Speaking Ambition

We have news! The time has come to say goodbye to Presenting Finance, after a fantastic two years the show was voted No.8 in the Top 15 Presentation Podcasts on the Internet! and a great place to say goodbye as we start the next new exciting podcast: Ambition to Impact Subscribe on Apple Subscribe on Spotify Join the free facebook group for access to monthly coaching and executive presence training

Is there anything funny about finance? Robin Kiziak, Finance manager of Hotel Chocolat joins the show this week to share his experience of embracing his natural humour in a corporate world. Discussed in the show: What does humour add to the finance function? How does storytelling increase connection to data? How to bring your natural self to the table and still be professional Links: Website - Nothing Funny About Finance - www.nfaf.co.uk LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinkiziak/ Twitter - @Humour4Finance

Today Alex speaks with Carl Reader who as a public speaker, three-time author, accountant, and regular commentator in the news as a lot to share about influence, finance and how he has found his own way of making an impact on the world. In the interview we discuss: How he won the postcode lottery and was gifted a grammar school education, but "pissed it away". How after getting his first job in accountancy he HATED is, realised due his ADHD was an asset and carved out his own carved out my own career by going out and meeting with clients. That technical wizardry isn't going to help your finance career, but the human touch and the conversations and the translation will How he finished his latest book BOSS IT just as the pandemic was starting, and the principles he shares for startups quickly became a bestselling guide for existing businesses needing to change quickly Find Carl Here: @https://twitter.com/CarlReader @ https://www.instagram.com/carlreader/ Read Boss it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boss-Control-Your-Time-Income/dp/1789666414

This week I'm going to share with you my method to help you start off strong when you speak. One of the biggest issues that affects professional confidence, in meetings, presentations or just on a call... is that the energy is all wrong when starting. If you don't start the right way you end up losing energy, engagement and it's really difficult to recover. Starting out strongly (not loudly, not fast or slow, strongly) will set you up for success, alleviate mind blank and solve a great many problems for you when communicating. In this episode, I cover my POW method; to get you to PAUSE. OWN. WELCOME. Using this you will feel, calm, in control and ready to win the conversation. In the episode I mention my taster coaching session, which you can get more details on here: Coaching Taster

Presenting Gary Turner, co-founder and MD of Xero joins me on the show, sharing his story of how far he's come, the start of Xero (a team of three with £50k TO) to the market leader it is today. I ask Gary about the values of Xero, and that they really mean to him and how they create that in side their culture.  Show notes to follow.  www.xero.com  Sponsored by Speaking Ambition www.speakingambition.com Take the Wavemaker Assessment

Today I’m presenting Kirsty McGregor chairman of the corporate finance network and accountant in residence for Capitalise. During 2020 Kirsty led a campaign called #leavenobusinessbehind championing accountants to be the guiding hand for SMEs during the pandemic. Kirsty shares with me what she saw in the accounting space; resilient conversations clients, being the SME therapist and how well accountants have been equipped to manage these high stakes conversations themselves and their teams.

This week I'm failing all over the place. And loving it. Accountancy and finance is such a binary space living in a world of yes and no, fails and wins. In this episode I talk about what the finance space is missing out on - the value we talk from failure, and how powerful that can be for innovation and discovery.

How much of your personality, and your diversity do you put into your professional brand? This week I'm speaking to Madeline Pratt, CEO and founder of Fearless Foundry and CEO and founder of Womxn Talk Money - a community of female speakers in finance. We talk about Madeline's experience working with accountants on their personal brand, and also her experience on the speaker circuit and how she came to create a network of women finance professionals who speak on stage.  Women Talk Money is your community where we collaborate for the advancement and empowerment of womxn in the accounting and finance space.  https://www.womxntalkmoney.com/ Fearless Foundry is a creative consultancy that specializes in helping ambitious innovators with marketing, branding, and business development - find out more about them here: https://www.fearlessfoundry.com/ Follow Madeline here: instagram.com/madelinekpratt twitter.com/madelinekpratt

What do accountants need to really make an impact, beyond the technical skills? They say the technical will get you through the door, but these traits will get you at the table. This week I'm going to share with you the 5 essential traits that really make accountants influential and get them making waves wherever they go.

We all have our good days, and bad. Sometimes we are tired, or stressed and bring our B or C games to our meetings. Mindset affects not only your presence, but ability to make decisions and how you influence in the room. Many things affect the way we 'show up' in accounting, but I have prepared a list of 5 ways that you can instantly use to help you be at your very best, to deliver high value work and make strong positive connections. If you would like to find out more about yourself and how you make waves in accounting, take the influence in accounting scorecard

This week I'm following up on the popular public speaking episode, this week I talk about the three extra things you need to do (yes, even virtually) to take your speaking and influence from ok to outstanding. 1) How are you using you space to impact? 2) How do you make people feel? 3) How honest are you really being? As mentioned in the episode, you can test your ability to connect, influence and connect on the accountants communication scorecard and get your free report and ebook, Connect and Affect at www.speakingambition.scoreapp.com

Fear of public speaking is one of the top 5 phobias in the western world, and a huge barrier for accountants needing to step up and speak out for their role . Commonly known as glossophobia, this fear can manifest in a variety of ways from sweating, to shakes and extreme sickness. I share my own experiences as well, it happens to everyone, even the best public speakers. In this episode I explain why this happens, how the brain and body react and teach you the three steps to help you tackle your nerves when presenting or speaking in public. Measure your communication skills with the communication skills scorecard for accountants: https://www.speakingambition.com/scorecard

This week I'm talking about public speaking, in fact, the THREE powerful tools of public speaking that help you share your insights in a way that make people want to take action and influence business performance. WHY now? When most stages are closed? Public speaking skills (or BIG stage confidence as I call it) are not about getting up on stage at Wembley... If you can learn how to use your voice, body language and the space effectively, then you can present anywhere - from zoom to boardroom. In this episode I walk you through: The common public speaking mistakes I see in accountants How to resonate with your audience How to clearly connect and express actions and emotion to your financial insights Want to check your speaking skills? Take the communication Scorecard for accountants https://www.speakingambition.com/scorecard

One of the biggest barriers for accountants is being able to share their financial insights in a way that really makes an impact. This week I share the method to help you find a narrative that connects to people, and inspires them to take action from your reports. Learn the types of stories that numbers can tell, and how to identify the results you want them to generate How to adapt your presentation perspective to champion the stakeholder How to find the hero and the villain in the data Links Test your storytelling and speaking skills in the Accounting communication scorecard: https://www.speakingambition.com/scorecard Join the facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/speakingambition/

This week I'm sharing the two questions you MUST ask before you even start creating your presentation. As long as you have these questions in your head - you can lose the script, and guides you and the audience to a successful and memorable presentation. Whether you are presenting in a large TEDx stage, whether you're in a conference room, whether you're just sat in front of your laptop, these questions are the first and foremost thing that you should do to gain clarity in your communication and your messaging. In this episode I cover: How steer your audience from what they want - to what you know they need, and how to feed the audience's brain with information that sticks. How to guide your own memory throughout a presentation to stay on track How to identify the data and analytics that your audience really care about How to know your audience, regardless of size Ask one question to change your voice and body language to capture attention Call this your foundation class in successful persuasion skills, because once you've helped your audience gain clarity and you also have clarity, the result is an audience that trusts the information you are presenting. Quotes: "You could be the smartest person in the planet but unless you actually communicate what it means and and turn into action points and get other people involved, then it's just gonna stay there and locked up." "What is another word for want? It's desire. Desire is part of our ego, our sense of self. It's what they really really need for you know what they really are trying to get out of this communication" "We as the human race, are driven by two things throughout your entire day, from when you wake up, and when you go to sleep, and sometimes even during your sleep! We're driven by two things and that is what can cause us pleasure and what can cause us pain. Turn that around think about finance, how do we know what the pleasure and pain points are, and how do we actually boil that down for our audience? Very simply; the pleasure and pain suddenly turns into cost, and reward." "if you're dealing with data, the more that you drive into that desire, the more effective you will be." Links www.speakingambition.com/liveevents Nick Elston and Alexandra: Speaking Academy Accountancy Special

This week we are joined by Phil Hobden, Head of Education at Capitalise an adviser led funding platform, sharing that first opening question that accountants can use to initiate very simple, effective conversations with SMEs that lead to growth What we chatted about How to use your position of authority to ask questions that dig deeper into your relationship Using bridging questions to allow people to open up and engage How 49% of SMEs will go to their accountant before they go anywhere else What the impact of COVID-19 is on the client relationship Best quotes in this episode: "SMEs like talking about anything it's about their business, their passion. " "How do I get started having this conversations after years of not?" "Traditional firms just have a client on a spreadsheet that is a number , and it's about turning that client that's a number into a story, with a back story - so you understand what their business is and what they do" "We thought MTD would be the wrecking ball of change, until HMRC changed the game and gave get out of jail cards... COVID will be the fundamental trigger for an uptick in cloud adoption" "If you get that conversation right, your relationship will never be stronger" https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philhobden https://twitter.com/capitaliser_ph

Never before have businesses needed to quickly assess who to trust to help guide them through the impact of COVID-19. Every man and their dog has advice, but as accountants, professionals in your field, being a trusted voice has never been more important. In this episode: The three drivers of trust Empathy Credibility Reliability Actions that you should be taking now Reaching out and listening Being valuable Be at your best - the first person you need to look out for is you. Make sure you take care of your health and wellbeing, so that you can help others.

I recorded this at a time of isolation, where videoconferencing has become standard procedure in our communication. Today I’m going to share with you my facilitator insights into how to run an incredible experience for your webinar, online meeting, or training session. I will go over how to prepare your audience, how to manage the session internally, and how to make sure that they leave the session feeling valued.

How do we sell accounting? Sales skills can often have a bit of a sticky feel about it. In fact these days we call it business development. Tackling that sales patter to build your client base can be daunting, but it gives you the opportunity to connect with your perfect client. If I was going to cost you £1500.. you might say no. That's a chunk off your bottom line. BUT... What if I focussed on the profit my time and expertise gave you? What if using me means you make another £30k profit? In this episode we discover that the pivotal conversation, the sale, is the qualifier for the rest of your client relationship. Speaking with the delightful Phil Sayers from Proten Sales Development, we discuss 5 things you should be doing to have better profitable conversations, with nothing salesy about them. If you're looking to increase your sales skills - look at Phil's workshop Selling For Accountants on Wednesday 26th February in London. Tickets are £95 plus VAT, but Phil has very kindly given us the promo code of BOND which will reduce the price for your listeners to £75 plus VAT. Phil's book “It’s All About The Value" is available on Amazon in printed and eBook format. www.protensd.co.uk LinkedIn Phil Sayers, Twitter Phil_Sayers Helping accountants and their clients sell more, sell more often and build a better business https://protensd.co.uk/for-accountants

Using video isn't just about marketing, it's the digital way to communicate culture, ideas and services.  This week I take you through 16 ideas for accountants to start using video to deliver awesome communications inside, and out of their firm. Today I talk through 8 ideas and how you can implement them to help give your clients, team and the world a view of what you are all about.  www.bondambition.co.uk www.subscribepage.com/16videoideas https://www.bondambition.co.uk/video-masterclass 

This week I chat to you on how to speak as an authority in your profession, or... WITH authority I should say. Authority is a very powerful perception - a speaker with authority can become very influential, and so it is vital that those with knowledge and integrity are able to speak up and make their knowledge known.  Covered in the episode: 1) How to speak with clarity 2) How to boost your credibility  3) Show off without being arrogant 4) Mentor your audience to put them front and centre. 

Using video on your practice is becoming the new digital face to face way of communicating, and not just with clients. Team meetings, explainers, training... you can have face to face communication everywhere - but that means getting in front of the camera! This episode I talk about what I have discovered from my workshops this year, and the 5 day speaking challenge and share my 3 top tips to get you taking better videos.

Wellness is a big and totally vital theme at the moment. In this episode I share my insights from Xerocon in London, and their Communities of Purpose mission for the next year, followed by my interview with Nick Elston, a leading speaker on anxiety and mental health (and  all around lovely bloke).  In the episode: Highlights from Dr Jen Surtees (Director of People Experience at Xero)  and Bron Hudson and Rachel Cockerton's Wellness panel at Xerocon Finding your Purpose  Dealing with Anxiety The importance of speaking to help anxiety  About Nick: Nick Elston has used his life experiences and adversities to forge a powerful, emotional, ‘brutally honest’, heartfelt yet funny message which he delivers GLOBALLY – in his signature Keynote Seminar ‘Talking Anxiety’. Having had OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder) & heightened Anxiety for most of his life – things reached a breakdown point in 2012 when everything came to a head. In Life, in Business – we all wear Masks – we try to be what people or situations want to see in us – not who we truly are – we are conditioned to not share our Mental Health issues. It was at that point that Nick decided to share his story – and unveil the Mask… LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickelston/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NickElston_ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickElstonSpeaker/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickelston_/ Website: www.nickelston.com

This week I talk to the legend that is Neil Robertson about disrupting accounting, IT and his workforce.  We chat about how team motivation techniques have changed, leadership and how listening skills are essential when it comes to running, selling and scaling a business.  Neil Robertson is Executive Chairman of Compleat Software. A 39-year veteran of the financial software marketplace, Neil has a long track record of building disruptive start-ups into successful businesses, including his time as CEO EMEA of Great Plains where he built the business outside of the USA from 1995 - 2001.  Compleat is no exception and perhaps the most disruptive of them all.   www.compleatsoftware.com

Maria Springer is creating an online platform to help founders navigate the process of raising capital. As an entrepreneur who has helped raise $5 million+ for various ventures in the blockchain, film, social impact, and fashion industries, Maria knows the fears and challenges founders face intimately. Maria received her MBA from Oxford as a Skoll Scholar and has started multiple ventures including LivelyHoods, a last mile distribution network that distributes clean energy technologies across Kenya, and Observatory, a non-fiction film company. Her work has been featured in TIME, Fast Company, Forbes, PBS, and the New York Times, among others. Twitter: @MariaSpringer

Hi everyone - just a quick message to say hello - I'm taking a few weeks down time to work on new content for you. The podcast will resume shortly! Keep in touch with any questions: hello@bondambition.co.uk

This week I will take you though the steps to transform from the person that delivers dry boring data, to the incredible data storyteller.  Stories are the mechanism that help humans to connect to information, for centuries we have used stories to teach, inform and learn.  If you are using financial reports or statistics, stories are the knights on white horses that will save your presentations.  In this episode I talk though the storytelling basics...  and how to seek them out in the metrics. 

This week I am seeking out the ultimate guide for investment pitches. What do Investors really look for? How do they judge you? What should happen in the pitching room? To find out I spoke to Bill Morrow, founder of Angel's Den, Europe and Asia's largest Investment network. In the episode: We find out the 3 elements all pitches should have Why do Angel's invest anyway? How your frailties will be your strength in the room Show Links: Bill Morrow LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/angelsdenisgroovy Twitter: https://twitter.com/billmorrow Investment Pitch Bootcamp https://www.bondambition.co.uk/pitch-for-investment-days

In this episode we explore Imposter Syndrome; the bain of every entrepreneur's life. Self criticism, self doubt... the rot that can eat at the heart of every business founder. We could say that Della Hudson, author of the 2019 Business Book Award The Numbers Business, Accounting practice founder, speaker and business coach has a fair amount of successes under her belt, and yet she like most business leaders often feels that crippling episodes of self doubt and insecurity.  This year alone, Dell has been named Practice Ignition's Top 50 Women in Accounting, the Accountancy Age top 50 Women in Finance and consistently sits in the top 10 of the Avalara Accounting Top 100... I could go on! Della shares her champagne metric system that she uses to overcome that inner imposter voice to achieve business goals.  More about Della:  Author of ‘The Numbers Business; how to grow a successful cloud accountancy practice’ which won the specialist book category in the 2019 Business Book Award. Della is the former owner of Hudson Accountants which she started from her kitchen table, grew and sold in 2017. She now enjoys helping other accountants and bookkeepers to do the same thing by speaking, writing and coaching them through different stages of their business life cycle.  Twitter: @DellaHudsonFCA Linked In: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dellahudsonfca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/della.hudsonfca

“That’s two good traits of a leader – to listen to what other people are saying and to ask questions and to challenge them.” – Alastair Barlow This week I am catching up with Alastair Barlow, Chief Dreamer at Flinder. Alastair shares his insights on taking big four strategic thinking when starting a practice, and how he and business partner Luke made the move from PWC to making on their own... Alastair shares the DNA running through Flinder, building a team fast and tells us about his rebellious side... What You Will Learn: - How Alistair Barlow took what he learnt at PwC into his own business, Flinder - How Flinder was conceptualized - How to nurture and build a team around your values - The qualities of a good leader - Questions a good leader should ask Thought for this episode – Questions to ask when it comes to leadership If you have a process in place, start to ask why. “Why do we do that? Is it necessary?” Start to ask, “What next? How can we make this better?” What questions could you be asking? If you’re running your own business, if you’re freelancing, if you’re working for yourself, start asking questions. See how you can push boundaries. Resources mentioned in episode Rebel Talent by Francesca Gino Connect with Alastair Barlow Alastair Barlow’s LinkedIn Alastair Barlow’s Twitter Alastair Barlow’s Instagram Follow Flinder Flinder website Flinder on Twitter Flinder on Facebook Flinder on Instagram Quotes “We left very good, promising careers at PwC, and it wasn’t on a whim. It was on a very structured plan / blueprint / vision. We knew what we were doing in terms of executing it and where we wanted to get to.” – Alastair Barlow “One of the gaps we say was, when we were working with one of these very entrepreneurial business, but the values didn’t align internally and externally as to who we were working with.” – Alastair Barlow “We did have some of our peers say to both of us that we were crazy and didn’t know what we were doing. But we had absolute certainty of what we were going to achieve.” – Alastair Barlow “It’s difficult, isn’t it, when finding a partner. It’s almost like another marriage.” – Host “I always challenge. I always try and put forward, always question, and never really settle.” – Alastair Barlow “I think one of the hardest things about growing a business is people.” – Alastair Barlow “We have four values in our business – entrepreneurial, authenticity, tenacity and excellence.” – Alastair Barlow “We set our objectives by the values of the business as well.” – Alastair Barlow “Leadership is about raising the people around you up. It’s not about you. It’s about the responsibility you have to other people.” – Alex “leadership sounds like questioning.” – Alastair Barlow “Leadership is always about pushing the boundaries and taking that next step.” – Alex

Join me this week to hear my chat with Russell Higginbotham, CEO Reinsurance EMEA at Swiss RE. In this episode Russel shares his experiences and challenges of leading teams in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and also how executives can get their work noticed by senior leaders.  We talk about: - the effect of digitisation on the Insurance industry  - Investing time and energy in getting to know your team - How you to tell your story when applying for roles  Have any questions? Ask me at hello@bondambition.co.uk Follow me @bondambitionuk or find me on LinkedIn: Alexandra Bond Burnett 

The strongest minds can suffer with mental health issues. This week is Mental Health Awareness week, and I share 3 tips to help you create a supportive and productive environment for your team and colleagues. Jobs in financial services reported to be 44% more likely to cause a stress-related illness compared to other roles in the UK. That is an astonishing figure that not only causes a decline in mental (and physical ) health, but also creates a disengaged workplace. In this week's episode I share with you three things to implement for a healthier workplace: 1) Investing in 1-2-1 with your team and opening conversations to help teams open up. 2) How to implement a traffic light system for mental health 3) Create a positive mindset by creating a 'bad day allowance' If you have any questions contact me at hello@bondambition.co.uk or connect with me @bondambitionuk TRIGGER alert: This episode contains a brief and sad note on suicide. Please seek help or call the samaritans if this affects you.

Would you like to know how to create a presentation that really connects with your audience? And how to use the 3 P's that have your audience listening, engaging and eating out of the palm of your hand EVERY time? Here is my formula for communication that builds valuable relationships. I share the key takeaways from my Powerful Presentations workshop that I delivered at Accountex last week, and my overview of the week along with a BIG thank you to Zoe, Rachel and the Accountex team. If you were there, you'll also here the sound bite that the recorded at the end! Thank you for taking part. You can also download my free step-by-step presentation template here: www.bondambition.co.uk/presentation

Trent joined us for this week's episode ahead of the London Accountex conference 2019. Trent shares his rocket-fulled rise to from shelf stacker to global accounting thought leader, and how he uses bold authentic conversations to manage a remote team and connect to clients with a shared vision. We also learn why Trent always replies to messages, and how he builds to drive business forward. Trent Mclaren is Australia's thought leader of the year in the Accounting Industry for 2017. He is also ranked and maintains a position in the Avalara top 100 social media influencers for the accounting industry. Holding a spot in the top 15. In such a short amount of time Trent has been nominated for Thought leader of the year 5 times in the last 3 years, and has created millions of impressions and impact with accounting professionals all over the world. He is currently head of accounting and strategic partnerships at Practice Ignition. You can contact Trent here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentmclaren/ Twitter: @trent_mclaren

Feedback is the cornerstone of effective leadership... but delivering your evaluations can be an explosive situation waiting to happen! I run through the 3 types of feedback that we use at work, and how you can manage the situation effectively. Leadership may be about giving effective feedback, but what about receiving feedback? I explore what I call "leaky face" syndrome, and your emotional output that you might not even realise you're giving out there. Let me know how you get on with this week's challenge at hello@bondambition.co.uk

Are you heading to a conference? Here is my vocal toolkit to make sure that you are getting the best out of public speaking and my best tips and exercises for giving you a luxurious speaking quality to make sure people listen to you and give your information impact and authority. This episode gives you my four vocal exercises that get you prepared to use your voice at work

In this episode Alex interviews Liyani Rodriguez, ex PWC audit and now consultant and founder of Mabel. We talk about how to feel confident when you lack experience and shares her discovery of what accounting leaders have been doing to help them up the ladder. Best quote: "When you rise too fast, you end up with lots of managers, and not many leaders" Liyani Rodriguez is the founder of Mabel, a community providing content and tools for personal and professional growth. Liyani previously had a successful career in finance and accounting, starting at PricewaterhouseCoopers and ending at Connor Group, where she served clients including Snap Inc., Survey Monkey, and Glassdoor. She is now using her experiences to redefine what professionalism will look like for the next generation of the workforce. Catch her on: Website: www.mabelapp.com Instagram: @liyanikrystle / @the.mabel

The Pilot episode. It's the very first Speaking Ambition episode. What does leadership sound like? Here we'll be discussing leadership qualities and challenges faced in the accounting, finance and tech spaces.  This episode talks about DISC profiles and how we can use them to change the way we communicate, leading to more effective outcomes.