John Taylor never planned to work in public accounting. On Episode 120 of The Upstream Leader, he tells Jeremy how he spent years as a German professor, stumbled into the world of entrepreneurship through a student competition trip to Germany, ran the entrepreneurship center at Drury University, and then spent nearly a decade as COO of Askinosie Chocolate, a craft chocolate company founded by a former criminal defense attorney. What connects each move isn't a master plan, but a habit of noticing gaps, staying curious, and being willing to look a little foolish in the short term for the sake of learning something real. Now a Consulting Specialist at Elliott, Robinson & Co., John brings that accumulated outside perspective to accounting clients who are doing their best with imperfect systems. His conversation with Jeremy Clopton makes a quiet but pointed case that the profession needs exactly that kind of person.

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