Connect with Alasdair
1. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill, as he talks about his background and how Ashton McGill came to be a family business.
2. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair describes why everything is built around a 4-stage design thinking process.
3. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair talks about the way accountants are educated and trained and why this must change to protect the future of the profession.
https://humanisethenumbers.online/episode-146-alasdair-mcgill-md-of-ashton-mcgill/
1. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair talks about his background – first in accounting, then in business, education, strategy, and design, and how this brought him full circle back to the accounting profession. He shares the journey of his working life, the choices he made, the travelling he did, the lessons he learnt, and how it led to him running an accountancy firm with his son.
2. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair talks about what 'humanising the numbers' means to him, why he loves the phrase, and why it's all about bringing the numbers to life for the business owner.
3. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair shares the phrase 'We deliver for, not to' and why he feels that accountancy is not just about delivering the service and the numbers. It's about listening, showing understanding and empathy, and talking in a language that your client can understand.
4. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair shares the design thinking process on which Ashton McGill is built, the 4 stages of the process, and why they are really important to every journey they take at the firm.
The 4 stages are: Discovery, Define, Develop, Deliver.
Alasdair breaks each of these down and explains how they work in practice, how they determine the clients they work and don't work with, and how they have helped the team build relationships with their clients. He describes this process as the DNA of Ashton McGill.
5. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair shares why accountants are generally not good at using a design process in their firms. He talks about the importance of the right education, and he feels that in addition to training in technical accounting skills, there needs to be a focus on development of ‘soft skills’. He stresses the importance of natural curiosity, communication, and listening.
6. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair shares the way Ashton McGill is intentionally doing things differently, by working with the right clients, helping them understand their numbers and what they mean to their business. He talks about the journey map and the importance of celebrating a client's success.
7. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair describes what 'believing in better' means to him and why he is constantly striving to find a better way of doing something – he believes that things can always be better. He wants to be proud to be an accountant, he wants to be proud of the difference he can make, and he wants to make the accounting industry a better place to work and more attractive to the younger generation.
8. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair talks about 'Making an Impact' and what the word 'Impact' means to him and his team. He shares a client story and a story of a team member where an impact was made, and why making a difference to people's lives matters so much to him.
8. Listen to this Humanise The Numbers podcast with Alasdair McGill, Managing Director of Ashton McGill. Alasdair talks about asking the right questions and the importance of finding out a client's 'why?' This gives perspective to your client's goals, dreams, and the reason they are running their business. It enables you to help them work towards delivering on that 'why'.
https://humanisethenumbers.online/episode-146-alasdair-mcgill-md-of-ashton-mcgill/
<div id="buzzsprout-player-18050995"></div><script src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1164563/episodes/18050995-alasdair-mcgill-managing-director-of-ashton-mcgill.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-18050995&player=small" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
Here is a soundbite of the interview with Alasdair