Life Beyond The Numbers

#24 Changing the Status Quo - Gillian Fawcett

"We are, the first international mentoring scheme for public finance, the first, scheme to be totally virtual for public financial by management." "I see public finance by women as being a powerful network to try and influence the status quo and change the status quo." Gillian Fawcett.  
 
Throughout her career, Gillian has focused on making public services more efficient and more effective on a local, national and international level.  We discuss the impact she wants to have on the world and the impetus for starting Public Finance by Women. The organisation has two key objectives (1) to support women in their career development  (2) to advance gender equality in public financial management.  She explains that the organisation is international and inclusive - as although the focus is on women men are also involved. Globally out of 188 ministries of finance only 39 have women ministers of finance so there's a real need to promote gender equality and change the status quo.  We discuss mentoring, skills development versus career development and the role of finance professionals in public finance. Gillian shares a fantastic example about snow and the impact of gender budgeting in Sweden as well as some other stories from Vietnam, Philippines and Belize.     
 
Gillian Fawcett is a co-founder of Public Finance by Women (PFW), an international non-profit organisation focused upon supporting women working in public finance to fulfil their career potential by providing mentoring and other support, as well as promoting the advancement of gender equality. Previously, she was head of international at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA), head of public sector at ACCA Global, a senior fellow at the Office for Public Management (OPM), head of policy at the Audit Commission and head of finance at the Scrutiny Unit in the House of Commons. In January 2019 she was appointed as a member for the Cifas local government anti-fraud and corruption advisory board and joined the board of Friends of the Earth Charitable Trust in February 2019.
 
Connect with Gillian:
on LinkedIn
Website: https://www.publicfinancebywomen.org/ 
Twitter https://twitter.com/publicfinanceb1 
 
Resources:
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez
Time to Think by Nancy Kline

#23 Work-Life Magic - Various

In this episode, I've pulled together some insights from guests on 'work-life balance' - what is work-life balance, how do you know you have it, does it exist and more.  
I introduce the episode with an overview of 'body-budgeting' - a phrase coined by neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett.  She is the author of 'How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of The Brain'.  
This episode includes:
John Hayns (#14) on attuning to your body and work-life magic
Kim Bowden (#17) on a work-life balance 'aha' moment
Gary Cox (#4 & #5) on the need for a time machine and more sleep
Andrew Codd (#8) on is there any such thing as work-life balance
Helen Joy (#6) on boundaries
Jerry Harris (#9) on appropriate selfishness (my new favourite phrase!)
Michelle Heer (#3) on her daughter's approach to her work-life balance
Dave Greenaway (#2) on being able to say 'no'
Sue Rosen (#1) on finding joy
Steve Haines (#10) on the power of movement - internal as well as external
 
What does work-life balance mean to you? 
If you have a favourite strategy you'd like to share I would love to know.
Please tag Life Beyond The Numbers and tell us where you are listening from.  

#22 Work-Life Insights - Various

This week's episode includes a selection of insights from seven of the first 21 episodes.  
We start off with stories of how we can compromise ourselves at work from Mags de Valois (#13) and Mark Samowitz (#21).
Then a story from Helen Joy (#6) about how your personal life influences your work life but also how you can learn from good and bad experiences.  
Marcus Thompson (#15) tells us the secret to flourishing at work.
Sue Rosen (#1) talks about how her head was full of the shoulds, the importance of reflection and how leadership is changing. 
Having a culture where people feel protected, psychologically safe and able to speak is what Kim Bowden (#17) talks about.
Finally, Aoife O'Brien (#20) shares with us the importance of being happy at work.  
 
If you enjoyed listening to any guest in particular, or all of them, check out their full-length episodes. Also, there are plenty more episodes with amazing insights to choose from.   
 
 

#21 Empowering People - Mark Samowitz

"And if you don't understand the language and the financial impacts of the words being used in that language you're completely in the dark, right? No wonder people are dead scared and have this fear.  So we want to remove the fear of the language and empower people to speak finance confidently."  Mark Samowitz.
 
We chat about the fear non-finance people often experience when it comes to working with accounting and finance teams or when they deal with numbers.  Although non-finance people can be completely intimidated, threatened or scared by financial jargon they might 'nod and smile'.  Mark tells us about his unique, gamified, interactive discovery-learning methodology and approach to teach accounting and finance to non-finance people.  Participants acquire the language of finance and accounting so they can tell the story of their numbers, interpret that story and be empowered to have better financial conversations.  
 
Mark Samowitz is the CEO and founder of Accounting Made Easy. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in (SA) in 2004. He then pursued a music career in New York where he lived as a musician/entertainer for three and a half years.  Accounting Made Easy combines Mark's love for entertaining with his passion for making accounting come alive. It is a perfect marriage of Mark's accounting knowledge and his ability to connect with people, empower and transform them. 
 
Connect with Mark:
On LinkedIn
www.accountingmadeeasy.co 
Email: mark@accountingmadeeasy.co
 

#20 Happy at Work - Aoife O’Brien

"I have been in situations in the workplace where it was just a toxic environment. How do we protect workers from entering into that type of scenario? How do we help companies to make better decisions when it comes to hiring to help them to retain staff, to create a better and more collaborative environment. But also how do we match?" "How do you find that match between a person and an organisation?" Aoife O'Brien
 
Are you happy at work?  In this week's episode Aoife and I explore the concept of happiness at work - globally only about 15% of people claim to be fully engaged at work.  We talk about the shift that is going on in workplaces towards the knowledge that you can actually do something that you really enjoy and feel the sense of contribution to the world as well.  We discuss the importance of understanding your values.  We talk about bullying, toxic workplaces, imposter syndrome and psychological safety.  Aoife shares many stories from her own career.  She also talks about her recent dissertation on workplace fit and in particular we discuss the concepts of autonomy, relatedness and competency.  
 
Aoife O’Brien has 20+ years of identifying and solving business problems in a global context. She helps companies to drive productivity and profitability through people analytics.  Aoife believes that everyone deserves to be happier at work and that this can be done by increasing overall 'fit' in the workplace - understanding work culture and hiring for that culture. She is based in Dublin, Ireland, and works online with people all over the world.
 
Connect with Aoife:
On LinkedIn, on Twitter and Instagram
www.happieratwork.ie 
Podcast: Happier at Work
 
Resources:
https://www.gallup.com/home.aspx 
The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness, Prof Steve Peters

#19 Cross-Cultural Contexts - John Cammack

"If we can understand other people's culture, whether it's racial culture or national or organisational we are then in a better place to start making those bridges and making sure that we can work together effectively and actually benefiting from other people's cultures and understanding."  John Cammack.  
 
John began his career in International Development with the job title Disasters Accountant and his latest book, Cross-Cultural Organizational and Financial Training, is where anthropology meets accounting.  He shares the differences when communicating with 'high-context' to 'low-context' cultures.  We talk about the importance of building trust, saving face and the variation between online training versus face to face.  John explains how motivating it was for him to realise that accounting is not just about the figures and numbers but about human beings - their health care or that they're being fed or whatever it is in an emergency.  It is about having an impact on the program and that good budgeting means good development - get the budgeting right you'll get better development. We also talk about Accounting for International Development as a way to get first-hand experience.  
 
John Cammack is a highly experienced advisor, consultant and trainer for the international not-for-profit/NGO sector. He was head of international finance at Oxfam GB and senior lecturer in accounting and financial management at Oxford Brookes University.  He has worked with a wide range of agencies in over 60 countries. John was named as Global Business Insight Awards NGO Consulting firm of the year 2019.
 
Connect with John
https://www.johncammack.net/ 
On LinkedIn and Twitter
 
Resources
https://www.johncammack.net/publications/ 
Time to Think, Nancy Kline
Accounting for International Development https://www.afid.org.uk/ 

#18 Letting Go - John Purkiss

"I realised, okay, so I've done all this left-brain clever stuff, you know, like accounting, finance, languages, strategy, marketing, dah, dah, dah. I feel suicidal. So clearly I am missing something.  My father was in sales, my brother is in sales and I realised there were people who were far less academic than me who were leading much happier lives and were not trying to kill themselves." John Purkiss. 
 
John finds himself drawn to anything that helps change the world in a positive way including in business, photography and writing books. Working as a headhunter John uses his training in banking and finance every day and shares the value of going beyond that to be far more effective.  We talk about being present, the power of letting go and how letting go does not mean giving up but helps you become more powerful.  Work-life balance John believes is a misnomer - how can you balance one thing that is part of the other?
 
John Purkiss studied economics at Cambridge University and has an MBA from INSEAD. He began his career with The First National Bank of Chicago, Mercury Asset Management and OC&C Strategy Consultants. John then co-founded a software company and worked in sales and marketing, in the UK, Belgium and France. He joined Heidrick & Struggles, where he set up and ran the CFO Practice in the London office and was promoted to partner. John is now a partner with August Leadership. He is the author of How To Be Headhunted, Brand You and The Power of Letting Go. www.johnpurkiss.com
 
Connect with John
LinkedIn, Twitter, InstagramResources:
http://www.johnpurkiss.com/books/ 
http://nithyananda.org  
A Rich Man's Secret: An Amazing Story For Success, Ken Roberts
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle
https://www.headspace.com/ - Meditation and Sleep Made Simple
 
 

#17 ”Queen of Finance” - Kim Bowden

"...one of the days the security guard said to me, "why weren't you in on Sunday?" It was like, Oh God, I know I haven't got this right."  "...the last couple of months have shown us that spending time, doing things with people you love and being able to take time to read books and go for walks ..... makes you more productive at work."  Kim Bowden.  
 
Kim got into accountancy by accident and has gained considerable experience in both the commercial and non-profit world despite saying she still doesn't know what she wants to do when she grows up!  She talks about psychological safety in the workplace, her specialism in counter-fraud, dream jobs (and job titles) as well as the difference between working in an organisation where you think change will happen and one where you know it won't so you need to go.  She shares openly that being in a senior leadership position doesn't mean you'll always get it right but you are stronger when you work together.
 
Kim Bowden works as Director of Finance and Operations at Friends of the Earth.  Her career spans over 40 years in commercial and non-profit finance.  She has a CIPFA qualification and has recently completed a counter-fraud accreditation.  She lives in London, loves animals and is a keen runner.  
 
Connect with Kim on LinkedIn
 

#16 The Key to Unlock Career Progression - Elaine Lynch

"And it's a real skill to be able to distill your thoughts and message:  what is it that I want to say, what structure is best to put around this and then how you say it. And it's one of those things in life that can be easier said than done." Elaine Lynch.  
 
If you are curious about how you can improve your communication skills this episode is for you.  Elaine and I talk about Toastmasters International - the organisation where leaders are made.  She explains how joining a club is a supportive, enjoyable and affordable way to develop communication and leadership skills.  We chat about the hands-on learning environment as well as the structured educational programs, the format of the meetings and the unique identity of each club.  We also talk about other aspects like mentoring and networking.  Toastmasters International is a global organisation with over 360,000 members across 145 countries - there is probably one near you.
 
Elaine Lynch is a Corporate Treasury Services Manager based in London.  Elaine qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Ireland and relocated to London in 2014. She is also President of a London based Toastmasters Club, City Limit Speakers.
 
Connect with Elaine on LinkedIn
 
Resources:
Toastmasters International https://www.toastmasters.org/ 
 
City Limits Speakers https://www.meetup.com/City-Limits-Speakers/ 

#15 Doing Simple Things Consistently - Marcus Thompson

"Listen, question your assumptions and start with thinking the best of people." Marcus Thompson.  
 
Marcus worked with Oxfam in many roles including emergency and humanitarian response.  Marcus speaks about deploying to Cambodia in 1979 and being in Ethiopia in 1984.  We discuss the individual traits best suited to those who respond to emergencies as well as the need for accountants on emergency response teams.  Marcus shares his view on what is needed to connect with people, whatever the context, and what  good management looks like.  He also fondly recalls his time in India, at 18, as a VSO volunteer. 
 
Marcus Thompson had a career spanning over 40 years with Oxfam.  He worked in many countries in Asia and Africa as well as in Oxford.  He received an MBE for his work in Ethiopia in 1984.  He retired in 2010 but continued to volunteer with OXFAM for a number of years.  He was a Trustee at Asylum Welcome for 10 years and Chair September 2020.  He has now fully retired to his allotment.       
 
Resources:
 
The Coaching Manual, Julie Starr 
 
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey