About Duncan Brodie

I’ve helped more than 7,000 accountants and professionals to move forward in their career, improve their leadership, presentation skills and be better business partners.

Before I set up Goals and Achievements in 2006, I spent 25 years in accounting, internal audit and risk consulting roles in the private (PwC, EY and TSB) and public (NHS) sectors.

As I climbed the career ladder from 15-year-old Payments Clerk to Finance Director of an NHS Trust, I realised something that has become the foundation for my business now:

It isn't the most technically brilliant accountants who reach more senior levels.

To land the job you want, you must be able to market and sell yourself. To be a success once you’re there, you need to understand the aspirations of those you work with: your boss, colleagues or the people you partner with across your organisation.

Seeing the world from your audience’s perspective will make you a more effective job hunter, communicator, manager, leader and partner.

Stand out as an all-rounder.

That is why my coaching, mentoring, training and speaking focus on competences that build on your professional qualifications. These non-technical skills will give you the edge when you are applying for a new position and make you more effective once you are in it:

Securing your next job. Helping you to get clarity, and to market and sell yourself to employers authentically, without being salesy.
Presentation skills. Getting your message across clearly, concisely and confidently, even if you hate presenting.
Leadership skills. Leading yourself and achieving results through your teams.
Business partnering. Working effectively with those that you partner with to make decisions, shape strategy and achieve results.

Create new opportunities with my practical support.

Developing new skills alongside your day job can be a challenge. I was lucky enough to have a number of bosses who gave me the chance to learn, and make mistakes, in new situations. It was during these periods that I experienced exponential growth and gained the confidence to move forward in my career.

That’s what I find truly rewarding about my work today: creating real-life environments where you can learn new skills and apply them immediately. It’s a pragmatic, practical approach, that enables you to achieve your goals more swiftly.

Get closer to your goals right now.

You can make a start today, by visiting my Goals and Achivements blog and my YouTube channel. You’ll find plenty of videos and more than a thousand articles which give you tips on how to achieve your next move and make the most of it once you’ve arrived.

Having worked extensively with professional organisations and networks – CIMA, ACCA, CIPFA, AAT, HFMA, Wales Deanery, NHS Wales Finance Academy and the NHS Skills Development Network – I now regularly speak and deliver workshops live and online for their community.

If I can do my bit to help shape someone’s future success, that gives me great satisfaction. Contact me now.

Let’s have a conversation about how I can support you or your team, as you move forward – just as I have done with these clients:

ANTONIo

FINANCIAL CONTROLLER

Working with Duncan has helped me tremendously. I’ve learnt to perform much better in job interviews and I’ve secured a great job in a great company. More importantly Duncan has helped me to take my personal and professional development to the next level. This will stay with me for the rest of my working life.

EMMA BAILEY

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS

Duncan regularly presents at CIMA events on a variety of subjects such as presentation skills, leadership and business partnering. He clearly spends time researching information beforehand to make the session far more beneficial. He also delivers the topics in a very interesting and relevant way. We consistently receive a great deal of positive feedback from the attendees. They are very praising of Duncan and mention they have greatly enjoyed and benefited from the sessions Duncan has provided.

BUSINESS PARTNER WORKSHOP DELEGATE

The various skills and techniques that were highlighted, I believe myself – and probably a few of the other participants – were doing unconsciously. But the workshop allowed us to recognise these skills, techniques and attributes and how they should be used within different contexts of the business partner role. It was a very good session. It will help me in my role to become a better overall business partner and address certain areas where I can make more progress.

PRESENTATION SKILLS WORKSHOP DELEGATE.

There were many great tips and tricks which will assist me in future presentations. The guidance for time spent preparing for a presentation and the myths were particularly helpful.

NUWAN

FINANCE BUSINESS PARTNER

I found Duncan to be a mentor for lifetime rather than just the source of help finance professionals could get to land their next job. His approach is very professional yet customised to your skills set and the need.

INTERVIEW SKILLS WORKSHOP DELEGATE AT HEALTH AND CARE RESEARCH WALES

I thought it was a very insightful day. It helped boost my confidence about my technical and non-technical skills going into the interview process. Although I was not prepared for the 1-2-1 interview like I would be in real life, it was still great practice for answering quick-fire questions and thinking on the spot.

STUART WAYMENT

FSD (FINANCE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT) LEAD NHS SOUTH EAST COAST

Duncan is a highly professional trainer who I have worked with on a number of occasions, delivering on a range of topics from technical to personal development. He has the ability to communicate well with a broad spectrum of people and is always willing to tailor his delivery to meet the needs of his audience. Feedback from delegates for Duncan’s workshops has been consistently good.

CATHERINE

FINANCE MANAGER

Duncan’s suggestions and guidance on how to target my job search led me to explore and ultimately find success in a sector that I had not previously considered. His pragmatic and thorough approach helped me to:

identify what I was actually looking for
articulate my career achievements and transferable skills and
create a succinct and relevant CV and Linkedin profile.

What really made the difference for me, however, was the bank of potential interview questions and mock interview. They enhanced my preparation no end and allowed me to go into actual interviews with a level of confidence which I would otherwise not have had.

KELLY

FINANCE MANAGER

I just wanted to drop you an email to let you know that I have finally secured a position in London for the role as Finance Manager for a commodity trading house – so very similar to what I was doing before in London. I am absolutely thrilled with this. This was the job I had been interviewed for, 2 months ago. Finally, last week, I was brought in for a second interview. I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the coaching sessions and guidance around interviewing, as I believe this really helped me to get this role and to be as prepared as possible.

MARTA

FINANCE MANAGER

I would like to thank you for helping me to secure my new job. We worked together last year over the summer and you helped me: re-writing my CV, improving my LinkedIn profile, learning interviewing techniques and mainly understanding myself, who I am, what I can do and how to sell myself. After almost 15 years working for one organisation, I became redundant and you helped me to secure a new role. Although it was a fixed-term contract until the end of August 2016, it was an absolutely great experience. I was approached recently by a recruitment agency about the permanent role of Finance Manager and am starting soon. I could not have done it without your help.