The Authentic Advisor

Psychologist, coach, author and speaker Dr Darryl Cross joins Mindshop's Managing Director James Mason to discuss how advisors and their clients can build resilience to succeed in both their personal and professional lives. Dr Cross is a clinical and organisational psychologist with a career spanning government and academic roles, he subsequently established a private practise to deliver management consulting to help leaders, individuals and family businesses. In an uncertain, volatile world full of stresses, now compounded by a global pandemic, resilience has never been so vital. Dr Cross discusses how adapting well in the face of adversity, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress can give the mental toughness to see through bad times and provide energy to others. Leaders especially need resilience to show teams they are coping in the face of adversity and can lead the way. In turn, advisors need to build resilience to deliver energy and practical advice to these leaders, becoming a trusted 'sidekick' in tough times. Dr Cross provides three essential tips to address attributes that could be holding you back, to build resilience levels and be a better leader or advisor.

In this 'must listen' podcast for those in accounting firms who want to provide exceptional advisory services through the effective use of technology, James Mason is joined by Dixie McCurley, Co-Founder and President of Trusted CFO Solutions based in Atlanta, USA. Dixie shares her decade long experience in the provision of virtual CFO services and reveals the key elements to her success. Starting in corporate accounting Dixie moved to CPA firms where her specialty was setting up accounting systems for SME's. After co-founding Trusted CFO Solutions over a decade ago she reveals her secrets to becoming the heart beat of a client's business as a trusted advisor using real time numbers coupled with expert analysis to remotely deliver advisory and CFO services. Dixie covers how to successfully shift from traditional to digital services including the importance of using real time metrics combined with advisory tools (such as Gap Analysis and One Page Plans) to dig deeper into issues and formulate strategies. Revealing the key applications she uses to be an essential and embedded part of the team from collaboration tools to payroll and ERP systems whilst still working remotely, this podcast is also full of tips on avoiding implementation pitfalls (such as the client self-service and cookie-cutter dashboard traps), as well as ideas on how to price client engagements to be remunerated appropriately for value delivered.

In the second episode of 'The Authentic Advisor' podcast series, Mindshop's Managing Director, James Mason interviews Craig Stanmore, CEO of Enspira Financial, an advisory and accounting firm based in Sydney, Australia. James and Craig discuss the different ways business advisors can improve efficiency and capacity and how using various technologies can assist in 'unlocking the numbers' to problem solve for clients. The conversation then turns to how creating capacity through leverage does not necessarily bring automatic business advisory success, as capability, business acumen and experience are mandatory to build trusted client/advisor relationships.

In the inaugural episode of 'The Authentic Advisor' Mindshop's Managing Director, James Mason interviews James Atkins, Director of Vantage Strategy, who shares his experience and ideas on marketing insights to create cut through in a cluttered business advisory market. James works with boards as an advisor and director, he is Chairman of Big 4 Holiday Parks and Greening Australia, is a non-executive director of the .au Domain Administration, the Connective Group and Circus Oz.