Interview with Pat Kramer CEO of BDO Canada On Future Of Work

I had the privilege to work for Pat Kramer and his team at their annual BDO AGM in September in Toronto and  deliver the open and close keynotes for the event. 

Here is the fantastic interview with Pat Kramer CEO of BDO Canada on future of work.

1. What is your leadership philosophy?

As a CEO – I talk about leadership a lot with our partners and its very important to our firm and our business.
I think about leadership every day – my first philosophy is that I believe that leaders need to have a strong foundation in values and authenticity.

As leaders we need to be modeling ‘right’ action and honesty, integrity and accountability. We need to respect our partners and our teams.

I want our leaders to be  authentic, empathetic and vulnerable (real).  It’s not a title of who is the ‘leader’ its about who a leader is as a person.
The other part of my philosophy is that leadership requires a balance of collaboration and emotional intelligence and effective decision making. You have to work with people in a different way and be less authoritarian.

As leaders we need to collaborate and understand our people and what they are about which is where emotional intelligence is a valuable tool.

Ultimately you have to be able to make the hard decisions and as a CEO you have to make the hard decisions while balancing that with meeting people where they are.
2. What do you think is the most necessary skill (s) for leaders today?

Leaders need to be strategic they need to think strategically and of course have great execution skills – a leader can have great ideas and thoughts but execution is absolutely critical.
The foundational skill of leadership is fantastic communication skills the ability to listen and articulate with vision and passion to others about key messages.

3. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing leaders today and in the future?

For me/us it is the rapid and accelerating pace of change. With all of the things that are happening and the speed of change including technology, increasing competition, disruption, demographic shifts and more it can be overwhelming and paralyzing. We are focused on arming our leaders with the ability to lead change, to increase agility and innovation skills.
4. What do you think that leaders need to do to be future ready?

Rapid pace of change is global change its not regional and all changes are impacting the entire world. To be future ready leaders need to have awareness of future trends, competition and whats going on globally.
It is crucial that expanded awareness is at the forefront  of focus – the financial profession in the past has been myopic and focused internally. BDO is changing this and in today’s environment our leaders have to be deeply aware and use that awareness to build strategies.
5. What have you done in your role as CEO of BDO to help prepare your leaders for the future?

We have done a number of things – I have engaged our partners to raise their personal awareness and to keep them aware of the changes and focus on what can be done. Through the last year we have been articulating the need for focus and engaging our leaders in strategies to move forward.  Currently we are looking at their roles as leaders and changing their roles to better suit the business strategy. We are making changes that help our partners to lead change and leading others. We are embarking on effective and impactful leadership training that is needed to prepare them for the future and to give them the tools to be effective leaders. It is one thing to set expectations for our leaders performance but we need to give them the tools and resources to help them get there.
6. What is BDO doing really well in relation to your competitors and in your industry?

We have a very strong focus about our vision and who we are and we are clear of where we are going. We are differentiating ourselves and leading in the areas where we play which is our mid market and backing it up with solid strategies. We are executing against plans and it ties strongly in our leadership in our marketplace.
When I talk to our competitors and I meet them frequently and I benchmark against them-  we are very strong in our strategy and path.
7. What do you think is the biggest opportunity for BDO and its leaders?

Now that things are in place we have an opportunity to create some real space between us and our competitors and really take it to a brand new level. We are doing foundational things to ensure our path to success in achieving being number one in the mid market. We are leaders and seeking to continue to grow. We are creating a very agile business model even with our scale and size. We have the ability to respond to challenges and our model is being modified as we go and we are able to change and adapt quickly.We will continue to stand out among our competitors as we focus on being nimble, adaptable and adding value to our markets.
8. What do you do to stay focused and energized as a CEO?

I have a strong focus on health and fitness and its critical for me as a CEO and for leaders. I have to maintain my high level of energy and focus almost 100% of the time.  A good portion of my time is having ongoing conversations with people reiterating the vision, coaching and guiding and providing support , all of that requires a high level of focus and energy.
I schedule health and exercise in my calendar and its a huge commitment for me. I have training runs and half marathons planned in my calendar even when I travel. In order to stay robust for travel I eat well and take care of myself.

The other part of staying focused and energized for me is to stay on top of trends by reading books, magazines, articles and being always aware of what’s happening as this helps me keep the vision, to confirm direction and to stay focused.