Change Your Mindset

Mary Foley energizes female entrepreneurs with the clarity, confidence, and tools to attract, engage, and win more clients. She is an author, energizing keynote speaker, business mentor, host of the P.O.W.E.R. Plug Podcast, and a lover of red capes.   On today’s episode, we discuss her book Bodacious! Woman: Outrageously in Charge of Your Life and Lovin’ It! Her sense of humor and positivity comes...

Jim Canterucci is a catalyst for growth leadership change. He is the Founder of Transition Management Advisors and Constituent Hub, the author of Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits That Create a Lifetime of Success, and creator of a comprehensive system for for leading change called Change Management Project - The Next Step.   For years, Jim and his team at Transition Management Ad...

Laura Stoll is the Talent Development Consultant at Ernst & Young, and she has a fascinating perspective on how you can develop top talent within your organization that is influenced by her background in improv.   Laura studied at Second City, iO, and ComedySportz Chicago. She even has the distinction of being the only student ever thrown out of previous guest (and current husband) Jay Sukow’s cla...

Jon Petz is born to be on stage – so much so that he left his highly successful career as a corporate vice president to fulfill his purpose and passion by helping others laugh louder, perform better, and achieve more. We discuss how he evolved from a corporate executive to a business magician to an opening keynoter and MC, and how you can better engage your audience in any situation (plus, we laug...

Jody Padar, AKA The Radical CPA, is a leader driven by a passion to foster real change in the accounting profession. She represent the next generation of accounting professionals, leading the vanguard for both digital CPAs and future-ready firms.   Jody returns to the show to discuss her new book, From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide, which is a practice-proven roadmap to a new busi...

Marilyn Sherman is a speaker and author who has spent years motivating and inspiring audiences to get out of their comfort zone and get a front-row seat in life, and this is the perfect time of the year to check in with her because she has tips and techniques anyone can use to stay focused on their goals (and New Year’s resolutions).   It’s the end of January, so some of you may have broken your r...

Keith Harmeyer is all about ideas! He is an expert in innovative thinking, creative problem solving, and idea generation who spent over two decades coming up with great ideas for some of the world’s best known and most successful companies (such as JPMorgan Chase, Disney, Conde Nast, and McDonald’s).   Now, as a Founding Partner of SmartStorming and co-author of SmartStorming: The Game Changing Pr...

Today’s guest, Merle Heckman, truly understands the power of storytelling – and why it is needed in all aspects of business today.   You see, Merle works with engineers, but he’s not an engineer (he’s the Manager of Organizational Development at Regal Beloit). And when engineers give presentations, they can be dense with jargon and hard to understand... not unlike when accountants give presentatio...

I’m really excited to introduce you all to Antonio Ocampo-Guzman, an actor, director, author, and theater teacher originally from Bogotá, Colombia. He is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University, where he teaches all levels of acting, voice, and improvisation – but not just to theater students.   Antonio has developed a number of courses for non-theater students to help people develop the...

Happy New Year! To celebrate the beginning of what is sure to be another interesting year, I’ve gone through every episode from 2017 and pulled out a quote that I found impactful.   Inspired by one of these quotes? You can find an image to download and share for each one by clicking this link.     Resources: Connect with Pete and listen to previous episodes of the podcast at improvisnojoke.com --...

Tim Sinclair is the Industry Consulting Director at the accounting firm WebsterRogers, and he has worked with more than 350 companies across the U.S. and in a variety of industries. He is passionate about helping business leaders advance and grow their companies so they can, in turn, improve the lives of their employees and their local economy.   We discuss the skills you need to develop a busines...

Jerry L. Esselstein specializes in strategic planning, implementation strategies, personnel development, and performance measurement for private company owners, executives, and other senior management groups.   Jerry has an extensive leadership background, and our conversation focuses on the critical leadership skills needed in the modern business landscape. Although we are discussing the future o...

Boyd Search is the President & CEO of the Georgia Society of CPAs. Our conversation centers around how he approached changing the organization’s corporate culture, and the impact that the George Society is making on its members, associates, and the profession.   On Boyd’s first day as CEO of the Georgia Society almost seven years ago, I was actually his first new paying member – and I am still a m...

Ryan Parker is the President & CEO of Endicott Clay Products and the newly installed chair of the Nebraska Society of CPA’s executive board.   Our conversation focuses on the process of adding value to your organization as you grow your career, what you should be thinking about if you aspire to be a leader within your organization, and the challenges of replacing a seasoned CEO.   How can you add...

Jay Sukow believes that the world would be a better place if everyone took just one improv class – and I agree! Jay is trying to make that world a reality as the Founder of Today Improv, where he teaches improv to actors, businesses, and everyone else all over the world.   Jay is also on faculty at M.i.’s Westside Comedy Theater and The Second City Hollywood, and co-host of the ImprovCast with Jay...

Colin Blalock, a shareholder with Jones and Kolb, is a CPA with a very unique set of skills: Colin has developed a talent for understanding the nonverbal messages that people are saying. That's right – He has developed the ability to read body language, and he has delivered a number of conference presentations on this topic.   The importance of reading body language is underscored when you underst...

Dr. David Brobeck (AKA The Problem-Solving Professor) is a professional speaker and a professor of graduate education at Walsh University. His current academic focus is researching various means to enhancing teaching and learning based on neuroscience. Regardless of the endeavor, David believes learning should be fun – and I agree!   In this interview, Dr. Brobeck shares tips and techniques we can...

What do a cow, a snapping turtle, and a goat have in common? Ohio State Football (really, we’re not kidding)! This is just one of the fascinating anecdotes you’ll find in the new book Buckeye Reflections: Legendary Moments from Ohio State Football.   We’ve talked to both Jack Park and Maureen Zappala on previous episodes of the podcast (episode 13 and episode 39, respectively), but today they’re j...

Jennifer Briggs is currently the Senior Vice President and COO of the Indiana CPA Society, and she will be the CEO of the society beginning January 1, 2018.   On July 1st, 2017, the state of Indiana signed House Bill 1467 into law, which “allows competency based learning through professional development opportunities to qualify accountants for accountant certificate renewal.”   This all began year...

Dr. Alan Patterson is the Founder of Mentoré, a consulting practice specializing in leadership and organizational development, and a thought leader at the Business Learning Institute. Dr. Patterson also wrote Leader Evolution: From Technical Expertise to Strategic Leadership, which defines the four critical stages needed by individuals with technical or specialist backgrounds to move into leadersh...

Only 8 percent of CPAs believe that the profession is future ready, according to CPA.com’s study Welcome to the Fast Future. This is a rather concerning statistic because the future is coming, and it might be closer than you think.   Bill Sheridan, Chief Communication Officer at the MACPA, is on the front lines trying to prepare CPAs for the future, and he recently published a new white paper that...

We’re doing something a little different today: Peter shares his favorite places to eat all over the country. He was inspired by former guest Clarke Price, who keeps a record of every restaurant he visits and often suggests new places for Peter to try.   New Orleans: Gump Shop - GumboShop.com Mr. B's Bistro -  MrBsBistro.com The Pelican Club - PelicanClub.com K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen - KPauls.co...

Annie Conderacci is a change management consultant and a passionate student of improv. She studied and performed improv at The Second City, Annoyance Theater, and IO Chicago, and she performs improv and sketch all around the city. As a change and management consultant, Annie frequently uses her improv skills to facilitate growth and positive change in organizations. Throughout the interview, she d...

Byron Patrick, Managing Director of CPA practice at Network Alliance, is a nationally-known industry thought leader and a multi-recipient of the CPA Practice Advisor's 40 Under 40 award. Byron has been an active member of the Maryland Association of CPAs since the beginning of his career, and he credits much of his professional success to the support and membership of the MACPA. Personally, I know...

We’re talking to returning guest Greg Conderacci, the energy management expert who wrote Getting Up!: Supercharging Your Energy and, at the age of 66, rode his bicycle across the United States in just 18 days. In Getting Up!, Greg writes about the important difference between time management and energy management. Doing more, and living a happier life, isn’t about having more time – It's all about...