We look back at John Randolph's sitdown with Allan Fisher, president and founder of Premier Financial Search, on this special CPA Life Rewind Episode 91. Drawing on his own background as an accountant-turned-recruiter, Allan brings a rare "from the other side" perspective to talent acquisition in this wide-ranging conversation. Together they explore how firms that embraced empathetic leadership and stronger benefits in the wake of COVID have seen real gains in retention, and why showing up to candidate interviews with your best people is no longer optional. The conversation also covers how the competitive landscape has shifted from local to national, the edge boutique firms have carved out as a result, and some persistent myths around accounting recruitment. Allan further tackles the complications private equity is introducing to the industry, ongoing talent shortages, offshoring, CPA credentialing challenges, and the strategies firms can use to tell a more compelling story, and one that attracts and keeps the talent they need.

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Information overload isn't just inconvenient, it's triggering a nervous system response our brains haven't evolved to handle. Lisa Poslusny rejoins John Randolph for part two of their unscripted, candid conversation on Episode 90 of CPA Life, and this accountant turned mental fitness coach breaks down why knowing everything about everyone creates the kind of stress our ancestors reserved for encountering tigers. The remedy starts with what you do the moment you wake up: Getting out of bed to feel your feet on the floor, focusing on those first few minutes, you're building the capacity to control where your attention goes instead of letting worry hijack the day. John admits he guards his first three and a half hours like a vault, refusing to apologize for what someone once called selfishness. You can't pour from an empty cup, and most people battering their way through tax season are running on fumes. Lisa's "accept or convert" principle cuts through the noise, and she says you just need to find one small step forward or make peace with reality and move on. The hardest part? Self-love. Even serial givers struggle to extend themselves the same grace they offer everyone else. Race car drivers pit stop for the same reason we all need to: you can't cross the finish line if you spin out before you get there.

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Lisa Poslusny left corporate accounting thinking life would feel different, only to discover she'd packed her stress right along with her. Now a mental fitness coach specializing in accounting professionals, she's learned that changing circumstances isn't enough, and the real work happens internally. Her candid, unscripted conversation with John Randolph on Episode 89 of CPA Life moves from personal transformation to industry-wide challenges, touching on everything from the saboteur assessment (those automatic negative thought patterns that reflect overused strengths) to why accounting firms waste energy trying to fix people's weaknesses instead of amplifying what they do best. There are many gems here: a Houston firm that built a multimillion-dollar practice by hiring part-time working moms, a tax director who found the one firm willing to let him build his own practice on the side, and a managing partner who finally admitted the real reason he opposed remote work was simply because he didn't want it. And the thread connecting it all? "Conventional wisdom" in the accounting profession is in serious need of deconstructing.

Get the full show notes and more resources at CPALifePodcast.com