Heath Alloway hosts an insightful Episode 80 of The Upstream Leader featuring Caitlin Gibbs, Matt Skinner, and Trevor Brown. This landmark episode, the first ever with three guests, is an exploration of the evolving landscape of the accounting profession, with the panel touching on leadership development and networking, mentoring, challenges within the profession, and the importance of collaboration among firms. Highlighting the impact of technology and strategies for business development and talent retention, the panelists offer valuable perspectives on sustaining growth, enhancing work-life balance, and enticing the next generation of accountants to join what they consider a profession that is full of potential.

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Jeremy Clopton engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Sarah Krom, Managing Partner at SKC & Co., on Episode 79 of The Upstream Leader. They discuss the challenges the profession seems to be encountering in needing to teach skills around professionalism, with Sarah sharing her firm’s solution: to formally teach “behavioral competencies” alongside the technical skills virtually all firms promote. Touching on developing a framework for professionalism, the importance of behavioral competencies, and strategies for effective mentorship and coaching, Sarah offers practical advice for both leaders and early career professionals. This approach has paid off for Sarah in a massive way, as she has been named one of America’s Top 200 CPAs by Forbes.

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Allan Koltin joins Jeremy Clopton on Episode 78 of The Upstream Leader to discuss the evolving landscape of the accounting profession. Allan’s expertise is wide-reaching, built over more than 40 years within accounting as a practitioner, consultant, and thought leader. Covering M&A, private equity, ESOPs and more, Allan underscores recent industry growth, the importance of transformation, and strategic adaptations that firms must embrace to remain competitive, stressing that PE is not the only answer. Talent management, effective advancement, and cost reductions are all pieces of the puzzle, and Allan goes so far as to emphasize the challenges of PE integrations—the necessity for standardized processes, culture shock, changes in valuations, partnership agreements, and so on. There are few more knowledgeable voices in modern accounting than Allan Koltin and this episode is one you don’t want to miss.

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“Maybe” takes a back seat and stays where it belongs, as Jeremy Clopton hosts Kathy Klang, leader of the Success Management Division at Cummings Keegan on Episode 77 of The Upstream Leader. Kathy emphasizes the importance of empowering individuals to become decisive leaders without overanalyzing, advocating for a shift from committee-based management to individual decision-making. Cultivating leadership is a process that involves multiple steps, including training, setting parameters, and encouraging a culture of open communication. Kathy explains that mistakes are inevitable in such a setup and identifies how to handle fixes, but above all it remains a collaborative process so that it doesn’t feel punitive for the person in question. A master class on leadership brought to you by a former managing partner with over 40 years’ experience in the profession—you don’t want to miss this episode!

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Erin Raukar joins Heath Alloway on Episode 76 of The Upstream Leader to discuss her experiences throughout her career leading up to her current position as Director of Human Resources and Administration at Cummings Keegan. HR plays a strategic role in any accounting firm, and Erin has vast knowledge of HR’s inner workings, which she’s gained from roles at Target Headquarters, educational institutions, and in the public accounting space. Focusing especially on the importance of feedback, onboarding, and relationship-building, Erin touches on the significance of early relationship investment and effective time management to ensure firms run at their peak. Erin also shares her insights on creating a positive onboarding experience and the value of peer networks, offering practical advice for firm leaders aiming to enhance their operational and HR strategies.

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Heath Alloway returns to hosting duties as he talks with Peter Ostopko, founder and publisher of the Kinsman Journal, on Episode 75 of The Upstream Leader. With a backdrop of “Calming the Noise,” or in other words, filtering out what is and is not necessary to focus on in your daily life, they explore Peter's leadership journey, career transitions, and strategies for finding purpose and balance. Peter emphasizes the importance of understanding emotions, fostering genuine connections, and creating a people-centric work culture. The pair also highlight the significance of empathy, intentional communication, and community-building, both professionally and personally.

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Jeremy Clopton returns to host Episode 74 of The Upstream Leader, where he welcomes Rob Brown to delve into the theme of connection within the accounting profession. Rob, the founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable, is a reputation and career development expert as well as the host of the Accounting Influencers podcasts. Covering topics such as leveraging technology for genuine connections, enhancing firm culture in both remote and in-person environments, and the importance of intentionality in leadership, Rob delves deep into the expertise he has gained from decades of consulting with professionals, as he and Jeremy go into great detail about innovative firm practices such as asynchronous video introductions and speed networking events, to name but two. Rob’s depth of experience really shines through as he emphasizes the value of empathy and understanding in building effective relationships.

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Jeremy Clopton and Heath Alloway get together to discuss their recent experiences and insights from various conferences, workshops, and personal time on this special recap Episode 73 of The Upstream Leader. They explore the importance of reconnecting with nature and practicing gratitude, both in personal life, and in the workplace, and how empowering that can be in driving personal creativity and vision. They look at current trends in accounting: building a culture of optimism, the impact of private equity, and the vital need for any firm to have an intentional growth strategy. They emphasize that effective leadership leads to teaching and mentorship, which ensure the future success of accounting firms, and they discuss this from a position of experience and expertise as Upstream Academy continues to support the development of high-performing leaders in the profession.

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