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Contact John Lemmex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlemmex/Covestro: https://www.covestro.comFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Adam: (00:05) And we are back with episode 117 of Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. Once again, this is your host, Adam Larson, and today's featured guest is John Lemmex. John is Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Covestro LLC. In that role, he is responsible for all aspects of financial management and controlling. So in this episode, he joined my co-host Mitch Roshong, to talk about digital transformation, John shares many personal experiences and great perspective on how finance leaders can play an integral role in transformation projects. So let's head over to the conversation and listen to what he has to say now. Mitch: (00:51) So John, from what you've seen, how do digital transformation projects typically get started? John: (00:56) Typically in our company, they get started in different parts of the business. It could be, you know, something happening within marketing or R&D or even finance. So it tends to be kind of individual and what our company has done is kind of putting together a digitalization group that's global, and they have kind of the skills and the ability to bring it all together. They are operating a data lake, and they have that kind of expertise, so when people put projects forward, sometimes they'll run as pilot so then you look at and see if they're scalable globally. And then we implement them, look at them and then move on from there. So anybody can kind of bring forward a digitalization project. Mitch: (01:44) Now let's focus mainly on our listeners here and we're talking about accounting and finance. So how important is digitalization for finance? Why should these finance leaders really get started on these projects as soon as possible if they haven't done so already? John: (01:59) Yeah, to me, with the digitalization projects it always comes with efficiency and cost savings and, you know, and there's a business case behind them. So generally, I found most of these cases, we've been able to find a business case, been able to save money, gain efficiencies, reduce complexity, and it helps drive the business forward and make finance more efficient. So it's been, you know, waiting doesn't help drive the business forward so you need to drive these projects to gain those efficiencies. Mitch: (02:34) Let's talk about that a little bit more, how does the finance team, or the finance leader go about building this business case, who is really the target or, the individuals who are most responsible for pushing this project forward? Who should the finance leader really focus on within these projects? John: (02:57) Well, I think that the finance leader for us is kind of internal, I'm kind of thinking of a project that we did. It was something internal in the finance area that was causing us pain. We stepped back, we took a look at it and the answer came using digitalization, using machine learning and robotics was the answer to try to solve the problem. And so then, the business case was put together, and again, it resulted in efficiency through FTE reductions, but it also ended up on a higher accuracy and more accuracy in the financial statements. Or one side, it was cost efficiency, the other side there was accuracy and when that case was put together, we piloted it and moved it forward. Mitch: (03:51) Now you talked about machine learning, obviously there's robotics, a lot that goes into these different projects and for some in finance, that might not be necessarily their first language per se. It might be something that's a little bit outside their comfort zone or they need to upskill in that area in order to drive the project forward. So how do you really engage all these stakeholders and really keep the momentum going for these digital transformation projects? John: (04:15) Yeah, the one thing that we've done to try to get people engaged is actually offer kind of a, you know, online training, in the machine learning in robotics, to get people to start to increase their skill levels so that they may not be become experts in it, or be able to run a project, but they understand what maybe the IT or the data people are going to be asking those kinds of questions and they learn through that, how to drive these projects forward or at least understand what goes into them and there's been quite an uptake rate in our people and trying to do that online learning and develop their skills. Mitch: (05:01) Are there any other obstacles that you've seen, anything else that may prohibit a digital transformation project from progressing how you anticipated? John: (05:11) I think sometimes we get into resource questions, you know, how much resources do we have, and if a project is simply kind of re-engineering a process and using the software, it's much easier maybe to get those projects forward when they maybe require, and I'm thinking of supply chain digital project, those require maybe capital investment using barcode readers, scanners, infrastructure upgrades, and then it becomes more difficult to find those resources and drive them forward. So less capital investment seems easier to drive the projects forward, more capital investment a little more difficult, but again, too is how many projects do you have going? I think sometimes, you get into project overload and there's just, you have to prioritize and get your biggest bang for your buck. Mitch: (06:05) That was actually going to be kind of my next question and obviously there are many areas of the business where you could look for digital improvements, and I'm sure, like you just said many different projects going on all at once. Have you ever come across a case where a project just didn't pan out, you know, the digital transformation just never happened, for one reason or another, can you speak to that a little bit and what the company did in order to respond? John: (06:33) We have one project that in our end to end supply chain, where we feel like we could really upgrade our ability to track materials, move materials and we try to compare ourselves say to an Amazon, we're very far behind. I kind of think of them as the leader when it comes to digitization and supply chain. We had a project we wanted to move it forward, but it stumbled on cap ex and some of it was a business downturn, other parts was then entering the pandemic, but I wouldn't say the projects are dead, but more shelved until the business environment changes. I think if there's a good business case, and then you get into a resource issue, it may not move as quickly as you might want it and get those returns, but you know, you shelve it and continue to push on at a later date. Mitch: (07:32) That's a good point. And, you know, prioritizing, like you said earlier, with so many different things going on and so many functions of the organization being involved in these projects, while it may enhance the efficiency, let's say in finance, obviously you're going to rely on IT and other departments. So, how important is the communication across the organization, with these different projects going on and really, what is that communication path? How do you typically, speak with and listen to other departments while these projects are going on? John: (08:09) Absolutely, the communication is key in all these projects and how to prioritize. And we have a, we call it a digital governance board. So all projects have to go through this digital governance board and be priorit...

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:00) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and today I'm here to introduce you to the guest speaker of episode 116 of our series. My co-host Rouba Zeidan sat down with Dr. Ahmed Yamen, an Associate Professor of Accounting at the American University of the Middle East in Kuwait. During their conversation, they address whether digitalization is the beginning of the end for financial crime. With financial crimes in the rise, Dr. Yamen talks about how it is evolving and what the industry can do to limit the potential risks of becoming the next target. Let's listen to what he has to say now. Rouba: (00:43) Good afternoon Dr. Yamen and thank you so much for joining us for this episode of Count Me In. Ahmed: (00:55) Thank you for your invitation at the beginning, and thank you for IMA. Rouba: (00:59) So, a PwC survey published in March of last year found that fraud and financial crime are on the rise in the Middle East. The surveyed companies reported losses of sum $42 billion in the past 24 months alone       due to financial crimes. Can such crimes impact the economy and if so how? Ahmed: (01:22) The PwC survey actually mentioned a lot of important numbers that can highlight that the Middle East is facing a great challenge toward fighting the financial crime. For example, 42% of the respondents are suffering from procurement fraud. Actually, the problem is that this percentage is double the global percentage. Also, 47% of the respondents reported an incident for customer fraud, and also 45% of the respondents said that there are many uncovered cases of bribery and corruption. The problem is not the percentage itself, which is 45%, but the problem is that this percentage is 15% higher compared to the global percentage. So all of these percentages in the PwC survey indicates that there is a problem. From my perspective, is this the only report that is saying that? No. If we look for example from Basel Index, according to the Basel Index 2020, the risk levels in the Middle East and North Africa are higher than the global average. If we go to other things like the previous studies for example, it reveals that financial crimes have continued to increase despite the tough policy measures put in place in developed and in developing countries. The last estimate is about 1.5 trillion, which is about 2% of the GDP in both developing and developed countries, are paid only for bribes, and this is actually a huge amount. I think that all of this highlights that we are facing a big problem, especially in the Middle East, compared to the overall average. But we can go back to the question: can such crimes impact the economy? Of course, yes. We have different numbers also that can prove that it has negative consequences in the economy. For example, according to the World Bank, in 2017 they said that the poor people in developing countries pay about 6.4 to 12.6% of their income in bribes. And also, the tax evasion, if we look for another continuing of the financial crime like tax evasion for example, we will find that in Europe, for example, it was estimated in 2011 that 860 billion annually is evaded. If this has a negative consequence, it can appear in Greece. You can see what happened in Greece. We will find that there is a big economic problem in Greece and this is apparently because of the tax evasion because the tax evasion is estimated to be equal one third of the total tax revenues. And by the way this one third is equal to its budget deficit. Because as we know, tax evasion is a main source of revenue for the whole government. So, if there is a reduction in the tax revenue it means that the government will not be able to do the public service. Also, if we look for the Panama paper leaks, it's also documented that the tax evasion is likely widespread and significant everywhere. So, from all this, we can say that financial crime can affect negatively the economy and has negative consequences on the economic growth. And if we focus on tax evasion, we can see that it affects the income distribution and allocation of resources. This is a very important thing for the economy. Rouba: (05:34) When we look at regional global economies, positive anti-money laundering (AML) ratings have a significant impact on a nation’s credit ratings and their ability to attract foreign investment. This affirms the fundamental importance of initiatives that are taken on at a national level to create a business-friendly environment where strategies to fight money laundering and terrorist financing are in place. But, when we look at the numbers, particularly in a report published by the firm, Refinitiv, which found that ¾ of organizations have fallen victim to financial crime in the last year – accumulating losses of $1.45 trillion, we have to wonder: are governments actually able to deter financial crime? I mean, yes it does impact them and it is huge, but is it deterrable? Ahmed: (06:26) Of course yes, the governments are able to deter the financial crime, but they should work on this. From my perspective, there are different things that the government should do in order to be able to fight the financial crime. The first important thing is the public governance. In any country, they should care about the public governance inside the country and if we are following the World Bank, we will see that they identified 6 main indicators for public governance. So, I think that any government should work on these 6 indicators. For example, we should improve the rule of law. We should work on the control of corruption. We should work on the irregularity of quality. And also two important things are the voice and accountability in the political stability. And in addition, the government effectiveness, and I will give more attention to government effectiveness here because we can improve it through the digitalization. This is one thing, to improve the public governance. The second thing which I believe is very crucial and very important is education. I will quote something by Sir Kevan Collins, he said that “an educated population is wealthier, healthier and more law-abiding”. This is very important. Investing in education is not good only for children, but it’s also good for economies and societies. So why? Because actually when the people are well educated, they will understand the negative consequences of financial crimes on the individual level and on the aggregate level. From my perspective, the government should work on improving its public governance, and should work on investing in education, and also the third thing is culture. Of course, there is a problem in the perception of financial crime. If we look at what is financial crime we see that they are calling it white collar crime. When I see white, what is white in this? It should be black collar crime. Because actually when you're saying that it's a white collar crime, the people's feeling towards financial crime is not the same as street crimes. Their perspective is not the same especially when the people feel that the government is not dealing with them in a fair way. For example, when someone evades from tax or something like that, the people are happy that they are doing this. They are not understanding that the negative consequences is such financial crime and of course, we need to know that the financial crime can lead to street crime in the future. For example, if we look at Becker's economic theory of crime, we will find that the people resort to crime only if the cost of committing the crime are lower than the penitence gained from it and they found that poverty increases street crime. If, for example, we have financial crimes, they will increase the pov...

Contact David Wray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-w-29627882/David's Website: https://davidwray.com (*access David's book and/or blog here)Want to join David's LinkedIn Group?! https://www.linkedin.com/company/37817090/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch: (00:00) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA’s podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Mitch Roshong and I'm here to welcome you to episode 115 of our series. Today you will once again hear from finance executive and a fortune 50 multinational and now new author David Wray. David is the author of the recently published, The Power of Potential: A Straightforward Method for Mastering Skills for Personal to Professional. In 2019, the Harvard business review investigated where learning and development goes wrong. In his book and during this podcast episode, David calls for a new mindset and approach towards acquiring new skills and achieving the level of mastery desired. Keep listening to hear about his learning approach and perspective on personal development. Adam: (00:54) The Harvard business review in October of 2019 investigated where learning and development goes wrong. They found that organizations spend about 360 billion US dollars on training and ask the provocative question whether or not it was worth it. So David, if we start with this Harvard business review article, can you share your thoughts on whether organizational spend on learning and development offers a good return on investment? David: (01:27) Yeah I can Adam, it's a great question to set the context for our discussion. So the typical organization spend on development is definitely not worth it. If we start thinking about the reoccurring themes that seem to come up, you know, survey after survey. So as you mentioned, the Harvard business review, they found that about three quarters of managers across about 50 companies give or take were quite dissatisfied with their company's learning and development function. Gardener on the other hand, found that about 7 out of 10 employees don't feel that they have the skill necessary to master their roles and the findings go on and on. So I started to undertake my own research and thought, well let me find out what's happening and most of the individuals I spoke to experienced real frustration and disappointment with what it took to learn new skills for them. So hence they tended to give up. I heard a lot of funny things and some of them were interesting things I heard with things like, “I feel like I'm faking it, hoping it just comes to me one day, perhaps I'll have an epiphany” or “I'm pressured to work harder pitches doesn't help, I can't seem to master the critical thinking skills I need”, or “I've been asked to speak at an upcoming medical conference and I'm truly petrified and end up sounding like a toddler”. And when I started hearing and seeing firsthand these stories of people really giving up while trying to acquire a new skill, I began to wonder why, why do some people struggle when others seem to manage it almost effortlessly? Why is this happening? And it was really this curiosity that motivated me to start researching, identifying, and then eventually understand the differences that make a difference between those individuals that see it through and those that give up. And from the research that I did, the model I share in the book really comes to life. It's basically a methodology that's used unconsciously by masters in their field, and it offers real value for time and effort invested to learn a new skill. And it's a really a new way of approaching learning, especially for accountants where so much of the learning happens on the job. Adam: (03:29) Okay, now you've really piqued my curiosity. We at this podcast with Count Me In, we're really trying to help accountants, whether it's through learning or seeing what's happening in the industry. Can you tell me a little bit more about your approach and about how your approach is different from everything that's already out there? David: (03:47) Yeah of course, I'm happy to give some insights into the model. If you really start to think about situations where you've undoubtedly seen a really talented individual in action and you've been sitting there secretly wishing, “gosh I wish I could do that and do it as easily and effortlessly as they do it”. Well, you can. Now you might be wondering how. Well to do so, we all simply need to just understand both the visible and the invisible workings that an expert utilizes when they're doing their thing. And basically the power of potential teaches readers about these real, but invisible internal processing mechanisms that we all go through when we receive information. And basically think of the receipt as information as something like an external event or an externality. And these externalities, they occur every single day and they can range from very benign things, something as simple as being, for example, cutoff in traffic, but they can also range to the other extreme, which is life-changing. And an example of that might be for example, hearing a terminal medical diagnosis. So clearly a life-changing and difficult thing to hear and individuals react very differently to the same information or the same events. So why is that? That's what I started to really wonder. And what I determined on, what I discovered is that the differences in how we process information, because when we process information we do so using our own view of the world. We relay each filter information as we process it. So for example, some individuals may choose to ignore information or they may generalize by associating it to some past experience. Let me give you an example of that. Imagine that you're an individual who's giving constructive feedback to a peer or to another team member. While there are one or two ways that constructive feedback can be received. It can either be seen as an opportunity by the individual receiving it, or it could be seen as a threat. Now how that's received will depend very much on the person's prior experiences and that's what I mean by the view of the world. So each of these information filters that we have is basically influenced by how we see ourselves. So things like what we believe, what we value, any kind of powerful memories, whether they're positive or negative, and also how we speak to ourselves. So for example, is our inner chatter self-critical, or is it self-respecting? And as if all of this rapid processing wasn't enough, our current state of mind also affects outcome. Let me give you another example of that, to help bring it to life. If we're cut off in traffic on a day where we've just heard some great news, the other drivers lack of consideration, will probably roll away like water off of a duck's back. But if we've just received news of a layoff that relatively minor traffic slight could become a trigger to an uncharacteristically angry outburst. And it's that, that I mean when I talk about state of mind. So these rapid information processing systems basically result in the behaviors we exhibit and in turn, how others perceive us. And it's by understanding these inner workings that basically the reader is empowered with the knowledge and tools needed to harness them to their own advantage. Which means that the learning solution that I provide is really personalized. Let me give you another, a simple example. Imagine that you dream of moving into a finance leadership role, but you're really held back by your inability to present effectively. You feel physically unwell at the idea of be...

Contact Raef Lawson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raef-lawson-2a27914/Download the Full Report, "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Finance Function": https://www.imanet.org/insights-and-trends/the-future-of-management-accounting/the-impact-of-covid19-on-the-finance-function?ssopc=1&utm_source=MagnetMail&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=EMAIL&utm_content=03%2D09%2D21%20Value%20Creation&utm_campaign=How%20is%20COVID%2D19%20affecting%20the%20finance%20function%3FFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Mitch: (00:00) Welcome back to Count Me In. IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host Mitch Roshong and this is episode 114 of our series. In this episode, IMA's Vice President of Research and Policy, Raef Lawson, joins our co-host Rouba Zeidan to talk about IMA’s recently released report, The Impact of COVID-19 on the Finance Function. Raef led the research and discusses his findings in regards to how this pandemic has disrupted the profession and what the perception is towards upscaling and rescaling. So, to hear more about the survey conducted and the key points from this report, we will listen in to their conversation now. Rouba: (00:44) So good morning Raef, and thank you so much for joining me. Raef: (00:55) Well, it's a pleasure to be here to talk about our study we recently completed. Rouba: (01:00) Absolutely and it's quite insightful so I'm happy to be sharing this with our listeners. So let's start from the beginning, IMA published a recent report. You were the lead researcher on this body of work, which evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on the finance function. So can you tell us a little bit about the scale of this research that you conducted, basically the countries, the sample size, demographics, and then the purpose behind it? Raef: (01:31) Sure. So it was quite a study from our perspective, it surveyed almost 1,500 people in countries from around the world and those included China, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the United States, and the survey study participants were about evenly divided among those five countries by design. Slightly more than a third of the respondents were women although that percentage varied by country, ranging from say 51% in China, to 18% in Saudi Arabia. And, you know, I think though that those percentages fairly well mirror the participation of women in the workforce in those countries in the accounting and finance field. So, the purpose of the study was to really understand the impact, not just on organizations as a whole, and you know, in the news we can hear plenty about that, but you know, in keeping with IMA's mission to help advance the accounting and finance function within organizations to look a little more specifically at the finance and accounting function within organization and see what the impact of COVID-19 pandemic had been on those. Rouba: (03:05) Amazing. And, so this is technically a global piece of research, as what are some of the most notable highlights that this report uncovered? Raef: (03:15) Sure. Yeah and that was true, we selected the countries in the study to really get this global overview of the impact of COVID-19 on organizations, and our study yielded quite a huge thing of results. One not surprisingly was that there was, an across the board decline in revenues among organizations of all sizes. With very large companies, and by that I mean those with revenues over $10 billion, most likely to report having experienced a considerable decline in revenue, you know, of course, subsequent to that, we hear how larger organizations bounce back also more rapidly from the effects of the pandemic and how smaller companies are now, suffering. The pandemic has impacted employment as we've heard as well. And surprisingly about half of the companies have led some of their staff go. Rouba: (04:31) That's substantial. 50%. Raef: (04:33) It is, it is, you would think it would be much less, but that is, you know, a tremendous percentage and a lot of, obviously suffering on the employee's part. It did vary by region. So companies in the US were the least likely to have let go of staff, followed by China and India, while those in the Middle East, which again include Saudi Arabia and the UAE were most likely to have let some of their staff go. And the impact on accounting financial professionals wasn't confined to be let go or not. There was also a considerable impact on the compensation of finance and accounting professionals. And most of the respondents to our survey, reported that they had a reduction in their compensation this year, this past year, whether it was salary, bonus, or both. And again, that varied by region with companies in the US least likely to have changed the compensation of their employees, companies in China were most likely to have left salaries unchanged, but to have reduced bonuses and that reflects the larger amount of incentive compensation that Chinese companies typically pay. And finally, companies in India and the Middle East were most likely to have actually cut salaries of their employees. And then finally, another key finding was that there was a change in the findings of the priorities of finance functions, which is understandable. There was an increase in the emphasis on risk management with nearly half the company spending more time in that area, followed by cashflow forecasting new management, you know, most when the pandemic hit, a lot of companies went into crisis mode just trying to survive and these two, competencies areas became, critical for their survival. And, you know, fortunately less time was spent on business partnering and decision-making, with about a third of the company spending less time in that area, though I will say we've completed another study recently that has found that the pandemic has changed most CFO's views of their role within the organization. And most CFO’s now are becoming a business partner with their organization. Their insights are considered being key to decision making at the senior level within their organization. And I think we'll see a much greater emphasis on the CFO as a strategic business partner going forward. Rouba: (07:48) So it does bear some good news to the profession, despite all of these, negative results. But there's also one notable point that I looked at, which was basically the tourism industry was one of the most severely impacted industries. But what other sectors also fair in terms of that kind of impact? And what do the findings tell us about them? Raef: (08:11) You're right. The tourism travel and hospitality industries were the hardest hit industries. There, 13% of the respondents were furloughed or let go. 58% had their pay cut and, you know, that's clearly a result of companies quarantining, locking down and so forth. But also relatively hard hit were professionals in the government, nonprofit and education areas where another 5% of those folks were furloughed and, 52% had a decrease in their salary. So that was a significant impact for those industries. On a positive note, relatively least effected were those working for companies in the accounting and finance industries. Sorry, so good times or bad, we need our accountants. Rouba: (09:12) Absolutely, you know, I liked that there's been quite a bit of that conv...

Contact Twyla Verhelst: https://www.linkedin.com/in/twylav/Twyla's Links/Resources:https://linktr.ee/twylavhttp://www.freshbooks.com/accountantsFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Adam: (00:00) Welcome back to Count Me In. IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host, Adam Larson and today I'm bringing you right up to the start of episode, 113 with our featured guest, Twyla Verhelst. As we listen to this conversation, we first need to acknowledge that many accountants got into the profession because they are really good at crunching the numbers. However, the role has changed, and accounting and finance professionals are now asked to be confident communicators and storytellers. Twyla will walk us through the evolution of the position and give us strategies for overcoming introversion to be confident business partners. Let's head over and listen now. Mitch: (00:45) The accounting profession is one that typically attracts rather introverted individuals. Now there are many stereotypes about accountants and their personality traits, but in speaking with you, I know some of these stereotypes have evolved or proven false, particularly in today's industry. So would you like to give us just a little bit of background from your perspective on today's conversation? Twyla: (01:14) Sure. So, you know, I don't necessarily think that the personality types have changed per se. I still think that the accounting profession does attract rather introverted individuals and I feel comfortable sharing that when I'm an accountant and an introvert myself. But what I do believe has happened is that we're no longer your dad's accountant, or we’re no longer your Uncle Joe that used to be an accountant. Accountants now have a very diversified skillset. We have social skills, we have relationship skills, and oftentimes these relationship skills are what are driving the service agreements. We have the clients, that's the value they're paying for. They're no longer paying for what you slide across the desk at them every year on an annual basis, coupled with their bill that you slide across, that's just different, it's changed now. And there's so much more inside of the personality of an accountant that's being shared with the client and the client is valuing. So, when I speak of this previous accountant that I'm thinking of, I actually think of my parents' accountant in my head. I think of the man that we saw on an annual basis, my parents were entrepreneurs, we went and saw him annually. They helped with their personal taxes and their corporate taxes. And I remember specifically when I told him I'm thinking of becoming an accountant, he really just had five words for me, which was, do you want a job? He didn't expand. He didn't elaborate. He was very much an introvert. So now I think we're still introverts at the profession probably still does draw in introverts, but the stereotype of the boring accountant that fits in a box and doesn't really talk and doesn't really converse has changed. And that's, what's evolved inside of the industry. Mitch: (03:07) So typically, you know, many accountants will get into the profession because they're skilled at diving into the numbers, right? They like to work at their desk and crunch these numbers rather than really work with people. But as you said, the job has evolved. And you know, these accountants are asked to embrace new identities. You know, we look to these individuals as really confident advisors. So as the job evolves and the individuals grow within this profession, again, from your perspective, what is the first step for accounting and finance professionals to take when looking to make this progression and gain a little bit of this confidence? Twyla: (03:50) Before I dive into the first step, I just want to make sure that we're clear on the type of advisors that we're looking to be, or that we're trying to strive to be. And why I want to start there is because sometimes that's the barrier to us getting there, is that we have now painted this picture of, I need to be this really professional, highly confident, so knowledgeable, and use these big words and this accounting jargon in this financial jargon in order to fit that new mold. That's not necessarily true either. And so I want to just lay that out there because sometimes that's a roadblock to thinking, how do I get started? Because you're trying to get somewhere that I would encourage you not to get too far down that road, because now you've become somebody who's no longer the introverted accountant, but now you're intimidating or now you're talking over your clients or now you're really not in relationship with your clients because they're almost too scared to bring up what's going on inside of their business because of potential shame or potential guilt or potential, you know, getting inside of a conversation that they no longer understand and that they don't even feel comfortable saying, “I don't know what you're talking about”. So I want to make sure that we start there and then once we know that, alright, let's be professional and let's be advisors and let's be inside of a relationship out there, clients, but not take that too far. Then it's a case of starting with do some personal reflection. Where do you currently have a skill gap and do that self audit. Do you have really personable skills already and, that you've evolved or developed inside of your career thus far and now you're just layering onto that. Or are you the more traditional, introverted accountant, super, super smart, but loves sitting behind your desk and you know that you need to take steps towards breaking out of your shell so that you can feel comfortable inside a relationship or inside a conversation with your client. Or is it more that you're needing to do some other sort of, upping of other skills, which could be video calls nowadays, especially, where you've got to feel comfortable getting on video, presenting, doing that virtually, being organized to do that and not losing your place and feeling confident and having a loud, clear voice that everyone can understand and hear over the internet. What do you need to do to upskill? And so it's kind of taking that step back and saying, all right, here's what I'm trying to be. So once you understand where it is you’re trying to grow to, or stretch to then, where do I need to fill in that gap in order to be that advisor. Mitch: (06:41) Now, please correct me if I'm wrong. But I would assume that technology is a big reason that this evolution within the accounting profession and an individual's ability to effectively communicate and build these relationships, you know, this change is because of technology. I would say technology is now that person who was sitting behind the desk crunching the numbers, right? We have the software and the computers to do that for us and the human, the accountant, is responsible for the communication of the data that's gathered from the technology. So, utilizing this technology and kind of having that secondary relationship, what is the best course of action for a professional to increase their comfort and confidence in changing what they do on a day-to-day basis because of technology and then communicating what comes out of it? Twyla: (07:41) I completely agree with you that technology has really paved the way for this evolution, paved the way for us being able to have the...

International Women's Day: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/IMA's Website: https://www.imanet.org/Contact the Speakers:Hanadi Khalife - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanady-khalife-78ba5610/Doreen Remmen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/doreen-remmen-55173812/Alain Mulder - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alainmulder/Nina Michels-Kim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninamichelskim/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:00) Welcome back to Count Me In and Happy International Woman's Day. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and in this special episode, my co-host Rouba Zeidan, sits down with a few of IMA's leaders to discuss what it means to operate, manage, and breed an inclusive culture. Keep listening to hear from Hanadi Khalifa, Senior Director of Middle East and India Operations at IMA, Doreen Remmen, CFO of IMA, Alain Mulder IMA's Europe Regional Director, and Nina Michel's Kim IMA's Director of Partnerships for Japan and Korea, as they all share their perspectives on social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and the value of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.   Rouba: (00:46) Good morning, good evening, and good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for joining me and Happy International Women's Day! We're going to kick this off with Nina and Hanadi. So this day was created to celebrate social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, and it encourages women around the world to choose to challenge. I mean, the theme for this year, because as I quote “A challenge world is an alert one.” So this initiative was also created to accelerate women equality around the globe, and when you contrast that with the world economic forums prediction, that it will take some 250 years before we can achieve true equality. What are some of the major problem areas that you believe need to be challenged? Both when we talk about community elements and corporate world elements, and how are you personally contributing towards that on an individual scale and maybe even on a corporate scale.   Nina: (01:52) So, you know, I believe that in order to achieve true sustainable gender equality, society and companies have to change their mindset. It's not the quantity of hours at work that make an employee productive and also support working parents equally make it normal that men equally share household tasks and childcare. And I think society and the workplace prevent people from exercising their rights for these parental benefits. For example, you know, I kind of represent Asia Pacific and in Japan, new fathers are entitled to a relatively generous paternity leave, but less than 8% of Japanese male employees take it. As opposed to a more egalitarian country like Finland, where over 80% of the men take paternity leave. And, you know, the reluctance of Japanese men that could be for a number of reasons, perhaps it's not encouraged by the company, or  they might be judged that they're a slacker and we need to change the stigma associated with that and make it mandatory thatmen also take paternity leave. And in fact, that's a new plan that the Japan's labor ministry is actually thinking of to make it mandatory, for men to take paternity leave, and it it's to counter Japan's declining birth rate, which is a huge problem in Asia, because women don't want to have children anymore since it impacts their career. And, you know, as an individual, all individuals must have the courage to exercise their rights and stand up so others can follow. And, you know, as an individual in my former company, I was sort of a trailblazer and paved the way for other women to woman to, you know, discuss remote working and part-time working. But, you know, granted that was over 15 years ago, but that former company, they did not allow any, remote work or part-time work, and, you know, they were very supportive of promoting women, but only as long as they were single or childless or, you know, dincs, dual income, no children. So I think I was one of the first women managers to say that I was pregnant, and I really felt guilty to do so. To announce my pregnancy, which, you know, should be a joyous occasion, and especially, you know, it was coming after two miscarriages, miscarriages that I kind of, embarrassingly did not say to my employees of my employers, and I found out later that many women in that, that company had miscarriages. we were working long hours and on paper, the company even had, less than, required working hours, but nobody took that. I mean, especially nobody who were a high potential person climbing the corporate ladder. So, you know, when I did announce my pregnancy to the company, I told them things like, Hey, don't worry. You will never even think that I had children. I'll be back full time. I'd be here until the very last minute, and then I will take the bare minimum of maternity leave and I'll will be back to take off where I left off. And, you know, and I actually even did that for my first born. I enrolled him full time in the daycare center. I had babysitters to take him after it was closed and or whenever I was traveling because, you know, I didn't have extended family nearby to help, but, you know, I slowly came to realize how flat I was in my head thinking and it wasn't sustainable. You know, when he was about 18 months, he started acting up at the daycare center, you know, I kind of broke down and I went to my boss and, you know, I finally said, you know, that's it I'm leaving unless the company allows me to work part-time or work remotely and you know, the company finally relented, you know, and that action is so interesting because after that a whole lot of managers became pregnant or they were able to say, I had a miscarriage to Nina, all these kind of things and, you know, and it became okay to work like part-time, at least 80% or work Fridays at home. And, you know, so kind of, I take comfort that I finally became brave and ask for support from the company and it kind of benefited former companies, former colleagues of mine in that company.   Rouba: (06:26) No, but you're right, by the way, bravery has a big role to play in this one, to dare, to ask for more or for support Hanadi, how's that been for you?   Hanadi: (06:36) Well, I think Nina touched on, on a very important point, which is the change in mindset. And I think both men and women need, need to change that, and man has to realize that actually gender equality is beneficial and it's, in their interest as much as it is in our, interests. And of course the bravery for women, they have to proactively ask for their right. But I also want to add, three more, even actually four, more challenges, that we are facing saying, maybe these apply most to upward in the Middle East,. For example, education. Although we've done tremendous, effort and improvement in education, there are still 130 million girls who are, who don't have access to schooling, and there are 12 million who are married, that are under the age of 18 every single year. Of course also the gender gap. I don't want to talk extensively about that. I know we're all aware of the gender pay gap. Although we've seen that women now are more qualified, or if I may say, as qualified as men in terms of their post-graduate studies, and of course, women participation in the political arena, where again, in our region, there's a lot of effort that...

Contact Miguel Molina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguelmolinaprofile/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch: (00:00) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA’s  podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Mitch Roshong and today's conversation will cover the topic of leadership and how finance leaders accelerate change. In episode 112 of our series, Miguel Molina, CFO at Avocados from Mexico talks about his career journey and what he has been able to overcome and accomplish through effective leadership and change management. Stay tuned as we listened to his conversation with Adam now.   Adam: (00:41) So Miguel, can you tell me a bit about your career journey?   Miguel: (00:45) Sure, Adam. Well, I'm the son of Carmen and Hector, and Carmen, my mother was a visionary woman and, my father was a successful entrepreneur in southern, Mexico. I'm a first generation going to college. Actually my, my mother was the one who convinced me to go to Northern Mexico to pursue a degree. And even she said, look, who knows, maybe you may end up working in the U S. And so I did my undergrad in accounting in northern Mexico in one of the most prestigious university in Latin America, which is Monterey tech. I graduated with honors in December, 1994. 1994-1995 was a difficult years in Mexico. There was years of economic and political turmoil. Mexican economy style deficits rose. Politics became unstable and even some politicians were assassinated. And after 75 years, the PRI to the main party in Mexico, lost government control to another party after 72 years. But, so despite all these changes as a young student, I always wanted to represent Mexico and work for an international company in the US. So I've quickly realized that I needed to improve my skills, Adam. I decided to sell my car both to Canada, I spent three months to improve my English skills. Vancouver, Canada was a great, great experience, but also my last year in college, a teacher of mine, actually a corporate executive and one of the largest tortilla corn meal companies in the world invited me to join Mission foods here in the U.S., and I did. and I started, I started internal auditor. I had been fortunate to travel to the U.S, and I spent a fantastic 18 years careers at mission foods. And I took a position in Southern California as a sales and distribution accountant. Company gave me a full region moving from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Eventually our corporate offices were moved to Dallas, Texas, and we relocated in 2003 and they gave me all U.S. responsibility for the sales and distribution accounting. Then in 2009, as all we know the U.S. experience a great recession, and also needed to improve my skills. So I pursued an executive MBA at Southern Methodist university, and graduated with honors in 2011. Around 2014, the former VP of marketing for Mission foods moved to Avocados from Mexico, as his precedent and CMO, and he invited me to join Avocados from Mexico.  I  accepted, and now I'm at the CFO, one of the most exciting and successful problems, marketers organizations in the U S Adam.   Adam: (03:39) That's great, and I'm a consumer of avocados from Mexico. So that's very exciting to talk with you today.   Miguel: (03:47) Excellent. You'll be surprised that eight of every 10 avocados consumed the U.S. come from Mexico. And just as a trivia, you need to know that avocados is a berry it's from the same family of a berry.   Adam: (04:01) So you have a quite, quite a journey that you've come from, you know, where you grew up in Mexico, all the way to where you are today. What leadership characteristics have enabled you to get where you are?   Miguel: (04:12) Well, there are a few topics that I can see in my career. I'm borrowing some items from the leadership tools begin with the end in mind. I think that that is very important. Be resilient and lead by example, and yes, some, some good old luck, Adam. Let me tell you a quick story about, about that. When I was in college, a classmate, invited me to spend a spring break with him at his house. He is from Queretaro, a state located in central Mexico. And during his family dinner, he talk about his plans. I remember him saying that he wanted to finish university, pursue his master's degree at the University of Michigan, go back to home to his hometown, and became the mayor of his hometown and then become the governor of his state. I was in awe. So wait a minute, here's a guy, my same age, same age, education level, both  were doing very well at school. With such plans unbelievable because until then my goals was to go back to my hometown and work for my father and my family. But I have to say that that made that night, my life change, I dare to dream. I decided to do well with school, learn English, pursue an MBA and work for an international company. So beginning with the end in mind, I think is, is important, be resilient, be consistent and always lead by example, Adam.  Adam: (05:46) Definitely, and you know, I'm sure as time has gone on your job role has changed as an expectation changes. We're in the middle of a pandemic still, you know, how have you been able to develop your change management skills and make everyone aware of the necessary changes as you've gone along?   Miguel: (06:02) Change is always being consistent, and I follow an author, Yuval Noah Harari, and he wrote one of the best sellers book, Sapien. And he's an extraordinary philosopher, historian, and storyteller, highly recommend to you and your audience to look for him, Yuval Noah Harari. So he makes an interesting analogy. He says, Hey, listen, in the past, we were thought to have any strong and deep foundations, it was very important, right? So like a house, if a hurricane or a strong wind passes, that foundation will keep you grounded. Well, today he says the knowledge is different. We need to have a mentality of a tent. Yes, like a camping tent and be ready for significant changes on a strong winds. So when that happens, now, what we need to do is to pick up a tent and move to another place. So let me say Harari talks about the most successful skills in the future will be the capacity to that capacity to change, right? Including the psychology of change, because in our lifetime, we need to reinvent ourselves so many times. I'm sure you Adam, me and all of us, your audience have we need them force or to reinvent ourselves. Right? So during my career, I've been very fortunate to work with great leaders, Adam, and it gave me the freedom and the confidence to make changes. So over the years, I have reinvented my position many times, I expanded my responsibilities to other areas, including technology, and continue process improvement, and I'm upstairs. We've improving processes and finding efficiencies and  changes come with risks. I have some battle scars for sure by that. However, if you're prepared to business case and take a small risk to test your ideas, you gain confidence and that the company where you're working with also begin building that trust in you, Adam. Adam: (08:00) Definitely trust is a huge factor, in, in any type of change management. Is that what you use to kind of get buy in from your stakeholders in your organization as you made those changes? Miguel: (08:14) Yes. Yes, Adam, listen, I would like to talk about a time when I failed and I failed badly. I was working for my previous company. I convinced your management that we needed to invest in a trade promotion application. I created a vision, tackle it...

Contact Serena Wolfe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-wolfe/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch: (00:00) Hello and welcome back for another episode of Count Me In. Mitch Roshong here with you again and today you'll be hearing my co-host Adam speak with Serena Wolf about CFO role in implementing an ESG agenda. Serena is CFO of Annaly Capital Management and has over 20 years of experience in accounting. In this episode, she addresses the importance of environmental, social, and corporate governance and how CFO is truly influenced each letter of ESG. Keep listening as we head over to the conversation now. Adam: (00:38) Serena, thanks so much for speaking with us today on the topic of ESG and to provide some background for our listeners who might not be familiar with Annaly Capital Management, it would be great. If you could begin by providing our listeners with an overview of Annaly and your industry and some your specific role within the company. Serena: (01:02) Adam, I would love to and first I want to say, thanks for having me today. Annaly is a leading diversified capital manager that invests in and finances, residential and commercial assets. We were founded in 1996, and we went public a year later on the New York stock exchange. We are in fact, the largest mortgager REIT, and we have four investment teams. That's our agency, MBS business, which represents approximately 93% of our total assets. We also have a residential credit platform, a commercial real estate division, and a middle-market lending. Currently we have a market cap of over $11 billion and over $100 billion dollars in total assets. And with that  market cap of over $11 billion, we have the largest capital base among our peers in the mortgage REIT space. And so let's talk quickly about REIT I guess, just, for your audience as well. REITs are often public companies, but specific to REITs, we are a taxable election. In fact, whereby we have to return 90% of our income to shareholders. So we're quite popular with those folks that want a dividend yielding stock, like pensioners, and things like that ..And broadly speaking REITs can be broken down into two major categories, equity REITs, which typically own and operate income producing real estate and mortgage REITs, which provide financing for purchasing or originating mortgages and MBS. Annaly, as I mentioned before, is a mortgage REIT. Mortgage REITs can be further divided into agency mortgage REITs, which invest in really just agency backed MBS and non-agency mortgage REITs, which invest in a broad variety of mortgage related assets that are not backed by the federal agencies. So for instance, Fannie and Freddie, and while Annaly is primarily an agency mortgage REIT, I mentioned before, we've got 93% of our total assets in agency MBS, our platform is differentiated based on the credit businesses that complement our core strategy and of note, we are the only REIT with a corporate credit investment arm. So, we have capabilities to invest across the capital structure in each of these, which means that not only do we own MBS and mortgages, but we also own income producing real estate assets. We have around about 180 employees. And as an executive officer of the firm, I have a broad set of duties. though as CFO, I have primary responsibility in communicating performance results to our stakeholders, managing our financial and budgeting processes and also oversight of our treasury and IT functions, but in all aspects, to be honest, I collaborate closely with the investment side of the house, as well as ESG, Strategy, and Risk. Adam: (03:41) I think that's a wonderful overview. So let's turn to our primary topic of today, which is ESG nAnaly just released its first ESG report. Let's set the stage by saying stating what is ESG, what does it mean to you and your company, and then how does ESG factor into running a business? Serena: (03:58) Yeah, so ESG and it is a nomenclature that's a bit out in the ether these days, but what it really means is environmental, social, and governance, and it refers to the three central factors in measuring the sustainability and societal impact of an investment in a company or a business. I know that's very definitive. I pulled it off, Investopedia or something, Adam, I think.. but historically many companies have focused on the G the governance aspect of ESG and less on the E and the S. That's not a new focus for us. I think we've been ahead of the curve in incorporating ESG into our business processes and culture from the start. For example, we are a female founded, company founded by Wellington Denahan, who remains a Vice Chair on our Board. And so diversity has always been a cornerstone of our company. And as you mentioned, Adam, actually on the 23rd anniversary of our IPO, we published our inaugural Corporate Responsibility Report. This provides significant disclosures about our ESG considerations that we've been incorporating implicitly and explicitly into our business for years. It's covered through five main areas; corporate governance, human capital and management, responsible investments, risk management, and the environment. Altogether, we aim to have a positive impact in the communities where we live, work, and invest. A couple of examples here, Adam, just to highlight that in 2019 we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 5% and we actually expect to improve that year over year in 2020. We have a social impact joint venture through which we have financed 21 community development projects and underserved communities across the country. Examples of these are things like, elder care residences and affordable housing. As of the third quarter of 2020, we have made $285 million direct investments to support community development and economic opportunity. So we, we find that, I would say that our corporate responsibility report is a great summation of all the work that we've done, but it is something that we've been working on from an ESG front really from inception of the organization. Adam: (06:23) I think that's amazing all the things that you're, you're doing from a, from that perspective. I think one of the challenging, challenging question that many businesses are thinking about these days is how do you balance the principles of ESG with return objectives with, to which remain a key priority, not only for your shareholders, but also for your employees and other stakeholders. And then how do you answer this question and what experience do you have as the CFO implementing this agenda and balancing these various strategies? Serena: (

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Adam: (00:00) Welcome back to Count Me In IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson and today I have another bonus episode for you. This special conversation features my co-host, Rouba Zeidan and Alia Moubayed, an experienced economist, General Manager, and Global CFO. In this episode that discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Alia shares her perspective on how the world has changed because of it. She also shares how finance and accounting profession can better arm itself for the next chapter of business. Stay tuned as we begin listening to their conversation now. Rouba: (00:47) Good afternoon, Adia, and thank you so much for joining me for this episode. I'm really looking forward to getting your input. You are one of the top economists in this region, and your view on the current situation and going forward, you know, as we begin, 2021 is of great importance, and so thank you. Alia: (01:07) Thank you very much for hosting me. Rouba: (01:09) How has the pandemic changed your role as an economist? Alia: (01:15) Well, I mean, the, pandemic changed the way we do our work as economists, particularly in the middle East and North Africa region at two levels. The first is, our own understanding of the economies in the light of the COVID. It requires from economists a non-traditional approach to analyzing the impact of the pandemic. So fundamentally it is hitting, people's health and therefore a key resource. So fundamentally the pandemic is affecting our work as economists at two levels. First in our approach in, analyzing, the developments in the economy, notably, understanding the impact of the pandemic, both at the macro, but also more importantly at the micro level, because, particularly that, that the pandemic is hitting, the lives and livelihoods of people, but also supply chains and therefore industries, and at the same time global economic factors like oil, and, capital flows, and trade. So our understanding of, and our approach to analyzing, economic development has been transformed. But I think also the second level is, how go about doing our work. The East and North Africa region, is a region that you cannot analyze by staying behind your desk and looking at numbers, first, because, there's less data transparency in the region, and our work as economists requires us being, in the country, traveling, talking to policymakers and to decision makers in both the public and the private sector. And obviously our, ability to travel has been challenged by the pandemic and that significantly impacted our work, but thanks to digital technology. We have, moved our work and our connectivity with people in the region, to all these platforms, Zoom and others, and they have also transformed the way we interact with decision makers in the region. Rouba: (03:52) Every quarter IMA and ACCA collaborate and we publish an economic conditions report, which details global developments, and in the most recent global economic conditions survey, which covered Q4 2020 and the middle East region recorded a huge jump in confidence. In your view, what is driving this kind of progress? Is it the easing of geopolitical tensions? is it the continued recovery in oil prices and demand? I mean, when you look at oil prices, they've jumped around 25% to $50 per barrel between September and December.,and also, what are the challenges that remain ahead for the region? Alia: (04:34) Sure, I think all the factors that you have listed have been important in shoring up, sentiment in the region, and I think, the four are essentially, first one is a sign that we have seen in Q4 that there are signs that the vaccine is at a reach and that a rollout is imminent. So that has, given hope of the resumption of economic activity, particularly in the hard hit sector, service sector, which constitute a large part of the services economy in the region, but also globally. I think certainty from that sort of, this, expectation that a, economic rebound is slowly on their way has transpired into the demand for oil, even though there are still pressures and uncertainty on the outlook for demand for oil as has been estimated recently by the IMF, but also by the International Energy Agency, however, I think the response from, all exporters, particularly in the context of the OPEC plus meeting to, to curb and continue to curb supply, has also helped, bring oil prices, to levels that, that affects sentiment in the region, I E 50 plus, level. And I think as long as, as oil prices remain in that, in that bound, the pressure, particularly on the, fiscal, and external, wind oil windfalls to the region, will be much less than what we have seen in 2020. And that takes me to the third factor, which is really, in Q4. We have seen, most with Eastern country countries, particularly in the gulf put out budgets for 2021, that confirmed their commitment to supporting, their local economies whether in Saudi Arabia or in the UAE, in Qatar. These are budgets that have maintained, some form of minimum fiscal stimulus, but also there have been a rollout of many of the liquidity packages that have been provided by the central banks or, delaying, the periods of, further exemptions from paying taxes and fees. So alleviating the pressure on, on businesses across the economies. So the kind of fiscal and policy framework, that has been maintained for 2021 also has contributed to the sentiment. And, finally I think, what we have seen is also the reduction in geopolitical tension on the back of the U S election, and this is a perception, at least so far, that, a diplomacy and not confrontation, will be the theme, when it comes to, to dealing with the, many, complicated, tensions, that has marked the region for a long time. Rouba: (08:19) Undoubtedly, the global economy is in a very fragile state at. Its worst state since 1930. COVID infection rates are increasing, was the virus continues to mutate. And what lies ahead will definitely include further lockdowns, compromise, consumer trust, and respect of spending a lot of strain on cashflow and rising, private, and public debt that to name, but a few, but the progress made on vaccine approval. And what is being dubbed the most ambitious global vaccination campaigns humanity has ever seen. It kind of raises hopes for a permanent economic improvement. How do you see its successful implementation impacting the regional and the global economy? And can we hope for an economic bounce back? Alia: (09:09) I think, bounce back is a bit, too optimistic. I mean, there certainly there are based effects we quote because we are going to go to go from a deep recession, as you rightly said, I mean, let's, let's just put some numbers here. I mean, the word economy and the world output, is estimated to have been, to have contracted by, by 4.4%, in 2020, with advanced economies  contracting by around 5.8% while emerging markets, by, a 3.3%. These are by far, a very deep recession, and obviously they will leave deep scars in, in many of the economies, therefore, why there will be a rebound from this recession, however, there is a great uncertainty first on the, extent and strengths of this, of this recovery, but also on its durability, because, first we are, we are seeing, unfortunately second waves of hitting in many countries leading to second waves of severe lockdown, particularly in Europe, and in some emerging economies, but also, the rollout of the vaccine will be a long drawn, and it will take time. It needs resources, it needs the right infrastructure. That's why maybe in the developed world, they will be able to, they are relatively well prepared, although, I mean, not all of, all of them, but in much greater part of the emerging world, that w...

Contact Mitch Perry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitch-perry-6111b61/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Mitch: (00:00)Thanks for coming back and listening to another episode of Count Me In, I'm your host Mitch Roshong, and this is the 110th episode of IMA's podcast series. Today you will hear from Mitch Perry, CFO for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. Mitch is an experienced executive with a demonstrated history of leading effectively across multiple industries, including healthcare, energy, and insurance. In this episode, he talks about business transformation in the context of accounting and finance. Keep listening to hear about some keys, best practices and strategies, for overcoming challenges associated with business transformation.  Adam: (00:47)Mitch, what is the current nature of business transformations and what do businesses hope to accomplish by going through a business transformation?  Mitch P.: (00:56)Yeah. Well, thanks, Adam,  for that question, it's, it was really timely. For us, we're seeing, you know, a lot of change in healthcare and trying to lead transformation in healthcare, you know, it's at its most basic form, I look at it as a need to be responsive to really what's going on in the marketplace, how rapidly business conditions are changing. What you need to do to, as a company is not only to stay current, but hopefully stay in, stay in the lead. I think about healthcare, maybe even business in general, what we're living through right now with COVID-19, has really underscored, how, how important it is to be ready, to adapt and change and transform to the external market. And what we've seen, to some extent, even gives a little bit of an opportunity to accelerate some of that transformation. I view us as an industry that is transforming right before our eyes, and I see us as Blue Cross, North Carolina as playing a role on helping to transform leading the transformation of health healthcare for the better, in our state. And the way we look at it is largely from an affordability lens that, we got to drive transform ourselves and help transform the system in a way that, is, provides for more affordable healthcare for our customers, and a major way we're doing that is through how we transform our, our payment approach with our provider partners, and you're paying them for, quality and outcomes as opposed to a fee for service. And even though we're a leader, maybe especially because we're a leader, you know, we're doing it from a position of strength, we're making certain that we're focusing on, what we should be doing for the long-term,and it kind of allows us to play offense as opposed to maybe having to react and try to transform from a position of defense later r. You know, the final point I would make on, on this question, Adam is, we have, had really strong momentum with our provider partners and transforming, the payment system before the pandemic, and it really, because of that has allowed us to maintain momentum and even accelerated, some things that weren't initially on the roadmap is, have now allowed us to even go faster. So think in terms of how we're able to add telehealth, into what we're, in, into what we're really, completing as part of our transformation, structure, and then, you know, how we're working and bringing our primary care along as well. So it really, put us in a position to not only be strong coming into it, but to maybe even go faster through it.  Adam: (04:13)So I think you've given us some great examples of how you've been able to have a successful transformation. What are some of the keys that you've been able to apply to make it a successful transformation?  Mitch P.: (04:23)Yeah, and Adam, I will acknowledge, that, you know, we are, in the middle of this and maybe all businesses are at some stage in the middle of transformation, but, you know, the good news is I think I've got some really timely, feedback, but there's also the reality that we learn and learning every day. You know, one of the things I think about is, innovation is important. I think sometimes when you talk about transformation, people think about innovation and clearly there is an aspect of that, but I think about it as, as being more than about innovation, I think about it as execution the really the most critical part. I don't know if you've had exposure to John Doerr, a very successful investor with Kleiner Perkins. He was late investor, Google, Amazon recently, Door Dash, and, I've heard him say before, that ideas are easy execution is everything. And it really hits home for me that, yeah, it's, it's great to have all these great ideas, but there are a lot of great ideas, you know, really the key to success is can you execute on those ideas? And so with that, you know, I've done a little thinking around what are some successful events and, you know, almost think about it like a little bit of a recipe. This recipe happens to have six items. I will say I'm a pretty simplistic baker. Six items is quite, quite a bit, but transformation has some complexity to it, and I think six probably makes sense and they all happen to begin with the letter C. So hopefully they're easy to remember, but not the six c's. The first one is courage. I think it takes courage to make changes to the status quo. You have to have energy to continue to be curious. You have to find ways to take measured risks so that you move forward without putting too much of your existing model at risk. The second is, communication. You know, I'd say it starts at the executive level, but it has to go all the way through the organization. Being clear about what you're driving towards, you know, what we're trying to achieve, why it's better, you know, why, you know, not just trying to make a change for change sake, but why it makes sense for what we're doing. The third is collaboration, and I think what we're doing with our provider partners provides, or will a good example of that. transformation requires partnerships. I don't think there's really any way to do it effectively unless you deal with partnerships, whether they be internal partnerships or external. And I think it's important that you invest the time is early. She can, and your transformation process there to build those partnerships so that you can get some early wins and you can withstand the challenges later, and where in, you're able to pick up momentum as you, as you move. The fourth, is change management and, you know, I think about change management as being  almost a process to itself. You have to be purposeful. We all understand that, as an organization and as individuals, we embrace change differently. We have different risk tolerances, but important, that you're able to, bring everyone along. And there's no way to do that, I think, but to be purposeful around kind of how you, how you work through the organization and when you're doing it outside the organization, how you work outside the organization to make certain, everyone has a common understanding. The fifth, and this one may become a little more obvious given the, for the fact that the four score probably has some complexity to them, but it is commitment. I'd like to say that you have to be patient, but you also have to be persistent. You can't change momentum overnight. There will be setbacks. There will be opportunities for people to say this doesn't work, but you have to make certain that you've got the commitment and fortitude to continue to move forward even during the challenges. And the final one, which I really think underpins them all is culture. And, you know, the culture of blue cross North Carolina is going to be different say than ...