As we prepare to celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2026, we have evolved our strategy to solidify our leadership as the first-choice advisor to middle market leaders globally.
Vision 100... Powered by our culture, our new strategy, reflects what we expect to achieve in the next five years and the unrivalled culture at RSM that will help us get there.
Our culture is a powerful competitive advantage that differentiates RSM as the leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services for middle market companies, the thought leader on the issues clients care about most, and a leader in inclusive and compelling talent experiences. Together, we've all worked hard to build this unique culture and must continue to evolve and sustain it for our future and yours.
Our vision
Our vision is to be the first-choice advisor to middle market leaders globally.
We chose every word of our vision statement carefully based on who we are today and who we want to become in the future.
Our purpose
Our purpose is to deliver the power of being understood to our clients, colleagues and communities.
Every word of our purpose statement was carefully selected—it is aligned with our brand promise "the power of being understood" and it is inclusive of all stakeholder groups.
Our strategy
The four pillars of our strategy are:
- Lead the middle market
- Drive an unrivalled inclusive culture and talent experience
- Win with industry, agility and digital velocity
- Maximize strategic ecosystems
Our strategy is simple, but substantive. It enables us to bring value, insights and opportunities to middle market clients, while also ensuring we take care of all of our people and empower them to build vibrant careers. We will accelerate our digital velocity, while remaining agile and industry-focused. And beyond just promoting this approach, we will cultivate an ecosystem of strategic partners to generate the sustained value that is integral to our success.
5 C’s: First-choice advisor characteristics
We are caring, curious, collaborative, courageous, critical thinkers.
We believe the five key characteristics we call the 5 C's are core to our culture and essential to successfully deliver the power of being understood.
We build strong, long-term relationships by understanding others and their aspirations, and remaining empathetic to their unique challenges, needs and preferences.
We show that we care by:
- Being interested in and concerned about others
- Understanding their goals, challenges and aspirations
- Showing empathy
When we demonstrate how much we care, we build trust, deepen relationships and are given the opportunity to do more for others.
We ask probing questions and seek diverse perspectives to gain understanding, challenge thinking and generate new ideas.
We show our curiosity when we:
- Ask questions
- Seek different perspectives to inform our work
- Spend time reading and learning
- Share our new ideas and insights
When we approach our work and our relationships with a sense of curiosity rather than a view that we know it all, we strengthen relationships and demonstrate our commitment to understanding. It also affords us a stronger platform to ultimately display our knowledge and share our ideas and insights.
We believe that collaboration leads to better outcomes, and we seek and share perspectives to encourage innovative thinking to solve problems and enable others to seize opportunities.
We demonstrate collaboration when we:
- Ask for people’s opinions or perspectives
- Cultivate diversity and include others
- Reflect differing points of view in our questioning and recommendations
- Connect across all facets of the firm as we continue to grow in size and complexity
The challenges we tackle in our business and for our clients are tough, and no one person can have all the answers. By gathering diverse perspectives and collaborating, each of us will be stronger and better able to help others achieve their best.
We demonstrate strength and confidence in challenging traditional ways of thinking—and we have the courage to look forward and prepare for tomorrow.
We demonstrate courage when we:
- Voice an alternative point of view
- Share new ideas and insights
- Have courageous conversations about issues or opportunities
- Stay in the tension because we know it will lead to better results
The work we do is high-stakes and requires courage to confront issues, help others improve and spark the exploration of new opportunities. Our foundation of caring, curiosity and collaboration can help us be courageous without being confrontational.
We synthesize, apply and communicate complex information and concepts with clarity, objectivity and depth, and bring our best thinking and advice to help others make confident decisions.
We demonstrate critical thinking when we:
- Spend time learning new things
- Think deeply about issues and opportunities
- Bring together diverse inputs into a cohesive perspective
- Share ideas and insights with others
The world is evolving rapidly and each of us has to evolve with it. By committing to lifelong learning and applying that learning to our work and our relationships, we will think and communicate as true first-choice advisors.
Our values
Our five core values are the bedrock of our firm, and they have stood the test of time for nearly 100 years:
Respect
Treat others as we'd like to be treated.
Integrity
Do the right thing.
Teamwork
Work together effectively (i.e., 1+1=3)
Excellence
Be the best in everything we do.
Stewardship
Better our firm and develop our people.
Everyone at RSM is responsible for embodying these values and living them every day. The values are the essence of who we are as an organization—they live within the firm and they live within each of us. While the words themselves aren't different from the values of many other organizations, the difference is in how we embody them and hold people accountable to living them every day.
Through thoughtful execution of Vision 100... Powered by our culture, we will attain our vision and deliver our purpose in alignment with our values and 5 C's.
Experience the power of being understood
We bring an unmatched personalized focus to every interaction, meeting people where they are to help them reach their goals.
We build rich, enduring relationships based on a profound understanding of our clients, colleagues and communities, as well as their goals and aspirations. And, we bring diverse ideas and insights to help them reach greater heights.
