Alumni Reflections: Lee Dabbert: CFO at LifeSpeak

Interview by Lisa Zoch, BGS Consulting proud sponsor of the Andersen Alumni Newsletter

1. How did your career at Andersen begin? What office(s) did you work in and for how long?

I started in 1996 in the Denver office and was there through the demise in 2002 when I moved over to KPMG with the majority of the Denver office.

2. How did your Andersen experience influence your leadership style and decision-making process?

My experience at Arthur Andersen had a very strong influence on my career and I would say helped to develop my leadership style. We had such a strong culture of hard work, loyalty, tenacity, ethics and teamwork that I carried with me throughout the rest of my career and continued to build upon. I consider myself a "Human First" leader, meaning that I take care of my people, make them feel valued and appreciated, challenge them, hold them accountable, respect them, etc. I feel I learned all of this at Arthur Andersen. My first large public company audit team as a 1^st year became like a 2^nd family to me. We worked hard but we had a lot of fun. Regarding my decision-making process, I am a very quick decision maker. I am able to gain the facts, assess the situation and make decisions to move the team forward. Growing up in that high performance culture, working with high profile clients I believe helped shape that part of my leadership style.

3. What specific lessons or principles from your time at Andersen do you still apply in your current role?

In addition to the above, I believe a strength of mine is my ability to build relationships and work well with others. That was one of our core beliefs at Arthur Andersen. As an audit team, we went to lunch almost every day as a team with or without clients and really learned how important and valuable it was to build rapport with colleagues. I continue to carry this lesson with me throughout my career ensuring that I take the time to nurture my business relationships within and outside of my organizations. I believe this is a critical component of leading with humanity which in turn is necessary to have a successful and thriving organization.

4. How do you believe Andersen’s culture influenced your perspectives on organizational culture and employee engagement within your current organization?

Similar to my comments above, leading with humanity was a core value that maybe wasn't even talked about but was exhibited daily at Arthur Andersen. It definitely helped shape my beliefs in what a culture should be, how employees should be treated and helped make me the leader I am today. I am a big believer in investing in culture to ensure it is as positive, constructive and inclusive as possible.

5. What strategies or techniques did you learn at Andersen that you continue to use in identifying and developing talent within your organization?

Depending on the role I am looking for, education and experience are typically table stakes, but I continually look for people who have the same values as me as I note above: hard work, loyalty, tenacity, ethics and teamwork. These are the values I learned early on in my years at Andersen and that I continued to hone throughout my career. Andersen had a proven methodology of hiring out of college and training people with these base skills to create a high performing human first culture. I also am a big believer in setting expectations and holding people accountable, which we also did at Andersen. We set goals for the day, worked as a team until we achieved those goals, debriefed lessons learned and celebrated wins as a team. We had the utmost respect for our managers and partners, which I think is very important in any organization. I believe in leading by example and think it’s important that the C suite sets the tone at the top. I am never too busy to spend time with my team and also never think anything is beneath me. I am more than happy to roll up my sleeves and help my team, which I think contributes to the respect my team shows me and in turn shows them a positive way to lead.

6. What is your fondest memory from your time at Andersen?

I don't know if I have one specific memory. The times at St. Charles were definitely at the top of the list. The relationship building that happened within your class or when I went back to teach with my fellow instructors is something that I don't think you find elsewhere at other companies. Also, the Denver Office holiday parties were amazing. To this day I haven't been to any that were as fun and as attended - everyone went.

About LifeSpeak (https://www.lifespeak.com) is a leading B2B software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) provider of whole-person wellbeing solutions for employers, health plans and other organizations. The Company’s suite of digital solutions allows organizations to provide best-in-class content and expertise at scale, empowering their employees to live their healthiest lives. LifeSpeak’s solutions include digital learning resources for mental health, physical wellbeing, caregiver support and internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (“iCBT”) health solutions for substance use management. WELLBEING CAN'T WAIT!

Alumni can reach out to Lee Dabbert on LinkedIn

BGS Consulting is a professional services firm that specializes in providing flexible, tailor-made solutions to our clients. BGS Consulting provides highly experienced finance and accounting resources to fill the project-based and strategic needs of its clients. Our team has a blend of public accounting and operational experience across numerous industries which allows us to collaborate, design and deliver unique solutions to our clients.