The Wize Way

Episode 135: Leading by Example: The Role of Mentorship in Accounting and Bookkeeping Success

• Wize Mentoring for Accountants and Bookkeepers • Season 2 • Episode 135

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In this week's episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Brenton Ward and Jamie Johns delve into the transformative power of mentorship within the accounting and bookkeeping industry. 

Jamie discusses the impactful session he led with WizeElite clients, focusing on identifying the most influential people in their careers. This reflection sparked a deeper conversation about the role of training and development, both structured and unstructured, in fostering growth and self-awareness among firm owners.

Jamie challenges business owners to consider not only who has profoundly influenced them but also how they can be that pivotal figure for others in their teams. The episode is rich with strategies for personal and professional development, emphasizing the importance of leadership and the profound impact of mentorship on both individual and firm success.

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3. Book a 1:1 Wize Discovery Session – Spend 30mins with our Wize CEO, Jamie Johns, a $7M firm owner who is ready to give you his entire business plan to build a firm that can run without you – Find out more here

Brenton Ward:

From Wize Mentoring is The Wize Way Podcast for Accountants and Bookkeepers, a show about accounting and bookkeeping practice owners and the many stories, lessons, and tips from their experience of transitioning from a time- poor practice to a business that runs without them. I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

Brenton Ward:

Good day, Jamie, welcome back to The Wize Way. How are you?

Brenton Ward:

Jamie Johns: Yeah, good, Brenton, how are you going?

Brenton Ward:

Brenton Ward: Doing good? Thank you. Freezing my butt off here in Dublin today and you're sitting there with a t-shirt on. I'm sure it was a nice balmy 30-something degree in Ballarat.

Jamie Johns:

Yeah, our weather's turning. We had a lot of uh, electrical storms, sun, rain, lightning.

Brenton Ward:

It's that time of year again, you know, heading towards the summer makes me feel a little bit better that you're not sitting on on the beach in the sunshine. Give me a week yeah, yeah, cool.

Brenton Ward:

I've got a great little topic I'd like to pick your brains on today, after your private coaching call with your Wize Elite clients firm owners this week. When you told me back what you spoke about in that session, I thought it was a perfect little episode to share with our audience and I'm going to let you tell a story. But to prompt you, you started the session off by asking everyone who was in attendance a specific question about their own career and their own career path, it was very impactful and was a great reflection moment, and it sparked a really interesting and quite a deep conversation. So I want you to tell me what you spoke about, and what the question was, and then, for everyone listening probably ask them the same question what are some of the actions and insights we'd like them to take away from thinking about this question? So do you remember the question? To start with, I do.

Jamie Johns:

I do 100%.

Brenton Ward:

Yeah, great.

Jamie Johns:

Yeah, let's talk about it. Well, you know, Brenton, what we, what we do at Wize is we follow a blueprint, it's called the Wize Freedom Strategy Map and you know we follow that blueprint and you know, every week on that map, you know we take a step on the journey with all the firms and you know, this week the topic was you know what, structured? You know, training and development. Or you know technical training, soft skills training, structured training, unstructured training. You know, can you or should you do within the firm? So you know you'd think a pretty boring topic.

Jamie Johns:

I think everyone perhaps thought, oh, you know, this is going to be a boring topic. Anyhow, I managed to turn it, turn that on its head. And so what I asked? Everyone branch man was. I said look, I want you to put in the chat the first name of the most influential person in your career up until this point in your life, who believed in you, who gave you a go, who guided you, who coached you, who mentored you, who effectively got you to believe in yourself for maybe the first time ever, or reminded you that you could be more than you are right now. And with that, you know, you could have heard a pin drop and the chat box just went. You know, like a, like a flat-out typewriter bang bang, bang, bang bang bang. You know all these first names from the firm owners around. You know the person that did that for them and it was quite fascinating.

Brenton Ward:

It was really interesting that everyone very quickly knew and remembered, mind you, you know, who that person was so to put the question back on you, who was that person for you?

Jamie Johns:

Oh yeah, look, it was probably, um, really in my early days, so in my teens and then in my early 20s, three people, and one was a chap called Rex Newitt who was an accounting business studies teacher, another chap was Lindsay Burgoyne, who was very much into personal health, fitness, and development, and the third one in the accounting issue, a chap by the name of Peter Fitzgerald. And those three guys really set me on a path of you know, for the rest of my life and it's funny, I can remember them instantly.

Brenton Ward:

Instantly and, just like in the WizeElite coaching call, everyone instantly remembered their one person, you know yeah, and then the conversation then went to are you that one person for your team or could you be that one person for your team? So talk to us about the lens on the conversation that you put in regard to how we look at our team.

Jamie Johns:

Yeah. So what I did then was you know, I chose three, you know participants in in the coaching and, um, you know, we. I spoke to each person individually and I said, you know, essentially, do. The first question is do you wish to be that person for your team? Right, and everyone said, of course, yes. But then the next question was more powerful. I said are you actually living that?

Jamie Johns:

And you know, one of the participants, one of the firm owners you know, said no, look, Jamie, I'm not. I'm working 14 hours a day and I don't do that. And, um, you know, I said why. I said, why, why aren't you living up, you know, to your own former hero who was for you? And they said, well, I need to change. They said I'll need to change and, you know, I think the greatest quality of leadership is self-awareness. You can read any 10,000 business books in the world. And it's self-awareness. And you know this particular person. I said you know well, what's going to change from today? And they said, well, I need to start putting some time aside to be my team's hero. And that's what it comes down to.

Jamie Johns:

You've got to be your team's hero and that's what it comes down to. You've got to be your team's hero and you know so from what started out as a really boring topic around training and development. The fact is, across all industries globally, you know the word for on-the-job training. That's how we learn the job training you know, so you can have your official structured training. But some of the best training, um, some of the best coaching, some of those mentoring that actually cements the knowledge, is that one-to-one time with that one person who believed in you.

Jamie Johns:

And you know, if you read Dr. Stephen Covey's book goes into this quite deeply. He talks about, you know you can spread your energy and influence and you can spread it very thin. You know hundreds, thousands of people, but he actually recommends that you choose one person you know over the course of your life or a certain time in your life when you invest in them. And I must say you know, over 20 years, 25 years of my experience, you know I've done that myself time and time again just chosen one person and really really leave that circle that we talk about Brenton, which is in essence part of what we do at Wize, is essentially learn. So learn from someone greater, better, and more knowledgeable than you, share with your peers and colleagues, and then teach that learn, better, more knowledgeable to you, share with your peers and colleagues, and then teach that.

Jamie Johns:

Learn, share, teach, and cycle the rule of 33.

Jamie Johns:

Brenton Ward: Rule of 33.

Jamie Johns:

Jamie Johns: The rule of 33. That's right. You know spend. You know for those that are listening. You know you must or you should spend 33% of your time with someone that you aspire to be, that you can learn from 33% of your time sharing that knowledge with peers and colleagues, and, most importantly, 33% of your time teaching, mentoring and giving back and guiding others. And you know. So sometimes I think, Brenton, we've just got to stop and think who is my hero? First question and secondly, am I the hero for my firm, and who is that person you're the hero for? Because you know the world lacks leadership. The world lacks leadership and you know I read the other day there's a mental health pandemic. You know it's here or it's coming.

Brenton Ward:

Mental health pandemic. It's here or it's coming. And to your point on self-awareness, John Maxwell, who's, you know, one of the godfathers of leadership development in the space, he talks about self-awareness as well. When self-awareness is low, self-centeredness is high. So all you're thinking about is you and you know your problems and your challenges and everything that's going on with you, whereas when self-awareness is high, your self-centeredness is low and you're actually focused on serving and helping other people, those around you, your team, your community, and your peers.

Jamie Johns:

Yeah, that's right and I think you know. Again, look at the greats. Dr. Stephen Covey, you know says that leaders always speak last. You know you'll notice a leader that comes into the room. They often will listen, you know, and they speak last. And they don't listen to reply, they listen to understand another person's perspective and you know, self-awareness is also being vulnerable as well in leadership.

Jamie Johns:

Awareness is also being vulnerable as well. In leadership, you know, essentially it's really carving out time in your life to give back, to invest in someone. And you know, as Ed Chan, our Co-founder, says, you know you've got to do the balance sheet play from an accountant. There's your P&L play. Yes, you've got to do your P&L play, but you've got to do the balance sheet play. And while you're there to do your P&L play, you've got to do the balance sheet play. And while you're there to make money and get a certain level of a bidder, you won't necessarily be remembered for that Well, you've got to be commercial. But what you will be remembered for, as in the coaching call, is you'll be remembered for the guidance, the knowledge, and the hero that you were for other people. And you know that's the impact. The impact, yeah.

Jamie Johns:

And you know, at WizeElite coaching we've got a book club and you know November's book club was I'll read it out Brenton. And November's book club was everyone deserves a great manager and the six critical practices for leading a team. And you know again, it's just the book. Just, you know it's written by Scott Miller with a couple of other authors, but again it goes into that. You know balance sheet play. You must invest in people and you know this is where this is the industry's problem, that no one's got any time. We see it time and time again.

Jamie Johns:

You know everyone wants more time, money and freedom. How do you get that? You know and you know, this is what we love.

Jamie Johns:

We love what we do. You know we help people get that by investing in their balance sheet and by having some of these discussions with firms. To have a mindset breakthrough, You've got to have a breakthrough in your mind first, and in essence that means that a leader's mindset is to achieve their goals through others. Now, if you think about that, that's quite profound. You know you must achieve your goals through others.

Brenton Ward:

Yeah, and that's where the magic lives.

Jamie Johns:

That's where the magic lives.

Brenton Ward:

I'm going to leave that conversation there, Jamie, because I think just focusing on that from this episode is quite powerful for anyone listening to take something away from that, even if it's just asking yourself two questions who is your hero and who had the biggest impact on you in your career and who you are today, and even broader than career, the man or woman or person you are today. And the second is are you being that for someone else, whether it's in your firm or in your community?

Jamie Johns:

That's right. And feel free to send us a message here at Wize and share that with us, and you know we love hearing those types of stories here. It's fantastic. People message us myself and you, Brenton all the time and we love to see um, you know, um all the positive impacts that people are having in improving their firms and the challenges they got and how they overcome them.

Brenton Ward:

That type of thing yeah, so if you've enjoyed this episode in the notes you can get in touch with us, follow us, or download something to help you on your journey, and we look forward to seeing you in the next episode. But, Jamie, as always, thanks for sharing your insights and stories so freely, and wishing you a nice summer, sunny weekend, wherever, whichever place you're in.

Jamie Johns:

Thanks, Brenton, and yeah, I hope you keep them warm there too.

Brenton Ward:

Thanks guys. Yeah, see you guys Bye. See you in the next episode.

Brenton Ward:

Thanks for tuning in. If you liked this episode, please remember to subscribe and leave us a five-star review. For more practical Wize tips on how to build a business that runs without you, head over to wizementoring. com/ podcast to download a free copy of the Accountant's 20-Hour Workweek Playbook. We've included a link in the show notes below. See you on the next episode.