In this live Q&A session, moderator Shane Rogers brings together leadership coach Brian Jones and finance executive Nikki Mamedova for an engaging, candid conversation about the realities of modern leadership.

The discussion covers the value of coaching, why culture “eats strategy for breakfast,” and how leaders can reset disengaged or underperforming teams. The panel also dives into the evolving role of AI, exploring how leaders can embrace emerging technology while staying grounded in human behaviours, influence, and communication.

Packed with practical insights, honest reflections, and memorable takeaways, this episode brings the entire leadership series together in a dynamic and relatable way.

In this episode, we hear from assurance leader Shane Rogers, who draws on experience in internal audit, public accounting, sales, strategy, and risk management to explore what leadership really looks like in assurance functions. Shane unpacks the importance of challenge, trust, informal influence, communication, and how assurance teams can become catalysts for positive change across the business.

Global leader Nancy Chakabuda delivers a thoughtful and practical session on cultural leadership in multinational teams. Nancy breaks down why culture is “a shadow of its leader” and outlines the communication differences, value conflicts, stereotypes, and societal influences that make global leadership uniquely complex.

She introduces cultural intelligence and cultural adaptability as essential competencies, explaining how leaders can intentionally build knowledge, demonstrate sensitivity, and leverage shared values to unite diverse teams.

Nancy also shares a practical framework — Invest, Clarify, Exchange — for embedding cultural awareness into team structures, decision-making, and daily interactions. She closes with a deep dive into bias, offering tangible practices for self-reflection, feedback, diverse hiring, ideation, and making inclusiveness a measurable KPI.

A vivid and actionable exploration of what modern global leaders need to thrive.

Finance executive Nikki Mamedova breaks down what it truly takes to build and sustain high-performing teams — far beyond corporate slogans. She opens with the essentials: clear goals, open communication, trust, and an active effort to avoid favoritism. Nikki also explores the power of simple appreciation, how leaders can advocate for their teams, and why opportunities for growth matter more than people think.

From there, she moves into the realities of cross-functional collaboration, sharing practical advice on shared goals, clarifying roles, managing dependencies, fostering transparency, and celebrating joint wins. Nikki closes with an unfiltered look at navigating internal politics, building strategic relationships, understanding company dynamics, managing conflict, and finding allies who will advocate for you when you’re not in the room.

This session is packed with actionable guidance for leaders at every level.

In this episode, we’re joined by leadership coach and former reinsurance executive Brian Jones. Drawing on more than 25 years of global leadership experience, Brian talks through the core areas leaders must master — from building strong teams and setting priorities to understanding customers, markets and culture. He also explores common failure modes and what effective leaders do differently

This extended panel tackles the human side of AI: skills mid-career accountants need to let go of, how to train teams to think critically about AI-generated outputs, and what it means to trust (but verify) machine reasoning. You’ll hear about failures in finance transformation, strategies for AI adoption in legacy systems, and how emotional intelligence remains irreplaceable — even in an automated world. A powerful close to the series.

EY’s Myles Corson introduces a compelling insight: many finance leaders say they want to create value, but most of their work still centers on protecting or optimizing it. Nikita Clawson (CFO, Mount Logan Capital) joins in to explore how AI can bridge that gap — especially through predictive analytics, smarter hiring, and finance-front office collaboration. The conversation shifts the lens from operational efficiency to strategic relevance.

Nicola Bain (CLA) outlines her firm’s half-billion-dollar AI transformation plan, with insights on digital scaling, workforce development, and client enablement. Ariel Finkelstein follows with a strategic “reality check,” stressing that AI should be grounded in your business mission — not adopted for novelty’s sake. He discusses optimal workforce design, AI skill gaps, and the evolving future of tools like Excel. If you’re shaping AI strategy at any level, this is your starting point.

In this thought-provoking panel, the speakers tackle the complex human dimensions of AI adoption: ethics, trust, regulatory concerns, and change management. How can accountants be sure AI is safe and accurate? What’s the role of regulators, and when will they catch up? The panel shares perspectives on human-in-the-loop systems, education reform, and the future role of the accountant as both tech user and ethical steward. There’s a clear call to action: don’t wait — the AI wave is already here.

Chris Easton walks us through the development of a vertical AI solution for the airline industry — a domain-specific, reasoning AI that transforms how flight networks are planned and optimized. While not accounting-specific, this case study offers crucial insights into how similar models can be applied to audit, tax, and financial reporting. Chris demystifies the architecture behind multi-agent AI, orchestration tools, and MCP servers — and explains why accuracy, trust, and privacy are critical. A must-listen for accountants curious about the “how” of AI systems.