Leadership
The honest truth
How Don Misheff builds up his employees and client base at Ernst & Young by never being afraid to admit a mistake
By Kristy J. O’Hara
Smart Business Akron/Canton | May 2008
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While Don Misheff jokes that he’s been successful because he got
lucky by marrying the right woman and the right firm, his true success can be attributed to more than what’s on his resume — it’s his
character.
“Honesty, honesty, honesty — and integrity,” he says. “I tell my
kids, ‘You only have one chance to lose it. You lose your trust, you
don’t get it back. It’s the sacred thing you have to protect.’”
These aren’t attributes he simply preaches about and doesn’t do
himself. They’ve been evident throughout his life in the choices
he’s made. As a young man, his father died, and a year later, his
mother suffered a stroke that left her paralyzed at age 51. He could
have followed his dream of going away to school and playing basketball, but instead, he opted to attend the University of Akron, so
he could help care for his mother back home in Canton. After he
graduated, he was still helping his mom through rehabilitation, so
he got a job with what was then Ernst & Ernst’s Akron office.
After working his way up the ranks over the past 30 years, Misheff
is now Northeast Ohio managing partner for what has become the
international accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP. In that role of leading three local offices, he has that same message for all of his 1,200
employees as he does for his kids — maintain your integrity by
being honest.
“You’ve got to be honest with yourself, honest with your clients,
honest with your peers,” Misheff says. “If you’re honest, you’ve got
nothing to worry about because you don’t have to remember what
you said. I don’t believe in covering up trails. Let’s be honest. If
we’re wrong, we’re wrong. We’ll fix it. If you’re willing to work and
you’re honest, there’s no way in the world you can’t be successful.”
That same honesty and commitment has made Ernst & Young —
not just locally but the $21.1 billion international firm as a whole —
wildly successful, too. Among the accolades the entire Ernst &
Young family have received are being named third on
BusinessWeek’s Best Places to Launch a Career list last year and,
this year, landing a spot on FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to
Work For list for the 10th consecutive year.
The attributes that these honors embody, while collective across
Ernst & Young firms, are evident in Misheff’s Northeast Ohio firms
as he creates a great work environment, makes himself available
to employees, builds trust with clients and makes his word as good
as his handshake. By being honest and having integrity while
focusing on these things has made him and the firm successful.
“Our people and client quality service are the most important
things we do,” Misheff says. “This is not rocket science — you do
those two things right and a lot of good things will happen.”
