S2E8 - Owen Wyss | The Value of Volunteering (For You & Your Community)

Welcome to Change Your Mindset (formerly known as Improv Is No Joke) where it is all about believing that strong communication skills are the best way in delivering your technical accounting knowledge and growing your business. The way of building stronger communication skills is by embracing the principles of applied improvisation. Your host is Peter Margaritis, CPA a.k.a. The Accidental Accountant, will interview financial professionals and business leaders to find their secret in building stronger relationships with their clients, customers, associates, and peers, all the while, growing their businesses.

S2E8 – Owen Wyss | The Value of Volunteering (For You & Your Community)

Owen Wyss is the Financial Controller at Thompson Concrete Construction, and he can best be described by a quote he gave in a recent AICPA article titled “Tired of Getting After-Hours Work Email?” Owen said, “Given the fact that my company does pay for me to have the ability to access my email on my smartphone, I believe they expect me to be available in an emergency or in order not to delay a project or task, especially since we operate globally.”

Now, most CPAs don’t feel that way – and that is what makes Owen a great leader!

Owen embraces the essence of leadership. He is currently Vice Chair of Finance for the Ohio Society of CPAs, is also on the board of the Construction Financial Management Association, and has been on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (an organization close to my heart).

“I encourage, first, for everybody to find something they’re passionate about; and second, to find an organization that aligns with them and realize that what will come of that are some great friendships, some great networking opportunities, and business connections.”

That’s a lot for one person, in addition to having a job and a family, so our conversation covers a wide variety of topics: his role as a financial controller, why the construction industry needs to embrace more lean practices to become more efficient, and his volunteer time.

As you’ll hear, Owen is passionate about everything he does and is a great role model for both young and old. I am very proud of him, and I’m envious of his drive.

I also have an exciting announcement: my new book, Taking the Numb Out of Numbers: Explaining and Presenting Financial Information with Confidence and Clarity, is available for purchase on Amazon.com! If you’d like to learn more about the book, head on over to TakingTheNumbOutOfNumbersBook.com.

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