rent computer-processing power from Amazon, find manufacturers on Alibaba, arrange payments via Square, and immediately set about conquering the world.”

You can be one of those game changers. By learning to use the predictability of cyclical change, you can see the future with far more accuracy. The environment we’re living in is bursting with both opportunity and a good deal of danger—the kind of danger that can disrupt your industry, business, or career overnight.

Known for its ability to execute, Dell was once the world’s number one computer company. However, the company missed the shift to mobile and has struggled to catch up ever since. The heart of the company’s business—PCs, laptops, and netbooks—became less relevant as consumers and businesses shifted toward smartphones, tablets, and wearables.

Hewlett-Packard took much the same track as Dell. In addition to the steady decline of HP’s personal computer and printer businesses over the past number of years, cloud computing—internet-hosted remote servers to store, manage, and process data—has grown, taking a major chunk out of HP’s data center equipment sales. Both Dell and HP are now racing to catch up, an increasingly difficult task as change and disruption grow faster all the time.

In the world of mobile phones, Motorola was once a major brand. The company invented the mobile phone in the early 1980s and was the first to dramatically reduce its size with the StarTAC, the first clamshell, or flip phone, in 1996. But like many other industry standard-bearers, they are no longer shaping the future.

Sony and Blackberry suffered a similar plight. Despite being reasonably adept at putting out fires left and right, they were unable to survive in this new age of explosive, exponential change. Let’s look back at the launch of the first iPhone. When the press asked the CEO of BlackBerry’s Research in Motion if the launch of the first iPhone was a threat to his business, he responded by wondering out loud who would ever want to watch video on a phone. Once the gold standard among technology companies, Research in Motion’s stock topped $230 a share in mid2007. As of December 2016, the stock was hovering around $7.52—not much more than the price of a mediocre pizza.

These are just a few examples that underscore the critical value of anticipatory thinking, the learned competency that allows you to proactively anticipate disruption and change and, from there, plan with the confidence that certainty can provide. That’s an ability made all the more essential when you understand that the skills and competencies organizations and companies have traditionally marched in lockstep with are proving increasingly ineffective.

T M MY WORK AS AN INNOVATION EXPERT

and professional futurist allows me to work closely with a wide range of companies, governments, agencies, and organizations.

Many of the largest and most resourceful have shared that they are struggling to keep up—even those that were icons at one time.

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THIS DISCUSSION OF THE ABILITY TO

anticipate the future highlights a very dangerous misconception. An old expression holds that the only two things certain about the future are death and taxes.

Phrased another way: Other than those two rather bleak topics, it’s impossible to know what the future holds.

I often encounter this sort of skepticism. Even among people who are otherwise open-minded and receptive to the ideas outside their usual thinking, there’s a prevailing, rather rigid mindset that it’s impossible to forecast the future with any accuracy. To which I respond:

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Anticipatory Thinking

“Did you celebrate New Year’s this year, and do you know when the next New Year’s is coming?” Of course. “Do you know when you have to pay taxes each year?” Yes, and you plan for that certainty. “Can scientists predict the tides and phases of the moon, even years in advance?” They certainly can.

These and other examples underscore an ongoing contradiction: In one breath, we deny that predictability exists, yet we constantly rely on the fact that it does.

There are literally hundreds of events and occurrences that are, in fact, predictable with the utmost certainty. If you take a moment, you could probably name dozens of other examples in addition to the ones I just cited. (For the record, there are some 500 known cycles—including business, climate, biological, and sales—that repeat with utter reliability.)

To assume otherwise is a dangerous misconception, one that limits vision, clouds our perception of possibilities, and, if nothing else, runs counter to our very behavior.

Anticipatory thinking allows you to proactively anticipate disruption and change AND, FROM THERE, PLAN WITH THE CONFIDENCE THAT CERTAINTY CAN PROVIDE. ELLIOTTDAVIS.COM

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PA L E P L A I N S D R I F T E R

Tall Grass Prairie Preserve Osage County, Oklahoma 2018 BRAINTRUST

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Boot Scootin’ & Photo Shootin’ WHEN HE PUTS DOWN THE GUITAR AND PICKS UP A CAMERA, RONNIE DUNN, HALF OF THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME DUO BROOKS & DUNN, BRINGS MUSIC TO THE EYES. IT’S LIKE A WHOLE COWBOY SONG YOU CAN SEE IN ONE MOMENT IN TIME IMAGES BY RONNIE DUNN ELLIOTTDAVIS.COM

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Boot Scootin’ & Photo Shootin’

Photography allows Dunn to fixate on visual artistry to channel his creativity and connect with people, fans, and the Wild West.

“I get that same feeling working to capture a picture that I get when I step up to a microphone or sit down to write a song,” he explains. “I want to take memorable photographs. I want to see things.” To the many who enjoy his songwriting and music, the artistry he exhibits through photography isn’t surprising.

The images on these pages are a testament to his ability to tell a story visually as well as musically. Think of it as music through a different lens.

FREEDOM

Mustang Monument Wells, Nevada 2018 GHOST HORSE

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Capturing the Art of Ronnie Dunn

“Photography requires being able to apply technical prowess to artistic ability, not unlike learning to play an instrument and creating music.

The act of applying both skills simultaneously is where magic lives.”

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Capturing the Art of Ronnie Dunn

“Writing songs is a personal and solitary task.

The same applies to capturing imagery that people may find interesting and entertaining.

Music and photography are my crutches. ”

SHE EYE

Mustang Monument Wells, Nevada 2018

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Capturing the Art of Ronnie Dunn

“I was born in Coleman, Texas.

That’s full-blown cowboy country. I’m drawn to the West, the overall ethos—rodeos and Native American culture fascinate me to no end.

My music is heavily influenced by my Western roots.”

WHITE TWINS

Mustang Monument Wells, Nevada 2017

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A MUSIC LEGEND As half of country music’s legendary duo Brooks & Dunn, Ronnie Dunn has achieved levels of success few will ever know. Prior to being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this April, the band garnered 28 Academy of Country Music Awards, 20 Country Music Association Awards, two GRAMMY Awards, and sold more than 30 million records.

Little wonder Dunn’s pursuit of yet another creative venture into photography has created a buzz. In less than a year, his photography has earned him the featured-artist exhibit at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum and was featured on the cover of Cowboys & Indians’ February/ March 2019 issue. Most recently, he teamed with four masters of the craft to launch Lensmen Project, a vehicle to hone his skills and “involve and share the journey with friends along the way.”

To learn more about the photography of Ronnie Dunn and to purchase prints, visit lensmenproject.com.

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Capturing the Art of Ronnie Dunn

“I’ve had a place in Santa Fe, New Mexico for more than 15 years. I’m a desert rat.

The sunsets are unbelievable.

I used to take my camera out at dusk and literally shoot thousands of photos.”

PRAIRIE WINDMILL

Route 66 Near Amarillo, Texas 2007

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Boot Scootin’ & Photo Shootin’

A L L H AT

Cheyenne Frontier Days Cheyenne, Wyoming 2017 L A ID BACK

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Capturing the Art of Ronnie Dunn

“I’d played the rodeo for years, but due to the dynamics of touring, never got to go out and actually experience the event.

I’m a straight-up adrenaline junky; having a wild-eyed, 1,500-pound bronc or a pissed-off, snot-slinging bull coming at you is hard to top.”

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Boot Scootin’ & Photo Shootin’

“I think I must have an innate creative ‘itch.’

I have to do something creative or I’ll whither away. But some degree of discipline has to be applied to any creative endeavor unless you just want to treat it as a hobby.

Inspiration and sweat are inseparable.”

BIG BROW N

Katmai National Park, Alaska 2017 CALM BEFORE THE STORM

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Capturing the Art of Ronnie Dunn

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THERE IS ALWAYS MORE We aren’t about formulas with clever names.

To gain a client’s trust, we believe it takes people. The best people, who realize we are here to make a positive impact on every life we touch. It’s been that way for nearly 100 years, and it will remain that way as we move forward, bringing more value to every engagement.

RICK DAVIS CPA | Chief Executive Officer

elliottdavis.com/braintrust

Augusta, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Columbia, Greenville, Nashville, Raleigh

Brainwaves 61

West Ninth Vintage p. 62 Counter Culture Coffee p. 64 Songbirds Guitar Museum p. 66 Husk Restaurant p. 68

Photo courtesy of West Ninth Vintage

Casting a New Light West Ninth Vintage is transforming common industrial elements into functional works of art

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West Ninth Vintage

Form & Function

West Ninth Vintage’s unique designs are putting a distinctive twist on traditional light fixtures

G

By Steven Tingle

GREG DONOVAN IS IN THE WORKSHOP OF

West Ninth Vintage on the outskirts of Philadelphia hurriedly taping boxes before a UPS driver arrives to collect them.

The packages contain light fixtures.

Not your everyday type of lights found hanging in the lighting departments of The Home Depot or Lowe’s, mind you; these fixtures are all handmade, created out of lengths of steel pipe and heavyduty steel fittings. Some feature gauges, spigots, and pulleys, and most are fitted with Edison bulbs wrapped in steel cages. The fixtures can be described as “industrial” or even “steampunk,” and most are Donovan’s own designs. As he tapes the boxes, he laughs and admits that what he’s doing now is “a massive jump” from his previous career. But it’s a change he’s embraced and one that’s brought him pure joy.

In the mid-1990s, Donovan was in the right place at the right time with the right certifications. The information technology (IT) business was starting to boom, and his experience as an independent

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IT consultant put him in high demand with Fortune 2,500 and larger companies across the country. After bouncing around the United States, Donovan landed a short-term contract in Raleigh, North Carolina that turned into a five-year gig.

Firmly planted in the Research Triangle, Donovan then started his own IT services business, which he sold nine years later.

“I then went to work as a consultant for a global enterprise software company and did that for about four years in a global role,” he recounts. “But all along I knew that it was time for me to get out of the intangible and into the tangible.”

For Donovan, tangible meant something you could hold in your hands. Something you could see and feel. Something that was the antithesis of business-to-business software or IT services. “In the IT business, no one ever calls the help desk to tell you they love your product,” he says. “I wanted to be involved with a consumer product that people would enjoy.”

As he looked through potential business opportunities, a listing for West Ninth Vintage caught Donovan’s eye. The company met his criteria: It was about an hour’s flight from Raleigh, the business manufactured and sold a tangible consumer product, and it looked like it might be a lot of fun. “I felt it was a fit,” he says. “I flew up the next week and met with the founder of the company. He took my offer, and I took over the 31st of May, 2017.”

When Donovan walked into West Ninth Vintage as the new owner, he knew he had a lot to learn. He’d never heard of the

company before seeing the listing, and aside from installing a couple of light fixtures in his own home, he had no idea of the processes involved in manufacturing and selling such items. “I walked in wearing khakis and a golf shirt, and everyone else was in jeans and T-shirts,” he says.

“That was the first lesson I learned—no more khakis. I told everyone that I’d purchased the company and that I wasn’t going to change anything and that no one was getting fired.”

But change is hard, even if it’s just perceived change. As Donovan slowly learned the ins and outs of the business, he implemented small, steady improvements to increase productivity and profit margins.

Some employees embraced the changes; others did not. The number of staff members dropped from 13 to seven, and today only two of the original employees remain.

“I’ve halved the number of people, but the dollar amount of payroll is roughly the same,” Donovan says. “We’ve shifted away from a deadline mentality to a production

1. Reclaimed wood paired with Edison bulbs create a unique design twist on traditional wall-mount fixtures.

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mentality. I’m paying people more, but everyone is doing more.”

West Ninth Vintage products are all handmade in a small shop in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. The designs are unique, industrial, and masculine. So masculine, in fact, that GQ magazine’s U.K. edition highlighted one of West Ninth Vintage’s fixtures along with the heading, “Man Up Your Decor.” According to Donovan, inspiration for the designs comes from old magazines, social media sites such as Pinterest, and customers themselves. “Customers are a good source of our designs,” he says. “They send pictures or sketches. Some of our custom builds become part of our catalog.”

Once a new design is fabricated, it doesn’t take Donovan long to find out whether the fixture should be put into production. “Our barrier of entry for a new product is low,” he says. “In the IT services business, if I wanted to launch a new product, I had a substantial barrier of entry. Here, I can build a light fixture

in 30 minutes, put it up on Facebook, and find out almost immediately if anybody wants it or not.”

The company’s 91,000 followers aren’t shy about offering their opinions and sharing ideas for new designs. Neither are the company’s customers, who order the products from online retailers such as Amazon, Houzz, and Wayfair. “We get a hundred four- or five-star reviews a week,” Donovan says. “That gives me a great deal of satisfaction. I love that I’m

involved with something that people can experience every day in a positive way.”

Donovan admits that he doesn’t have a crystal ball, but if pressed, he sees himself at West Ninth Vintage well into the foreseeable future. He and his family recently relocated from Raleigh, and he’s enjoying working nine-hour days followed by a 15-minute commute home. That’s a big shift from working 12 hours a day seven days a week and bouncing from hotel to hotel.

“It’s a massive change,” he says. “I’m not chasing the technology loop anymore.

Some of my old colleagues in the IT world say, ‘You’re doing what?!’ When I explain it to them, they say, ‘Man, that must be a lot of fun.’ It is. I really enjoy this. This is where I’m having a really good time.”

“It was time for me to get out of the intangible and into the tangible.”

— GREG DONOVAN, owner, West Ninth Vintage

3. Industrial elements that combine form and function are hallmarks of West Ninth Vintage creations. .

Photos courtesy of West Ninth Vintage

2. Exposed cords and rough-hewn woodwork infuse this ceiling light with a rustic-chic feel.

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West Ninth Vintage

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Counter Culture Coffee

WHILE WORKING ON HIS GRADUATE DEGREE

at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the mid-1990s, Brett Smith started to feel the entrepreneurial itch. He wasn’t sure what type of business he wanted to be involved in, he just knew he wanted to be in business. So he began researching different companies with the prospect of becoming an investor or even starting his own venture if the right opportunity presented itself.

As Smith explored his options, coffee kept grabbing his attention. He stumbled across a coffee company business plan about the same time he began noticing a growing number of independent coffee shops opening up in the area. Soon after, Smith met Fred Houk, who worked at a small roasting company in Durham. All signs seem to point to coffee.

“When I met Fred, we just started talking,” recalls Smith. “He wanted to go out on his own, and I wanted to start a company. We decided to team up, then hit the ground running.”

Counter Culture Coffee began in 1995 with one tiny roaster and operated out of a 750-square-foot building in Durham.

Smith and Houk were never interested in running a “coffee shop”; instead, they

wanted to procure and roast the best coffee possible. So they reached out to some of the most talented chefs in the RaleighDurham area, and soon Counter Culture was being served in some of the region’s best restaurants.

“We cut our teeth on the great culinary scene in the Triangle,” says Smith.

“We were setting a high bar for ourselves as far as quality, and working with chefs of such high caliber, we had to deliver.

That became ingrained in what we do as an organization.”

Today, Counter Culture Coffee occupies a 24,000-square-foot space in Durham and has a second roasting facility located just outside San Francisco to serve the company’s West Coast clients. Counter Culture also has numerous “training centers” scattered throughout the country, offices that look like hip coffee shops but function as service centers for sales, education, and equipment support.

“The training centers are a cornerstone of our business model,” explains Smith.

“It’s one thing to have a roaster in a town and you get to know the local restaurants and you can build your brand in that community, but it’s hard to jump to that next town over.

Building a Better Culture Counter Culture Coffee has been turning the traditional coffee company business model on its head for more than two decades

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1.

“We made a conscious decision not to have cafes because we wanted to support restaurants and cafes,” he adds. “About the time we started looking outside the Triangle was about the time that independent coffee shops were really starting to appear. So we opened a satellite office in Charlotte that we considered a sales and support office, but we quickly realized there were incredible benefits to that. Having a physical presence in a market really offers a lot of opportunities to connect closely with your customers.”

Currently, Counter Culture has training centers in Atlanta, Charleston, Asheville, Durham, Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle; facilities in Dallas and Miami will open soon. The spaces are used not only to support wholesale partners, but to host special events that foster interaction with consumers.

“One of the traditions we’ve had at Counter Culture, for going on 20 years, is the Friday tasting,” says Smith. “It was something we initially did only within the organization. Everybody would stop what they were doing and get together to taste coffee. It was very communal, a time when we shared what we were doing and experienced coffee together.

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Photos courtesy of Counter Culture Coffee

1. Counter Culture’s Durham production facility now houses numerous roasters.

“Eventually, that evolved to including customers, potential customers, and now, end consumers,” he continues. “At our training centers, we have tastings every Friday and there might be 15 or 20 people.

Here in Durham, we’ve had tastings with more than 100 people.”

Another cornerstone for Smith and Houk is sustainability. In an industry that’s seen its share of questionable business tactics, Counter Culture Coffee has been on the leading edge of fair-trade practices and transparency. “When you look at your business through the lens of sustainability and consider the short- and long-term impact of your actions, you want to come to a win-win solution,” Smith says. “You think about how this can continue on for everyone involved.

“When you take that approach, it leads to making decisions that are fundamentally sustainable,” he adds. “And you keep challenging yourself to try to live up to that commitment. That type of relationship with your stakeholders, the environment, and the long-term financial viability of your business is a good business model.

The commitment to building a business through the lens of sustainability is not an either-or proposition; when you do it right, it’s not a compromise.”

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Counter Culture Coffee

2. A coffee master tests the product to ensure it meets exacting standards.

3. Counter Culture Coffee is available in a variety of unique flavors.

3.

2.

Truth is, Counter Culture doesn’t just “talk the talk” when it comes to sustainability. The company utilizes a “transparency contract” so that everyone in the supply chain understands what the economics are for their segment. The company also publishes an annual “Transparency Report,” which can be viewed on the corporate website, that details everything from operations and quality initiatives to carbon footprint statistics and price transparency. “It’s an internal way to hold ourselves accountable,” Smith says. “It’s created an internal system that keeps us moving forward.”

“We cut our teeth on the great culinary scene in the Triangle.

—Brett Smith, co-founder, Counter Culture Coffee

The coffee market is a global behemoth rife with competition, but according to Smith, it’s also a caring and collaborative industry. “I have amazing friends who are competitors, and I’ve become lifelong friends with people all over the world,” he notes. “That’s been really special on a personal level.”

On the professional front, Counter Culture satisfied the entrepreneurial call that Smith felt more than two decades ago, enabling him and Houk to make a difference, in their own way, while making a living. “As a business opportunity, I certainly didn’t see the growth of specialty coffee—there was an amount of luck in picking the right segment of an industry that’s had a lot growth and that’s still growing,” says Smith. “Counter Culture has given me such a great opportunity to do what I love in terms of building an organization and a product that has so much depth and breadth and reach. It’s been incredibly rewarding.”

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Songbirds Guitar Museum

IN 1941, BANDLEADER GLENN MILLER

released the classic song “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” The tune was an instant hit, and the following year, after sales topped 1.2 million copies, it became the first gold record in recording history.

But a few years later, the big-band sound started to decline.

The 1950s ushered in a much different kind of music, broadcast into households through television. It was called rock and roll, and the sound was loud, gritty, and addictive. Fueled by the electric guitar, the new musical genre’s popularity all but ended the big-band era. It’s a bizarre yet somehow fitting coincidence that the world’s largest collection of the instrument that killed the big-band sound is displayed in the train station that was the subject of Miller’s number one hit.

Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga is much more than a curation of vintage instruments; it’s a history lesson on the impact of the guitar on popular culture—from music to fashion, automobiles to attitude. The museum’s president is Johnny Smith, and once you get him talking about guitars, it’s hard to

1. This Fender classic is representative of the eclectic collection of fretted instruments on display at Songbirds.

2. The ability to touch and feel the guitars is a hallmark of the Songbirds experience.

3. Songbirds’ collection includes 1,700 instruments, more than 500 of which are on display at a time.

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2.

get him to stop. Smith is a musician, but not a guitarist. “I’m a drummer, which is kind of funny,” he says. “But I always make the connection to Leo Fender from the Fender guitar company. He wasn’t a guitar player either; he was an electronics guy. I laugh and say it takes a drummer to run a guitar museum.”

When the electric guitar came on the scene in 1931, no one imagined the significance the instrument would eventually have on the movement of music. “The guitar has been around for hundreds of

Flight of the Songbird

The renowned Songbirds Guitar Museum seeks to make Chattanooga the “center of guitar culture for America”

By Steven Tingle

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years, but when Leo Fender decided to electrify the fretted solid-body guitar, everything changed,” Smith says. “Who knew at the time that when this little guy in California was putting strings on a block of wood and trying to make something sound different what it would create. It’s pretty amazing.”

But the museum’s collection goes far beyond the electric guitar. Instruments from the 1920s through the 1970s are represented. Banjos, mandolins, acoustic guitars, and mandocellos are part of the experience. “We have approximately 1,700 pieces in the collection, and we display a little over 500 at a time,” Smith says. “There has never been an accumulation of vintage instruments like that on display anywhere in the world. It’s very cool.”

The museum acts as a time machine, taking guests through the history of music with a focus on the 1950s through the 1970s. “So we’ll talk about the British Invasion and the Gibson side of things like the Les Paul and how important a guitar that was,” Smith explains. “We try to inform people on how these instruments inspired artists to create these sounds. We talk about the American story and how music and culture evolved.

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Songbirds Guitar Museum

“We want to celebrate music, and you can’t do that by just looking at the instruments.” — JOHNNY SMITH, Songbirds president

Photos courtesy of Songbirds Guitar Museum

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“Then we have all of these breakout instrument cases because there were cultures within the culture,” he adds. “For example, in the 1960s you had rock and roll, but you also had this new thing called the surf sound that was coming out. So we celebrate the surf sound, as well as bluegrass, the blues, and jazz. We try to hit on a little of everything.”

Unlike most museums, hushed spaces with white walls and sour-faced docents, Songbirds is pure rock and roll.

The 14,000-square-foot facility features a jam station with guitars and drums for kids, as well as options for guests to actually play the instruments in the museum’s collection.

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“One of the heaviest criticisms a museum like this can get is that these instruments were meant to be played, so we want to make them accessible,” Smith says. “We want people to have the opportunity to touch and see and feel. We offer player experiences for customers who want to play some of the guitars, and we have a recording studio as well and offer packages for customers who want to record a song using a guitar that they would never normally be able to put their hands on. We want to celebrate music, and you can’t do that by just looking at the instruments.”

Live music is also a major component of the Songbirds experience. The venue boasts two stages: a small performance area inside the museum itself and a larger music hall that can accommodate more than 500 people. Dozens of live music performances are hosted each month, featuring artists such as Drivin’ N Cryin’, Junior Brown, Kasey Chambers, and legendary guitarist Dick Dale. “For some of the artists who

come in, we actually break out some of the instruments so they can play them,” Smith says. “It’s cool to have these intimate concerts while you’re surrounded by history.”

For rock-and-roll fans, Songbirds Guitar Museum is a must-see. Not just for the opportunity to get a glimpse at rare instruments such as the last guitar Fender built for Jimi Hendrix or guitars owned by legends such as Roy Orbison, Buddy Guy, and Bo Diddley, but to be immersed in the history of rock and roll and the cultures it has inspired.

“What we’ve done is honor the guitar as it stands and what its impact on music has been,” Smith says. “The idea was to share something with the music community that has never been done before.

Sure, you can see great celebrity-owned instruments and vintage instruments in different museums, but cumulatively you’ll never be able to lay your eyes on what we have here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which I think is pretty special.”

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W Brainwaves

WHEN HUSK OPENED ON QUEEN STREET

in Charleston, South Carolina in 2010, it changed the face of Southern cuisine almost overnight. Sean Brock, the restaurant’s executive chef, wanted to honor the deep, and somewhat forgotten, roots of Southern cooking, but also add his own unique twist to the mix. The result was a menu that was as creative as it was perplexing.

For example, in Brock’s hands, the Southern classic boiled pig’s ears were deep-fried, glazed with soy sauce, and then wrapped in butter lettuce. Was this Southern or Korean? Brock didn’t care to define it. His main concern was to reveal the possibilities of Southern ingredients and celebrate the local farmers and purveyors who fueled his creations. “If it ain’t Southern, it ain’t walkin’ in the door,” Brock said when Husk opened. The chef stuck to that promise, and it didn’t take long before he and Husk were hailed as the saviors of Southern cuisine. Garden & Gun magazine went so far as to deem Husk the “Most Southern Restaurant Ever.”

While some may argue that Southern fare was alive and well before the opening of Husk, it’s hard to dispute the fact that

Brock was instrumental in resurrecting and revitalizing some long-ignored Southern ingredients that were at risk of becoming extinct. Before opening Husk, Brock served as executive chef of McCrady’s, one of the oldest restaurants in Charleston. While there, he developed a 2.5-acre farm on Wadmalaw Island, a small barrier island located approximately 20 miles southwest of downtown Charleston.

With 19th-century Southern cookbooks as his guide, Brock began researching and planting indigenous crops that had once thrived in the Lowcountry. One such plant was James Island corn, or “Jimmy Red” as it’s known around Charleston, which was formerly grown by farmers and bootleggers. When the last known bootlegger cultivating the corn died, two ears were saved and several seed preservationists, including Brock, began growing the crop. Brock used the corn at McCrady’s and later at Husk to make Jimmy Red grits, cornbread, and flapjacks. His love of the corn runs so deep that Brock had an image of it tattooed on his arm.

This almost fanatical devotion to indigenous, heirloom ingredients quickly

Taste of the South

Nearly a decade since opening, Husk continues to reshape connoisseurs’ perceptions of Southern cuisine

By Steven Tingle

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Husk Restaurant

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elevated Husk far above other restaurants claiming to be “Southern focused.” In fact, when Husk first opened, Brock held so firm to his pledge to only cook with Southern-sourced ingredients that he purportedly refused to use olive oil until a brand from Texas was discovered.

But it wasn’t just the allegiance to Southern-grown ingredients that propelled Husk; it was also Brock’s “nose to tail” use of fish, meat, and game. On any given day, he and his staff could be found breaking down suckling pigs, whole lambs, half a cow, and hundreds of pounds of local fish. “We only take it when it’s ready,” Brock once quipped. “So it shows up and we have to start piecing the recipes together. It’s like a puzzle every day.”

One of the most important pieces to completing that puzzle is Husk’s elaborate and well-stocked pantry. The restaurant’s larder is full of jars of brined vegetables, secret sauces, packages of spices, and unlabeled containers of unknown origin.

Once when asked for the recipe for a savory broth served with scallops, Brock smiled mischievously. “In order to do that, you need a pantry like ours,” he said.

“Our pantry is crazy with flavors. You can’t make that broth at home.” One of

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Photos courtesyo f Neighborhood Dining Group

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Husk’s secret sauces starts with a soy sauce base brewed in Kentucky. Mixed with a variety of other elements, the sauce becomes a “Kentuckyaki” glaze, which is brushed over the aforementioned boiled pig’s ears.

Now, eight years since its opening, Husk has expanded beyond Charleston to open outposts in Nashville, Savannah, and Greenville, South Carolina.

In August 2018, Neighborhood Dining Group, which owns both McCrady’s and Husk, announced that Brock would be leaving the group to focus on his own restaurants in the Nashville area. Upon the announcement, Brock waxed nostalgic about his legacy at Husk. “I’m so proud of the reputations we’ve built at each of the restaurants, and I’m excited for each member of the teams to carry the restaurants forward,” he said. “I have full confidence in these chefs and know that they will continue to deliver the creative, locally focused, ingredient-driven cuisine that our guests have enjoyed at the restaurants over the years.”

What Brock didn’t say in the statement is that his confidence in the Husk team comes from the knowledge that he has allowed them to thrive. A self-confessed workaholic, he remained deeply involved

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with McCrady’s as well as Minero, a Mexican-inspired restaurant also owned by Neighborhood Dining Group, even while serving as executive chef at Husk. “I used to have to be in control of every single thing, down to the socks that the servers wore,” Brock said of McCrady’s in 2017.

“And that wasn’t a healthy thing for me.”

Brock’s struggles with alcoholism and his subsequent, and very public, rehabilitation changed his attitude. “My perspective on life has changed this year,” he said. “It’s not that I have to have complete control over things. I had to let that go. It took a lot of therapy, but I let that go.”

Brock’s “letting go” has allowed others in the Husk universe to shine. While Brock was still with Neighborhood Dining Group,

“Our pantry is crazy with flavors.”

— SEAN BROCK,

founding executive chef of Husk

1. Even Southern staples like fried chicken and cornbread take on a new life at Husk.

2. The original Husk is located in the heart of Charleston’s historic district.

3. Husk’s rustic decor complements the restaurant’s Southern-chic fare.

Travis Grimes was promoted from chef de cuisine to executive chef at the Charleston location. Brock continued to work with Grimes on menu development, but Grimes was handed the torch to research old recipes and foster and expand creative ways to emphasize local, native ingredients.

What Brock created at Husk has had a profound influence on the restaurant industry. Today, an increasing number of chefs are working with local farmers and embracing ingredients that are indigenous to their locations. The term “farm-to-table restaurant” was almost unheard-of 10 years ago, but now the phrase is as ubiquitous on menus as “Today’s Special.”

Brock was a pioneer of that movement, and the culinary renaissance he orchestrated in a restored Victorian house on Queen Street in Charleston has reverberated through kitchens across the country.

In that light, Husk might be more than one of the most Southern restaurants ever; it might be one of the most important restaurants ever.

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THANK YOU HARLAN There are songwriters. There are great song writers and then there’s Harlan Howard. For over six decades his “three chords and the truth” anointed Nashville with a plain-spoken genius the likes of which we may never see again. Willie Nelson called Harlan, “the guru, the guy everybody looks up to.” That includes everybody at Vaden Group | Elliott Davis who worked with “The Dean.”

For more than forty years our team of professionals has been providing worry-free business management, tax advisory, and consulting services for writers, performers, and producers. Whether you’re destined for the hall of fame or your first honkytonk, you can depend on us to help you make every word, and every note add up to success that won’t fall to pieces.

Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n v i s i t v a d e n g r o u p . c o m

Vaden Group I Elliott Davis

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Music Row

Image courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry Archives

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Roundabout Plaza

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1600 Division Street, Suite 225

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Nashville

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615.248.5500

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Credit: First Lastname

Photo courtesy of Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Blackberry Farm p. 72 Kiawah Island Golf Resort p. 74 The Resort at Paws Up p. 76

Enchanted Escapes Commune with nature and get away from it all with a trip to one of these captivating destinations SPRINGELLIOTTDAVIS.COM 2019 / BRAINTRUST

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Where Do We Go Blackberry Farm

Outstanding In the Field Award-winning food, wine, and accommodations have established Blackberry Farm as one of the South’s most treasured destinations By M. LINDA LEE

SPREAD ACROSS 4,200

rural acres in Walland, Tennessee, Blackberry Farm is a place like no other. You feel it the moment you drive onto the property and are immediately immersed in a pastoral landscape of rolling hills and hardwood forests huddled at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

What began as a family-run country inn located in what was then a dry county in eastern Tennessee now encompasses a collection of luxe rooms and cottages, a spa, more than nine miles of hiking trails and hundreds more nearby in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and a superlative food and wine program.

It all started in 1976, when Kreis and Sandy Beall (Sandy founded the Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain) purchased Blackberry Farm as their family home. Eventually, the Bealls opened a six-room inn on the property, welcoming visitors from near and far. That family spirit still prevails, even as the inn has blossomed—with the addition of more land and rooms—into a full-service resort that consistently ranks high on the rosters of America’s best places to stay.

In 1998, the Bealls handed over the Relais & Châteaux resort to their two sons, Sam and David. But it was their older son, Sam, who devoted himself to making Blackberry Farm far more than the sum of its parts.

Armed with his parents’ flair for

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hospitality and degrees from the University of Tennessee and the California Culinary Academy—not to mention stints at Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco and The French Laundry (chef Thomas Keller’s renowned restaurant) in Napa Valley—Sam slowly built Blackberry Farm into a luxurious retreat that’s consistently rated as one of the top boutique hotels in the nation.

One of the best reasons to visit Blackberry Farm is for its superb food and beverage program, sustained by the farm’s vegetable and herb gardens, livestock and poultry, cheese-making facility, and brewery.

Elevated Appalachian cuisine marks

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1. Blackberry Farm is set in a bucolic region of Tennessee.

2. The rooms and cottages at Blackberry Farm feature luxurious appointments throughout.

3. The culinary offerings at Blackberry Farm have garnered national praise.

each season at the Barn, the property’s showcase restaurant. Lodged in a 200-year-old structure that Sam relocated from Pennsylvania, the Barn is also the site of epicurean events that highlight acclaimed chefs and vintners.

The staff includes foragers who scour the woods for wild mushrooms and ramps, and gardeners who harvest sour cherries, sumac, and persimmons to lend seasonal nuances to Blackberry’s craft brews. Milk from the working farm’s pastured sheep is used to make the ash-surfaced Hawkin’s Haze, Camembert-style Magnolia, and supple Brebis cheeses—all medal recipients at the 2018

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Where Do We Go Blackberry Farm

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From There To Here Location 35.686162° N 83.865594° W

By Air McGhee Tyson Airport Knoxville, Tennessee 25 minutes away

Nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Photos courtesy of Blackberry Farm

blackberryfarm.com

American Cheese Society Awards.

Vegetables from the garden are pickled and canned, while wild blackberries provide the makings for jam.

A decade ago, a hazelnut orchard was planted, not only for its nuts but for the black truffles cultivated on the roots of the trees. To ferret out the buried treasures, Blackberry Farm breeds Italian Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, prized for their keen sense of smell.

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Yet food and wine are not the only lures. The inn hosts a yearround schedule of themed events, including cycling, wellness weekends, concerts starring Grammy Award–winning talent, and holiday celebrations. Or, take a horseback ride around the trails, spend a perfect afternoon canoeing on a pristine lake, or just park yourself in the Adirondack chairs behind

the Main House and breathe in the beauty of the mountains.

For the sportsman, two ponds and a stream on-site provide opportunities for fly-fishing, as do the fishable trout streams in the neighboring national park. The farm’s Orvisendorsed guides and instructors can introduce beginners to the basics or help seasoned anglers find the best fishing spots. Those longing for target practice can head for the archery range and the clays course.

Retreat to The Wellhouse spa to rebalance body and mind. Indulge in a buttery Lavender and Vanilla Bourbon Body Drench, or revive overworked muscles with essential oils and poultices filled with fresh herbs and flowers from the farm.

Accommodations are scattered around the grounds (with the smallest rooms in the original inn), and rates for all include three meals a day. Guests in the Hill Cottages, which tuck into the woods, have their own golf cart, while all cottage suites feature wood-burning fireplaces, deepsoaking or whirlpool tubs, and in-room pantries stocked with an array of goodies—heaven forbid you should go hungry!

Blackberry Farm is as much a place for nature buffs as sybarites, a bucolic setting where fluffy sheep graze in shamrock-green pastures hemmed by white fences, and master gardeners grow produce for chef-driven dinners. It’s a place where you can find your reflection in a pond or in a weekend of meditation, a destination where you can revel in nature by day and wrap yourself in luxurious comfort by night. Blackberry Farm is a place you’ll find difficult to leave, having inevitably fallen under the spell of what folks in these parts call the “Blackberry state of mind.”

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Where Do We Go Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Island Indulgences Kiawah Island Golf Resort offers a bounty of luxuries for the discerning traveler By M. LINDA LEE

25 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, the erstwhile hunting and fishing grounds of the Kiawah Indians now enfold a splendid palmetto-studded playground known as Kiawah Island Golf Resort.

Though Kiawah provides an idyllic beach getaway, the resort is best known for its five championship golf courses. Top among them is The Ocean Course, the windswept links that stretches to 7,356 yards and weaves through the rolling dunes for nearly three miles along the Atlantic Ocean. Designed by Pete Dye, The Ocean Course opened in 1991, just in time to host that year’s Ryder Cup. The 1997 World Cup was also held here, followed by a string of other renowned golf tournaments, most notably the 2012 PGA Championship. In 2021, The Ocean Course, hailed as the third-best public course in America by Golf Digest, will again welcome the PGA Championship.

Although golf is in the resort’s name and is tied to many of its offerings, there’s something for everyone at Kiawah. Start with tennis. For more than four decades, pro Roy Barth ran Kiawah’s tennis program, establishing it as one of the country’s finest. Now, the Roy Barth Tennis Center features a fully stocked pro shop, locker rooms, instructional programs, nine HarTru clay courts, and three hard courts. Future plans call for the construction of 10 additional Har-

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Tru courts as part of a resort-wide, $200 million enhancement project.

Nature enthusiasts will delight in the Kiawah Island Nature Program, which garners national attention for its naturalist-led activities such as kayaking, birding, fishing, and 1. Kayaking is just one of the many outdoor activities you can enjoy at Kiawah Island.

2. The Sanctuary draws inspiration from the South’s gilded era of architecture.

3. Kiawah Island features miles of pristine beaches flanked by windswept dunes.

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Photos courtesy of Kiawah Island Golf Resort

LOCATED ROUGHLY

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Where Do We Go Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Although golf is in the resort’s name, there’s something for everyone at Kiawah.

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From There To Here Location 46.916973° N 113.435001° W

By Air Charleston International Airport Charleston, South Carolina 60 minutes away

Nearby Downtown Charleston, Atlantic Ocean, Kiawah River

kiawahresort.com

motorboat ecotours. Bikes are available for rent and ideal for exploring the island’s 30 miles of paved trails on your own.

Stay a week in a resort villa or a private home, or reserve a room at The Sanctuary. Built in 2004, the

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sumptuous, 255-room hotel conjures images of a turn-of-the-20thcentury seaside mansion in design and spirit. On either side of the lobby, grand staircases climb to the floors above. Take the west flight to reach the spa, where an Executive

Renewal Massage might just do the trick. This personal indulgence features deep-tissue techniques, healing arnica, and penetrating heat to ease the muscle kinks induced by too many hours behind a desk.

The beachside pool deck is where most guests spend their time—with good reason. Adorned with comfy lounge chairs, umbrellas, towels, ice water, a beachy bar, two saltwater pools, and even private cabanas for rent, it’s an idyllic place to spend a sunny day. Oleander-lined paths lead down to the tranquil ocean shore, just the spot for a nap lulled to sleep by the whisper of the surf.

There, too, lounge chairs and umbrellas are set up for hotel guests, and the staff provides fresh towels, cold water, and sunscreen.

Although the vibrant food scene of Charleston is just a 40-minute drive away, there’s no need to leave the island to indulge in an exceptional culinary experience. The Sanctuary boasts three eateries, highlighted by The Ocean Room, a fine dining restaurant that specializes in prime cuts of aged beef and seafood offerings complemented by decadent add-ons. Three of the four on-island golf clubs (the fifth, Oak Point, sits outside the resort’s gates) also claim their own restaurants. The Atlantic Room, located within The Ocean Course clubhouse, nets fresh seafood, while Tomasso at Turtle Point presents classic Italian specialties.

No matter how active—or sedentary—you care to be, soaking in Kiawah’s singular sense of place is time well spent.

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Where Do We Go The Resort at Paws Up

IT’S BEEN MORE THAN

two centuries since Lewis and Clark led the Corps of Discovery across land that is now Montana in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. While the explorers never found the elusive water route believed to connect the Missouri River with the Pacific Ocean (actually, they proved such a passage didn’t exist), they discovered treasures of the natural variety in the breathtaking scenery and diverse landscape during the five months they spent traversing Big Sky Country.

Today, travelers can explore much of the same frontier where Lewis and Clark so famously trod at The Resort at Paws Up, a 100-year-old former cattle ranch spread across 37,000 acres of rolling meadows and pristine wilderness tucked against the base of the Garnet Mountain Range just outside Missoula. Owners Dave and Nadine Lipson purchased the property in 1986 and named it Paws Up, after a dog’s jovial “paws up” greeting, and began building more than 150,000 square feet of new structures that they used to host friends and guests. The couple also added 100 miles of fencing and turned Paws Up into one of the top 10 Black Angus seed stock businesses in Montana, which they operated for three years before converting the property into a resort in 2005 to share their love of this historydrenched region with discerning adventurers from near and far.

What those who opt to follow in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark will now find at Paws Up is an exclusive retreat that blends the most luxurious conveniences of today with the unrefined enchantment of a time long since passed.

Recognized as the birthplace of “glamping” (glamorous camping), the resort offers accommodations for up to 250 guests in 28 rustic-chic vacation homes and, during the summer months, 36 safari-style glamping tents, each individually decorated in Westernthemed furnishings and artwork hand-selected by the owners.

1. Westernthemed furniture and artwork is hand-selected by the owners of Paws Up. 2. Nature serves as a backdrop for all of the offerings at Paws Up. 3. The Island Lodge at Salmon Lake is the newest amenity at Paws Up.

A far cry from the Coleman dome models typically associated with family camping, Paws Up’s one-, two-, and three-bedroom luxury tents are appointed with hardwood floors, fine linens, and air conditioning and heat, plus a private en suite with heated slate floors, stylish vanities, and Montana-size showers. Visitors not inclined to “roughing it” in a glamp site can experience all the comforts of a five-star hotel year-round in refined one-, two-, or three-bedroom luxury homes nestled within a forest of tall timbers. Each dwelling features original artwork and cowboy-

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An Indelible Impression Situated on land once explored by Lewis and Clark, The Resort at Paws Up allows visitors to experience the luxuries of today in a setting defined by the past By ALISON LEWIS

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Where Do We Go The Resort at Paws Up

themed furnishings, a wood-burning fireplace, expansive bedrooms and bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and laundry room, and every other trapping a vacationer could seek.

As enticing as the accommodations may be, Paws Up’s calling card is its setting along 10 miles of the Blackfoot River. Guests can book angling adventures on the waterway made famous by the Hollywood hit “A River Runs Through It” or journey down the Blackfoot in a raft or kayak. A number of other rivers are located nearby, providing additional opportunities for fishing, canoeing, or whitewater rafting. Other

summer activities include guided wildlife viewing tours, cattle drives, horseback riding, rappelling off a riverfront rock face, more than 100 miles of hiking trails—pretty much anything one could imagine doing outdoors. During the winter, guests can indulge in showshoeing, skiing, snowmobiling, ice skating, and dogsledding to name a few.

In 2018, Paws Up augmented its portfolio of activities with the unveiling of Island Lodge at Salmon Lake, a private retreat that serves as a hub for countless lake adventures. Located just a 15-minute drive from the resort, Island Lodge

From There To Here Location 46.916931° N 113.434982° W

By Air Missoula International Airport Missoula, Montanta 40 minutes away

pawsup.com

Photos courtesy of The Resort at Paws Up

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Nearby Garnet Mountain Range, Blackfoot River, Salmon Lake

is a three-acre oasis surrounded by five miles of water. The lodge boasts a 17,000-square-foot central gathering spot for a host of summer activities, including fishing, kayaking, paddleboarding, swimming, and waterskiing.

No doubt the quest for the Northwest Passage would have proven far more enjoyable had the weary travelers been able to book a few sessions at “Spa Town.” Comprised of 11 standalone treatment tents, Paws Up’s haven of relaxation showcases such unique offerings as the 120-minute “Last Best Massage,” in-home “Suite Dreams” massages, children’s treatments, and group yoga several days a week.

Given the resort’s connection with nature, it should come as little surprise the cuisine at Paws Up is prepared with locally grown organic produce and Montana-raised meats and fish such as bison, pheasant, quail, elk, buffalo, and trout. Executive chef Sunny Jin, a veteran of the celebrated restaurants El Bulli and The French Laundry, builds strong relationships with the nearby farming community, ensuring Paws Up has access to only the finest and freshest ingredients available.

While there’s no way to truly know how deflated Lewis and Clark were when they failed to find the mystical route across the northern plains of the United States, one can surmise that their bruised egos were at least momentarily assuaged by turning their gaze upon the natural wonder that surrounded them on the Montana prairies and mountains that lay beyond. That sense of wonderment lives on at Paws Up, where modern-day discoverers can experience a similar sense of awe while becoming one with land forever etched in the annals of the West and American lore.

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CRUSHING OUTDATED

STEREOTYPES At Elliott Davis, we strive to turn what most view as an economic burden into an opportunity to create value. From reducing the amount of taxable income to restructuring transactions to addressing key financial issues, our team can devise an optimization plan whose benefits far outweigh both the direct cost of the service and the related cost of compliance.

TAX Our specialties include: FEDERAL BUSINESS TAX INDIVIDUAL ESTATE & GIFT TAX STATE & LOCAL TAX TAX CREDITS & INCENTIVES

NOT-FOR-PROFIT REPORTING INTERNATIONAL TAX EMPLOYEE BENEFITS REPORTING COST SEGREGATION STUDIES

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Augusta, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Columbia, Greenville, Nashville, Raleigh

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Bean counters. Penny pushers.

Ledger lovers. At Elliott Davis, we’ve heard them all. Sure, we’ll continue to crunch numbers as we move forward, but we’re committed to crushing those outdated stereotypes. By imagining new and better ways to serve our clients, we’re transforming ourselves from accountants into providers of holistic business solutions.

“

MICHELLE MAHLE CPA | Shareholder Tax Innovation Leader Greenville

Brainteaser

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Processing Numbers Left Fronto-Parietal Cortex

Region of the brain where larger numbers are processed. For instance, on a scale of one to 12, numbers six through 12 would be handled on this side.

Left Brain vs. Right Brain

The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for control of the left side of the body. It’s viewed as the more artistic and creative side of the brain. Meanwhile, the left hemisphere is responsible for control of the right side of the body. Generally, it’s considered the more academic and logical side of the brain.

Cerebral Cortex Occipital Lobe

Area of the brain that processes visual information from the eyes.

Right Fronto-Parietal Cortex

Section of the brain where smaller numbers are addressed. For example, on a scale of one to 12, numbers one through six would be processed on this side.

NUMBERS ARE ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF BUSINESS.

A Beautiful Mind

Research offers new clues about where numbers are processed in the brain

By Ronnie Musselwhite

Illustration by Adam Simpson

They’re real. Measurable. Absolute. But have you ever paused to think about how—or, more precisely, where—numbers are processed in the human brain?

Research has long indicated that the mind handles numbers in an area called the fronto-parietal cortex, which runs approximately from the top of the head to just above the ear. However, a study published in 2016 by scientists at Imperial College London suggests that smaller

Cerebral Cortex Frontal Lobe

Area of the brain that carries out higher mental processes such as thinking, decision-making, and planning.

numbers are processed on the right side of the brain, while larger numbers are addressed on the left side.

What does this have to do with business? At first blush, nothing.

However, researchers believe that better understanding how—and where—the brain handles numbers will eventually prove beneficial in helping stroke patients rehabilitate and in developing treatments for conditions such as dyscalculia, which causes difficulty in processing numbers.

And that’s a beautiful thing.

Understanding where the brain handles numbers will prove beneficial in helping stroke patients rehabilitate.

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THINK DIFFERENTLY Transactions are the lifeblood of all businesses, and by extension, they’re essential elements of traditional consulting.

Whether it’s buying, selling, or trading, any accountant worth his or her salt will ensure all monetary “events” that happen within a client’s company are sound. That is, after all, what CPAs do.

But is that enough? We insist that it isn’t.

Transactions shift the balance of an organization’s bottom line.

Transformations, on the other hand, alter a company’s entire business trajectory.

That’s why at Elliott Davis, we do more than utilize nearly 100 years of accounting excellence to improve a company’s financial health; we leverage the collective experience of our brain trust to forge relationships that enhance the overall performance of your business.

That’s truly transformative.

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RENEE FORD CPA | Shareholder Chattanooga

THE

POWER OF ALL For nearly a century, Elliott Davis has been providing tax, assurance, and business consulting services to companies of all sizes and specialties. Our network of more than 700 professionals work together, harnessing their collective knowledge and experiences, to design holistic solutions to our clients’ toughest business challenges. So when you partner with us, you’re tapping the combined power of all our resources.

Let us show you how.

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