Accountant by day, secret-keeper by instinct, psychotherapist by necessity.
Len Miller, CEO and Founder of Leonard J. Miller & Associates, has built a remarkably successful accounting, tax and financial consulting business that makes a practice of thriving on integrity – and the company’s ability to hold confidential their clients’ deepest, most intimate financial secrets.
Of course, every accounting practice is privy to sensitive, closely-held information. There’s something about Len Miller’s unassuming approach though that seems to encourage a relationship that goes far beyond accounting and finances.
According to the Wall Street Journal (December 12, 2011), there’s a whole new field of expertise called “Financial Therapy” that combines a client’s feelings about money with the practical decisions they need to make to stay financially successful. While Miller makes it clear that his expertise is financial therapy, not psychotherapy, he’s found that once clients realize his depth of commitment to them, many of them just naturally reveal their innermost thoughts about issues that go far beyond finances.
I interviewed Len recently and came away with a feeling that I could compose a whole season’s worth of soap operas based on the dramas his 16-member company faces on a weekly basis. While Len doesn’t share names and is loath to even reveal the names of his clients, he did allow as to how his clients often ask him advice that even his CPA, MBA, CVA and PFS academic credentials haven’t prepared him for.
“Our finances are an intimate part of who we are. My guess is that once clients realize they can rely on us for the financial aspects of their lives, some of them feel free to reveal far more than they might otherwise,” says Miller.
Len posed a few questions to me that revealed just how deeply people are willing to confide in him.
“For instance, imagine your spouse has passed away. It’s only then that you realize that there’s a large savings account they’ve kept hidden from you. What do you think your reaction would be? I’ve seen that scenario, and the emotions that can come out of that range from joy to despair. ‘What else has my beloved been hiding from me?’ is a common reaction,” according to Len.
“Sometimes, business owners love their businesses too much,” says Len. “They’ll pour money into it to keep it alive, even if it’s not viable long term. That’s when it’s most apparent that our responsibility to clients isn’t all just financial. At least part of our job is to point out options they might not have considered that take the emotional impact of any business decisions into account.”
Miller’s company seems to thrive on proposing outside-the-box solutions beyond just wealth enhancement. That’s growth that stems at least in part from Len’s self-effacing nature.
And, specifically, what kind of issues are we talking about? That’s a secret you’ll never get Len to reveal.
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