On Friday 25th of August, Consultant Harry Young hosted the inaugural ‘Future Finance Leaders Forum’. This newly created event series is aimed at the most highly aspirant 0-5 years post-qualified accountants in West & Central Scotland.
The purpose of the event series is to connect future leaders, allowing them to network and get introduced to like-minded individuals; whilst also providing them with insights from our network of established leaders, helping to shape their careers and accelerate their professional development. Harry shares some highlights from the first event in his new series below.
Our first event in the Future Finance Leaders Forum Series was a roundtable lunch in partnership with David Smith, Financial Controller at Drinks Manufacturing business, Guala Closures. At this exclusive invite-only event, David shared insights from his career to date and provided guidance on how our audience could progress their career and achieve their ambitions.
David shared five key insights / takeaways from his career to date.
1. Be open to opportunities – It might not seem like the obvious move, or your preferred one, but if it broadens your skillset it might be a good one. David provided an example where he took on leadership of the accounting and controls team at William Grant & Sons.
2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable – Push yourself outside your comfort zone, it will soon become more comfortable. For example, David signed up for the Emerging Leaders programme at William Grant & Sons which involved presenting to the senior leadership team, and a promotion followed.
3. Seek out leadership positions – Leading people is tough, but it will bring opportunity if you do it well. Don’t forget/neglect your people: it can be easy in middle management to get sucked into the day-to-day demands from above. Have regular catch-ups and 1:1’s booked in and make these non-negotiable (for you). Involve your team and delegate some of what’s raining down – they will thank and reward you if they are the right people.
4. Always do the right thing, not just the easy thing – People will respect and recognise you for it in the long run… and most importantly, you will sleep at night!
5. Tone from the top matters – When looking at a prospective employer, the tone from the top should be high on the list of questions. Your boss’s boss matters more and more as you progress. It becomes more difficult to work somewhere if you are not aligned with the approach of the senior leadership/culture they are creating.
We were delighted to partner with David on this event and are excited to be hosting this as a quarterly event going forward.
To register your interest in joining the Future Finance Leaders Forum and to be notified regarding future events, please contact Harry Young at [email protected].
