Insights from ENGAGE: You don’t have to like people to lead people

While the popular portrayal of accountants as professionals who like working with numbers more than they like working with people doesn’t truly compute, the reality is that many professionals in many fields wouldn’t consider themselves “people people.”

But in accounting firms, where structure sometimes dictates that CPAs are moved into managerial roles a few years into their tenures, not being a “people person” can be a cause for consternation.

“If you ask an accountant going into that role how they feel, or if they’re ready or prepared, it’s like a deer in the headlights,” said Erin Crowley, who shared insights on leadership Monday during her AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 2024 session titled, “Leave Me Alone: People Management for the Non-People Person.” “When they become a manager, they go from being 70% billable and doing tax and accounting work every day to spending 70% of their day dealing with client management and team development. It’s two different jobs, frankly.”

Crowley, global learning and development adviser at learning and development outsourcing firm Spiirall, makes it her job to help those who don’t believe they’re cut out for leadership to understand that you don’t have to be a people person to effectively lead people.

Despite the stereotype, being a people person actually has little to do with being a successful leader.

“I help new leaders feel strong, empowered, and successful while still very much being themselves,” Crowley said. “I help them realize that they don’t have to pretend to be the life of the party or want to hang out with everyone to be extraordinary leaders that develop talent.”

Crowley asked her ENGAGE session attendees to share attributes they associate with the best leader they’ve ever had. Answers like “she listened to me” and “he made me feel valued” came pouring in.

“What I never hear,” Crowley said, “is ‘they were charismatic’ or ‘they liked talking to people.'”

Once prospective or new firm leaders — especially those who don’t view themselves as extroverts — come to realize that leading well doesn’t require an overly effusive approach, they are freed to focus on what does matter.

Crowley referenced Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill’s eight most important qualities for successful leadership — authenticity, curiosity, analytical prowess, adaptability, creativity, comfort with ambiguity, resilience, and empathy — and asked attendees if they felt like they possessed any of the qualities.

“To be a great leader,” Crowley said, “you simply need to lean into more of your natural talents. Do more of what you’re already good at.”

Crowley encouraged attendees to identify their “strengths zone” and then practice how to stay in the zone as often as possible in their professional roles.

According to Crowley, leaders that spend at least 70% of their time in their strengths zone tend to:

• Be more effective and efficient;
• Experience higher rates of achievement and success;
• Have more positive than negative interactions with others; and
• Generate more creative and innovative moments.

“Everyone is born with natural talent — that is, a naturally recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied,” Crowley said. “To turn our talents into strengths, we take the naturally recurring pattern, practice and invest in it, and turn it into something that can consistently produce positive results.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.