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Balancing the Future Ep. 3 - Access is Key with Damian Rivera
103 Plays4 months ago
CEO of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), Damian Rivera, shares his unusual career path from engineering to corporate executive to non-profit leader. His passion for giving back to his community spurred his entry into ALPFA leadership, where 60-65% of members are accountants. Convinced of the power of an accounting degree to revolutionize entrepreneurship and small businesses nationwide, Damian is committed to offering access to infrastructure, education, and opportunities in the field.
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Transcript
Introduction of Damian Rivera
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome to another conversation. I am excited that we've got a phenomenal human being with us today, Damian Rivera. I can only say a few things about your background. I know you're a powerful individual, meaning all of that.
00:00:24
Speaker
effort and what you're doing with Alpha, it's absolutely amazing. And I know how busy you are. And we probably pulled you in at the last minute to say, hey could you help us? And true to who you are, you said, absolutely I can. So I'm so thankful that you're you made time for us. No, absolutely. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I'm excited to be here. Great vibe around this entire initiative. And so I am excited to get it going. and Fantastic,
Transition to CEO of Alpha
00:00:50
Speaker
fantastic. So what I know about you is that you started as an executive leader in corporate.
00:00:56
Speaker
And somehow you became a CEO of Alpha. Could you share a little bit about what how you did that and what were some of the major differences in going and being a part of Alpha versus being an executive leader? Yeah, so so and and I'm gonna take ah ah even a half a step further back around my background, my childhood. is That that then matters for the why did I make that shift, um
Inspiration and Education
00:01:23
Speaker
right? So I'm the kid that lived in the projects, holes in shoes, didn't own a pair of jeans until I was 13, the kid that got made fun of for having those shoes. Until um I had an opportunity to visit a bunch of colleges as part of school, went to this
00:01:39
Speaker
trip that got me exposure to Rutgers University. I said, okay, I think I'm gonna go there. My dad pointed out a guy um at a at my graph from this funeral, actually. And he said, do you know who that guy is? And I said, no dad, I don't know who he is. So do you know what he does? Now in my head, I'm thinking, and dad, if I don't know who he is, I don't know what he does, but you don't say that to your dad, right? And so no dad, I don't know what he does. ah He said, he's an engineer, that's what you wanna be.
00:02:08
Speaker
um He has to sign off on the buildings when buildings get opened up, all that sort of stuff. And so I said, okay, that that's what I want to be. So I went to Rutgers to study engineering, um got my degree, then went into corporate. What I wanted to do was actually get a dual degree bio um microbiology, DNA technology in combination with an MBA. And I was told, go go learn some business stuff first and then come back.
00:02:36
Speaker
It's like fantastic. So I went into corporate. I was going to be there for two years at the time, a company called Anderson Consulting, which then became Accenture. ah And um it was it was interesting. The two years turned to 20 years. So I was there. I went from analyst to consultant, got married, married my high school sweetheart, knew her when we were 13. Homeroom. I knew then. I would marry this lady. It took me four years to ask her out. I threw a letter at her as I ran by her, didn't even stop to talk to her. ah Eventually she said, yes, we got married. We've been married for 24 years, have two kids and um life is fantastic. and And back then I made partner.
00:03:21
Speaker
the the what they called senior executive. And then I got my own account and I was, it was in DC and the world was great. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. The next step was going to be to take over a region and then a region to North America. And then, you you know, watch out. I'm going to be the CEO of this place one day. And and there's a saying that's, I don't have it exactly perfect, but it's essentially, um you know, make your plans and watch God laugh.
00:03:50
Speaker
And like so sometimes you know it's it's not what you're planning, it's the random Wednesday.
Life Reevaluation and Community Impact
00:03:56
Speaker
that catches you. And I'm about to go to a meeting with a the the CFO or the client. And I go to the elevator, the elevator has those TVs that you can see kind of the new stuff like that. And I see a building that's collapsed and it says it's in New York. And i i know that that place looked familiar. I could see it looked familiar to me, put into my phone, New York building collapse and my phone cycling, thinking nothing of it. I go into my meeting when I come out.
00:04:25
Speaker
um I see it says that it's in Harlem. And so I call my mom, and before I could even get the words out, my mom tells me it's the church. So the church that we went to growing up as kids, where my parents got married, had an explosion, and a family member who lived in the building. And and for those that but don't know, a lot of the churches in New York, especially the smaller ones, will the first floor will be the church. Above that will be apartments.
00:04:56
Speaker
and she lived in one of those apartments and normally she would have been at work and um that day she did not go to work and she passed away. Another one of my family members ah who every day was at church first thing in the morning, last thing at night that day decided to go visit her mom, my grandma before going to church and she lived. And it started me on this journey of why am I here?
00:05:20
Speaker
um I took a couple of weeks off of work to start trying to help in the community. And what I realized and learned is that I was i was upset at myself because the community that I grew up with that put me in a position to be successful in life. I didn't know how to help in a meaningful way in that moment. So I did what I could. I literally got ah rent to the car to help drive people around, help raise money for food and and and clothes, things
Path to Alpha's Leadership
00:05:45
Speaker
like that. But it started this journey of why am I here?
00:05:48
Speaker
That then took me to reach out to the prior CEO of Alpha who asked, how did you start doing this stuff? I wasn't involved with Alpha at the time because Alpha in in my my college days was ah finance and accounting, which we'll get into a little bit more of that in a minute. but ah And so I was engineering, so so it wasn't an organization that was built for me at that time.
00:06:14
Speaker
And so I reached out to him talking with him and he said, you know, I think you're ready to do this type of thing. I was like, no, I'm still in this this this earning phase of my life. Not yet. He was like, no, I think you're ready for this. It's like, OK, soon after that, the Lehman College chapter of Alpha reached out to me asking if I could go do a a resume writing interview.
00:06:40
Speaker
um like a teaching, and I didn't have time. right like like my um um I had gone back to school to get my MBA. 20 years later, went back to school. I didn't need it. I was already apart. I didn't need it, but I i needed it for me. I started doing a lot of life checkbox things. And so I ah told Leemon, I was like, okay, I'll go 30 minutes, do my presentation, and I'm gonna leave. That 30 minutes turned to about three hours. At the end of the evening, it was this amazing thing that happened where it was, your traditional students 18, 19, 20 year olds in accounting and finance and and because that's still the core of the organization, right? ah There were your non-traditional students, those that were in their 30s that went back to school with kids of their own. There were your early career professionals, late career professionals and we're all there sitting around this table sharing lessons, sharing life stories and it made me think
00:07:32
Speaker
This is something I need to take seriously when the CEO saying, I think you're ready to do this. I didn't realize that ah he was looking to leave, the board was looking for a new CEO, and he was positioning himself as my sponsor and the organization to take on this position. ah Soon afterwards, I...
00:07:52
Speaker
said yes to the opportunity and I'll say the rest is history. I've now been in the role for six years and it has been an amazing opportunity to be able to give back. ah What I will say is as I looked back at that moment where I was upset at myself for not knowing how to give back, the reality was it wasn't so much that i didn't know how to give back i didn't have a community of family around me to be able to help support me in that and that is what i found with alpha and the alpha milia that was amazing i'm just letting you know um and i'm gonna look into the camera and i'm gonna say this
00:08:32
Speaker
This is why we're here because we have no idea when we say transparency and what a person is thinking and how they process making a decision to serve. And what I remember, and this is a lesson my my grandmother taught me, she says, you serve first and everything else will work out. right And that's something that when you get in corporate America, I'm being 100% transparent.
00:09:07
Speaker
be this level of executive. No, you're supposed to serve. yeah So thank you yeah for your service because it is absolutely necessary.
Alpha's Evolution and Mission
00:09:17
Speaker
So when I think about Alpha, the Association of Latino Professionals of America, hopefully I got that right. For America. For America. See, I messed it up. With the F-A. Why the change? And the change happened a little bit before I started. And the idea behind it was finance and accounting, yes, with an end.
00:09:40
Speaker
Right. Seeing where things were going, seeing how technology is impacting everything. And so the need to create an inclusive environment for the finance and accounting folks and the technology side of that, which impacts also the finance and accounting. And so that was the idea and the premise behind it. And and if you're OK, but I'd love to share because I didn't talk about it.
00:10:02
Speaker
how Alpha started in the first place, and it ties into this too. um ah The founder, Gil Vasquez, and a couple other folks got their first contract, their first government contract, when they were able when they worked together on it. And what they realized was, wait a second, when we worked together, a lot more is possible, and then said,
00:10:29
Speaker
We can't be selfish about this. We gotta help others and learn more. And so that's core culture has transcended time in the organization. And that is what you see as part of even the shifts of finance and, excuse me, for America, where the core of the organization is still the finance and accounting piece. Because that is the language of business, right? yeah you You need to know accounting information. um About 60, 65% of our membership base is still that finance and accounting core.
00:10:57
Speaker
ah the idea of being able to share information across different industries. The way we think about it now, one of the things I like to say is a lot of people talk about Rittenhouse Square as being the most innovative square mile in the world because you have all these different scientists and and and artists and etc. being it bumping into each other and it is through those those connections that new innovations occur.
00:11:23
Speaker
Well, that is what's happening inside the alpha community. You have an accounting person bumping into a technology person and all of a sudden being able to create new ideas and have new opportunities, access to new information. And so that shift is allowing us to better serve the community and and dare I say better serve in the country as a whole.
00:11:44
Speaker
So when i when i first heard alpha milia, it's cool first and foremost. I've also heard navigation that yeah, i'm all about. What does it mean to you? but it So so it it is it's special that's the special sauce that's the culture that is it's it's almost easier to describe it with an example of it. um a A student who gets their first job who's from chicago.
00:12:09
Speaker
guess their first job in new york at a company goes there knows nobody and then all of a sudden though has a community built in because they connect into the alpha community that's there and then they go across the country to seattle because they have to go there for their job and all of a sudden they're trying to figure out How do I figure out where the lockdown is at in in Seattle? Where's the community that I can go ahead and engage with? And Alpha's right there and plugs them into it. And immediately it's this trust of the environment, a group that allows you to be able to to be yourself and to have the the
00:12:43
Speaker
best possible environment for you to be successful in your life, in your family, in your community. It is a special, special a culture, I will call it, within the organization. Awesome, awesome.
00:12:58
Speaker
So when I think about the business of accounting and I think about the profession, how important is it that we get the people and solve for the people equation as quickly as possible? Because I've heard this put in a lot of different ways. There's a shortage. Yeah, folks aren't interested.
00:13:17
Speaker
folks from diverse backgrounds, we struggle anyway. yeah Because if you would have told me I would be an accountant, I would have said, absolutely not. The way I grew up, I just didn't see it. yeah How important is it that we get it right? And what does that look like? And I know there's no such thing as perfection related to it, but what does doing it right look like?
Diversity in Accounting
00:13:37
Speaker
I guess. So to me, it it is one of the most critical It's one of the most critical issues right now. I'm not just gonna say in the profession to be able to to increase the number of folks and to I'm gonna say it's it's critical to the country. I'm gonna tell you why. and My view was that. um I'll give one example. So you have a lot of small businesses that open up.
00:14:06
Speaker
One of the biggest issues is around the accounting and the financials of those. but People that have amazing ideas, amazing business savvy in terms of how to we engage with the customer base, how to engage with the community, sell products, but don't necessarily have the the accounting or financial background to be able to support that organization. um I had a good friend who had a diner. diner It was more of a breakfast place. Their leading selling item based on quick math that I did with him, was actually below margin. So every time he sold this item, he was losing money, but he saw it as, I'm getting revenue, right? So I got 10 bucks for this, but didn't really do the calculation, figure out that you're actually he was actually losing, I think it was like 50 cents or a dollar for every one he sold. And so I was like, you're slowly bleeding yourself right now, um and the business is slowly dying.
00:15:05
Speaker
And so it's it's little things like that. So we need to have diverse folks inside the accounting profession being able to support a lot of the small businesses that are opening up. And the reality is ah the number of entrepreneurs that are out there that are diverse are is significant. And so being able to support them on growing those businesses, being able to support the large corporations to be able to have the right type of ah financial infrastructure, the right type of innovative thinking around how to ah grow a new line of revenue, grow a new revenue business, um it's critically important to the country. ah the Some of the stats that are out there, the Latino GDP is $3.7 trillion. dollars
00:15:47
Speaker
Fantastic, right? Huge. um If you remove that from the US GDP, you actually start seeing a decline. Now you can say, well, but that's a lot of people, so 60 million people. um the There is a need to be able to translate that into um wealth in the community as well. Because right now that is that is spending power, not necessarily wealth building in the community. so I'll try to shorten it up. It's essentially large companies needed to be able to be more innovative to be able to keep growing their businesses. Small businesses needed to be able to sustain the growth around the entire country. And individuals need accountants who understand them, how they think, what their culture is, what what potential biases they may have around engaging with someone from an accounting side. and when What I mean by that is, growing up, we didn't talk about financials around the dinner table in that way. So we did. We didn't have enough we with financial, day they meaning money. Exactly, right? so So we don't know. We didn't know you need an accountant to be able to understand how to grow your wealth, right? we didn't have those conversations, which then makes it a little bit harder to be able to say, yes, I'm going to go and hire someone to support me on this. And so um it's needed in in every place. And it's not just about the profession, in my view, it is about the country's survival as well and being able to continue to grow.
00:17:14
Speaker
When I think about this new generation that's coming into the profession and as senior folk within the profession, do we celebrate the right way? Meaning, do we talk up being an
00:17:35
Speaker
Are we sharing the right way? Because I would be interested if you if I were around you and you said, well, hey, man, I got an degree in accounting. Maybe I should check that out. Like you were interested yeah and when you you know connected with a professional. Are we doing it the right way or could we do it differently?
00:17:50
Speaker
i think we so I'm not going to say it's being done the wrong way completely because there's a part of it that's that I think there needs to be an end with it. I'll use the f phrase, we need to make it sexy, right? like it's It's not sexy enough right now. and And I'll relate it to my background. I was an energy guy, right? Energy industry.
00:18:13
Speaker
It wasn't sexy. like like You would see people not wanting to go into that space at all. Like, like like why would you? And I was even more specifically a utilities guy. So people were like, no, we don't want we don't want to go work there. I was like, no, no, no, no. But when you start seeing utilities, energy energy, environment, environment, clean energy, green energy, what is happening, innovation, the need to be able to build that infrastructure, the need to make sure that your community is taken into account with the building of that infrastructure. Well, now all of a sudden it hits on people's passions. It hits on something that is um important to the current generation that is going through their education right now. And so it becomes, for lack of a better term, sexy to individuals. So I think it's ah a combination of not
00:19:01
Speaker
removing the history of it, but adding to it this component that allows for the profession to be seen for what it is, which is people that are no joke and pretty amazing at being able to get things done and drive businesses. Everybody talks about wanting to be an entrepreneur, entrepreneur, entrepreneur, fantastic. You need an account. You need an account to be able to- You need to be an account first. There you go. There you go. So it is so critically important to be able to, I'll say, shift the narrative a bit to include all these additional components in it.
Fostering Inclusive Culture at Alpha
00:19:42
Speaker
You know, another question and that I'm thinking about off the top, and that is, when I think about NABBA, National Association of Black Accounts, and I think about alpha, and I think about a SIN, sometimes I want to put them in the same bucket and say, why is it like the other? Well, it's not. They're not. How is alpha different?
00:20:00
Speaker
and how it addresses the needs of its members. Yeah, so I'd say there are some similarities and there are some differences because the the membership face is a little bit different, right? And I say a little bit different because um I say this all the time, Alpha is Latino focused, but we are not Latino exclusive. We embrace everybody. You want to be a part of our community, come be a part of the community, be involved with the culture, right? It's fantastic. um ah The other thing I sort of joke about a little bit is There's a picture that I have of all of the, I'll say niece's nephews, including my two kids. And so my kids are Latino, Latino, because my wife is Puerto Rican. My brother's kids are white, Latino. Two of his kids are blonde hair, blue eyes. The other two are brown hair, dark skin, right? Like like so.
00:20:46
Speaker
Another one, my ah cousin's kids are Afro-Latino. Her husband's black, she's Puerto Rican. Another one are Asian-Latino. cause so so So everything is there, right? Like everything is there. And so um the there are some, I will say, not 100% differences, but maybe more visible ah differences. So for example, within the Latino community,
00:21:14
Speaker
There may be a higher percentage of individuals that are undocumented that are part of our Latino community as part of alpha. And so that is something that we make sure we address right that isn't we we until we have a focus on that too.
00:21:29
Speaker
And so there are little nuance pieces like that that we need to make sure that we are engaging with. ah We also are seeing that there's a huge growth in entrepreneurship within the Latino community. So making sure that we are focused on that, focused on what does it mean for those that are that are undocumented to be able to engage there. And so there are some differences in that way. But one of the things I think that's a big similarity across the groups is the inclusiveness of each group to just be welcomed. rightre We're here at the NABBA convention right now, and I feel like I'm part of the NABBA Nation family. right like like it's just It's just what it is. If I go to an Ascend conference, it's the same thing. And if you go to an Alpha conference, that is how you're going to feel as well. ah so So that's some of the similarities and some of the differences that are there.
00:22:15
Speaker
So as we solve for this, this need to be interested in accounting and I see the way solutions are offered, you've been a consultant.
Role of Social Media in Accounting
00:22:23
Speaker
yeah So, you know, we do a lot of things as accountants, yeah but do we share that the right way? So others understand it's not just audit. yeah It's not just tax. Now you've got AI, you got all these other consulting things that we do and that we offer.
00:22:36
Speaker
Why don't we share more of that because I think that that's hurting yeah when we think about the profession and those that are interested. My son joined you join tax. Nothing against tax folks. I want you to know I'm all for it. Okay. But that was his deal. He was kind of programmed that way.
00:22:51
Speaker
But we need to understand that there's a plethora of things that they can do with that degree. how do How would you share that message? If you were to share it with this audience, how would you share that message that accountants do more than just the debits and the credits piece of it? Yeah, the way I would do it is I would leverage new power energy. And what I mean by that is so so um Jeremy Hyman wrote a book, it's called New Power. It's fantastic. ah that the What it basically speaks to is all power is a little bit more of the command control, very formal infrastructure.
00:23:22
Speaker
I think of old power as money or currency. Think of new power as current. So the way that that would do it is actually engage with a lot of new power structures, meaning the social media influencers, things like that, to be able to bring it forward in a way that's not telling people two plus two equals four.
00:23:43
Speaker
it's giving them the two plus two equals and letting them solve for it themselves. And that ties together this new power kind of view as well as the whole storytelling approach. And so, you know, storytelling, if you tell somebody in a movie,
00:24:00
Speaker
This is who did it at the beginning. It's just not gonna be as good, right? So so it's those two pieces. I'll give an example. um There's a social media influencer in the Latino community that um he actually, at the end of the year, will tell everybody how much money he made as an influencer. I think this past year was like $1.5 million. dollars And he wants to build a school. So I was like, you know what if, guaranteed he has his account?
00:24:25
Speaker
right What if you engage with this individual starting to talk about why having that person is so important and all of a sudden transferring over some of that ah some of that audience to start seeing the the the cool accountant that's enabling some of this movement of the dollars in such a way that's going to get him to his goal faster, talking about the different types of initiatives that he's doing and how this individual, the accountant person, is supporting him in it. It's engaging where the community is at versus the more traditional ways that information's out there. right White papers, things like that are all awesome, fantastic, great. However, that story to tell on a TikTok or on a a um Instagram post or is gonna be something that's going to, I think, make a difference to help people see that
00:25:21
Speaker
Yeah, come up to the equation themselves. Two plus two is four. I want to be an accountant. Okay. You know, another thing, how important because I think about the get back and I think about folks like myself that have been in the profession for over 20 years and others that are executive leaders within organizations. How important is it that we get it right? Understanding that there is a responsibility to Show up and serve because I think sometimes again we mentioned I mentioned this earlier we get clouded and we think that there's only one way how important is it that we Focus our energies in a different way on the profession and making sure that we're serving this group of people I'll say after going on the journey that I went on That I started talking about early
00:26:10
Speaker
leading with the purpose side of how accounting can help people fulfill their purpose. As crazy as that may sound to some folks, how's accounting gonna help? But leading with that, leading with the stories around that.
00:26:25
Speaker
I believe will be critical in getting the story right, in translating over to the numbers shifting, and then connecting with ah students as early as possible, right um middle school even, ah you know high school, so that they're seeing what it really can be and what they can make it into versus what the stereotypical view of an occult of an accountant is.
00:26:55
Speaker
and okay Yeah, you know when I as we continue to go down this path and I think about takeaways okay my take away and having all the conversations cuz we had some conversation about interviews and and so forth and what I realize and recognize that there is a really a passion to give.
00:27:11
Speaker
You know, this community really cares about what's going on. Our leaders are stepping up. Two, you know, we need to think outside of the box. This is not a formula that we can get at overnight. We have to include everybody in that strategy as it continues to evolve. And when I think about your strategy, and I know you probably talked through it with the board, and what is that standout thing within your own strategy?
00:27:35
Speaker
that would probably differentiate you. it may not do Maybe it seems like it'd be a part of what NABBA would do, but what is your standout thing? It's got to be one thing that you're focused on within the next year or two years. What is that one thing?
Bridging the Wealth Gap
00:27:48
Speaker
so so it's it's the It's access.
00:27:50
Speaker
access to the information. so So we're looking to be able to bridge the wealth gap for folks to be able to do that in the way that's meaningful to them. And so the the big thing is all about having access to the information and expanding that. And I'll give you an example of what I mean by that. There are 3.7 million Latinos in post-secondary education across the country. ah So that includes junior colleges, four years, et cetera. um There are almost a million of those, about 900,000 that are in the California community college system.
00:28:21
Speaker
alone. um The graduation rates of community college students is about 15%, right? um So are those students not capable of doing it? No, that they are 100% capable. I will tell you, I engage with a lot of them. They are insanely
00:28:41
Speaker
the infrastructure isn't built for them to be successful. And I would also say the infrastructure is built for them to consider alternate pathways that may not lead to them being able to achieve their highest potential.
00:28:55
Speaker
And so the the goal is to create the infrastructure, leveraging what we've been doing for 52 years now in alpha to create access to the type of information so that these individuals can see what is possible, can get to that next opportunity.
00:29:11
Speaker
Ideally, that 41 graduate at higher rates, get to those four year degrees, see the accounting profession as one of those key things that opens the door to entrepreneurship, opens the door to their corporate world, opens the door to them being able to give back to their families in a more meaningful way that they want to do that is meaningful to themselves, not what society says they need to do. And if we do that the right way, that access piece,
00:29:36
Speaker
access to the information, to the scholarship dollars, to the networks, to the to the unspoken rules of of life and corporate that will allow them to be able to get to that next step, we will be able to change the world, right? and And that is our focus. So in a single word, it is access. A lot of times people ask me, you know, what's the mission statement of Alpha? To empower and develop Latino men and women's leaders of character in every segment of global economy. I always say it fast because I say, if I said it slow, you'd ask me the same thing. What does that even mean?
00:30:05
Speaker
Right? It means access and that is our focus and there's a lot of stuff that we need to get done to enable that. One more piece I'll throw at you. Why is that access and why is this so important? um The single largest demographic in the country is the 10 to 19 year old Latino community. Single largest.
00:30:24
Speaker
Shame on us if we are not putting pieces in place because over the next, we have a goal by 2030 to get to a million members that we are serving. Shame on us if we are not putting things in place because over the next six and a half years, what are those 10 to 19 year olds doing? They are going into school. They are going through college. They are getting their first jobs. They are getting into that first executive possibility.
00:30:49
Speaker
but We wanna make sure that we're putting the things in place to allow them to be able to achieve their potential and I firmly believe that the accounting piece is one of the most critical components of that because it's going to enable us to be able to speak the business language required to be an entrepreneur, to be a corporate person, to be able to support your communities, to be able to do anything you want in life to be able
Importance of Accounting for Change
00:31:11
Speaker
to have that information. Side note, what I didn't say about going to college earlier is I did engineering all of my electives were accounting and finance focused. It is critically important. So when I think about, and I've got two more questions, by the way, just yeah to put that out there. When I think about the CPA, it's hard. Is too hard? Is it too hard? Seriously, is it too hard? Because when I think about the need yeah for accounting profession excuse me professionals, but when I,
00:31:44
Speaker
when I think about being a CPA, yeah the exam won't get any easier. yeah And I love you, Becker, but the exam won't get any easier, and I don't believe it should. I think it's necessary for them to have that skillset, but is it too hard? No, so so did I think you have to, no. And I think that's why we need Becker to be able to provide information, right? like that that That gives you access to the type of information you need to be able to pass those tests.
00:32:07
Speaker
right to be able to get to that place, but I don't believe that it should be changed. The bar shouldn't be lowered. any and None of that stuff. It is hard and rightfully so. Hard is what we do. but like that that's what like I'll say this in the black and brown community that that I grew up in, hard is what we do.
00:32:29
Speaker
but like like So, okay, what's next, right? And so, yes, and we just need to make sure that we have access to the types of tools, the types of trainings that provide us a chance to be able to show what we got. I think of it very similar to s SAT prep in high school. I remember they got a bunch of us together, and on Saturdays, we would go in and learn this stuff. And we were like, oh, my like why, why, why? Until we took the next s SAT after to that and realized,
00:32:58
Speaker
We didn't get any smarter all of a sudden from this. We got access to the type of information that we needed to be able to apply ourselves the right way, right? so So it's a, I know I kind of went on a bit of a tangent there, but yeah, keep it where it's at, keep it as hard as it is. Awesome. Give us access to the type of information to allow us to be able to train the right way to be able to go ahead and show what we can do. Awesome, awesome. Take away, if there's one thing that you want this audience to know about the profession and what it takes in order to truly, you know, get to that next level because it means a lot of different things to different folk. But what's that one takeaway? What do you want to share with them as it relates to success within this profession?
00:33:45
Speaker
that you would just want them to ingrain. it That helps you. It could be you, but it could be something that you're seeing yeah within your members. What's that one thing? it's So it's a... I'm trying to narrow it down to to one word. It could be more. Use as many words as you want. It it is it is difficult, but it's worth it.
00:34:05
Speaker
Right. um And and it is an opportunity to be able to open up generational change. But I think of it very similar to my family. Right. When when. when when people in the family have gotten that next degree, that next opportunity, then they turn around and and start showing the rest of the family, it's not as hard as you think. It doesn't mean it's easy, but it's not as hard as you think. And you know what? You can do this too. And so I believe, I firmly believe that accounting in and of itself, the more folks that start digging into what it actually is,
00:34:52
Speaker
will realize yeah yeah I can do this and will realize um it can't it's go sound crazy it can actually be a little fun in terms of right in terms of what you can start learning and doing with a business. with a So there's so you know trying to summarize that down to a thing is um it's it's hard but it's worth it and it will open up doors that you would have never imagined being possible before by having that type of information. Like, that is a guarantee. Fantastic. Well, sir, this has been an amazing experience. I appreciate you. This is awesome. And I know you're a busy man. And I thank Becker. This is ah this is incredible what they're
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:35:33
Speaker
doing. ah Accounting for the future is all about transparency and making sure that we are sharing the right information. We want you to have
00:35:42
Speaker
are feeling a perspective on yeah how and and what leaders are doing and feeling as they're doing and delivering solutions, as they're helping in the community. And we're also focused on what solutions look like and opportunity look like opportunities look like for our professionals. So be on the lookout for that next conversation. I'm looking forward to it as well. And thank you for being a part of our conversation today. Thank you.