Small steps lead to big impact

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh was onto something.

While prepping to report, we began with the minutest of details to build an inventory of the year’s accomplishments. Each detail, when pulled together, demonstrates our commitment to progress and being accountable for how the smallest of details drives us toward bigger long-term impacts.

The what

As a goal-driven organization, we checked a lot of boxes, as it’s our nature to collectively put our heads together and get tasks done ... and done well. Here are a few highlights:

People, purpose, health and well-being.

New benefits for parental leave, time off for civic engagement, innovation opportunities, hiring a new chief people officer, in addition to doubling down on development, flexibility and health, reinforced our people-centric culture this year.

Inclusion and belonging.

In 2024, we ushered in specific activities in our offices, aimed at creating inclusive experiences customized for local culture and engagement.

Awareness.

Our environmental, social and governance (ESG) steering committee is committed to driving forward our strategic goals. In 2024, that included educating more internal stakeholders, including our senior leadership team, investment partners and key internal functions, on our progress and how ESG aligns with our business goals.

Ethics and governance.

Transparency topped our 2024 priorities, as we provided clarity on our new alternative practice structure after a historic private equity investment, introduced new committees focused on quality and change management and boosted safeguards around artificial intelligence.

Environmental sustainability.

With our new technology platform on board, we spent the year understanding, collecting and inputting our environmental data, while also starting our climate risk assessment. All efforts were in preparation to publish our first greenhouse gas emissions report by January 2026.

The Why

We have a very authentic, measured and thoughtful approach to ESG, much deeper than boxes to check. We seek to understand what we are doing and why we are doing it before we do it — and it’s all tied to our mission to enhance and protect our clients’ value and our core values of stewardship, integrity, collaboration, passion and belonging.

From an ESG standpoint, we are not seeking to copy what others are doing. Instead, we concentrate on what we can achieve and control within our four walls, while remaining true to who we are as an organization, whether through serving our clients or creating meaningful opportunities for our team members. And we’ve spent 2024 driving that awareness and building our ESG efforts around it.

Big picture, ESG is just a term, one that has and will continue to evolve. Whatever form it takes next, for us, it will always be ingrained in our Beyond Tomorrow™ idea that everything is connected — our people, our clients, our communities and our planet. It’s up to us to do well by all of them, and we understand the importance of taking the steps to do it now because of the direct impact on our future.

For the second time, we are publishing this Impact Report as part of our commitment to transparency and sustainable action. I am proud to share the progress we made in 2024 with you.