Deadpool’s entire character is built around one idea. He knows he’s in a movie.
This idea came to me after meeting Ryan Reynolds at AICPA ENGAGE. If you’ve ever been to ENGAGE, you know it’s one of the best places in the profession to hear new ideas, challenge old assumptions and think differently about what’s next. Which, now that I think about it, is a very Deadpool mindset.
While everyone else is following the script, he’s constantly looking around and asking: “Wait… Why are we doing this?”
Everybody in the movie thinks they’re operating inside reality, but Deadpool realizes the rules are all made up.
His real superpower is refusing to accept the world exactly as it is presented. He’d make a terrible tax preparer, but he’s an excellent innovator.
When Familiar Starts Looking Necessary
A lot of accounting “rules” aren’t actual regulations. They’re habits. Someone created them, and we can improve them.
Most firms don’t realize when they’ve started following a script. When you’re living inside a business every day, everything feels normal.
The client onboarding process is normal. Of course, your weekly meeting always feels the same. That’s why it’s called “weekly.” The ten-step approval chain is how it’s always been done. Why wouldn’t we ask Jim every question that comes up? He’s been around for decades.
Nobody wakes up one morning and decides to build an overly complicated process. You just inherit today’s reality from yesterday’s decisions. After a while, it’s hard to tell the difference between something that’s necessary and something that’s simply familiar.
The Best Improvements Happen Outside the System
That’s why I think Deadpool is such a surprisingly good mascot for innovation.
He’s not constantly breaking the rules because he loves chaos. He’s constantly asking whether the rules actually make sense.
That’s a skill a lot of firms need right now. The biggest opportunities for improvement rarely come from working harder inside the system. They come from stepping outside the system long enough to examine it.
The firms building what’s next are willing to look at a process everyone accepts and ask a question nobody else is asking.
Questions Worth Asking
So, channel your inner Deadpool. Step outside your business for five minutes and ask:
Why do we still do this manually?
If I were a client, would I enjoy this experience?
Why does onboarding take so long?
Why does every email need partner review?
Why do difficult conversations always get escalated to the same person?
If we were building this process from scratch today, would it look the same?
What would break if I disappeared for two weeks?
Are we solving 2026 problems with 1996 thinking?
The accounting profession needs more people willing to challenge assumptions. The future belongs to the people willing to ask: “What if there’s a better way?”