Leadership 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 151: Paul Miller of Cornish Accounting Solutions

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:27:59 +0000

As an accountant, do you think of yourself first and foremost as a storyteller? Probably not. And I've not met many who do.
But in this podcast episode with Paul Miller of Cornish Accounting Solutions, that's exactly what I found. Paul genuinely thinks of himself first and foremost as a storyteller.
The reasons for that will become apparent during the podcast, and that's why I highly recommend it to you. In a wide-ranging discussion, Paul and I talk through the importance of client selection, as well as how a scare with meningitis affected Paul’s outlook, not just on his firm, but on life in general.
And you'll certainly want to dive into what's on Paul's ‘sacred cow’ and ‘magic wand’ lists.

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Episode 148: Steve Price of BWP Inspire

Paul Shrimpling — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 11:50:57 +0000

What does leading your ambitious accounting firm with purpose actually entail? In this podcast with Steve Price of BWP Inspire, Steve shares how they arrived at their core purpose, as well as how they've rolled it out and how they lead with purpose in their firm.
He covers a number of thought-provoking subjects in the podcast, including how they totally revamped their annual accounts meeting system to make sure that they covered purpose-related questions, ensuring that they were really living out that core purpose in the eyes of both their clients and their team members.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Steve and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 145: Miranda Kendall, MD of Spotlight Reporting

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 08:00:43 +0000

When your background is in the corporate world and in the world of startups, how do you harness that experience when it comes to trying to sell a product to accountants that you know that they want, while sometimes dealing with resistance from the accountants themselves?
If all of that sounds a curious mix, please join me and Miranda Kendall of Spotlight Reporting on this podcast, where you'll find out the answer to this question and more.
Miranda talks very passionately about why accountants do what they do and how we can harness that to enable better relationships with clients. And she's also got some really good snippets about how to handle team members.
I found Miranda a wonderful guest – very passionate about what she does and also very clear and concise about the importance of being present in conversations, whether it's with a client or with a team member.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Miranda and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 144: Graeme Tennick, Chief Impact Officer, Tennick Accountants

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 03:37:00 +0000

How many firms do you know that have a Chief Impact Officer? Yep, me neither. So, you may want to join this podcast with myself and Graeme Tennick, of Tennick Accountants, as Graeme talks about his role and about how and why it came into being.
There are a number of standout moments in this podcast, not least when Graeme describes how to have the team really working with purpose, with real meaning in their work, all the time.
So please join us on the podcast, and please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Graeme and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 142: Elinor Perry, MD Pentlands Accountants

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:56:56 +0000

A pressing question that every firm, every leader, every manager, should ask themselves is: how do you build long-standing trust with your clients and with your team?
In this podcast with Elinor Perry of Pentlands, you'll hear Elinor unpack 20 years of experience of running her firm – from when she bought in to the business to the garden party with 130 customers on a lawn wishing her every success for the next stage of Pentlands. How do you build that level of trust?
Elinor shares her thoughts around establishing clear expectations and setting the standard early – how do you get going early with new prospects, so that it creates a foundation of trust that results in recommendations and results in clients paying fees of £6,000 a year or £20,000 a year or more, without any audit involved?
This is one of those rare podcasts where you get someone's life experience of running a practice in an hour. Clearly, we've not unpacked everything, but it's well worth diving in to see what it takes to establish a business where the team trusts you, where the clients trust you, where the community trusts you, and where you enjoy life as a practice leader.
I hope you enjoy this podcast with Elinor as much as I did.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Elinor and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 140: Alan Farrelly, Managing Director at UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 01:17:00 +0000

How must it feel to found and to grow, over a period of almost 40 years, a busy, vibrant firm, from humble beginnings to over a hundred people?
In this podcast with Alan Farrelly of UHY Farrelly Dawe White, based in Ireland, you'll find out how it felt to contend with all of the advances in technology and the other changes that we've seen over the generations, to the point where Alan is thinking of planning for exit. How does that all feel, that journey?
You'll find the answers to these questions and more in this podcast, where Alan talks about what it's like to be a people-led firm. He shares what it's like to trust people and get out of their way to allow them to do their jobs properly.

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Episode 138: Russell Watkins, Lean Transformation Expert & Co-founder of Sempai

Paul Shrimpling — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 12:33:34 +0000

When you're trying to unlock the potential that you know exists within your team, within your client bank, within your firm as a whole, it can feel frustrating that you just can't seem to get to it, you can't unlock it.
In this podcast discussion with Russell Watkins, who's spent 30 years in the lean, process improvement space working with manufacturing and other businesses, we tap into a potential key for you, your team, your firm, to truly get to the levels of performance you believe exist within your firm.

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Episode 136: Stuart Clark, Managing Director at Russell + Russell

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 09:14:29 +0000

What does a succession plan look and feel like from the perspective of those that are buying in?
And once you’ve got that buy-in, how do you actually manage the expectations of your team and your clients, all while finding out yourself what it's like to be a leader?
And when you're up and running, how do you rise above the sea of sameness?
You’ll find out the answer to these questions and more in this podcast with Stuart Clark of Russell & Russell Business Advisors in Glasgow.
Stuart and I had a great chat. We covered a lot of ground, and we invite you to listen to it on HumaniseTheNumbers.online or wherever you get your podcasts. It would be great to hear your comments.
Please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Stuart and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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Episode 134: Stephan Meier, Professor and Author – Part Two

Paul Shrimpling — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 01:14:00 +0000

You'd probably like to get your hands on a competitive advantage that would lead to the future financial success of your firm, one that would enhance, or even transform, the results you're currently achieving.
Where do you go looking for that advantage?
Once upon a time in the world of work, it was all about a product advantage or, in the accountancy space, a service level advantage. But at the end of the day, an audit service from one firm is not dissimilar to an audit service from another. The same goes for payroll, for management accounts, and so on.
There is therefore not much of a competitive edge arising from products and services. So, instead of going product-centric, go client-centric. Become really focused on client care, on delivering a client experience that provides an advantage and, don't get me wrong, I think in the accounting space there's huge potential for an edge there.
But what about the employee advantage? What if your team's ability to deliver work on time to a high standard and with a high degree of client care – ticking the client-centric box – is where a true advantage, a sustainable advantage, could be found?
In this podcast discussion with Stephan Meier, world-renowned author of The Employee Advantage, you'll be able to unpack – because Stephan does it for us – a large number of insights, ideas and strategies that could ultimately deliver a competitive advantage to you and your firm.
So please join Douglas, my colleague, Stephan and I on this podcast and please scroll down the podcast’s episode page for the contact information for Stephan and for the additional, downloadable resources mentioned in the podcast.

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