Speaking Ambition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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