Share your story and support the future of the profession

By Tiffany Crosby, CPA, CGMA, MBA, OSCPA Chief Learning Officer

The power of affirming words timely spoken is beyond description. I would not have written my first book without them.

And without that first book, there would be no second book (or third or fourth). Without affirmation, I would not have had the courage to push forward with becoming a pastor or a chaplain or obtaining my Ph.D. Without affirmation, I could not have begun to share the painful moments that are a part of my life story and that have encouraged so many others as they navigate through their life paths. Sometimes affirmation occurred through mentoring relationships but often, affirmation occurred through others sharing their stories and engaging in conversations with me about my life vision.

As we work collectively together on talent pipeline management, let us not underestimate the power of affirmation that occurs through us sharing our stories. When I talk to students considering accounting as a career, young CPAs trying to understand career progression, mid-career professionals contemplating career changes, or senior professionals determining what retired or semi-retired might mean for them, the questions and concerns are the same:

1. What can I expect?

2. Can I be successful?

3. What will I gain and what will I lose?

4. Who can I turn to for support?

Some individuals are fortunate to have a community network available to them to process these questions, others are not. It is those individuals, disconnected from a supportive community network, that we need to reach with our talent pipeline activities. How do students who know no one in business or accounting

become familiar with the profession? How do students imagine themselves as accountants or understand the richness of opportunities available to them? How do young professionals navigate their professional careers and life stage changes (e.g., marriage, parenthood, homeownership) without the stories of those who have traveled those paths before them?

When you look back on history and think of individuals who have accomplished great feats that have redefined society in a positive way, who comes to mind? Within more modern times, I think of William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi, to name a few. These individuals are great men and women of courage who fought against established social structures to make lasting changes. Their battles were not easy or short. They experienced hardships in their lives, some caused by external circumstances outside of their control and others created by their attempts to live in accordance with their internal convictions. There were parts of their lives that were not pretty. Whether it was lavish living, paying bribes, romantic entanglements, or other actions that many would deem inconsistent with sound character, they all had issues to overcome. They also made mistakes along the way, some of which would have seemed to preclude them from positions of leadership. All had to draw away at some point to understand who they were and what they believed. And once they did, they had to confront societal beliefs that did not align with their core values. When it comes to influential individuals whom we deeply respect, it is easy for us to focus on the endgame. We get enamored with the results and assume that the person was always that way. I have never found that to be the case. Every person of great character has gone through a process of development from which we can learn. Fortunately, we have the details of their life stories, the good and bad, available to us to learn from.

Likewise, if we are to affirm others with our stories, we need to share the life circumstances and situations that became a training and development ground for us. We need to share our successes and our failures. Students need to hear about how (and why) we weathered introductory accounting courses and the CPA exam. They already know these things are hard, no need to sugar coat that reality. However, we got through it. How did we do it? We know that the first few years of an accounting career can be challenging for reasons far beyond hours worked (which we can and should address). There is just so much to learn. How did we keep ourselves going? How did we manage life? What would we do differently? We can talk about changes we are committed to making so that the experience for those in the early stages of the pipeline is more enjoyable and the path forward is easier. Our battle scars are not badges of honor to parade around with, but rather, lessons to be used for continuous improvement.

We do not need to wait until we have a fully defined plan addressing accounting’s talent crisis in Ohio to begin telling stories that encourage, inspire, and motivate students and professionals to consider careers in accounting. We have powerful stories to share. Let’s share them.

Tiffany Crosby, CPA, CGMA, MBA is the chief learning officer for The Ohio Society of CPAs. She can be reached at tcrosby@ohiocpa.com 614.321.2255