Odysseus M. Lanier & Blake at the 2007 Daddy's Little Girl Valentine's Dance  ive-year-old Blake Lanier couldn't wait to cut a rug with her daddy at the Father Daughter Valentine's Dance. And when she gets older, she can't wait to move into an office at her daddy's companyÉand paint it pink!
Her father laughs at the thought of that pink office in the suites of McConnell Jones Lanier & Murphy L.L.P., the largest African-American owned consulting and accounting firm in the southern and southwestern United States. But when she is ready to move in, he knows she'll be well equipped to handle the challenge. That's partly due to the time he spends nurturing his precious little girl while she's still young. “It's important that we spend this kind of quality time together because she needs to know she has someone there she can always count on that is a male figure in her life,” says Lanier, a named partner in the accounting and consulting firm. “That's all facilitated by being together and bonding at events like this.” He says his bond with his daughter “transcends any other bond that I have other than with my wife.” “When you look at your daughter, you have hopes and dreams for her. And they just love their daddies. You want to do everything humanly possible for them to succeed in life,” says Lanier, who also has two sons ages 25 and 2. “With a son it's different. With a son, you're raising a man. With a daughter, all you want to do is nurture her.” And nurturing his daughter happens first thing in the morning when she says to her daddy, “I am the smart expert.” And he follows up with, “Yes, you are, and you can do whatever you put your mind to do.” That private ritual between daddy and daughter is part of his plan to prepare Blake for life as an adult woman in the business world. “I would like for my daughter to be an intelligent, caring, thoughtful, compassionate individual who knows exactly who she is and exactly what she wants out of life. She's pretty but I want her to combine that with the intellect to make her a whole person,” he says. “Little girls, because the workforce is changing, will face the challenge of getting to the executive suites. They will deal with chauvinism and the glass ceiling. She needs to be strong enough to do whatever she wants to do.” | 
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