Leadership lens
Obituaries— Facebook for the Dearly Departed By Rich Jones, CPA, President & CEO
I
realize this is a strange title for a column, but it came to me as I read the Sunday paper during a recent flight to Chicago for a joint meeting of the AICPA and NASBA UAA Committees. I had already read the Sports, Local and front page sections (in that order). With a few hours of flight time remaining, I perused the Obituary section. As I did this, I was struck by how much obituaries and Facebook home pages have in common. Think about it—there is usually a photo that has been chosen because someone thinks it captures the individual well. It may not always be a recent photo, but you recognize the person in the picture. An obituary (or Facebook home page) reveals a lot about someone’s life.You will probably find out if the person is married, where he/she went to school, where they work currently or most recently and their hobbies or interests. And you may learn about any special awards or recognition they have received for accomplishments in their life. In both cases, you get a nice snapshot of the life of the individual.
ity in your thought processes. You may have to guess at the relationship of some of the people in pictures posted on the page, but eventually you can usually piece together the relationships by the context provided in pictures, comments, etc.
Let’s look at our Facebook page and see if we are doing the things today that really make us happy and will result in the obituary that we want when that time comes. As CPAs, we have the knowledge (and often the resources) to be helpful to others in many ways.
And you can certainly tell how the person likes to spend their free time.
traveling. What really caught my attention was the extent to which people had volunteered to help other people. Many were involved with charitable causes for many years and had taken on leadership roles in those efforts. Others took leadership roles with social or religious groups, or perhaps were content to provide their support to the group through their attendance, and many found a way to give back as teachers or mentors. If you wonder sometimes about the basic goodness of human beings, spend some time reading the obituaries and see how many people found a way to help others during their lifetime.These are apparently the things of which their family is most proud, since this is what they have chosen to have remembered about them. It struck me that there is a good lesson here for all of us. Let’s look at our Facebook page and see if we are doing the things today that really make us happy and will result in the obituary that we want when that time comes. As CPAs, we have the knowledge (and often the resources) to be helpful to others in many ways. Let’s make a difference. Remember, we don’t write our obituary at death, we write it as we live our lives.
One thing that struck me in reading the obituaries is the wide variety of personal interests they reflect. Some of Facebook pages tend to be focused the people were outdoor enthusiasts more on the here and now and less on (hunting, fishing, hiking, mountain climbwhat has gone on in the past. However, ing), some were sports fans (golf, tennis, I am struck by how much you can learn and swimming seems to lead the lists), about someone you never met just by and many seemed to enjoy more quiet reading their obituary. You learn where pastimes such a reading, sewing, and You can contact Rich Jones and when they were born, often their gardening. Most seemed to enjoy spendparents’ names, the names of their sib- ing time with family and many enjoyed rjones@wscpa.org. lings, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and perhaps a former spouse. You also often learn the names of any of their family members who have predeceased them. An obituary may also relate the More than 1,500 members are story of how they met their spouse. You already following the WSCPA. will certainly get a listing of most schools Visit www.wscpa.org and attended and a pretty detailed descriplook for these icons. Or watch tion of what the person did for a living for links in your Short Form or profession. You can glean much of the Facebook LinkedIn Twitter e-Newsletter. same information from a Facebook page, but that may require a bit more creativNews, events, exclusive discounts, member discussions, and more!
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WashingtonCPA November/December 2010
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