Somebody, somewhere higher in the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP structure thought Gary Price was a smart guy.
Somebody thought that Price was worthy of being the Greater Atlanta market managing partner of the accounting and professional services firm. And because somebody thought Price was a pretty knowledgeable guy and could handle that responsibility, the firm gave him the position overseeing 1,300 people across three states.
But just because somebody thought he was a smart guy, doesn’t mean that those 1,300 people think he’s a smart guy, too.
“Just because someone anoints you king for the day, … just because you think you’re doing all these great things and modeling all these great behaviors, it doesn’t necessarily generate the trust and enthusiasm and change you’re looking to get until you make the connection,” Price says.
And it doesn’t mean that his clients think he’s a smart guy either.
“We have to sell ourselves every day, and you can’t sell yourself if your client doesn’t trust you,” he says. “The client isn’t going to trust you because you’re smart. It’s the same analogy about when I stepped into this role. Maybe some people think I’m a smart person, but my partners aren’t going to trust me because someone said I was smart. I have to have a relationship, and the way you have a relationship is you have to invest time.”
