Podcasts about business learning institute

Paul and Mo go LIVE from Carlsbad, CA during the Thomson Reuters annual Advisory Symposium, interacting with a live audience for the first time, and bringing them an exciting conversation with Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA. Tom is currently the EVP Business Growth & Engagement for AICPA-CIMA and the Business Learning Institute. He was named in the top three most influential people in accounting by Accounting Today Magazine for the eleventh year. His focus is elevating and accelerating the role of CPAs and CGMAs in corporate and management accounting.

Paul and Mo go LIVE from Carlsbad, CA during the Thomson Reuters annual Advisory Symposium, interacting with a live audience for the first time, and bringing them an exciting conversation with Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA. Tom is currently the EVP Business Growth & Engagement for AICPA-CIMA and the Business Learning Institute. He was named in the top three most influential people in accounting by Accounting Today Magazine for the eleventh year. His focus is elevating and accelerating the role of CPAs and CGMAs in corporate and management accounting.

Welcome back to Thrivecast, where we dive deep into the mechanics of running a firm and the trends shaping the professional landscape. In today's episode, we're excited to have Tom Hood, EVP of the AICPA and Business Learning Institute, join us to unravel the complexities surrounding the CPA profession. We tackle the hotly debated 150-hour rule for CPA exam eligibility and discuss its ten-year journey to legislative reality. As we navigate the impacts of this requirement on professional mobility and the talent pipeline, Tom sheds light on the formation of the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPEG) by the AICPA, aiming to align the accounting world amidst varying state regulations. Our discussion leads into concerns over the profession's outlook, from legislative challenges affecting mobility to the potential risks of an anti-licensing movement. But it's not all hurdles and high jumps; the silver lining reveals itself as we dissect the necessity for CPAs to find balance – charging fair prices, avoiding burnout, and staying ahead of technology, including AI, to thrive in their roles. Tom reminds us of the importance of asserting value and provides insights on maintaining professional standards while nurturing work-life harmony. His insight will leave you pondering on the vision of a profession empowered by AI, a discipline that continues to demand the brightest minds to innovate and evolve. So, tune in, as we reflect on these pressing issues, explore the necessary legislative landscapes, and ultimately, chart a course for a hopeful future in accounting. Talent Pipeline & Survey – National Pipeline Advisory Group https://www.accountingpipeline.org/participate/ Future of Finance – Forbes article – fits CAS Practices CFO Ongoing Evolution: From “CF-No” To “CF-Know” https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2023/08/23/cfo-ongoing-evolution-from-cf-no-to-cf-know/?sh=57ddf2aa2acc

“Accounting is not just about money, it's about what I do to make other people's lives better” Bill Sheridan Bill Sheridan is a knowledge hunter, content curator, and lifelong learner. As chief communications officer for the Maryland Association of CPAs, he created and co-authors the association's acclaimed blog, CPA Success; produces the MACPA's “CPA Spotlight” podcast; and manages the association's member communications and numerous social networks. Bill speaks regularly at national conferences on the future of the accounting and finance profession, the strategic uses of social media, and the evolution of communication, collaboration and education. He delivers frequent presentations on behalf of the Business Learning Institute and is a certified Insights to Action strategic facilitator. He is inspired by and in awe of his wife, Alison, and their daughter, Molly. They live in St. Louis, Mo. As accountants in an ever-changing world, we need to know the facts but the one thing we need in order to remain relevant is learn people skills, go beyond what you now to who you are working for and with. Building better relationships and anticipation of changes that happen with people. Knowing where we are in the technological scene, sooner or later we will be using it to crunch numbers in the accounting scenes and this means as accountants, we will have to develop necessary skills that machines cannot duplicate and do, making us relevant in changing times. You can catch Bill on his socials: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billdsheridan https://twitter.com/BillSheridan Listen to this and so much more in the episode; petermargaritis.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to episode 3 of this season of Amplify - the podcast for accounting firm growth!  On this episode host Mike Jones, CEO and Managing Partner of Resound, sits down with Kassi Rushing, Vice President, Organizational Strategy & Employee Experience at Blue Hen Agency. Kassi has over the last 20 years, Kassi has been connecting people, processes and resources necessary to create an unrivaled employee experience and make accounting firm cultures their competitive advantage.  Listen in as Mike and Kassi discuss the employee experience.  About Our Guest Kassi Rushing  Vice President, Organizational Strategy & Employee Experience, Blue Hen Agency Kassi Rushing builds places people want to work. She specializes in connecting the people, processes and resources necessary to create an unrivaled employee experience and make your culture your competitive advantage. Since 2002, Kassi has been bridging the strategies between business and people. Her experience and expertise is in workplace culture and transformation, high performing teams, leadership and pipeline development, employee experience, and communication strategy. Kassi previously served as the director of people growth and engagement for a Top 50 public accounting firm. There, she directed the strategy, teams and budgets for: recruiting, onboarding and new hire experience, ongoing team member development, leadership pipelines, internal communication, and internal coaching. She was a special advisor to the executive partner, chair of the personnel committee, and served on the Belonging steering committee. She also worked as a corporate communicator for a multi-billion-dollar financial institution where focused on internal employee relations and served as a development consultant for a national non-for-profit. Kassi earned her Bachelor of Arts in communication with an emphasis in public relations from Mississippi State University and her Master of Science in corporate communication and public relations from Mississippi College. She holds the Accreditation in Public Relations from the Public Relations Society of America and her Certificate in Diversity & Inclusion from the Yale School of Management. She is a Certified DISC Behavioral Analysis Consultant, a tool she uses to help teams work more effectively and increase their sense of belonging. Kassi is a working mom and serves as Vice President of Organizational Strategy & Employee Experience at Blue Hen, a company dedicated to organizational health and workplace development. Kassi is a strategic partner and designated Thought Leader with the AICPA-CIMA's Business Learning Institute. Connect with Kassi on LinkedIn and Instagram.  About Your Host: Mike Jones Managing Partner, Resound Remarkable brands require authenticity and a die-hard commitment to values & purpose. Mike passionately preaches these beliefs as author of the book, You Are Remarkable: How To Unlock Your Authentic Brand To Win Loyal Customers as well as two podcasts he hosts and produces: Resoundcast and the Remarkabrand Podcast. He works directly with clients to unlock their remarkable brands through his award-winning brand consultancy, Resound - established in 2009. (He also founded his own apparel brand devoted to American political history, called Taftly. But that's a whole other story.) He has supported the Arizona entrepreneurial community through his co-directorship of Phoenix Startup Week, co-founding the startup-supporting non-profit Thrive PHX, and serving on the boards of Conscious Capitalism Arizona and The Center for Habilitation. In recognition of the work he's done, this Arizona native has been named one of the state's top business leaders under the age of 40 by the Phoenix Business Journal as well as a 35-Under-35 entrepreneurial award from the Arizona Republic. He lives in the very sunny vale of Mesa, AZ with his wife and three kids. If you want to connect, LinkedIn's usually where you'll find him – @remarkamike.

Time to dive into the “purpose” conversation. That's the idea that we, as leaders, have an obligation, a responsibility, to help our employees find the purpose behind their jobs — the “why” behind their work. My guest on the podcast this week is Dr. Alan Patterson. He's a Business Learning Institute thought leader who has guided hundreds of clients in professional and leadership development, including the Broad Institute, Federal Reserve Bank, Hewlett Packard, Johnson and Johnson, Kite Pharma, Major League Baseball, and the United States Navy. He is a frequent conference and workshop presenter and a best-selling author whose most recent book is out now. It's called Burn Ladders, Build Bridges: Pursuing Work With Meaning And Purpose. We sat down recently and talked about how we can go about surrounding ourselves with people who will help us do work with meaning and purpose — and just as important, how we can become those types of people for others. https://www.macpa.org/podcast-burn-ladders-build-bridges/ (Read More) Resources: http://www.mentore.com/about/dr-alan-m-patterson/ (Dr. Alan Patterson) https://www.amazon.com/Burn-Ladders-Build-Bridges-Pursuing/dp/163742213X (Burn Ladders, Build Bridges: Pursuing Work With Meaning And Purpose) https://www.ladderburners.com/alan-patterson/ (Ladder Burners)

Dr Suzy Green is the CEO and founder of The Positivity Institute which is dedicated to improving wellbeing in the workplace.  Early in her career, she worked for many years with people who were very psychiatrically unwell, before taking the science and psychology of wellbeing out to the public through The Positivity Institute. The Positivity Institute has helped many businesses and employers develop the muscle that is our mental wellbeing. Dr Suzy Green and Mark discuss finding your “golden mean” how to achieve it, resilience and mental toughness and how to create a positive work culture.   Apply to be part of Survive & Thrive cast here Get access to Dr Suzy Green's Masterclass on Wellbeing In The Workplace. Join the Facebook Group. Follow Mark Bouris on Instagram, LinkedIn & YouTube. Want to grow your business and stay ahead of the pack? Access Mark Bouris' Masterclasses.  #####  If you or anyone you know needs help: StandBy — Support After Suicide on 1300 727 247 Lifeline on 13 11 14 Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978 Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 Headspace on 1800 650 890 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA is currently the EVP Business Growth & Engagement for AICPA-CIMA and the Business Learning Institute. Tom just stepped onto the global stage after 23 years as the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs. He was named the second most influential person in accounting by Accounting Today Magazine for the ninth year! LinkedIn recruited Tom as one of their Top 100 Influencers with a following of over 750,000. He is a member of Forbes Finance Council and was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame.   Are you FutureReady? Take the test here.

As the world evolves, the concept of leadership is evolving as well. And the leaders of today are finding they need new skills to succeed. Jennifer Elder is a thought leader, trainer, and business coach dedicated to the concept of business transformation. She offers programs through the Business Learning Institute about strategic leadership, and she’s going to share about it from a corporate finance perspective. She tells us how finance is taking on a more strategic role in most organizations, what characteristics set strategic leaders apart from the rest of the pack, how finance’s role will continue to evolve, and how the pandemic impacts all of it. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit https://blionline.org/blog (blionline.org/blog). Resources: https://www.jenniferelder.com/ (jenniferelder.com) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferhelder (linkedin.com/in/jenniferhelder) https://www.strategy-business.com/article/10-Principles-of-Strategic-Leadership (“10 Principles of Strategic Leadership”) Future-Proof is a production of http://crate.media (Crate Media)

If you’re feeling a serious lack of energy in your life right now, know that you’re not alone. People around the world are starting to face this as we move past year one of the pandemic. But there are strategies for moving past this energy drain, and Greg Conderacci is here to share some of them with us. Greg is a senior fellow with the Business Learning Institute, a consultant, and a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has researched and written extensively about personal energy’s impact on careers and organizations. Greg talks about the different types of energies that are at play in an environment like this, the signs that we might be about to hit that wall, and the strategies for bringing a little balance back into our lives. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit https://blionline.org/blog (blionline.org/blog). Resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregconderacci/ (linkedin.com/in/gregconderacci) Read: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-UP-Supercharging-Your-Energy-ebook-dp-B01G5TUKQ8/dp/B01G5TUKQ8 ("Getting UP!") https://www.forbes.com/sites/drnancydoyle/2020/09/24/professor-ahmads-six-month-wall-rehumanizing-the-virtual-workplace-with-the-human-touch/?sh=efd9a5c68ad4 (Professor Ahmad’s Six-Month Wall: Rehumanizing The Virtual Workplace) Future-Proof is a production of http://crate.media (Crate Media)

There are some big changes taking place at the Business Learning Institute. Tom Hood, now the former president and CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, is the new executive vice president of business growth and engagement for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants — the global arm of the American Institute of CPAs. Before Tom closes out his time with the MACPA, we capture some of his wisdom so that we can learn from it going forward. He talks about where the profession was 24 years ago, how far it’s come in the past quarter-century, and most importantly, where it’s going from here. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit https://blionline.org/blog (blionline.org/blog). Resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhood/ (linkedin.com/in/tomhood) https://www.macpa.org/maryland-takes-global-stage-as-tom-hood-bli-join-aicpa-team/ (Maryland takes global stage as Tom Hood, BLI join AICPA team) Future-Proof is a production of http://crate.media (Crate Media)

Since the spring of 2020, the Gensler Research Institute has been conducting surveys of workers across the globe to understand worker’s needs and make informative real estate and design decisions on the future of the workplace. In these surveys, many workers expressed evolving expectations for the future of work and the physical workplace. In today’s episode, we’re re-broadcasting our Regional Consulting Practice Area Leader Cheryl Duvall’s interview on the Business Learning Institute’s Future-Proof podcast with host Bill Sheridan, of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA), where Bill and Cheryl discuss key findings from Gensler’s 2020 Workplace Surveys. As we look to the future, our data helps us explore how employers and their workplaces can best support their employees in a post-pandemic future.

What’s happening at the state level that might have an impact on the accounting and finance world? There’s a lot that’s going on in state capitals across the country that bears watching. Here to talk about all of this is Tom Hood, the president and CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. The issues we’re talking about today are things that Tom is watching in Maryland, but these could be issues in any state in the nation. Nearly all states are either dealing with issues like these right now or are watching these issues very closely in the event that they might have to deal with them down the road. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit https://blionline.org/blog (blionline.org/blog). Resources: https://www.macpa.org/cpaday (macpa.org/cpaday) https://www.macpa.org/advocacy (macpa.org/advocacy) https://blionline.org (blionline.org) Read: https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2020/dec/threats-to-licensing-a-concern-for-cpas-amid-coronavirus-pandemic.html?_lrsc=86075ac7-1492-4adb-9cf8-1033eb4c5db7 (“Threats to licensing remain a concern for CPAs amid pandemic,”) https://player.captivate.fm/episode/656f7afc-83cb-441a-ae59-db63f6a7eb7d (42. Get Involved: Legislative Advocacy at the Local Level | with State Senator Brian Feldman) Future-Proof is a production of http://crate.media (Crate Media)

Alexander Hagerup is the founder of Vic.AI, a strategic partner of the MACPA and the Business Learning Institute. Alex is a serial tech entrepreneur based in New York with a strong passion for artificial intelligence. Alex joins us to talk about A.I., and how far we’ve come, and where we are now in terms of the automation possibilities that A.I. gives us. And maybe most importantly, why CPAs should be paying attention to this, and what this technology will do for us that will improve our lives, and the lives of our clients and customers. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit https://blionline.org/blog (blionline.org/blog). Resources: https://www.vic.ai/ (vic.ai) https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderhagerup/ (linkedin.com/in/alexanderhagerup) Future-Proof is a production of http://crate.media (Crate Media)

The skills involved in mastering improv are the same critical skills for becoming a great leader. Peter Margaritis is a CPA, a thought leader with the Business Learning Institute, and a comedian doing stand up in his free time. He knows all about improv, and more importantly, how it connects to CPAs and finance professionals. Good leadership requires connecting with and listening to others, being in the moment, being flexible, and following our intuition, and Peter is going to tell us how all of that comes together through the magic of improv. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog (https://blionline.org/blog). Resources: petermargaritis.com (https://petermargaritis.com/) Podcast: petermargaritis.com/category/cym-podcasts (http://petermargaritis.com/category/cym-podcasts/) Read: "Improv Is No Joke" (https://petermargaritis.com/improv-is-no-joke-book/) Future-Proof is a production of (http://crate.media)

The work of associations is right in the name: It’s about connections, it’s about relationships, and it’s about networks. These are the things that associations are designed to provide, and this is the time — a time of true crisis — in which those things are more important than ever. To explore all that an association can do, we sit down with Tom Hood, President and CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. He discusses how the work of associations shifted significantly in the face of the pandemic, how members have benefited, and how that work will help members map out a post-pandemic strategy that ensures their relevance going forward. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog (https://blionline.org/blog). Resources: Learn more at macpa.org (https://www.macpa.org/) LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tomhood (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhood/) Future-Proof is a production of (http://crate.media)

In this time of exponential change, it is imperative for professionals to be future-ready. Joining Amy Vetter on the show today is Tom Hood, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. Tom talks about thriving as a professional and being ready for change. He also discusses approaches that incorporate framework development, innovation inventories, and more. Listen in to know more about how to be a more future-ready professional.

In this time of exponential change, it is imperative for professionals to be future-ready. Joining Amy Vetter on the show today is Tom Hood, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. Tom talks about thriving as a professional and being ready for change. He also discusses approaches that incorporate framework development, innovation inventories, […]

The work-from-anywhere revolution received a jolt in March, when office workers were sent home because of concerns about the spread of COVID-19. More companies were embracing flexible work practices before the pandemic, but now that movement has been accelerated. Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, shares insight into the future of remote work, why a company’s approach to flexible work can define its culture, and more.

A hard trend can be defined as a predictable, future fact. While it’s tough to predict the price of oil or the direction of the stock market daily or weekly, finance professionals can focus on hard trends to have a better understanding of where business is heading. Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, shares insight into three hard trends and why they matter for accountants now.

This week we’re talking about the Paycheck Protection Program. A provision of the CARES Act — the massive coronavirus relief bill that was signed into law on March 27 — the PPP is a loan that’s designed to be an incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. We know some of our listeners may be applying for it, and if you are, you probably have a few questions. So we sat down for a conversation with two people who can help put this all into proper context. Erik Asgeirsson is the president and CEO of CPA.com, the technology arm of the American Institute of CPAs, and he is going to give us some perspective on the massive and almost unprecedented legislative undertaking to get this bill passed, as well as recommendations for the types of documents that lenders are looking for under various circumstances during the loan application process. And Tom Hood, the president and CEO of the Maryland Institute of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, is going to talk a bit about the role that CPAs can play in this process, and give us some guidance of his own for people in the profession as the rest of this crisis plays out. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog (https://blionline.org/blog) . Resources: SBA Paycheck Protection Program resources for CPAs (http://bit.ly/PPPresources) MACPA.org/COVID-19 (http://macpa.org/COVID-19) AICPA recommends lender documents and key calculations to use in PPP applications (http://bit.ly/PPPdocuments) Future-Proof is a production of (http://crate.media)

The coronavirus has caught everyone’s attention, and not in a good way. Most of what you read out there largely falls somewhere between paranoia and panic and — given the reliability of the “news” we see in our social feeds — that’s not good for anybody. Jennifer Elder of the Business Learning Institute has compiled a list of questions that business leaders can use to help their organizations prepare for the potential impact of the coronavirus. And now is the best time to do it because things are likely to get worse before they get better. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog (https://blionline.org/blog) . Resources: Coronavirus: How prepared are you? (https://www.macpa.org/coronavirus-how-prepared-are-you-this-free-webinar-can-help/) Experts Simulated a Coronavirus Pandemic Last Year and It Killed 65 Million (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/a-simulated-coronavirus-pandemic-in-2019-killed-65-million.html) www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/Event201 (http://centerforhealthsecurity.org/Event201) www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/recommendations (http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/recommendations.html) www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/videos (http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/videos.html) Future-Proof is a production of (http://crate.media)

Today we’re going to talk about something that most accounting and finance professionals probably never give a second thought — writing. Writing is one of those skills that we all take for granted. We all do it in some way, shape, or form every day, so we all assume we’re awesome at it. Maybe even better at it than some of our peers? This is a misconception that happens all the time, in different areas of our life. We can’t all be better than mostly everyone else at most things, but we’ll learn more about that phenomenon in a moment. First, we want to introduce our guest Bob Dean, a learning and development expert who has designed, developed, and facilitated hundreds of interactive virtual learning programs, using a variety of technology platforms. More to the point, he has authored a series of programs for the Business Learning Institute about writing for results, writing as a leader, writing in a way that will get you noticed — and, equally important, writing in a way that makes sure people won’t notice you as someone who simply cannot communicate. Bob’s lessons are so simple and so easy to learn, yet so powerful and impactful. And if you take them to heart and learn to do them well, you won’t just become a better communicator. You will have mastered one of the key competencies that will turn you into a future-ready accounting and finance pro. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog (https://blionline.org/blog) . Resources: Connect with Dean at DeanPeoples.com (http://deanpeoples.com) Learn more at MACPA.org/future-learning (http://macpa.org/future-learning) Future-Proof is a production of (http://crate.media)

Ample advice exists for managers to improve on how they deliver feedback. Less common is coaching on how to be better at receiving feedback. Rebekah Brown, CPA, director of development for the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, shares insight on receiving feedback.

Bob Dean Collaborator, Innovator, Career Mentor Writing Clearly In this episode, Bob and I discuss the link between writing clearly and leadership. Robert (Bob) Dean, CPA, has over 25 years’ experience focused on strategy and innovation in learning and talent development. Bob has served as a Chief Learning Officer and a global learning leader for the past two decades, and now Dean Learning & Talent Advisors LLC serves as a trusted collaboration advisor to clients focused on learning and development, knowledge management, business process innovation and talent management strategy and solutions.  Bob Dean combines his business experience with a passion for designing and delivering “life changing” learning and talent development experiences that drive business and personal impact. During his career, Bob served in various leadership roles for three global professional services firms—EY, Grant Thornton, and Heidrick & Struggles. In 2006, Bob became a “Certified Experience Economy Expert” facilitated by the book’s authors, Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore.  Bob Dean earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Missouri. He has been an Advisory Board member of the Northern Illinois University Experiential Learning Center for 10 years. He is a member of the AICPA and a Business Learning Institute thought leader/training facilitator. Website https://deanpeoples.com LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhdean Twitter https://twitter.com/EECE2 Leadership Quote "Change is a journey, not an event." Subscribe, share and review on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-leading/id1461490512  The Keep Leading!™ podcast is for people passionate about leadership. It is dedicated to leadership development and insights. Join your host Eddie Turner, The Leadership Excelerator® as he speaks with accomplished leaders and people of influence across the globe as they share their journey to leadership excellence. Listen as they share leadership strategies, techniques and insights. For more information visit eddieturnerllc.com or follow Eddie Turner on Twitter and Instagram at @eddieturnerjr. Like Eddie Turner LLC on Facebook. Connect with Eddie Turner on LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"What you realise is that people don't mind when people have clear boundaries. In fact, they APPRECIATE them". GBD51 Gretchen Pisano and Alexis Robin are co-founders of pLink Leadership, a US-based management consultancy that provides leadership-development, executive coaching, and curriculum-creation. AICPA & CIMA's Jennifer Gardner hears from our guests about an adaptive mindset. Why it matters? How it helps us decide to intervene on behalf of ourselves,  speed up how we adapt to a changing world and accommodate volatility in the workplace.   CONCLUDING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH 2019. Throughout March we've featured a bonus selection of interviews with women who've become movers and shakers in the accounting, finance and business professional sphere. Episodes every Wednesday as usual with 'Friday Focus' shows for some extra weekend inspiration.   WE DISCUSS: Boundaries. Making sure staff mindsets are as “nimble and lean” as the company. Developing our own 'complexity of mind' by inviting insights and inputs from those around us. Challenging our own internal biases. Taking an active role in change. The strengths that women bring. How women are naturally wired to have an adaptive mindset - but how this can sometimes get in the way too. The difference between creating a community for the long term, and simply collaborating in the short term. Changing our 'self-talk'.    OUR GUESTS: pLink CEO and founding partner Gretchen Pisano has worked with many Fortune 50 clients. A Faculty member of the Business Learning Institute, she also serves on the Board of the Frederick County Fraternal Order of Police Spouses’ Association. In addition to her work with senior leaders in many sectors including finance, Gretchen has engaged with leadership in the World Bank and the US military. Connect with her on LinkedIn. As COO of pLink, Alexis Robin deploys 12 years as a coach, consultant, and facilitator, and 17 years in the hospitality and meetings industry. Connect with her on LinkedIn. More about pLink on social via #thinkplink   LINKS: Visiting the Chicago area this Spring? Join us on the ground or online for the AICPA & CIMA "CFO Conference" in Chicago this April 24-26th 2019. Participate in the 2019 AICPA Women's Global Leadership Summit this November — and experience the support of your women colleagues along the way.   MORE ABOUT OUR PODCAST: Get our shows every week automatically and free. Share them easily with colleagues and friends by using the icons on your app or media player.  Interviews with our international experts are recorded by different members of the AICPA & CIMA team from our offices around the world. While the sound quality may vary, the insights will always be consistently useful. Find related CPD/CPE resources at the AICPA Store and the CGMA Store. Connect via #GoBeyondDisruption  #AICPAWomenLead #IWD2019 @AICPANews @CIMA_News   ©2018 Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA & CIMA). All rights reserved.

Everyone talks about the importance of collaboration, but what does it really mean? Working together? Teamwork? Sharing ideas? It’s one of those things that’s hard to define, but we know it when we see it. And because of that, it’s something that everyone defines differently. But here’s the thing – every list of the most crucial future-ready skills for our profession includes collaboration. Every single one. So we have to figure out a definition that everyone can embrace. And here to help us figure that out is Rebekah Brown, the director of development with the Maryland Association of CPAs and a thought leader with the Business Learning Institute. She is as passionate and optimistic about the future of accounting and finance as anyone I know, and she has seen first-hand how powerful collaboration can be within our ever-evolving profession, particularly among our younger professionals. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog. Resources: Start mastering Future-Ready skills now at MACPA.org/future-learning LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahbrown Read: “Human skills need to sharpen to coexist with machines” Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

“What we do isn’t really going to fundamentally change over time. How we do it is going to change tremendously.” In this episode of Accounting Marketing Doesn’t Suck, host Hugh Duffy talks with Bill Sheridan, chief communications officer at the Maryland Association of CPAs. Bill has been with MACPA for nearly two decades and shares his perspective on how artificial intelligence is impacting the accounting profession, content marketing (and outsourcing the marketing function, in general) as well as why firms should be concerned with RONI (Risk of Not Investing) rather than the typical ROI. Tune in! Bill Sheridan Chief Communications Officer Professional EOS Implementer Maryland Association of CPAs / Business Learning Institute Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn Bill Sheridan is a knowledge hunter, content curator, lifelong learner, and EOS implementer. As chief communications officer for the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, he created and co-authors the association’s acclaimed blog, CPA Success; he created and hosts the MACPA’s weekly “Future-Proof” podcast; and he manages the association’s member communications and numerous social networks. He was named one of Accounting Today’s “100 Most Influential People in Accounting” for 2016. Bill speaks regularly at national conferences on the future of the accounting and finance profession, the strategic uses of social media, and the evolution of communication, collaboration and education. He delivers frequent presentations on behalf of the Business Learning Institute and is a certified Insights to Action strategic facilitator.   Accounting Marketing Doesn't Suck is produced by Build Your Firm, leaders of marketing for accountants. Questions or Feedback? Email us at podcast@buildyourfirm.com

We're talking about strategic planning and critical thinking today, or planning strategically and thinking critically, or critical strategy and planning to think – or whatever you want to call it. It's all about looking ahead today; mapping a road to the future and then figuring out how to get there. And here to help us make sense of all this is Jennifer Elder, a thought leader with the Business Learning Institute who works with companies to find creative solutions to their most challenging problems. She also helps financial leaders become more strategic, staying ahead of the competition and becoming more successful. And she has some fantastic insights into the notion of building a vision and executing on it: where to start, the key components of a strategic plan, possible land mines that you'll want to look out for, and what to do once the plan is complete. (Spoiler: Don't just throw it on a bookshelf or no one's going to look at it ever again!) To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog. Resources: Learn more at (http://www.jenniferelder.com/) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferhelder Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

January 2019 is a big month for CPAs, in Maryland and throughout the country. The Maryland General Assembly begins its annual session on Jan. 9. Not a single bill has been introduced yet, but it’s already shaping up to be an extraordinarily busy session for those of us who are trying to protect our profession. For CPAs nationwide, of course, tax season is ramping up, and there are a number of issues that are already complicating things for tax practitioners: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, The Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision, and the federal government shutdown. So things on the legislative and regulatory front are a little chaotic for the accounting and finance profession. But that’s why we’re here, right? State CPA societies like the MACPA – this is our bread and butter. Protecting our profession, protecting your livelihood, and protecting your clients. This is a huge part of why we’re here. So today, we’re talking about how all of this impacts you and your clients, what the MACPA is doing about it, and what YOU can do to help us. We’re joined by returning guest Tom Hood, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs. Tom has his fingers firmly on the legislative and regulatory pulse of this profession – and it turns out there are some really big issues that we need to be paying attention to over the next few months. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog. Resources: Join us for CPA Day (Jan. 24, 2019): MACPA.org/CPADay Contribute to MACPA’s PAC: MACPA.org/Advocacy The Business Learning Institute Future-Proof is proudly sponsored by the Business Learning Institute, which delivers competency-based curriculum, courses, content, and community to maximize career trajectories and grow intellectual capital for organizational and executive leadership. Hundreds of course by dozens of instructors, and unlimited customization. Find out how the Business Learning Institute can help YOU by visiting BLIonline.org. Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

If the past few years have been all about disruption – and it seems like they have been – then 2019 is already shaping up to be the year of opportunity. We already know what the disruptors are, we know about the potential impacts they’ll have on our profession, and we’ve talked about them to death lately – but not nearly as many people are talking about the opportunities that these disruptions offer us. That changes today. Our guest Mark Koziel is Executive Vice President of firm services for the American Institute of CPAs, and as such he leads the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section, Firm Relationship Management, Small Firms, Diversity & Inclusion, Young Member Initiatives, Technical Hotline, and the Center for Plain English Accounting. Koziel says these disruptions present huge opportunities to CPAs everywhere, especially in three key areas: tax, client accounting services, and audit. Let’s find out how. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog. Resources: Learn more at (https://www.aicpa.org/) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjkoziel/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/markkoziel The Business Learning Institute Future-Proof is proudly sponsored by the Business Learning Institute, which delivers competency-based curriculum, courses, content, and community to maximize career trajectories and grow intellectual capital for organizational and executive leadership. Hundreds of course by dozens of instructors, and unlimited customization. Find out how the Business Learning Institute can help YOU by visiting BLIonline.org. Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

We spend most of our time on this podcast talking about the accounting and finance profession – what the future looks like for those of us who work within this rarified profession and how to help others make sense of their finances, their numbers, or their future. But we’re not the only ones struggling in this area. Well-off and working class, unemployed and entrepreneurial, engaged and disengaged, C-suite and on the dole: everybody is struggling with how to make sense of this changing and complex world. Things have never been more uncertain than they are today, and although change is already happening at a mind-bending pace, it’s only going to speed up going forward. So if you’re not keeping up today, your odds of keeping up tomorrow are slim to none. Luckily, few people have a better perspective on all of this than our guest, Alec Ross, author of the New York Times best-selling book The Industries of the Future and one of the nation’s leading experts on innovation. He served for four years as the senior advisor for innovation for Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State, and he is currently a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University who serves as an advisor to investors, corporations, and government leaders. Alec has traveled the world in search of what sets innovative thought leaders apart from the rest of us, and he has some concrete ideas about what we need to be doing and thinking about going forward to give us a competitive advantage over everybody else. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog. Resources: Learn more at (http://alecross.com/) Read: The Industries of the Future Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alec.ross1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/alecjross LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossalec/ The Business Learning Institute Future-Proof is proudly sponsored by the Business Learning Institute, which delivers competency-based curriculum, courses, content, and community to maximize career trajectories and grow intellectual capital for organizational and executive leadership. Hundreds of course by dozens of instructors, and unlimited customization. Find out how the Business Learning Institute can help YOU by visiting BLIonline.org. -- Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

Did you know that the folks at the MACPA and the Business Learning Institute spend a significant chunk of their time outside of the state of Maryland? And the reason for it is actually pretty simple: there’s a lot of really important stuff happening in this profession, and very little of it happens exclusively in Maryland! Since our goal is to help our members become future-ready, we go to wherever the important stuff is happening, learn about it, and bring that knowledge back to Maryland. And the king of going to where the action is none other than Tom Hood, the CEO of the MACPA and the BLI (and the second most influential person in accounting, according to Accounting Today). He goes everywhere in search of knowledge that will make Maryland CPAs that much more prepared for what’s to come. That’s why Tom is our guest this week. He has been to some really interesting – and definitely exotic – places this year, and we wanted to find out what he’s learned on these trips that Maryland’s CPAs need to know. In This Conversation We Cover: What Tom has learned in Canada, Bora Bora, and beyond The #1 challenge that CPAs face around the globe The four T’s: Talent, taxes (standards, laws, and regulations), technology, and transformation How we can better engage both newer and older accounting and finance professionals moving forward 5G, Wi-Fi 6, & Our Profession We’ve seen multiple articles about 5G and Wi-Fi 6 lately, and it looks like something significant is on the horizon. 5G, of course, is the next generation of cellular network technology. It promises speeds that are multitudes faster than the current 4G standard, which could finally help drive the Internet of Things connectivity to “ready for primetime” status. 5G is being rolled out in late 2018 and should see much wider adoption in 2019 and beyond. Wi-Fi 6, meanwhile, should make its debut in 2019. It promises much higher upload and download speeds, it’ll be able to support 8K video streaming, and it will have a much lower power draw, which means much lower drain on your battery life. Combined, 5G and Wi-Fi 6 will do some incredible things – if you believe the folks who write about this stuff, anyway. In the article “Next Generation Wireless: What You Need To Know About 5G And Wi-Fi 6,” Paul O’Farrell of Forbes writes: “Seamless high performance access to information opens up a plethora of opportunity for developing new, never seen before applications: imagine walking into a store and using augmented reality to watch a live demonstration of the product you are pointing to in action, envision self-driving cars on a freeway, interacting with each other in real-time to ensure complete safety and coordinated traffic flow, or even imagine a surgeon performing a delicate operation, using virtual reality while he is in a different country, other than the patient.” O’Farrell continues by saying, “The possibilities are compelling and endless. It is a call to action for businesses and other organizations to leverage both of these technologies and create new services and offerings. In many markets, the ability to successfully do this will be the difference between success and failure.” So what does this mean for accounting and finance professionals? It’s time to put on our anticipatory hats! Anticipation is all about spotting future trends early and figuring out what opportunities they offer so we can take advantage of them before our competitors do, and there’s a lot of opportunity here. What could you do with the combined power of 5G and Wi-Fi 6? What challenges would that type of power help you overcome? How would they help you better serve your clients and customers? Start thinking about this stuff now – this is your opportunity to finally get in front of some of the hard trends that have been disrupting our world, which just so happens to be exactly what Tom Hood has been trying to do. You can learn more...

Rebekah Brown is the Director of Development for the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. Rebekah frequently presents to groups both locally and nationally on the future of the accounting profession and, as a certified Insight to Action facilitator, she has guided firms, nonprofits, and accounting professionals in the United States and Canada in their strategic planning process.   On top of all the work that Rebekah does, she’s just downright passionate about the profession, taking a “rising tide raises all ships” philosophy to everything she does to train and educate her fellow and future accountants.   Rebekah focuses on what she calls the three P’s:   People – “I develop people! I am passionate ... about helping people find their strengths and find their place in the accounting profession. So, on an individual basis, with each of our members, I want to help develop them and develop their careers.” Pipeline – MACPA is over  100 years old, and in that time they’ve learned that we have to be constantly thinking about and developing future CPAs. So a lot of Rebekah’s work involves talking to college students, high school students, and even elementary school students about the accounting profession. “So, I’m always thinking about who is our next generation CPA, who's our next generation member, and preparing them for the profession.” Profession – The MACPA isn’t solely focused preparing accounting and finance professionals in Maryland. “We really believe that the rising tide raises all boats. So, we want the profession to grow to be successful, to be anticipatory, to be future-ready. And so, as we do that all over the world, we believe we are benefiting Maryland, and we believe that Maryland CPAs are even better positioned to be future-ready because of that.”   Speaking of the future of the profession, there was an article in Accounting Today titled “Melancon: It’s time to reimagine accounting” covering a presentation that Barry Melancon, the President and CEO of the AICPA, made this year at the AICPA ENGAGE Conference.   My favorite quote from this article is when Barry says, "We've changed significantly just in the past year, and we're never going to see the pace of change that's slower than what we're seeing now. And, you know, we won't be obsolete, particularly, if we embrace these changes."   Just let that sink in. How does that affect you and your business, and how does that affect you as an accounting financial professional as we move forward?   I highly recommend reading the article and listening to Barry's podcast interview with Bill Sheridan on Future-Proof, a podcast for accounting and financial pros.   After doing so myself, I have decided to invest my CPE time and dollars into learning more about blockchain and artificial intelligence. I've been somewhat reluctant to do this, but I want to have this better understanding of this technology.   Resources: Learn more: MACPA.org | BLIonline.org Connect with Rebekah: Twitter | LinkedIn Listen to Peter on Episode 19 of Future-Proof & subscribe on Apple Podcasts   -- Change Your Mindset is produced by Podcast Masters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re talking about soft skills – you know, the EASY stuff. I mean, why else would we call them that? The name implies that they’re easy, not as important, and take a back burner to the harder technical skills that we need to do our jobs. And you know what? That’s a load of crap. Soft skills are actually hard to master, and there’s really nothing easy about them. More than that, these are the skills that will set us apart from our competition going forward. They’re the skills that help us communicate better, deal with people more effectively, foster trust, and build relationships. The fact is, these skills are more crucial to the future of our profession than anything, and no one is more passionate about promoting these skills than our guest this week. Jeff Nischwitz is the founder of The Nischwitz Group, a leadership speaker, an author, a coach, and a Business Learning Institute thought leader devoted to the idea that our future success depends on our ability to master these so-called “soft” skills. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog. Resources: Learn more at (http://nischwitzgroup.com/) Connect with Jeff: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn Read Jeff’s blog: "Celebrate the Mundane" Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

If you want to be a relevant part of this industry tomorrow, there are some things that you need to know today. There was a time when we could rely on the technical accounting skills we learned in college to see us through years, possibly even decades, of our careers – but things are changing, and they’re changing really, really fast. Tomorrow’s accounting and finance professionals are going to need a new set of tools. To learn more about what these tools are, we sat down with Jennifer Warawa, Executive Vice President of Partners, Accountants and Alliances with (https://www.sage.com/en-us/) . As part of a unique partnership with the Business Learning Institute, Sage has actually defined the seven tools we will need to start a future-ready practice in what it calls the Sage 7C Transformation Model. We think this model, and the thinking behind it, are really important. Resources: Learn more at (http://practiceofnow.com/) Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

You may be wondering, what does legislation and regulation have to do with me, an accounting or finance professional – or vasectomies? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot! New technologies, demographic shifts, and disruptions of all shapes and sizes are coming at us faster than ever – and how our lawmakers and regulatory agencies react to these changes will dictate how our profession works going forward. That’s why MACPA’s legislative team, with the support of volunteers, is always monitoring new bills and fighting for legislation that will benefit all Marylanders (and if you don’t live in Maryland, this is still important because some of these issues have implications that will affect everyone in our profession). To share more about our ongoing efforts, we’re joined by Tom Hood, the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, who is just catching his breath after the end of a busy legislative season. Resources: Want to get involved? Head over to macpa.org/advocacy Connect with Tom Hood: Twitter | LinkedIn Learn more on the MACPA blog: macpa.org/blog Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

The world is transforming. Everything is fundamentally different than it was even a decade ago, and we can see this change happening in real time. How we communicate, work, and live is constantly being shaped by the never-ending evolution of technology. While many business professionals have taken notice of developing technologies like machine learning and AI, most of us have taken a “wait and see” approach. But this isn’t science fiction – the future is coming for accounting and finance professionals, and we need to prepare. To help us future-proof our businesses, our first guest is Daniel Burrus, a world-renowned futurist, a New York Times bestselling author, and an old friend of both the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. Resources: Connect with Daniel: Burrus.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook The Anticipatory Organization | Accounting & Finance Edition Curriculum “Daniel Burrus’ Top 20 Technology-Driven Hard Trends Shaping 2018 and Beyond” Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible by Daniel Burrus and John David Mann The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change Into Opportunity and Advantage by Daniel Burrus Future-Proof is produced by Podcast Masters

'Future Proof' from the Business Learning Institute & the MACPA is coming soon. Please subscribe to get new episodes automatically!

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 leadership positions. “So what can I say? I'm a lone ranger. Hired gun. You need help? The doctor is in.” –Dr. Alan Patterson Although a lot of things have changed in the business world over the past few decades, one thing has stayed the same: we acknowledge that communication skills are important, but we don’t necessarily act like it. Even in the digital age, these are three of the most important skills you need to master… if you want to attain a strategic leadership position, or be considered a trusted business advisor: Active listening Communicating at the level of audience understanding Understanding the perspectives of the people you're talking to Dr. Patterson will tell his clients, “I can't believe I'm making money going to organizations telling them that they have… to be better at listening,” but it turns out no one is immune from underdeveloped communication skills – being in a senior position doesn’t guarantee that you're a better listener (and sometimes it’s just the opposite). “You need to go out, talk to people, and listen. Do you know what we call that? That’s called a dialogue.” –Dr. Alan Patterson Dr. Patterson has a personal challenge for you: Think of one person you know that's a good listener, then talk about that person and what they're like and what they mean to you. The results will likely be pretty dynamic. Dr. Patterson believes that people who don’t develop emotional intelligence, empathy, moral character, courage, relationship management, influence, and persuasion skills will, guaranteed, top out in their career; they will be frustrated because they will be passed over or put in a box. “People want the easy answer, so I say okay: You have to learn how to influence other people, and influence is based on credibility. There is no shortcut.” –Dr. Alan Patterson So what do people need to start working on today if they want to go from technical expert to strategic leader? Broader visibility, broader understanding of the business, providing guidance, and selling those ideas to others – And you won’t get seen, learn about the business, or have credibility if you don’t first learn to listen with empathy. Resources: Learn more about Mentoré: Mentore.com | Twitter | Facebook Leader Evolution: From Technical Expertise to Strategic Leadership by Dr. Alan Patterson If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating by Alan Alda --   Production & Development for Improv Is No Joke by Podcast Masters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Hood, CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, is on a mission to help CPAs make sense of this changing and complex world. Tom and I spoke on the third episode of this podcast, in June of 2016, and a lot has changed in that short period of time. We discuss how technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing are impacting the accounting profession (and the world), and how CPAs can begin transforming themselves into Anticipatory CPAs. What is blockchain? Tom says that blockchain is best described as the Internet of Value. Using secure peer-to-peer data, blockchain basically conveys transactions of value with multiple parties to, effectively, create a public ledger. This is a real example of a supply chain using blockchain technology, which may help you understand how it works in practice: There’s fishermen in a boat off the coast of Malaysia, and they have smartphones. When they catch a tuna, they use their smartphone to take a picture. The phone geo locates the photo and it creates the first block of data. The data says this tuna was caught at this location, at this point in time, with these people, and it includes the picture. On the dock, the fishermen hand the tuna off to a processing plant, and that creates another block of data showing it was transferred. Now it’s being processed. The really good meat is going to go to the sushi restaurant and the other stuff is going to be processed further down to canned tuna. The sushi tuna is in another block of data that says it's going on a truck, and it is delivered to some number of sushi restaurants. Each one of those restaurants is another element of data all about that fish. The restaurant owners and customers can trust, with certainty, that the fish is fresh and high quality. In the canning center, the cans come out with a bar code that basically connects it back to that block of data. When someone picks that can off the shelf, they can trace it back to that tuna on that day in that place off the coast of Malaysia. Consumers can trust that these fish weren’t caught using illegal or morally questionable practices. The Convergence The real power of blockchain technologies is realized when it converges with cloud computing and artificial intelligence. If you’re not aware, “the cloud” isn’t just for storing data – cloud computing harnesses the power of any connected device to process tasks more quickly than any single computer possibly could. This exponential increase in processing power has made artificial intelligence significantly more tangible. Oracle, for example, have a machine called Hana. It could process every tax return in the history of the world, since 1957 to now, in under four minutes. If accountants can leverage these technologies to do the grunt work in a matter of minutes, or even seconds, they can focus their time and energy on delivering substantial value to their clients by interpreting and analyzing that data. On top of that, blockchain databases will create an extra layer of trust and accountability, possibly even removing the need for audits entirely in many areas of the accounting industry. Be an Anticipatory CPA The idea of being anticipatory is to be aware, predictive, and adaptive. Do you even know that the trend is real? Can you predict what it might do for you or your client or your company? And then what would you start doing to adapt to it? A CPA’s greatest value is taking complex information and putting it in a context that somebody who doesn't have that knowledge can understand. To help prepare you, the Maryland Society of CPAs is working with IBM to create a future-ready learning portal for CPAs to learn about artificial intelligence, big data, data science, deep machine learning, and blockchain. The portal will give CPAs a familiarity with the technology and an understanding of the terms so that, as this technology starts to unfold, they'll be able to see the potential and understand the major concepts well enough to communicate with the people controlling these technologies. Resources: Learn more: Maryland Association of CPAs Business Learning Institute Five Steps for Building a Future-Ready Finance Team [PDF] - by Bill Sheridan, CAE (Business Learning Institute) -- Production & Development for Improv Is No Joke by Podcast Masters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s returning guest is Gregory Lainas, Senior Vice President and Division Director of Robert Half Management Services, a division of Robert Half International. Greg is an incredible networker – so good, in fact, that he networked his way into the novel Flashback and was the first person in the history of Robert Half to obtain $20 million in gross margin – and this interview is packed with helpful tips and stories about networking for business development. When we say networking, many of you (particularly accountants) might recoil. The concept is simple - it can be as simple as asking someone a question, and with social networking that ask is even easier -  but networking itself can still feel difficult. Why do so many of us still find networking difficult? As we grow up, we find our comfort zones and it only gets harder to leave those zones. If social situations aren’t where you feel comfortable, that can be seem like a big obstacle. There’s a fear of failure. Your inner critic says you can’t do it, there’s no point, or you will embarrass yourself. One way to quiet that inner critic, address your fear, and feel more comfortable is to take some of the pressure off of yourself by reframing your responsibility as a networker. Your primary role is not to talk – it is to listen, be interested, and be attentive. “You’re born with two ears, two eyes, and one mouth. That means you should be listening and watching twice as much as you’re talking.” The Greek philosopher Epictetus once said, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Gregory adds that we are also born with two eyes, and he has a great point: when we are networking, we need to be listening with our ears and our eyes. There’s a secret to looking interested and attentive: actually being interested, or even passionate, about what you’re doing! Maybe you don’t actually hate networking – maybe you just don’t like the things you are currently networking about. In baseball, they say there’s only one thing you cannot teach a player to do. You can teach them to hit, you can teach them to throw, you can teach them to field… but you cannot teach them to run. You can teach an accountant to listen, bot can’t teach passion. And you shouldn’t try to fake passion if you don’t have it. Give yourself a break by aligning your interests with your job or business, in some way. If you’re plastic, as Greg calls it, and camouflage your true interests, you won’t actually fool anyone. Another way to think of your role as a networker – and, really, anyone in a service business – is to think of yourself as a doctor for your clients or customers. We're trying to do a diagnosis, and we can't do the diagnosis if we're constantly talking. We have to listen, process, adapt, then prescribe. How can we apply the art of listening and networking to improve business development? The ultimate goal with any business interaction should be to stand out from your competitors and add value to your client or customer. Listening, passion and sincerity are all simple tactics, but they will help. You can also stand out by offering a distinct value proposition… but you won’t know what you can offer if you don’t play the role of the doctor and find their pain, first. Don’t believe it’s that simple? Next time you’re at a business appointment, try starting off with something like this: “Rather than me pontificate about all the services I represent, I'd like to learn more about your business. What keeps you up at night? What's preventing you from getting from point A to Point B?” Wait, listen, and pay attention. The results will speak for themselves. If you take the time to honestly serve your clients, and add value, then you will earn the right to do business with them, and you will set yourself apart from the competition in the process.   Resources: Connect with Greg on LinkedIn Robert Half Flashback by Gary Braver Exciting News: Listen, Learn, and Earn CPE Credits I’m excited to share that I've partnered with the American Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute to bring you a new learning opportunity for accounting professionals to earn CPE credits. Starting May 30th, you can earn up to 1 CPE credit for each completed podcast episode purchased for only $29 through the MACPA and Business Learning Institute self-study website. Just listen to an episode you purchase through the website and then take their review and final exam while you're working out, or after listening to an episode on your commute to and from work. It's that easy. You can learn more about getting CPE credits for listening to the show on my website. While all episodes of the podcast are available on my website, only those purchased through the MACPA BLI self-study website are eligible for CPE credit. Production & Development for Improv Is No Joke by Podcast Masters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Improv is No Joke podcast. Today’s guest is Bill Sheridan, the Maryland Association of CPAs’ Chief Communications Officer, editor, and resident social media cheerleader. He is creator and co-author of the association’s acclaimed blog, CPA Success; Certified Association Executive and thought leader at the Business Learning Institute; and manager of the association’s numerous social networks. Today we’re talking about what Bill sees on the horizon for information and technology, and how CPAs and other business professionals will need to adapt as technology changes. “I see a lot of change. It's going to get crazy, and it's going to get crazy really, really fast.” In 1965, Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, observed that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since their invention – or, more simply, the processing speed of computer technology is doubling every year. This observation is called Moore’s Law, and 51 years later it still holds true. “It's doing more than giving us really cool gadgets to play with. It's fundamentally changing everything.” Moore’s Law suggests that computer technology experiences exponential growth, which can be hard to comprehend. In The Future of Professions by Daniel & Richard Susskind, they illustrate exponential growth with a simple mental exercise: imagine folding a piece of paper in half over and over and over again (it’s not actually possible to fold a piece of paper more than a few times, but this exercise gives you an idea of what exponential growth looks like). 4 folds = thickness of a credit card 11 folds = thickness of a soda can 21 folds = taller than Big Ben 31 folds = tall enough to reach outer space 43 folds = tall enough to reach the Moon 100 folds = thickness of 8 billion light years “Things are are changing radically, and they're changing for CPA's as well.” CPAs will have to come to terms the fact that computers will outperform them on some tasks, but nothing will change the fact that people will still need accounting services. CPAs need to adapt to new technology and clients’ changing needs, and if you don’t adapt then the generation below you will – so you’ll still be out of a job. The profession will still exist, but CPAs will need entirely new, adaptable skillsets. CPAs will need to be better improvisers. “I'm not here to tell anybody that you have to do this stuff, because you don't, but you also don't have to stay in business.” The young professionals who are going to be leading the CPA profession in a very short period of time are completely comfortable with moving from new technology to new technology, because that's just the way life is for them. The pushback from the old guard is fine and it's not unexpected, and very soon the accounting profession is going to shift to something that's much more capable of embracing new things, just because of the shift in leadership. “If we can get there first, if we can figure out how to become a little bit more future ready and then show our clients and customers how to do that as well, then our role as trusted business advisors just gets stronger.” As Chief Communications Officer, Bill’s philosophy is that the MACPAs needs to be wherever their members are and reach them in whatever way that they like to be reached, and they try to do that across all of the different platforms. By reaching out to their audience and adding value to their social media experience, Bill helps the MACPAs maintain their role as trusted business advisors when information is more available than ever. At CPA Success they write about what members of the MACPA need to know today – breaking news, new standards, etc. At the Business Learning Institute they focus on what might be happening down the road that they should be paying attention to. Similarly, they shared important news on their Twitter feed and engage more personally with their clients on Facebook. I always enjoy sitting down to talk with Bill, and I greatly appreciate him taking the time out of his busy schedule. We’re going to touch bases again on the podcast, in about a year, to see how technology is changing and discuss how we have adapted.   Resources: Follow the CPA Success blog Get educated with the Business Learning Institute The Future of Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts by Daniel Susskind & Richard Susskind A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger The Second Machine Age by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson Humans are Underrated by Geoffrey Colvin   Production & Development for Improv is no Joke by Podcast Masters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pam Devine has graced her presence as the guest on today’s show. She is from New England but now has her life in Baltimore. Her favorite quote is from Tom Hood that is, "L is greater than or equal to C." She has been part of the Business Learning Institute, an affiliate of the Maryland Association of CPAs. This organization focuses on leadership, strategy and communication, the skills that make better business professionals. Learning is what give the organization a competitive advantage and has the saying "The learning curve is truly the earning curve." The organization gives the team within an opportunity to grow by attending various conferences. The organization is also redesigning their office environment in a way wherein it can promote a more collaborative open learning environment expose to different levels from CEO to junior members. One of the important conferences in topic was the Bersin Conference, which talked about leadership. It talked about learning architecture and how learning has changed from more than just education. In order for an organization to have a truly competitive learning environment, the conference introduced the Four E’s: Education Exposure Environment Experience It discussed also the way to think about a systematic approach to learning encompassing all of the Four E’s. Pam gave the CPA Day in Annapolis event as an example. Here, CPAs get to have a new environment outside the office to learn. CPAs can be exposed to meet various people and legislators and have the opportunity to understand what is going on in the legislative environment. Lastly, CPAs gain the experience at the end of event. It mentioned also the importance of making the architectural learning environment work, which is composed of curious employee, network employee, holistic employee, agile employee and innovative employee. Pam would like to share to the listeners of this podcast the quote "Train your people and they are 92% more likely to stay and be loyal." It is better to invest in one's future and gain loyalty.   LEARN FROM TWITTER Follow the stream hashtag #impactHR on Twitter Learn beyond the traditional education through tweets A good way to get an immediate feedback   ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Maryland Association of CPAs: website Bersin Conference: website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Hood was a wonderful guest on today’s show. He’s a great forward-thinking leader in the CPA world and delivered great value to the audience with his insights into technologies and trends for the future. Tom just returned from a spring council meeting for members of the American Institute of CPAs. A big takeaway from the meeting is the sense that people are beginning to understand the impact of the exponential pace of technology. Big changes like continuous auditing of 100% of transactions are right around the corner, as well as automation within the financial world. Big ticket items will still remain with professionals, but the entry level tasks will be moved to machines soon. “We’re going to need new skills and need them faster probably than we think and we’re going to need to focus on things that computers can’t do.” The trust and relationship side of accounting are aspects that we need to leverage: we need to get better at doing what computers can’t do. Tom has been able to predict many of the things that others are just now starting to see. It’s not any type of clairvoyance on his part, though. He attributes his future seeing abilities to something that Isaac Newton had said, “The reason I can see farther is because I stand on the shoulder of giants.” Tom’s business relationships and training has helped him see upcoming trends. With this vision, Tom knows that it won’t be enough to just know the nuts and bolts of accounting. CPA’s will need to begin developing strategic thinking within the companies they work for. This is understanding data and having the ability to analyze it within the context of the company and the world surrounding it. “Wisdom is looking at patterns and connecting dots.” The number one reason why people leave their CPA’s is because they tend to be reactionary and not proactive. Accountants are logical and we look for facts to understand and tell us about the business. This can lead to a focus on the rear view mirror, without ever looking out through the windshield. CPA’s need to make time for the future and must be taught to look forward. A change in curriculum like this isn’t something that higher education is capable of just yet. That’s a huge ship to turn around, and we all know they don’t turn quickly. Because of this, it’s up to us as employers to teach our people the skills necessary to be more adaptable and to make a greater impact. Don’t worry about the costs, do this so your people are better prepared to help the organization. The old idea of “if we train them they’ll leave” needs to take a back seat to the more critical message of “what if we don’t train them and they stay?” Tom gave some incredible food for thought in today’s episode. We all need to make a concerted effort to be more forward thinking in our approach to our chosen profession. I’m really glad he had the time to speak with us today.   IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN: Why forward-thinking is so valuable to the CPA professionHow collaboration between CPA’s and other professions surrounding them will be more important as time moves onThe hard trends that we can all be trained to seeWhy we can’t rely on higher education to fully prepare accountants for the new financial world we’re facingPlus much more…  YES, AND… Learn more and connect with Tom: LinkedIn | Twitter  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Maryland Association of CPAs: WebsiteAmerican Institute of CPAs: Website‘Humans are Underrated’ by Geoff Colvin: Book Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices