The Finance Leader Podcast
Leadership development can lead to greater promotion potential. This podcast is hosted by Stephen McLain, a U.S. Army-Retired Finance Officer. After retirement, Stephen transitioned to working as a Business Consultant in Corporate Finance and Accounting. Topics will be dedicated to leadership and strategic mindset development for Finance and Accounting professionals, where we will focus on the four key Finance Leader responsibilities: 1) influence, 2) developing our team, 3) achieving results, and 4) seeing the future . Please listen to the trailer so you can check it out. Thank you!
The Finance Leader Podcast
A Review of Personal Accountability to Continue Your Pathway Towards Success
Bonus episode #89: A powerful accountability framework can be the difference between another year of unfulfilled potential and remarkable achievement in your finance career. Whether you're aiming for the CFO chair or seeking to level up your leadership skills, this episode unveils the three critical components of a personal accountability strategy that actually works.
We begin by examining the mindset shift required for genuine accountability. As finance professionals, we're excellent at holding others accountable through metrics and performance reviews, but often struggle with personal accountability. I explore why 99% of failures stem from excuse-making and how developing a no-quit attitude creates the persistence needed to overcome inevitable obstacles.
Beyond mindset, effective accountability requires a structured methodology. The SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) provides the architectural blueprint for transforming vague aspirations into concrete achievements. But even the best-designed goals require tactical implementation tools—the practical mechanisms that keep you on track daily. I share my personal accountability toolkit, including written plans, calendar systems, accountability partnerships, and environmental cues that have helped me consistently achieve my professional objectives.
Please connect with me on:
1. Instagram: stephen.mclain
2. Twitter: smclainiii
3. Facebook: stephenmclainconsultant
4. LinkedIn: stephenjmclainiii
For more resources, please visit Finance Leader Academy: financeleaderacademy.com.
Hi. This is Stephen McLain of the finance leader podcast. This is bonus episode number 89 I am back with another bonus episode this week. I have one more to share next week before I am back to sharing my usual episodes. I am working on a few things right now that will be very special to this community. And I am also interviewing a few special guests, so I can't wait to share those episodes and an update on my special projects. Now this week, I do have a question for you to consider. Do you have hopes and dreams now? I sure do. Now, what does it take to accomplish those dreams? Now you know the answer. It takes hard work, focus, dedication, a commitment to progress, and you have to sacrifice some fun time. But I usually do caution that you don't ignore your family. Family is very important now what you need is an accountability strategy. I want to share with you this week is a replay of episode number 128, personal accountability strategy for success in 2025 I published this episode at the beginning of the year, and since we are now starting the second quarter, it's a good time to review our strategy. So please don't quit. Keep working. The rewards will be there. So please enjoy this encore replay of episode number 128, personal accountability strategy for success in 2025 you can find more resources at financeleader academy.com Please enjoy the rest of your week, and thank you for listening to the finance leader Podcast. Enjoy the new year has begun, and it's time for those New Year's resolutions that may not help you, but goal setting will help you. We have high expectations and lofty ideas about who we will transform into over a short period of time, but what happens is that our enthusiasm runs out, and then our spirit of accomplishment diminishes, and finally, hope fades away, all because our planning methodology was out of touch and our accountability plan was flawed. I want to encourage you in this episode to develop a personal accountability strategy that can work for you to get what you want done this upcoming year, and it always begins with you. What is most important to you? What do you prioritize? What you believe is important you will place at the top of your list. Let's get ready to accomplish much in 2025 Let's go. Please enjoy the episode. Welcome to the finance leader podcast where leadership is bigger than the numbers. I am your host. Stephen McLain, this is the podcast for developing leaders in finance and accounting. Please consider following me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. My usernames and the links are in this episode's show notes. Thank you. This is episode number 128, and I'll be sharing a personal accountability strategy while we head into the new year. I will highlight the following topics. Number one, it begins with our mindset, our attitude and our commitment. Number two, use a proven method for goal achievement. And three, develop your tool set, famed agriculture scientist and inventor George Washington Carver said, 99% of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses. Now I really like that quote. We don't want excuses going into the new year again. Happy New Year. It is a wonderful time of possibilities, where we see the entire year, which is open to our dreams and oftentimes very lofty goals. We are ambitious, and we have that inner desire to change and to become better at something. It becomes a personal desire to maybe lose weight or to save money or something very similar. We know we need to change. We are coming out of the holiday season where we probably ate too much or spent too much money, and we state that we need to get into the gym or make a better budget. So we have dreams of change, but what we lack is a great plan that makes sense. And most importantly, we lack a way to hold ourselves accountable, which then leads to failure and disappointment. This then leads us back to our old habits, and we will find ourselves at the end of the year wondering what happened last year. At this time, I shared episode 115, SMART goals for 2024 which explain the SMART goal setting process. So I recommend that you re listen to that episode to understand and adopt that process. If you didn't listen to it yet, please go back and find it. It's a great episode on smart. It's the best, the simplest and most realistic process to plan and achieve your goals. As a quick reminder, SMART stands for Specific. Like Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and time bound. These five criteria are used to ensure that goals are well defined and achievable. I also created a free downloadable guide and workbook to accompany that episode. You can download it at finance leader academy.com I'll also share a link in this episode's show notes so you can find it very easy. On last week's episode, I shared my professional goals for this year. That is my way of holding myself accountable by publicly proclaiming what I want to accomplish, I have made a public statement on what I want to get done. Will I do it? I don't want to disappoint you all, so I am committed to getting my goals accomplished. Now. What is your purpose? Establishing your purpose can be powerful. It can help you with commitment for your life, your career, your goals, pretty much everything. When you decide and know what you're passionate about and what you want to accomplish, you can become unstoppable. Accountability is needed, and it has to be tough. We need accountability, and sometimes we need external help or an external stimulus to bring us over the finish line. Ask yourself and be honest. Can you keep yourself accountable, or do you need help? Do you need someone or something to help you to that finish line. What do you do when you have to make a decision about working on a developmental task versus getting comfy in front of your TV? Are you willing to sacrifice a comfy today for a better tomorrow? Our mindset can be our greatest asset or our greatest enemy, laziness and excuses can permeate our will for greatness and for winning. What are you going to choose? What do you believe in? I want you to strengthen your mindset for winning and for growth. This is our daily exercise, our daily fight. Are you ready to learn, to grow and to win today. Are you ready for the fight against mediocrity? This year, I will talk more about our career potential. Our career potential relies on a solid plan of accountability. If becoming CFO is your plan, then you need a plan of accountability and how to achieve it. You need a strategy on the skills you need to develop and how to progress in your career. You need a career strategy that makes sense for you. I am a big believer in goal setting. I do it every year. I make lists, multiple lists. In fact, about what I want to get done during the year. Do you like to make lists? I think most of you probably do. I'll make a list and break down those items to smaller tasks. Next is to put those smaller goals onto a calendar and then commit resources. When you have goals on a calendar, then you have committed resources to them. You have a plan. Now will you ensure you achieve them? That's where accountability comes from. Now let's talk about a personal accountability strategy while we head into the new year number one. It begins with our mindset, our attitude and our commitment. We are only limited by our own mindset. We set our personal limit. You have to believe that and commit to that, or you will run from accomplishment every time, mindset and commitment wrapped in a no quit attitude creates persistence. When faced with obstacles, persistence wins out every time. If something doesn't work in your favor, once or twice, try something else, don't quit, and don't let anyone tell you to quit. Let the market dictate your ceiling. You are your own limit. In most cases, you will talk yourself out of something great over a fear that doesn't even exist in the real world. What is holding you back? What do you do when faced with an obstacle or you feel lazy? Do you go around it? Do you let it stop you where you are? Be prepared for then that obstacle shows up because it will. What will you do? Do you have a response? A friend asks you to go out instead of work on a class that will help you develop a critical skill. What is your choice? Think about all those obstacle possibilities. Be ready for when they show up, because they will, number two, use a proven method for goal achievement. I believe in the smart method of goal setting and goal achievement. Listen to Episode 115 SMART goals for 2024, to fully listen to an explanation of smart and how to apply it to help you achieve your goals. Again, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and time bound. It is a solid process. I believe in it, and I want you to adopt it too. You must adopt a formal process, or you risk failure. You risk complacency, and I despise complacency. Complacency is laziness. It's the comfort zone. Dreams die and complacency all. Dreams die in the comfort zone. If you set new year's resolutions a week or so ago, are you on track with them? Will you be on track a week from now? Most will not be on track because they lacked a proven process. Number three, develop your tool set. This is very important. This is where we're going to build our strategy. Now let's start with your purpose. What are you passionate about? What drives you? What are you meant to do we all generally have a feeling inside what we should be doing with our life. What comes to mind about what you should be accomplishing? Do you like leading? Do you like doing admin activities? Do you like helping others achieve their goals? Do you want to rise to CFO or even CEO one day? What is your long term goal? Write it down and then break it down on how to achieve it next. Our expectations, this should align with your purpose. What can you get done this year, realistically with everything else in your life and and does that align with your long term goal. I want you to develop the following in your goal setting and in your accountability strategy. I want you to have a written plan. I have said it many times, write down your goals and your progress, update it regularly. I want you to use a calendar, both a short term calendar and a long term calendar, so you can include personal planning and career planning, I want you to choose a trusted friend you can share your goals with, who can also nudge you along and ask about your progress. This has to be someone who believes in you and who will push you along in the goals. So you can share with them. You can talk with them about what you're doing but what you want to do, and they believe in you. Have you tried putting post it notes or signage everywhere you are so that reminds you of your goals, placing a sign in your work area, your desk area, or maybe on the mirror? These reminders can help you get into that spirit of goal accomplishment. They become Stark notices to keep going. They hold you accountable when you come up short, and they celebrate you once you have achieved something significant. So let's develop that tool set. Let's develop that that personal accountability strategy. I want you to start with that purpose. I want you to write down that long term goal. I want you to set aside realistic expectations. Develop a goal setting and accountability strategy by having that written plan, use calendars, choose a trusted friend you can talk to about it, I want you to put signage and post it notes all around you, reminding you of what your goals are. So you when you see that sign, it reminds you of what you have set up for yourself for this year. You see that sign and say, Hey, did I do it yet? Am I going to accomplishment? And when you see that sign again and when you have achieved it, you can celebrate it. I always like to share what I like to accomplish with someone I trust. I write it down and I share it with a friend. It works for me, because I feel that I have a contract with my friend to accomplish what I said I would, and then I give updates to my friend on my progress, you need a strategy that works. You can just think about it, but you need a plan that reminds you of progress or a lack of progress, so you keep moving forward now for action today. Do you have a plan for goal setting and goal accomplishment in 2025 and more importantly, do you have a proven strategy for personal accountability. So I want you to ask yourself, where I talk about the same things again, do you know your purpose now? I want you to start to write down your passions and what you want to accomplish. Well, I have a written plan so I can track my progress. I always believe in writing down what you want to do. Did I use a goal setting process, or did I just make New Year's resolutions? Like everyone else, you know, how I feel about New Year's resolutions. Am I committed to goal? Accomplishment is my mindset in the right place? How do I ensure I accomplish my goals on time and to a high standard of excellence? I want you to ask yourself all these questions. Go back and listen to it one more time if you have to the key to goal accomplishment is accountability. Do you have a plan and how will you complete it? Now? Go get it in 2025 now, I have a special announcement. I have been asked to speak at an upcoming Leadership Development Program. It's a three week virtual training event to help you unlock critical skills so you can reach for the higher roles in finance and accounting. It is called the Office of the CFO boot camp. Topics include the CFO mindset, strategic influence, change, leadership and executive presence and communication. The event is hosted by an amazing finance leader who I have interviewed here on the podcast, we'll see you. Come on. You can find more information and how to sign up at financeleader academy.com select boot camp in the top menu. I will also drop a link in the episode show notes. If you are listening to this episode later, there is a plan for additional workshops, so go check the link. Thank you. Today, I talked about a personal accountability strategy while we head into the new year, and I highlighted the following points. Number one, it begins with our mindset, our attitude and our commitment. Number two, use a proven method for goal achievement. And three, develop your tool set. I want you to succeed, but you have to make a choice. You have to choose a success oriented mindset that you'll cultivate every day. You have to choose to leave your comfort zone every single day, every single moment. Are you going to do something amazing or stay in the comfy, happy, no pressure, place that you are in now? Are you going to develop a sound plan that helps you succeed? Are you going to adopt a few tools to help you with your personal accountability? We all need that I do too. So I write down what I want to accomplish and then update my plan regularly. I have annual, quarterly and even weekly goals. I break down those big goals at the smaller, more easily achievable goals to help me in my movement towards my long term goal. Let's end those New Year's resolutions and start to make a solid plan of accountability that has actionable items in a written plan. Now I want to share one more quote on accountability and responsibility. The Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt said responsibility equals accountability, equals ownership, and a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have. I love that quote. I hope you enjoyed the finance leader podcast. You can find this episode wherever you listen to podcasts. If this episode helped you today, please share with a colleague until next time, you can check out more resources at financeleader academy.com and sign up for my weekly update so you don't miss an episode of the podcast and now go lead your team and I'll see you next time. Thank you. You.
