Ep. 32: Robert Leonard - Climbing the Ladder

Contact Robert:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwleonard/
The Investors Network Podcast:
www.theinvestorspodcast.com


IMA Life-Robert
Leonard: https://sfmagazine.com/post-entry/july-2019-ima-life-adding-impact/


FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


Mitch: (00:00)


This is Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the
accounting and finance world. I am Mitch Roshong and I'd like to
welcome you back for episode 32 with corporate finance manager
Robert Leonard. In this episode, Robert talks to us about
climbing the ladder in today's industry and why accounting skills
are so valuable. So now let's head over to his conversation with
Adam 


 


Adam: (00:26)


So Robert, what advice do you have for students or recent
graduates hoping to break into accounting and finance
fields? 


 


Robert: (00:40)


I think one of the biggest things is don't be afraid to take a
position that isn't perfect or doesn't pay the most. I think you
need to think longterm and you know, ideally look for
opportunities where you'll have a mentor. 


 


Adam: (00:58)


So how do they find that mentor? 


 


Robert: (01:01)


I think it's through the interview process. Usually when you go
to interview, you'll have three or four different people that
you'll be meeting with in general and see if any of those people
seem like they might be be great mentors for you. And I recently
made a job change actually, but within the last six months or so
and I was in a position where I was very, very happy. I didn't
want to leave the organization that I was at, but the new
company, the the gentleman that was going to be hiring me had
those characteristics that I was looking for in a mentor. Yeah, I
thought he was going to be a great mentor and that was one of the
big things that really swayed me there and, and I think you
should interview even if you're not a hundred percent certain on
the position, you can learn a lot in the interview and that can
really help you determine if there's opportunities that might not
be present in the job description. I've interviewed for positions
before in the past that weren't necessarily right up my alley,
but it ended up being a great opportunity for me that I really
enjoyed. And I think other ways you can break into the accounting
and finance field, they're learning outside the classroom. I
think that's so big these days. Well, a lot of people are still
going to college and there is great value in college. I think
learning outside the classroom is critical and specifically
skills outside of like a normal college. So Excel or just how to
professionally write emails and professional communications that
can be taught in school. When I, back when I was in college,
probably the best course I took throughout my entire college
career was my professional communications course and that's
helped me in various ways that I never would've expected in my
career. And I think it's those skills that are more tailored for
outside the classroom that can really help [inaudible] break into
an accounting and finance field. And just one more thing that I
think you can do these days is published content on LinkedIn and
it should be tailored to the type of job that you want to get. So
if you want to get in accounting and finance, post content about
accounting and finance on LinkedIn and that should be able to
help you get in front of either recruiters or just prove your
knowledge too, potential employers. So you've got a mentor,
you've got those first few jobs, you've gone on interviews and
then you know, you start your first job. You know, what does it
take to kind of climb that corporate ladder in today's accounting
industry? I think what's so interesting about climbing the
corporate ladder today is that it doesn't just take time anymore.
You know, decades ago you could just kind of do the same thing
and day in and day out and eventually you would follow the path
and you gradually climb the corporate ladder. And I don't really
think that's the case anymore. I think what you need to do to
climb the corporate ladder is you need to work really hard and do
things above and beyond so that you're the first person that a
company thinks of when they have an opening. I think there's a
lot of turnover these days in companies and so it's almost
eminent that there's going to be an opening and when that opening
does happen, you want to be the first person that your boss or
their boss thinks of when that opening come so that they choose
you to go into that new position. And I think that just comes
from going above and beyond taking on additional projects that
maybe no fit your job description perfectly, but you know the
company needs pure hard work. Just be the first one in the office
and the last one to leave and if you don't know how to do
something, find a way to do it. If you take on additional
projects area, there's additional projects that you want to take
on and you might not know how to do it. You can, there's so many
free resources out there these days to learn what you may need to
know to get that project completed. So I just say find a way to
do it. And I think the other, I live my career, bye. Three things
and it's really helped me advance my career. And that's humility,
a dedication to lifelong learning and hard work. Humility allows
you to realize that you don't know everything and that you still
have a lot to learn. But by being dedicated to learning, you can
learn the things that you don't know and then apply it through
hard work. And I think, I honestly think what those three things,
anything is possible. And I'm still relatively early on in my
career myself, but I've scaled my career pretty quickly by those
three things. And I think those are really the three critical
things that you need to climb the corporate ladder in today's
accounting industry. And another aspect of it that I think is
relatively uncommon to be talked about, especially when we're
talking about work, we're talking about climbing the corporate
ladder, right? So what does, what does personal finance have to
do climbing the corporate ladder in an accounting industry? Well,
I think it has a big role and I think what we'll see play out
over the next few years and I think it'll be an increasingly
important role. And the reason I say that is because if you can
get your personal finances in order, you're able to take risks
with your career that will play out over the long term, better
for you but might not be as helpful in the short term. Right? So
if you are in a financial position with your personal finances
where you're a little bit tight on money and okay, you might need
to take a the next job that you want to take and you might have
to go to the job that has the highest salary even though it might
be short term, highest salary and not a lot of opportunities for
growth. Sure you could switch companies and you know, kind of do
the job hopping thing. But in general that's not a great
strategy. Whereas if you have your personal finances in order and
you're coming from a really strong background of, of your
finances, you can take us a little bit of a short term hit maybe
that that next job isn't as big of an increase in pay as you
want, but you're getting a great mentor, you have huge
opportunities for growth. And over the next three to five years
you could double your salary or you know even more, you know, I
think, but if you don't come from a position of financial
strength where you have that abi...