#017: Monday Memo: How to find the best teachers for Finance Business Partners

If like me you've probably had a number of teachers and mentors at different stages of your life and your finance career. And whilst it may be easy to pick a favourite it may be more difficult to figure out who was the best for you or even how to get the best of their knowledge. Indeed having recently launched a podcast where guest mentors in accounting and finance share their real stories, experiences, and hard won lessons it got me thinking as to who was the best teacher I ever had as a finance business partner and what was the best way to trap their knowledge not only for my benefit but also so I could share it with others. Then I came across an interesting article in the latest Harvard Business Review where Sydney Finkelstein writes that “The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers” and he makes some useful points as to how we can find the best teachers and best learn from them the necessary knowledge to become better finance business partners. If you enjoyed this episode check out our website at sitnshow.com

Om Podcasten

The #SITN Show (www.sitnshow.com) is a popular accounting & finance podcast listened to in over 150+ countries around the world. Getting an accounting qualification or finance certification is one of the best things to do to make a difference in our society. It potentially gives us a position from which we can help businesses make better decisions for the good of their customers, suppliers, communities, colleagues and yes owners and other financiers too. We can help increase the opportunity for all. So #SITN was established to leverage the value of mentoring: 1. To elevate the influence, impact, value, and difference we make for our organisations; and 2. To have more fun, rewarding, and meaningful careers in accounting & finance. In this way we make it more accessible to everyone in our profession, regardless or geography, professional affiliations, status, gender, etc… The fundamental premise of #SITN is that despite for all the challenges our profession is facing into, the seemingly accelerating rate of change, the new digital technologies and business models, we still have the ability to share with each other practical advice & experiences on what works well and what doesn’t, so that we can all plot better paths forward. Every Thursday we release a professionally produced podcast with a 30- to 40-minute interview that has been recorded with a guest mentor relevant to the finance & accounting profession. These guest mentors share their real success stories and hard-won lessons which are not found in any textbooks or on LinkedIn profiles. Together with the interviewer they deconstruct their experiences into the key strengths, qualities and practical ‘baby’ steps that others can also follow. On Mondays there is the popular #SITN Monday Memo which is a 5-minute debrief on a topical issue or useful piece of practical advice in accounting & finance. The show is accessible via: iTunes; Stitcher; Spotify; YouTube; and Soundcloud, with detailed time-stamped show notes, key quotes, resources & ways to connect with guest mentors at www.sitnshow.com.