Mark Friedlich’s Life of Tennis

This CCH innovator is passionate about helping his son thrive at the sport

Most people think of tennis as an individual sport — a mano a mano duel on center court in which world-class players serve, volley and compete. But spend five minutes with Mark Friedlich, CCH’s director of accounting, audit, international tax and wealth management, and you get a different picture.

Friedlich, an avid tennis player himself, has dedicated much of the past 10 years of his personal life to helping his 16-year-old son, Alexander, develop into one of the nation’s premier junior players.

“When he was about 6 years old, we began playing together,” Friedlich says. “I never gave him an inch on the court, but by the time he was 12 or so, he was beating me regularly.”

When the student started teaching the master a thing or two, Friedlich made sure his gifted son got the help needed to go to the next level.

They worked closely with other coaches, trainers and advisors. “To really do well, you need to listen, be willing to learn from the experience of others as well as your own, know your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses — and apply all of that to continuously improving your performance,” Friedlich says.

“You realize that achieving world-class ranking is really a team effort,” Friedlich says. “Everyone who’s on the team needs to share the same dedication, commitment and passion, even though ultimately it’s the individual player who ends up putting everything on the line in a match.”

Tennis and his commitment to his son’s future in the sport is something that he enjoys tremendously. He sees many parallels to his role at CCH. “Our customers are our coaches, a vital member of our team, and listening to them helps us take advantage of our strengths and improve our weaknesses,” he says.

He’s applied the team concept to developing world-class publishing products; for example, he created a cross-functional team within CCH to build the Worldwide Tax Rates and Answers (WWTRA) global library. Through a streamlined template approach, WWTRA helps tax professionals in more than 90 countries comply with frequently changing tax rates and rules.