Auditing Leadership The Professional and Leadership Skills You Need Brian D. Kush
Auditing Leadership
Auditing Leadership The Professional and Leadership Skills You Need BRIAN D. KUSH John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copyright C 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services, or technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at 800-762-2974, outside the United States at 317-572-3993 or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our Web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Kush, Brian D. Auditing leadership : the professional and leadership skills you need / Brian D. Kush. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-45001-7 (cloth) 1. Leadership. 2. Auditors. I. Title. HD57.7.K868 2009 658.4 092 dc22 2009004124 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents Preface About the Author xi xiii PART I PROFESSIONAL INTERACTION AND REFLECTION SKILLS 1 CHAPTER 1 Where Are You Going? 3 Your Roles 4 Your Mission 6 Your Core Values 9 Roles, Mission, Values: Tying It All Together 10 Leadership Summary 11 CHAPTER 2 Selling Number One 13 Continuously Selling Yourself 13 Your Brand 16 Branding versus Selling 21 Leadership Summary 22 CHAPTER 3 Feedback Equals Money 23 Sources of Feedback 23 Performance Evaluations 25 Feedback Is Contagious 27 Specific Feedback Rocks! 28 A Feedback Culture Can Start with You 29 Leadership Summary 32 CHAPTER 4 The Audit Cheerleader 33 Belief Is Mandatory 33 v
vi Contents Conflict Is Healthy 36 Positivity Is Contagious 40 Enemies Are Counterproductive 45 Leadership Summary 47 PART II NETWORKING SKILLS 49 CHAPTER 5 Your Social Capital 51 Social Capital 52 Your Circle of Trust 54 Strengthen Your Capital 55 Leadership Summary 56 CHAPTER 6 The First Step in Networking 57 Networking Events 58 Approach Networking as Relationship-Building 59 Leadership Summary 61 PART III TIME MANAGEMENT AND PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY SKILLS 63 CHAPTER 7 The Most Important Word to an Auditor 65 Understand More by Asking Why? 65 Teach Why 70 Leadership Summary 72 CHAPTER 8 The Problem with To-Do Lists 73 To-Do Lists Can Create Guilt 73 Create Action Lists 74 Reconcile To-Do Lists with Goals 77 Prioritization of To-Dos It s Impossible! 78 Leadership Summary 78 CHAPTER 9 The Power of Time-Blocking 79 Schedule Buffer Time 80 Time-Block Commitments, or Say No! 82 Planning Your Day by Using Time-Blocking 84 Time-Block Away Distractions 86
Contents vii Time-Block Yourself 88 Leadership Summary 90 CHAPTER 10 The Power of Routines 91 Routines and Habits 92 Identifying Proactive, Healthy Routines 92 Multi-Fulfilling 98 Give Them a Name 98 Group Routines Require Group Buy-In 99 Create Accountability Related to Your Routines 100 Leadership Summary 103 CHAPTER 11 Do You Train Your People to Interrupt You? 105 Interruption Dependence? 106 Are You Too Accessible? 107 Empower People More So They Interrupt You Less 110 Leadership Summary 111 CHAPTER 12 Do You Have Commitment Issues? 113 Be Aware of All Commitments 114 Habitually Undercommit 117 Leadership Summary 120 CHAPTER 13 Reengineer Your E-mail Practices 121 How Much Are You E-mailing? 121 Challenge E-mails without Substance 123 What s in an E-mail? 124 E-mail Subject Headers 124 E-mail Body 127 E-mail Habits of Others 127 Processing E-mail 129 How Often Should You Check E-mail? 134 Leadership Summary 137 PART IV COMMUNICATION SKILLS 139 CHAPTER 14 Effective Opining 141 What Is Your Advice Process? 141 Unsolicited Advice 143 Leadership Summary 149
viii Contents CHAPTER 15 Are You a Filler-holic? 151 Conversation Word Fillers 151 Writing Word Fillers 154 Leadership Summary 156 CHAPTER 16 Why We Love PowerPoint Slides 157 What Is Your Objective in Making a Presentation? 157 Present with the Audience in Mind 158 Preparing a Presentation with Purpose 160 Leadership Summary 161 CHAPTER 17 One Way to Avoid Office Rage 163 Your Confrontation Style? 163 Turn Anger into Problems and Solutions 165 Leadership Summary 167 PART V CLIENT RELATIONSHIP SKILLS 169 CHAPTER 18 Who Is the Puppet Master? 171 Who Is Pulling the Strings? 171 The Single Biggest Opportunity to Improve Your Audit? 172 Stop Managing Clients 172 The First Step in Client Management 177 Stop Managing Clients 179 Leadership Summary 181 CHAPTER 19 What Hat Are You Wearing? 183 How Many Hats Are You Wearing? 183 Audit Your Audits 184 Client Education 184 Leadership Summary 186 CHAPTER 20 Be Memorable 187 Remind Clients of Your Value 187 Create Stories 189 Turn Messing Up into Stepping Up 190 Let Clients Guide You 193
Contents ix Be Yourself 195 One Client at a Time 195 Leadership Summary 196 PART VI TEAMBUILDING AND REFLECTION SKILLS 197 CHAPTER 21 Prepare to Be Fired 199 Prepare to Be Fired from the Very Beginning: Leadership Transition 200 Add More Responsibilities 203 They See, They Do 203 Team Accountability 206 Team Chemistry 208 The Open Door Leader 209 Teach Your Teams to Seek Complaints 210 Ponder Your Future Often 211 Leadership Summary 213 CHAPTER 22 Now Where Are You Going? 215 Success Is a Mind-Set, Not a Finish Line 215 Awareness Unlocks Who You Are 218 What Are the Leadership Skills You Uncovered and Want to Develop? 219 Your Plan 225 APPENDIX You Know You Are an Auditor When... 227 Afterword and Acknowledgments 233 Index 235
Preface This book was made to help YOU...ACHIEVE. It was not written to give you all the answers. It certainly was not made to provide any technical auditing knowledge or know-how. It was not created to be an all-encompassing book on leadership skills for auditors. This book was also not made to define leadership. In fact, many of the skills and tips mentioned might not be considered leadership skills at all. It was also not made to provide you a list of the characteristics that make up a leader. There will also be little, if any, references to any auditing standards, FASBS, GASBS, EITFs, or any other technical references. This book was created, however, to get you thinking about what leadership means to YOU, and what professional skills you want to develop and improve. It was written to provide you with ideas, insights, and tips on the leadership and professional skills you will need to take your life and career to the next level. YOU choose the ones you can implement tomorrow. Some of these ideas and insights you have already heard, some you have not. Some you may disagree with or they may make you feel uncomfortable. That is good. Our objective is to allow you to take some of the ideas referred to herein and the ideas you come to create by reading this book and reflecting on your current practices, and IMPLEMENT THEM AND, BY DOING SO, BECOME A BETTER LEADER, a more reflective, aware, and intentional leader of yourself and those you choose to lead, no matter your job or position. Turn to page 225 right now. This is your implementation plan. Think about the end benefit of reading this book, from the very beginning. As you read it, think about how you will be filling out this last page. Why was this book titled Auditing Leadership? Is this a book about leadership skills for auditors or is it a book about auditing your own leadership skills? Hopefully you agree that it is about both! xi
xii Preface Some notes to help you in reading this book.... The chapters stand on their own: While some chapters may be related to others, and in some cases refer to other subjects mentioned in other areas of the book, this book was written so you could pick it up and read any chapter at any time. So read it cover to cover, or pick your reading based on a chapter that intrigues you that day. Generic wording: We use certain words throughout the book, words like partner or executive, manager, staff, and client. We know some of you may be working for private companies, public companies, public accounting firms, or government entities. Most of the words are pretty universally accepted in the auditing world, but we know some organizations set up their titles differently, so keep in mind we use these words generically. The word client should be construed as the group, entity, or person under audit. If you work for a professional services firm, then it is your outside paying client. Some internal audit groups refer to those they audit as clients and that is how we will refer to them in this book. The words partner and executive are meant to describe the highest level at your organization and are interchangeable. Some sections in certain chapters may be more geared toward external auditors and others may be more geared to internal auditors. You will probably notice that as you read. We still feel like you can benefit from these sections, and as I have come to realize, we may have some slight differences but auditors are still auditors. We are all the same species! Born to Be Skeptical Sections Auditors are a skeptical species. We are supposed to be that way. We are bred to be that way. It s a characteristic that serves us well in performing our jobs, and the auditing standards formally preach professional skepticism to us. As you read this book you will notice, from chapter to chapter, a few Born to Be Skeptical sections. What are these? When we present some ideas, we also know there may be another side, a questioning side to them. So what we have done is question some of the ideas presented in the sections, the very same ideas we have presented, and provided some answers or rebuttals to that skepticism.
About the Author Brian D. Kush, CPA, CISA, is the President of Moxie Partners. He is the leadership and personal productivity coach hired by accountants and other knowledge workers in many of the country s leading accounting firms and other professional service organizations to help their people take their life and leadership skills to the next level. Brian s clients uncover and live their values, purpose, and true potential as leaders through his positive, supportive, and curiosity-based coaching style. They save hours in their workweek and develop improved relationship and communications skills that lead to better-served colleagues and clients and more effective and profitable engagements. Prior to being a leadership coach, Brian worked in the auditing industry and has been a consultant and trainer to both IT and financial auditors, having spent five years with Ernst & Young and eight years with Audit- Watch, Inc. He has worked intimately and consulted with employees at all levels, from level one all the way up to the executive/managing partner level, at hundreds of accounting firms and internal audit departments across the country. Brian lives in Reston, Virginia, with his wife and son. He is the founder and author of the Healthy Accountant blog. xiii