The Finance Leader Podcast

Episode # 89: As a leader, you will make many decisions. You will have choices to make. But how do you guard yourself against bias? How do you ensure fairness in opportunity and in how your team is treated? We must be aware of any bias we have both, conscious and subconscious, to ensure all have the opportunity if they do the hard work to improve themselves and to be ready for the next level. Furt...

Episode # 88: Are you on track for a promotion? What does it take to be promoted from individual contributor to manager? You must show potential for greater responsibility. You need a combination of mature soft skills, good character and high emotional intelligence, deliver results every time, and be able to treat people fairly without bias. If you can prioritize your actions correctly, clearly co...

Episode # 87: Your long-term success and how you feel about yourself are directly affected by your self-worth and your confidence level.  What you believe in yourself affects your ability to take risk and feel confident about what roles and challenges may be next for you. Your mindset is powerful, and this requires a daily exercise of self-care to strengthen yourself against the adversity you will...

Episode # 86: As a Finance or Accounting professional have you ever been assigned to a project team or worked on a business case?  Have you provided financial analysis or accounting advice regarding a high visibility project? These are great opportunities to develop and show off your skills. Additionally, you may get visibility with the executive team and other senior leaders. This week, I am enco...

We are a primary source of inspiration and motivation for our team members. How we act and speak and make decisions serves to encourage, or even discourage, our team members as they tackle tough assignments and tasks. How we approach the work and adversity does have ripple effects on team productivity and morale. How can we do better, as leaders, to encourage our team members to be inspired, which...

Should you earn a graduate degree? As a Finance and Accounting professional, a graduate degree will strengthen and round out your professional foundation and help to give you credibility as an expert in the field, which will serve to gain you respect. Further, earning a graduate degree can open additional opportunities for you to advance your career and could increase your earnings potential. Let’...

Episode # 83: Did you know that business social skills are equally important as your technical and other soft skills? How you act socially can determine your next opportunity. How you conduct yourself in a public situation such as a meeting or at an after-work event or even on a project team can bring you closer or take you away from advancing in your career. How do you navigate these often-compli...

Learning to be an effective leader will set you apart positively in the eyes of the senior leaders and executives you work with and will help you advance in your career. We are already expected to be technical experts in our field, so learn leadership to give you the edge you need to advance.  Episode outline: Leadership starts with our mindset, Our personal character is key, We must lead and infl...

Episode # 81 : When Finance and Accounting professionals combine their technical knowledge and skills with leadership, we will see an amazing transformation in every organization. Successful Finance and Accounting Leaders skew to the strategic and learn how to positively influence and advise senior leaders, so they help deliver the strategy. An effective leader works to empower their team, to deve...

Please enjoy this encore episode from Season 7 - Episode 62 - What Leaders Do. The most important responsibility leaders have is to grow other leaders. The first task a great leader will do is to build trust and that begins with our own actions, our attitude, and our behavior. We often get overwhelmed with the tasks, but I want you to shift from a task-focus to a  people-focus leadership style. Le...

Please enjoy this encore episode from Season 8 - Episode 64 - The CFO Mindset. The Role of Chief Financial Officer requires a different mindset, a different world view, and a perspective that helps you see the organization differently. The CFO must be forward thinking and must never quit.  The following outline is used during the episode: The qualities of the successful c suite executive, You must...

Please enjoy this encore episode  from Season 7 - Episode 57 - Own Your Career.  What happens during your career journey mostly rests upon decisions you make along with your risk comfort level. Are you planning out your career moves or are you waiting on someone else to give you an opportunity? No one is going to seek you out to hand you what you need to achieve your goals and advance your career....

Please enjoy this encore episode. I am working on Season 10, which well debut on April 12.  We are in the new year, and I believe that 2022 will be your best year to date. This will be a time to develop a plan of action for what’s important to you that includes your career AND your personal life. It can be the blueprint for setting your personal priorities and ensuring you don’t forget the importa...

You need to be advocating for yourself when it comes to career opportunities, for raises, for promotions, to be on high visibility projects, for time off, for the right boundaries, and the list goes on. I am particularly speaking to the group of Finance and Accounting professionals who are truly dedicated and don’t ask for much in return. It’s time that you get rewarded for your hard work and you...

Can your team members thrive in their current work environment? As leaders, we have standards to uphold, tasks to get done, and a strategy to execute, but do our team members believe they are treated well, are their voices heard, and do they have opportunities for growth and development?  How much time do you invest in your team members?  When you lead a team, you have more responsibility than onl...

The greatest responsibility we have is to grow other leaders so I want to encourage you to share your leadership tips by publishing them to reach a greater audience. Never stop trying to positively influence the next generation of leaders.  Episode outline: Growing others is our greatest responsibility, Share so you can positively influence,  Publishing helps you grow as a leader, and Methods of s...

Episode 77: What does it take to advance your career? There are many decisions and pathways you can take. There are lots of choices, but how do you prepare yourself for the best chance of advancing to senior leader roles? In this episode, I will highlight the five pillars of career advancement which can help you move in the right direction, so you have the best chance for achieving your dream role...

Episode # 76: You may have a dream for what you want to accomplish, but that dream can only be realized if you have a written plan that makes sense. A written plan that accounts for more than what your organization is asking you to do. A well thought out written plan is the key to accomplishing your long-term goal and your dreams.  Episode outline: Our Individual Development Plan is a commitment t...

Episode #75: Our habits are closely aligned with our mindset, and how we approach challenges. Do we embrace wanting to achieve excellence or do you become complacent? Our success is a combination of mindset and habits, plus leadership. I hope that you practice great leadership as the most important habit of all. Episode outline: Your habits determine your daily success, What successful people do t...

Episode #74: You have assumed a new role at a new company. What are your first steps? What do you do first so you set yourself up for success? Those first few weeks can determine how well you know your role, and more importantly, who do you need to meet, what systems do you need to learn, and what are the details about the company’s culture. Your first actions in a new role will be critical to you...

You need to stay current with what is happening in the Finance and Accounting fields so that you can address your skills gap to remain competitive. I will continue to recommend that you learn leadership since that will remain critical to advancing your career. The nature of work is changing, and that means we have to change also. Episode outline: What the future is, Identify and grow your skills g...

Episode # 72: As a leader, taking time to capture your thoughts and ideas is critical to developing a better work-flow for yourself and your team, and to explore your entire life. Keeping a journal is a great way to deep dive some ideas or other areas of your leadership and life to find areas that need to be improved. I recommend setting aside time to think and to write down those thoughts to help...

Episode # 71: We are in the new year, and I believe that 2022 will be your best year to date. This will be a time to develop a plan of action for what’s important to you that includes your career AND your personal life. It can be the blueprint for setting your personal priorities and ensuring you don’t forget the important events in your life AND that you live, grow, and thrive with no regrets. Ep...

As we move into the new year, I want you to resist making New Year’s Resolutions. They are whimsical, short-lived illusions that often result in failure instead of real results. What we need to do is to develop a plan of action to improve our chance of success. We will write out realistic goals with a timeline. The key is written goals. In the last few weeks, I have asked you to do some preliminar...

Build hope into your daily activities. Tomorrow will be a better day for you, your friends, your family, and everything else important in your life. The world has collectively been through a lot in 2021 and going all the way back to 2020. We must continue to build resilience for what is ahead for us. I shared a similar message last year. This is December and this month has a wonderful collection o...