How is Leadership Changing? What do Young Professionals need to succeed in this New Normal? This closing keynote at the first AICPA EDGE Conference in New Orleans included a facilitated conversation with this group of over 100 young professionals. Tom Hood led the process with alumni form AICPA's leadership academy who have been taught the i2a: Insights to Action - Strategic Thinking System. They led table discussions and used sticky notes to make their ideas portable and their thinking visible to others. The results are on slides 17-26. We are quickly moving from command & control to connect & collaborate and these young leaders understand these changing dynamics of leadership.

1. Today’s CPA: How to Succeed in the “New
Normal”
AICPA E.D.G.E. Conference
August 12, 2011
New Orleans, LA
Presented by:
Tom Hood, CPA.CITP
CEO
Maryland Association of CPAs
Business Learning Institute
1

2. What can Big Al teach us about leadership?

3. Why we are here?
The tornado of changes from CPA Vision Project circa 2000

4. Welcome to the New Normal aka the
Extreme Future!
1. Increased speed
2. Increased complexity
3. Increased risk
4. Faster pace of change
5. Surprises everywhere
and everyday
Dr. James Canton – author of The Extreme Future

5. We can choose to harness the
winds of change
The tornado of changes from CPA Vision Project circa 2000

6. Humans are fundamentally
“sight” creatures
We need longer sightlines
during periods of rapid
change
And the power of
making our
thinking visible to
others…

7. Five Qualities of Extraordinary Leaders
1. Sight - Ability to see emerging
patterns and shift perspective
LC 2.
3.
when necessary
Insight – Ability to think
strategically and critically to gain
insights
Create – Seek high leverage
opportunities that build on your
strengths
4. Communicate - Ability to
make your thinking visible to
others and the ability to
collaborate inside and outside
your organization
5. Inspire – Ability to mobilize
support and engage others
involved in doing the work to join
you in ACTION

8. Leadership is…
The ability to gain insights and the
aptitude to turn them into action –
Insights to Action
- Tom Hood & Gretchen Pisano
(one without the other is either useless or destructive)

9. Leadership in the new normal
Three Critical Competencies
Built on strengths
Strengths- and positivity
Future-minded Based Self-awareness
and flexible mindset
Leadership In the moment
Ability to make
your thinking Strategic
visible to others Thinking
Collaborative and
curious with the ability Network
to ask powerful questions Leadership
Capable of engaging and
Inspiring people
9

10. How is leadership changing?
“What got you here won’t get you there.”
– Emmanuel Gobillot - Leadershift

11. Leadership is Alignment
• Engagement
• Alignment
• Commitment
• Accountability
“First I get all of my men facing the same direction.”
- Napoleon

12. Leadership is Connect & Collaborate!
From: Command & Control
To: Connect & Collaborate

14. Finding Your Edge…
• Strategic thinking – all
of the time
• Make your thinking
visible to others
• The power of We –
Collaboration
• Innovate by finding
your edge (Strengths,
Positivity,
Opportunities)

15. Know thyself
Strengths-Based Leadership
Self-awareness in the moment
Leadership based on positivity, that seeks to build
on individual and organizational strengths and
collaborates to continuously learn. It is constantly
considering the context and asking powerful
questions, learning, reflecting, and creating
pathways to the future.

16. Leader as facilitator of powerful questions
The four most
important words
for organizations
are, “what do you
think?”
- Tom Peters

17. Leadership Mindstretcher Exercise
• How is leadership changing?
• What are the Top 5 needs/wants to be a great
future leader?
A blank sheet of paper, powerful questions, and
sticky notes (The i2a way)

18. Engaged conversations

19. MBSN! Management by Sticky Notes
Sharing by making your thinking visible
& your ideas portable

20. How is leadership changing?

21. How is Leadership changing?
• More democratic – moving from push to pull
• Flexible & adaptable – capable of responding
to faster rates of change
• Increased risk & less time to make decisions
• Continuous learning (L>C) for individuals and
organizations
• Need for more younger leaders
• Long-range vision + strong core values

22. What do Young Professionals Need to
become Future Leaders?

23. What do young professionals need to
be leaders?
• “Soft skills” broader and more diverse knowledge in
leadership, management, change & business development
• Ability to tap into networks (AICPA, others) to continuously
learn (including social media)
• Learn and teach collaboration, & leadership
• How to embrace change and be flexible & adaptable
• Learn how to lead teams
• Bridge the gap between “older leaders” and “younger
leaders”
• Learn about themselves (Strengths-based leadership) so
they can be more purposeful, proactive & motivated

24. What I learned from these young
leaders…
• Stop – Breathe – Dream!
• Leverage collective knowledge of diverse
teams to make better decisions (collaboration)
• Position does not (always) equal leadership –
you can lead from any seat
• Empowerment is more powerful than power

25. Leadership Wordle
http://www.wordle.net

26. The wisdom of the crowd!

27. Engaging the Network
+ + =
What I knew What I learned The wisdom of Fresh
coming into while I was the crowd Perspective.
the room. here. INSIGHTS!

28. Insights to Go!
is a custom i2a application designed and developed by BLI and SBI • www.bizlearning.net © 2011 “CPA Horizons 2025.” All rights reserved.

29. Some closing thoughts
“It is hard to plan for the long term future when you don’t
know what is going to happen five minutes from now.
Today, a competitive edge is thin and temporary; the edge
quickly becomes the margin. The ability to define the
edge, and the ultimate competitive advantage, is found in
the smarts, heart and ingenuity of your people - that's your
powerhouse. Tap that, train it, focus it and mobilize it; now
you've engaged a network and inspired a sustainable shift.
Insight to action, one without the other is either useless or
destructive.”
-Tom Hood & Gretchen Pisano
co-authors of the i2a: Insights to Action
Strategic Thinking System
http://www.bizlearning.net/live/i2astrategicplanning

30. The only question for leaders
Have I made
you feel
stronger and
more capable?
Source: Emmanuel Gobillot -
LeaderShift

31. Links
• Strategic Planning
– http://www.bizlearning.net/live/i2astrategicplanning
• Future Forums
– http://www.bizlearning.net/live/i2afutureforums
– Leadership Development
– http://www/bizlearning.net/live/i2aleadership
• Customized Training
– http://www.bizlearning.net/learningcenter/
• Search our Catalog
– http://www.bizlearning.net/learningcenter/customizedtr
aining/BLI_catalog.cfm

32. Tom Hood, CPA.CITP
CEO
Maryland Association of CPAs
Business Learning Institute
(443) 632-2301
E-mail tom@macpa.org
Web http://www.macpa.org
Blog http://www.cpasuccess.com
http://www,bizlearningblog.com

33. =
Leadership blogs:
www.cpasuccess.com
www.bizlearningblog.com
Follow me on:
 Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/tomhood
 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhood
 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thoodcpa
Plaxo: http://tomhood.myplaxo.com
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/thoodcpa
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/thoodcpa
Second Life avatar name: Rocky Maddaloni
Check our Customized Training Catalog out:
http://www.bizlearning.net