Change Management Series Archives - humanisethenumbers.online

Episode 158: Dominic Ashley-Timms, Line Management Capability Expert, Author, Speaker and CEO

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:24:33 +0000

One of the most influential and, I think, most important books I've read in recent times is The Answer is the Question, by Dominic Ashley-Timms. It’s important because it lays out a clear pathway to transforming the quality of conversations across your team.
Arguably, it influences how you're going to raise the bar in terms of the conversations with your clients as well.
If you listen in to this podcast discussion with Dominic, you're likely to walk away with insights and ideas that could save you and everyone who is in a management role in your firm a time saving of somewhere between 20% and 40%, which is, by the way, what Dominic suggests is more than likely.
So, please listen to this podcast and scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Dominic and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 131: Dan Cockerton, Founder, Digital Accountancy Show

Paul Shrimpling — Fri, 09 May 2025 14:42:02 +0000

It's a unique experience to have someone who is in the digital space in a deep way coming on the podcast to talk about humanising the numbers. Getting Dan Cockerton onto the Humanise the Numbers podcast has been an ambition of mine for the last 12 months or so – and we've finally managed to make it work. And it was a bit of a relief that, when challenged about digital first versus human first, Dan chose human first.
On the podcast, he unpacks and shares his insights of working with the profession, with individual firms, and with his own experience of starting up a new event space, one which had 600 people at the first event and has just had more than 5,000 attendees at the fifth. It shows you what's possible when you put your mind to it.
If you want to get deep and meaningful and personal, Dan shares something very personal within this podcast, something that shows how important goal setting is to the success of an individual and to the success of a business.
I really appreciated Dan being so open and candid about this because it was as human as it gets.

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Episode 123: Hayley Plimley, Director of Marketing and Communications at DJH

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 15:16:22 +0000

It's clear that, if you want to grow your accountancy firm, you need to master the art (or indeed science) of marketing and communications.
On this Humanise the Numbers podcast discussion with Hayley Plimley, Marketing and Communications Director at DJH, Hayley's been party to a journey from one office with a team of 60 people to 10 offices with a team of 568 people, in just four years.
You can imagine the communication and marketing challenges associated with that! In our discussion, we unpick what's helped Hayley do a cracking job of marketing and communications in such a high-functioning, high-performing, high-growth business.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Hayley and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 122: Dawn Marriott, Hg Serial Chair.

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0000

If you - as a leader of your team, your department, your firm, even - want to build a profoundly successful business, you'll want data at your fingertips. You'll want the data that enables you to make the best decisions and that will enable you to grow the business that you've got in your mind's eye.
As well as the data, you'll want to better appreciate how to grow and develop the knowledge, skills and habits of your team so that they bring a client focus in a way that ensures that your clients believe they're in the best hands, that they're working with the best possible firm for them.
Data, team, clients - these are the three topics of the discussion I was fortunate enough to have with Dawn Marriott, ex-CEO of Azets. Dawn is currently working with the funder HG Capital and with their rising stars across the 50 companies in which HG Capital invest.
If you want to hear more of what Dawn's got to say about some of the key aspects of growing a highly successful firm, then listen here and please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for contact information for Dawn and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 121: Philippa White, Founder & CEO TIE Leadership, author and speaker

Paul Shrimpling — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 14:22:00 +0000

Stop thinking that return on investment is what drives the financial performance of your business, and start thinking that return on humanity is the ultimate starting point, the foundation of the success of your accounting firm.
This is the subject of Philippa White's book, Return on Humanity. In this podcast discussion, Philippa dives into the practical, tangible skills necessary to build a more human firm, and she’s profoundly shifted my thinking around a number of things.
First, the importance of building flexibility into your working model – the way you as an individual work, as well as the way your firm works – plus the need for and power of vulnerability. Also, simply being curious, perhaps coming from a place of doubt, can establish a greater degree of connectedness between you and your team and you and your clients.
So why not go to the podcast discussion with Philippa White at humanisethenumbers.online. You'll also find it on Spotify, iTunes and other podcast platforms.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Philippa and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 114: Stuart Hurst of Cloud 10 Accounting

Paul Shrimpling — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 11:35:29 +0000

When you dive into a deep conversation with a person who has worked in a village accountancy practice, someone who has also been part of a national firm and who has worked within an organisation to establish a new office, improving the fees by £100k per month, you know you're likely to have a decent podcast discussion.
In this conversation with Stuart Hurst of Cloud 10, a business in startup phase, we start unpacking what a startup does to not only build revenue, but also to build capital value by installing good structure and process. Stuart’s got a real eye on scaling the business without putting undue stress on him as a business leader.
Don't get me wrong – any startup has its own challenges, and significant opportunities as well, and Stuart shares some of those on this podcast. When you've got a podcast called Humanise The Numbers, it's great to have a deep, meaningful, personal conversation to tie the numbers to the humanity of what's going on in an accounting firm.
I hope you enjoy this podcast and find it as valuable, insightful and practical as both Stuart and I tried to make it. If you want to hear more, please go to www.humanisethenumbers.online or to your favourite podcast platform.
Please scroll down the episode page for this podcast for the contact information for Stuart and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 112: Rebecca Mihalic of businessDEPOT

Paul Shrimpling — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 14:10:00 +0000

When you listen in to a conversation with a leader of an accounting business with over 100 people, and you hear how seriously they take investment in their team now so that it delivers a return in 12, 18, 24 or even 36 months, it's well worth considering what’s being said.
So, when Rebecca Mihalic of the Australian firm businessDEPOT talks about taking team members along to client meetings, not as a piece of furniture (to use her language), but as active participants in the meeting, using the tools of the meeting to enable them to contribute in a valuable, meaningful way, you can see how Rebecca is growing her team to deliver a result for her personally. She can cascade client relationship work to others, work that otherwise might not happen.
It's a valuable discussion. There's a phrase towards the end of the discussion where Rebecca talks about creating a safe space to fail and a safe space to win as being one of the fundamental concepts that she uses when leading and managing her team.
You’ll find many helpful insights in this discussion with Rebecca. I hope you'll go to your favourite podcast platform, whether it be iTunes or Spotify or another platform, or join us at humanisethenumbers.online and look for this podcast discussion with Rebecca Milahic.
Please scroll down the episode page for this podcast for the contact information for Rebecca and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 108: Nicki Savill of Moore Kingston Smith

Paul Shrimpling — Fri, 17 May 2024 12:55:00 +0000

If your firm is making good use of technology, and embracing new technology as well, if you are building the knowledge and skill of your team and building deeper relationships with your clients, you'll know that you’re on track for the ambitious future you have in mind for your firm, your team and your clients.
In this podcast with Nicki Savill of Moore Kingston Smith, Nicki spends a good deal of time talking about how to build deeper relationships with clients and how to build a stronger sense of human connection across the team as, ultimately, it is the team's knowledge and skills that deliver for your clients.
It's a powerful discussion. Nicki's very open and candid about what they do and how they do it, as well as about the metrics they use around face-to-face meetings, face-to-face interactions with the team – these are far more human than when using Teams or Zoom.
You'll hear Nicki describe how important, how impactful, those handshake, face-to-face discussions are with both team and clients. I hope you enjoy this discussion with Nicki as much as I did. The time absolutely flew by and I think you'll get something of significant value from the insights that Nicki shares.
You can get the full podcast at humanisethenumbers.online, or you can go to your favourite podcast platform and seek out Humanise The Numbers and Nicki Savill.
Please scroll down this episode page for the contact information for Nicki and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in this podcast.

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Episode 100: Steve Pipe, speaker and author

Paul Shrimpling — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 14:04:42 +0000

As we approached our 100th edition of the Humanise The Numbers podcast, we found choosing someone to invite as the guest a bit challenging. But then we thought, what if we could make a global impact by having the right standard of guest, one that could inspire you, your firm, your team, your clients, maybe, to transform the numbers that really matter in your firm and across your clients’ businesses?
And that's why we brought in Mr. Steve Pipe, with whom I had the great privilege of working during the first five years of my career supporting ambitious accountants. Steve speaks in a deep and meaningful way about core purpose and values, about engaging your team, about making a difference on a level that is inspiring, but also challenging, and in a way that’s quite practical.
I hope you'll take time out to hear the message that Steve shares and that you’ll take some action off the back of it – this will benefit your team and the commercial results of your firm and it could have a profound and positive impact on your clients as well. And that work could then go on to have a global impact.
So please go to www.humanisethenumbers.online to find the podcast with Mr. Steve Pipe, Chartered Accountant, or go to your favourite podcast platform. I hope you find this conversation as stimulating and valuable as my team and I have.
Scroll down this episode page for the contact information for Steve and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in this podcast.

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Episode 95: Christine Nicholson, Business Mentor and Exit Planner

Paul Shrimpling — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 13:42:28 +0000

One of the deepest, most valuable, conversations you can have with your business owner/business leader clients is in regard to the future of the business without them. It's about exit planning and succession, about preparing the business for their exit, whether it's an internal or external sale, and about whether the management team will continue in their footsteps.
But how do you have those conversations? What questions do you ask? On what topics do you want to zero in and focus so that your clients get real value from that conversation?
On this humanisethenumbers.online podcast discussion with Christine Nicholson, she unpacks her 30 years of experience, allowing you to take away a number of key insights that will stimulate great conversations with your clients, as well as within your own firm, so that you can prepare your accountancy firm for a better future without you as a manager and leader.
So please go to humanisethenumbers.online or go to your favourite podcast platform and look out for the podcast discussion with Christine Nicholson. I look forward to seeing you there.
Scroll down this episode page for the contact information for Christine and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in this podcast.

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