Ep. 34: Brian Kush - Coaching Accounting Leaders

Brian Kush: https://www.intend2lead.com/brian-kush/
Top 10 Books for Accountants: https://www.intend2lead.com/top-ten-books/
Intend2Lead: www.intend2lead.com

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:00)

This is episode 34 of Count me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and I'd like to welcome you back for another great perspective on the skills needed to succeed in today's accounting industry. For this episode, Mitch spoke to Brian Kush and executive leadership coach and the co-founder of intend to lead. Brian explains the importance of strong leadership and personal development when trying to create a sustainable accounting career. Let's go to the conversation to hear more. 

Mitch: (00:36)

One of the central competencies for our accounting and finance audience revolves around leadership. What natural leadership and coaching skills do accountants commonly possess? And tell us a little bit about what you do to support that skill set. 

Brian: (00:58)

Right, Mitch? So I always think of maybe an overused term in our industry, in the accounting industry is the idea of adding value. however, I feel like accountants are really good at that. I feel like they bring a value added mindset to everything that they do. And so some of the natural leadership qualities that they possess or that I find in a lot of accountants are, they're very good and open about sharing with each other and learning from each other, different in newer ways on how did you do things, you know, it might even just be, Hey here, allergy and, you know, here's what our firm or here's what our organization does. And, and, and being very good about sharing it with others, you know, and trying to learn from each other, whether it's you're in public accounting or if you're an internal audit shop, it's like how can we learn from other entities that are out there and really having that learning mindset in a way where they're sharing well with each other there. They're building upon each other. In some cases. It's brainstorming. I've done a lot of facilitated facilitated work or I've been here, well work with accounts even at different companies or firms. And it's just amazing and it's inspiring to me how well they are, are good. They are an open that they are about sharing new ideas and ways to improve and just really supporting each other in that way. So it's cool for me to be able to see that. I think that's something that accountants naturally do. I think accountants are also very good goal setters. You know, we have to be, and a lot of the, the work that we do, we have to set milestones. So how many of the projects that we're tasked with doing are not easy. They are complex and you have to set multiple milestones. So accounts are good at that when they're somewhat forced to do that and intend to lead. We're, you know, we're a leadership development company and we do a lot of coaching with, with accountants and one of the things we like to do is we like to really work off of that off of the idea of the learning mindset. How can you uncover, you know, what's really important you, how can you learn from each other? And coaching is really about helping someone to learn more about themselves and to move their acts just forward in their life. And so we like to tap into their learning mindset. And figuring out ways that they can progress in it, they can improve. And we like to also tap into that goal setting mindset where it's like, Hey, where do you want to go in your life? What's important to you? And how do we create a road map on how to get there? And that's what coaching is about. It's about, you know, where do you want to go? What are you now, what's the gap, you know? And as a coach, I'm going to help you to create a roadmap and an intentional way for you to move your learning and your actions for us that we can get to where you want to go. And by doing that, you can grow your skills as a leader and grow your influence of others. 

Mitch: (03:50)

Now that's the perfect segue to my next question because I'm curious, you know, kind of being a former accountant now, working with many accountants, what are some of the common goals that you've come across from these accounting leaders? What are they typically attempting to reach and what kind of roadmaps are you putting together for them? 

Brian: (04:09)

Yeah, Mitch. I think one of the most common goals that they have, it's really a, there's a big emotional part of this, but there's so many accountants out there where they, they want to, they want to feel bold enough to be able to create the life that they want in the future that they want and they want to feel like they have enough power to carve their job around what they want instead of, and let me compare that to sometimes how they feel. And it's usually fear based. It's usually all about struggle. A lot of times they feel like, wow, I've got this job and I've got to carve the rest of my life around my job because everything in my job comes first. And this is the way I've seen my peers do it. Or this is the way I've seen the people that have come before me do it. You know, job comes first. What I need to do comes first and the rest of my life is around that and what I love is we've worked with a lot of people with a lot of big hearts and they want to be bold and they want to create that future as they want it. Not always as how they've seen it. And so what they do is they want to have the boldness to say, Hey, can I visualize the future that I want? If I want to make partner in accounting farmer or if I want to be the CFO, can I become a CFO at this organization in a way where I can create the life I want? And the job of CFO or the job of partner fits into that. And, and so it can be the life I want sort of a life of someone else's or another type of model that's been created for me by somebody else. And that's really challenging for them and that's really, I think at the heart of what their bigger goals are, which is that life that they want and making everything and helping everything to fit into what is it they want. And. 

Mitch: (06:04)

What are some of the challenges that you typically encounter when trying to lead these accounting professionals through this plan that you develop or, you know, down this road? You know, the, the, the challenge is first kind of separating that emotional piece as you said, but once you're kind of on track, what typically happens? 

Brian: (06:24)

Yeah, it's unfortunate, but we've worked with a lot of accountants where they feel overwhelmed a big part of the time. And so they might ask, how do I take care of myself so that I don't burn out even when I'm really busy? You know, and you know, how can I work with my stress? How can I be proactive with my stress? You know, and this is to me in a lot of ways is a foundational challenge because whatever other challenges I made share with you are very common in our industry. This one is going to affect it, you know, so how do I manage my stress? How do I manage my anxiety and all that? And if I can do that well it's going to help me with so many of my other goals and so much of my vision and where I want to go. You know? And, and we always say, Hey, you know what, in order to do that, you have to be able to have a plan. You have to be intentional ...