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Brolin: Blueprint for Empathetic Leadership | The Disruptors

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Embracing empathy helped build a healthier, more profitable firm with a smaller, stronger team.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Originally published Aug. 19, 2025
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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

After decades in public accounting, years emceeing national conferences, and a long stretch coaching college softball, Dawn Brolin has learned something most leadership books bury in footnotes: empathy drives performance.

“Empathy is, to me, the number one characteristic that a leader should follow,” she told host Liz Farr in her return to The Disruptors. Her latest book, The Elevation of Empathy: Leading for the W.I.N., digs into why the accounting profession needs a different kind of leadership—one rooted in awareness, humanity, and intentional care.

MORE STREAMING: Chang: Killing SALY, One Agent at a Time | Vanover: 5-Star Firms Don’t Bill by the Hour | Kless: Profit Is a Result. Flourishing Is the Purpose | Whitman: Build Culture on ‘Progress,’ Not Change | Shein: No PE? No M&A? No Problem | Hood and Weber: Time to RISE | Proctor: Turn Dumb Ideas into Brilliant Solutions | Carter-Gray: How 1 Poor Review Strengthened the Firm | Hartman: Upwork to “40 Under 40” in 3 Years | Telka: Transform Fear into Fuel | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Baker: Find True Purpose to End Burnout | Brolin: The W.I.N. Leadership Formula | Gertrudes: How EOS & “Unreasonable Hospitality” Reshaped GrowthLab | Vilms: The Power of People in a Tech-Driven World | Dickerson: From Diagnosis to Disruption | Kapilovich: Treat People Like People | Martha Yasso: From Wall Street to Main Street | Jackie Meyer: Tax Plans in 90 Seconds? Believe It  | Erica Goode: Build a $200K Firm in 15hrs/Week |

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Accounting firms often reward technical strength or revenue generation with leadership titles. But Brolin argues those metrics don’t create leaders; they create what she calls “appointed leaders.”

“You could be appointed a leader because of a skill or the amount of revenue you bring in. That doesn’t mean you are one,” she says.

Real leadership, in her view, has less to do with credentials and more to do with emotional intelligence, personal responsibility, and daily behaviors that elevate the people around you.

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Kwaiser: The Real Reason People Stay—or Leave | MOVE Like This

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Culture isn’t an initiative—it’s a strategy that drives retention and results.

Originally published Oct. 13, 2025
This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk talks with Stacie Kwaiser, CPA and CEO of Rehmann, about the firm’s nearly three-decade journey toward building a culture where people stay, grow, and lead.

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Kwaiser began her career in public accounting at Coopers & Lybrand before joining Rehmann, a firm that now employs more than 1,100 professionals across 22 offices. She rose through the audit practice and into firmwide leadership roles, ultimately becoming CEO in 2023. Along the way, she experienced—and helped shape—Rehmann’s evolution into one of the profession’s most recognized firms for women and equity leadership.
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Why Policies, Processes, and Procedures Make or Break CAS | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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Get more value from the technology you already own. 

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure.

It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

When accountants and bookkeepers talk about building a scalable, profitable firm, the conversation often jumps straight to technology. Which workflow app is best? Should we move payroll into a dedicated platform? Is our practice management system due for an upgrade? 

But as Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead emphasize in the latest episode of It’s Not Just the Numbers, software is only as good as the processes that support it. Without consistent policies and documented procedures, even the most advanced tech stack will fail to deliver efficiency or profitability. 

MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead | MORE Advisory & Consulting | BUY “It’s Not Just the Numbers”

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This lesson is especially crucial for firms offering Client Advisory Services (CAS). Advisory work depends on reliable, timely data and standardized outputs. If every accountant on the team closes the books differently, it doesn’t just create inefficiency; it undermines the consistency and trust that clients rely on.  READ MORE →

The Smart Accountant’s Guide to Choosing the Right Podcasts | Accounting Influencers

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Podcasts now serve every level of the profession, and intentional listening helps professionals grow faster.

This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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Accounting Influencers
With Rob Brown

The accounting podcast world is no longer a niche corner of the internet. It is a sprawling ecosystem of news briefings, exam prep guides, leadership conversations, and tech trend breakdowns. For today’s professionals—from students to senior partners—the shows they follow influence how they think, how they show up, and how they lead.

In this episode of Accounting Influencers, host Rob Brown breaks down the types of accounting podcasts in the market today and explains why some help you grow while others simply drain your time.

Not all accounting podcasts are built for the same audience. Some exist to help students pass exams. Others help partners stay current on regulatory changes. Some deliver tech deep dives. Others humanize the profession with personal stories.

Understanding these differences helps listeners choose wisely and avoid content that feels irrelevant or repetitive.

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Majchrzak: Marketer-Turned-CEO Redesigns the Modern CPA Firm | Gear Up For Growth

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Collaboration, transparency, and independence drive BeachFleischman’s growth.

This is a preview. The complete episode is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. 
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

When most people picture a CPA firm CEO, they don’t envision a former marketing director in the big chair.

That’s exactly what makes Eric Majchrzak worth listening to.

Majchrzak, CEO and Principal of BeachFleischman—Arizona’s largest locally owned CPA firm and a Top 200 firm in the U.S.—has been named multiple times to Accounting Today’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting” and is an Association for Accounting Marketing Hall of Fame inductee.

More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More Gear Up for Growth

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On Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Capstone Marketing president Jean Caragher, Majchrzak pulls back the curtain on how his growth-minded, marketing-first lens is reshaping BeachFleischman’s strategy, culture, and business model—and what other firms can steal from that playbook.

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