Episode 111: You Don't Need To Be Superhuman: Create The Boundaries You Need Between Work And Life With Bonnie Stewart
In our hustle culture today, setting the boundary between work and life has been increasingly challenging. However, our guest in this episode says, you don’t need to be superhuman! Don’t be so hard on yourself. Amy Vetter interviews the CEO of the Connecticut Society of CPAs, Bonnie Stewart. Together, they discuss the impact Bonnie’s father, family, and Executive Coach had on her development as a leader and advocate. She then shares insights on how acknowledging your limitations, setting boundaries, and prioritizing can make a much more balanced and fulfilling life. You can still be good at everything and still have balance if you stop being so hard on yourself. Don’t miss out!
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You Don't Need To Be Superhuman: Create The Boundaries You Need Between Work And Life With Bonnie Stewart
Welcome to this episode where I interview Bonnie Stewart, who heads up the dynamic team of professionals at the Connecticut Society of CPAs, which represents almost approximately 6,000 individuals in public practice, business industry, government, education, and more. In her role as Executive Director and CEO, Bonnie works with the Connecticut CPA Board of Directors to lead and grow the organization, engage, empower, and advance its members, the profession, the business community, and future CPAs.
Before joining the Connecticut Society, Bonnie served as Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and in the Office of the Connecticut Attorney General. She received her Juris Doctorate from the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire, and her Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Connecticut. During this interview, we talk about her journey and the impact her father, her family, and her executive coach have had along the way in developing her as a leader and an advocate for the profession.
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I'm here with Bonnie Stewart, the Executive Director and CEO of the Connecticut Society of CPAs. Bonnie, thanks for being on. We would love for you to introduce yourself to our readers before we get started.
Thank you. Prior to the Society, I worked for Corporate America. I was a lobbyist. I'm a lawyer and a mother. I like to do bunches of things, but primarily traveling and lacrosse, whether I'd be watching it or trying to play it with friends and children. I've got lots of things to keep me busy. I just don't have enough time in the day.
I always say that work gets in the way. Whenever retirement eventually comes, there will be plenty to keep me busy.
It's funny because everyone I know says that they're busier now that they're retired than they were when they were working. I'm going to hope that doesn't happen to me and that I've got time to do all the things that I want to do.
Thank you so much for being on. This show is about your story. I would love to start off by talking about where you grew up and what your parents did. Give me a little bit of your family background.
I grew up here in Connecticut. I lived in a border town. I was born across the line in Rhode Island but was brought right home to Connecticut, where my family has been since the 1600s. We are big travelers. Throughout my life, I took advantage of school to travel. I went to school in England. I went to school in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I got my degree from the University of Connecticut. Despite my travels all over the world, I've always returned home. I have my entire family here.
What did your parents do? What were their occupations?
Both of my parents were teachers and my dad was also a lawyer. My mother went to Law school as well but decided that she didn't need to do that later in life. She had other things she wanted to do, but we do have a number of people in the family that are lawyers and teachers.
What did they teach?
My father taught Political Science and History. It used to be called Social Studies. It's referred to as many things now.
In high school?
In junior high school and high school and taught at the college level as well, my mother taught junior high school French and English.
Your family has been there since the 1600s. What's that story?
One of my ancestors was the first person to be born in the United States that came over on the Mayflower. They had somebody pregnant on the Mayflower. That’s not something I would want to have to deal with. They hit land and a child was born a couple of days later. We waddled down from Massachusetts to Connecticut and pretty much stayed here ever since.
Did your grandparents live around you?
Work And Life Balance: Travel opens your eyes in a manner that if you stay in the same area all the time, you don't have a chance to experience.
My entire family lives in Southeastern Connecticut. Everyone's gone off at some point, lived, gone to school, or worked somewhere else, but everyone eventually comes home.
How many siblings do you have?
I'm 1 of 4 children. I have 3 brothers, 2 older and 1 younger. My brothers and I have friends who have come to live with us as well across the years. While I have a core family in terms of four brothers, I have what I consider a close extended family, not only of their spouses and children but also of others who return to our home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and stuff. In total, I would tell you I'm 1 of 7.
Were your parents bringing people over? How did that happen?
For example, we live in a town or an area where there's a large naval base. When people were in high school, we had a couple that did not want to leave for this senior year. Their parents and my parents agreed to have them finish out their high school years with us. My brother had another friend who was close and thought that things might be better residing with us for a while and did so. It's nice to have a place where everyone gets together and enjoys each other's company.
What were your hobbies growing up?
Travel has always been among my biggest hobbies. My parents were wanderers. Even though we always returned to Connecticut and lived here, in the summertime, when my parents were teachers, they would throw us in the back of a station wagon and we would visit the country. We would go from state park or national park to national park. My father would do grant work at different universities.
We would get to go and spend time in Michigan or in Ohio, etc. Due to that, not only myself but all the grandchildren have seen all 50 states. After we did that, they started taking us elsewhere. I'm fortunate that travel's been a big part of my life because it opens your eyes in a manner that if you stay in the same area all the time, you don't have a chance to experience.
In addition to that, sports were a big issue in our family. We all enjoy sports. While we may not all enjoy playing the same sports, we're big Yukon basketball fans. My parents, on their wedding anniversary, went to the University of Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island football game after they got married.
We are big Yukon supporters and, through that, a lot of college sports, but we like other things as well. We're big into the outdoors. We like to hike, go for walks, to canoe. Water sports are big. I love snorkeling. We’re an active family. We love zip lining. I'm looking forward to being able to start traveling again and try some of the lines I've not tried in the past.
Animals are a big part of growing up. I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian until I met Organic Chemistry in college. That changed my mind. I became a lawyer instead, but I mentioned to my father I wanted to be a vet. The next thing I knew, I got a little sheep. I got a pig. I had a couple of things and we had a little country farm. That was great until my parents were on a cruise and the piglets got loose. We had a batch of them. They rooted up the lawn. They dug up the whole lawn. My father said, “It's your pigs. You replant the lawn.” He made me spend the summer replanting the lawn. I got rid of the pig shortly after that.
You went to school in other countries. How did that happen? Were your parents suggesting it? Was it something you found?
I don't know how it came up initially, but I do remember discussing with my parents going to school overseas, in London, in particular. My father had friends in London. My father was a Fulbright scholar and had gone to school with that in India for a little while. I met a lot of people in England and kept in touch. The school I was going to has a program in England. My father called up and said, “If we send her over, would you be willing to watch her for the next year?” They said yes, so my father sent me over to the University of London for my junior year of college. That was great.
When I came home, at one point, I decided I wanted to be a social worker. My father said, “If you're going to do that, you need to learn the language. Therefore, you should go to the University of Puerto Rico,” because in this area of the country, the dialect that's spoken most often is the Puerto Rican dialect. Therefore, they sent me to the University of Puerto Rico to learn Spanish. That's where I met my husband. He was in my classes. I did that and that was a fantastic experience as well.
I got to see those countries and learn about them well. While I was in the Caribbean, I got to travel all over down there and the same thing with Europe. During the breaks and summer vacations, I was able to backpack all around England. It’s a different time and a different age where things like that were a bit safer than they are now. It was fantastic opportunity with lots of great memories.
Work And Life Balance: You can't change the world by sitting at home, so speak up or shut up.
How did your switch to Law happen? You wanted to be a veterinarian and then a social worker. Where did that shift happen?
I don't ever remember saying I wanted to be a lawyer. That was my father's idea. There was a social worker who worked for neighborhood legal services. It’s where I worked as an intern while working towards a degree in social work. She said to me, “I'm a social worker, but we work here with a bunch of attorneys. I want you to know that you could serve your clients better if you were an attorney.” I said that to my father when I got home.
The next thing I knew, my LSAT form had been filled out. I did it. I didn't know that I wanted to do it, but I had a conversation with my father on a couple of occasions because I switched my mind about what I wanted to do. I remember one day coming home from school and being upset that I didn't know what I wanted to be. I had all these ideas, but I didn't know. I was going to switch my major again. I was upset about that.
My father said, “That's what school's all about. You go there to learn things. You try coops and internships. Most people do not know what they want to be. They want to be something at one point in time, but it may change several times.” He told me how he changed from what he initially went to school for to something else. I sat for the LSATs and he told me about non-traditional jobs, as well as traditional lawyer jobs. I became a lawyer, but my first true job after graduating was being a lobbyist, where they required me to be a lawyer.
I wasn't in the traditional role. I have to say, that degree has served me well. The preparation for becoming a lawyer, the different things you have to do with moot court, and the different things you study brought me a lot of knowledge in many different areas. That has given me the opportunities that I've had, whether it be a lobbyist, a general counsel at an organization, or the CEO of the organization I'm at. It was a good move on my father's part filling out that LSAT form for me.
You went to law school and what were you lobbying for? What organization did you get involved with?
When I was in law school, I worked at the Connecticut Attorney General's Office. I received a call from somebody who had also interned there before me and said that they were with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. Would I be interested in speaking to them about possibly the lobbying? I thought, “That's interesting.” My father was heavily involved in politics.
I thought that's a good way to combine what I initially wanted to do, my love of working with people and possibly social work, etc., with my schooling, being a lawyer, and my father's influence in terms of politics. If you want to change the world, you can't do that by sitting at home. You can't even change the rules surrounding who can use the baseball field, so speak up or shut up.
I went for the interview and I thought, “This would be neat. This is a lot better than sitting in the back room of the Attorney General's Office, writing briefs for somebody else to go and present.” I said, “Let's try it.” I stayed with that organization for a long time. I went in as staff attorney and left as general counsel. It gave me a lot of opportunities. I learned a lot. I had a lot of experiences there that allowed me to learn different areas of the law because businesses are touched by so many different things. With that, I also grow in terms of my leadership experience. As I was there, I received management training and other things. That was pretty interesting.
What was your expectation going in versus what the reality was as you moved through into leadership positions? Were there different belief systems you had to change along the way to lead in the way you needed to or get people to come to an agreement together?
I had always been told to listen. That's one of the most important things anybody can ever do. I would listen and I learned a lot by listening. I learned more about the law, the people and many different things. In terms of my ability to be a good manager, that came later, I became a good lobbyist. I became an expert in certain areas of the law. I was a fantastic employee because I've got a great work ethic worth ethic. I don't know that I was a great manager for a long time.
After I left that organization, I got a coach. That coach was good about giving me advice such as, “It's fine to listen, but how do you use that? Are you observing how people are feeling? Are you reading the room?” I would be like, “Absolutely. You do that as a lobbyist.” Everyone knows about my family. I'm a diabetic and I've always kept that quiet until I switched jobs. I'm not sure why. I had other people that had some health issues and they're always worried about if you are going to hold that against them or if they need time off to go to the doctors, etc.
I would always say no, but I'd never tell them that I understood or anything. I realized that if I shared a little bit, they would feel more comfortable, whether it be going to a doctor's appointment or wanting to take time off to go see their child playing a game, or taking their parents to a medical appointment. We all have obligations, whether it be for parents, children, nephews, yourself, your spouse, or your dog. I've had to take time off to take my dog to the doctor.
People are much more willing to be loyal to an organization and put the time in that's needed if you're willing to back them up when they need time for whatever it is. My abilities have always been there to lead people. I did that as a lobbyist leading numerous coalitions, etc. I had a great team of attorneys working with me in our office, but my ability to manage, help develop, and coach people came about more in the last few years after I got some coaching myself. With COVID, I realized that I needed to pay a lot more attention, not to the person just as an employee, but as a person and the struggles they were facing.
During COVID, you had people that had children at home that they were trying to take care of or teach as they did their job. I was appreciative of the fact that my children were already out of school when COVID hit. That was a major challenge for those parents who were home and still trying to work. Many of them didn't have the choice to leave the work world. Being flexible was important to them. I would've wanted someone to do that for me, but people were initially nervous about accepting my offer to take on flexible work.
Work And Life Balance: Listen—that's one of the most important things anybody can ever do.
They saw that I might need to do that for a little while on Tuesday mornings, so I was taking two hours off to take someone to the doctor. They saw me do that. Two hours later, I would get my job done. As they saw that and I was more open about it, they too started doing it. As a result, I've gotten an incredibly loyal team because I understand the challenges of their lives, whether it be work or home, to a much better extent than I ever did before.
When we show more authenticity and vulnerability, it brings us closer to the people around us. When I was younger, there was always this thing. If you're a leader, there's a line and you have to keep that line. That never came naturally to me because I am someone that likes to be friends with people. What I found over time was the same thing. As you start realizing whether it's your clients or people that work with you or for you, there's more of a bond and an understanding when things aren't going well too in a day.
I remember you never shared anything that was personal. That stayed home and work came to work. You never asked anybody. In COVID, if you didn't ask people how they were, other than that normal artificial, “How are you doing?” it was a mistake. I didn't want people to think I was intruding either, but I'll tell you that people started saying means a lot. As you hear that, it makes you understand how the old ways don't work now.
I can see that advocacy piece being part of a state society, but how did you end up with the Connecticut CPA Society?
Some of the people that I worked with at my other organization were also members of the state society. A couple of the members recruited me to come over to the society primarily because I had a lot of touch with the business world. We have a lot of members in business and industry, but there are always concerns about maintaining them. People view the Society primarily as an organization for public firms. That's not the case, but that's the impression or perception. You have to deal with that. In my government relations experience, they wanted to build the program that the Society had.
Those were the two primary reasons they wanted to meet with me initially. As I learned more about the job and the people, it was something that I was interested in. What is so amazing is my perception of accountants. I always thought that the individuals that I worked with on tax issues, etc., were different. I worked with a number of people that were outgoing, funny, and everything. I thought of accountants as serious individuals and anybody that wasn't that way was the exception.
I have to say that the CPA world, as a whole, is the most welcoming group of people I have ever worked with. They're more welcoming than my social worker groups and my lawyer groups. It's not that the other people don't care, whatever. I don't know what it is, but the CPAs have more of a sense of community within the profession and the need to serve those communities in which they live more than any other profession I've ever worked with. What an opportunity and so fulfilling to be part of that community.
I would say the same. It's a double-edged sword for CPAs because they are a heartfelt profession. They care about their clients. They want to do their best, but then they'll work themselves around the clock and not charge enough. It's that same heartfelt feeling. Everyone's passionate about the work that they do and trying to help people, which is what keeps us all in it. At the same time, realizing it's not for profit and how you get the CPA profession valued in the right way.
I would agree with you. I don't know anyone that's not an incredibly hard worker in their profession. It's true.
What have you learned as far as your advocacy work that's different doing this than what you were doing before for business and industry?
For the business and industry world, we had to touch on a lot of different issues, but I don't know that we ever got into the nitty-gritty of how things would work in the end. If you'd asked me, then I'd be, “We cover everything from A to Z.” Representing the CPAs, when they look at a piece of tax legislation or audit standards, they look at it differently. “Can this be complied with within terms of the practical aspect of it?”
I don't ever remember seeing that before. We assumed that the things we were pushing would be better than what was either already in place or what was being proposed by somebody else if we were trying to get a modification. The CPAs not only look at it from the 50,000-foot level, but they go all the way down into the weeds. If we are going to make suggestions about modifications to law or adoption of a new language, they've looked at everything from all the words in there, all the commas, periods, everything, to make sure that it works.
That's been interesting because we've gone back. In legislation that I worked on in my prior life, we have tweaked at the Society. I have gone back to tweak it after understanding the way it was interpreted by either the courts or an administrative agency. When I did it initially, I thought at the time that this would work and work well, but there were little nuances to it that needed tweaking. CPAs are far more thorough than many people are in terms of dotting I’s and crossing T’s and making sure that compliance is possible. I like the way that they think not only of themselves and their companies but of the state and the state's economy as a whole.
A lot of the issues we worked on may not be as sexy, but they are rewarding because you truly have made a difference after you've passed something. Your membership is so broad. We cover everybody from CPAs for towns, governments, nonprofits, profits, schools, and unions. We have everybody, so you get to know all sides of an issue much more than you do when working for an organization. Even though you are always trying to make sure all the arguments, I don't know that you ever can if you don't have someone from all those different stakeholder groups sharing the information with you.
That probably is a big difference because CPAs have to live with every regulation that gets put there. It directly affects their life and their clients' lives. They see it play out wrong all the time. People get upset and they have to deal with their clients being upset when it's not their fault. It's just what you have to do. It's a good observation of a different perspective.
Work And Life Balance: People are much more willing to be loyal to an organization and put the time in that's needed if you're willing to back them up when they need time for whatever it is.
It's interesting. If you’d asked me before, I thought about everything. We make sure we do A to Z, but it's a different way of looking at things.
I love you talking about the executive coach and how it has shaped, even in that discussion, being more aware of the stakeholder and what they're looking for versus what you're looking to do. You're probably like, “I could get this thing through.” At the end of the day, if you can't bring everyone along, then you can't succeed as a leader. What are some things that you've had to monitor within yourself to make those changes? Did you feel yourself going back to your habits or ways of doing things? How do you become aware that you got to shift again?
The executive coach was the best thing that I ever did. There is a reason why all the top CEOs in the world have one. Nobody is perfect and everyone could always use someone to talk to and bounce ideas off. Sometimes when you're at the top, you don't have a lot of people to do that with. The thing that was most helpful is I'm probably harder on myself than anyone else's and I'm not unique in that way. When you are that way, you think you can be a superwoman, the super mom, and the super employee. Anything you're doing, you want it done right.
There's no reason why it's a bad thing to want to do everything well, but sometimes you put so much pressure on yourself. You become a workaholic. You're not paying attention to some other things that would give your life a little bit more balance and, in the end, probably make you a better person, a better worker, and many other things. That's what my coach told me. “You're hard on yourself. You can't do everything. You're not superhuman.” I left thinking, “That's foolish. I can do anything I want.”
I went back a week later and said, “What do you think I would scale back on or whatever?” He goes, “Not necessarily scale back, but learn how to delegate better. Learn how to do this and that. Listen before you start suggesting some modifications here because you may find that tweaks are more effective and efficient than whole scale overdue.” The best thing that happened for me there was when I first started working. I was the only woman in the room at a lot of the meetings. I was the only person ever in a suit that wasn't gray, black, blue, or brown.
I remember going to my first one in this beautiful Kelly green suit my mother gave me when I graduated from law school and thinking, “I shouldn't have worn this. I stand out.” There was a big bowl of cigars in the middle of the table that we were meeting at. It was a different world. To a certain extent, I felt I had approved myself. After listening to him, I thought, “I can be a good worker, a good colleague, a good parent, and a good manager without working 80 hours a week. When we go on vacation to Disneyland, I'm going to go with them the next time. Instead of sitting in the hotel room, writing a new employee handbook or writing a new policy.”
As a result of seeing this individual, I gained a work-life balance because I wasn't allowing it before. It wasn't that my employer wasn't, but in a much better manner than I ever had before. I always made it to my kids' games, but I would be on the phone half the time or running back home and working at night after the kids went to bed. I was getting three hours of sleep. Finally, for the first time in my life, I understood that I could be good at everything I was doing and still have balance if I stopped being so hard on myself.
That was important because of what I didn't understand, and he helped me with that as well. When you're that with yourself, you put pressure on your colleagues to be the same way. When somebody would say that to me before, I would be, “That's not true. I don't ask that of them. I'll get it done.” I was picking up other people's work. He indicated that if you are working like that and you're the leader or one of the managers, anybody that's working with you around you feels you expect the same thing of them, too.
That whole experience changed my life, my family's life, my friends, and anybody that I work with significantly for the better. I don't think I'm any less of an employee in terms of the quality, my standard or anything, but I'm more realistic about how much can be done in a day. I pay more attention to those who may need support and ask people, “How can I help you? What can we do to support you? Do you need training? Do you need the afternoon off?” Whatever the case may be, we'll get our job done, but we do it better when we understand that we all have limitations.
I’d like to close out the interview by asking you some rapid-fire questions. You pick a category, family and friends, money, spiritual, or health.
Family and friends.
Things or actions I don't have that I want with my family and friends.
I missed too much of my family's lives and my friends’ lives when I was working nonstop. I would love more time.
Things or actions that I do have that I want to keep.
A close extended family and good friends, I don't think people oftentimes appreciate how lucky they are to have that. My dad passed away in October 2021. I was so lucky in the last couple of days that it wasn't just other family members and me. I've got four brothers who also chip in and do whatever we need. It doesn't end up on one person the way it does in so many families. That I'm lucky about, and to have friends call and say, “How's it going? Are you okay?” That means the world to me.
Work And Life Balance: You'll have a much more fulfilling, less stressful, and more satisfying life if you set reasonable objectives and goals for yourself.
Things or actions I don't have that I don't want.
I'm so glad that none of my siblings or children ever wanted a rodent as a pet as a child. I hear the story sometimes about parents who have snakes in aquariums in their house. My husband's got a friend that's got scorpions. I'm so lucky because those freaked me out. I don't go with any of those rodents or reptiles I can leave behind.
Last question. Things or actions that I do have that I don't want. Maybe something that you want to stop doing to create another boundary.
This is going to be a negative for me. I wish I could change the fact that I'm always too quick to say yes, that I'll help out. I'll go there. I'll do that. It's not always beneficial for the person I agree to help, especially if I don't know how to do something, and I'm like, “I'll come over. I'll help.” It also ends up taking away from the things that I want to do. I don't mind helping people, but I never say no. That's my biggest negative.
It can be. That goes back to the retirement discussion when I've done my business balance. Let's talk about alumni organizations of colleges where people are retired. My problem is I can't put boundaries around this and I'm busier now.
There are a lot of people like that.
You want to please people, but then you don't please yourself and there are other people harmed from it. That's a good awareness. With that, is there anything that you want to emphasize or that we haven't talked about that you wanted people to leave this conversation knowing?
This is one of the things that I raise a lot when I speak to women's groups, but this applies to both men and women because so many men are caregivers as well. You don't need to be Superman or Superwoman if you want to have both a family and a career. Most times, people put more pressure on themselves than their workplace ever does.
The same is true with family. Take a look at yourself and see what you can do and should do. Don't feel you need to do everything in every aspect of your life. You'll have a much more fulfilling, less stressful, and more satisfying life if you set reasonable objectives and goals for yourself. That's important for all of us to know.
Thank you so much for spending time telling your story. There are so many great lessons for everyone to take away from this conversation.
I appreciate your having me. I was surprised by the questions when I got them. I'm like, “This is going to be fun.”
Thank you very much.
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For my Mindful Moments with my interview with Bonnie, which had so many great takeaways. First off, getting her background of her family and how she was brought up, having so much family around her, and taking in other kids that lived in her community that needed the support of her family. That taught her about nurturing others and seeing her parents as teachers. You could tell that affected her journey as a leader herself.
One of the other things that were a big observation was her going overseas to school and her father promoting her to do that based on gaps in her knowledge that would help her in the career she was looking for. The first place that she went to was the University of London for a year of college. That was great exposure to Europe, how others interact in different countries, and how you make new friends when you enter a country you're not from.
The second was when she went into social work and her father advised her to go to the University of Puerto Rico, where she would learn Spanish and also understand the issues of that community. As a social worker, she felt that she would be affected by that. What great advice to step back as a mentor, whether you're a parent or a mentor outside of a family relationship, and look where gaps can be filled in and get alternative types of knowledge beyond the classroom.
She also worked at a neighborhood legal services group where she was doing social work during her internship. She learned and got advice there about becoming an attorney and getting her Law degree. Her father, who was an attorney, loved that idea. Outside of your family background, when others step in and give advice on things that you can do to help grow in your career, it's so important that we utilize our knowledge to help younger people find their path.
It led to this whole world of being a lobbyist of her being involved with that organization. She became a lobbyist for the business and industry organizations, where she spent much of her career trying to understand their issues and how to advocate for them. Her lesson from all of that was learning how to listen. To be a good manager and advocate for people's issues, you don't come in with preconceived notions. You get into a state where you can be open and aware and can listen to the issues and find common themes so that you can solve them.
She had noted that one of the most important things she did when she left that organization was getting an executive coach. That executive coach took that listening skill to another level, saying, “How do you use what you've listened to? Are you in a state of observing how people are communicating?” is always more than the words they say. It's our body language. It's so many things that we take into account when we're trying to get information to make a decision.
She also talked about how important it was when she was more honest about her own personal issues. When she found out that others she worked with had medical or family issues, where she could be more real, all of that bonds us more to the people around us when we don't create that line or that division where we are in a different category. We're not human. It's hard for people to be as committed when they don't feel like they know us from a human level.
She talked about COVID helping her to be more aware of how people were being affected. She noticed that she needed to change how she was behaving to ensure that people were taking the flexibility they needed. It's one thing to say that you are going to be flexible and give people flexible hours. It's another thing if we're not doing it ourselves. People don't think they have the permission to do what you're saying. Living what we preach is important as a leader, and it goes a long way.
I loved her observations of the accounting profession and how welcoming they've been to her. She has a different perspective on how they evaluate the same things she was doing in her other organization but looking at it from multiple perspectives to make sure that it will work. Overall, in her story, the biggest thing was that she was learning not to put so much pressure on herself as anyone else would and to create that boundary or line in work-life balance so that she could reset.
She's not stealing time from the people that she's with. They know that she cares. She wants to be with them. She's not getting distracted by work and asking those around her, “How can I help?” I hope you enjoyed this episode of the show. If there are any stories here that you think would be good to share with others, please subscribe, like or share this show with the people you know. Thank you again for your support of this show. I will talk to you next time.
Important Links
About Bonnie Stewart
Executive Director and CEO
Bonnie Stewart heads up a dynamic team of professionals at the Connecticut Society of CPAs (and its affiliated Accounting Scholarship Foundation), which represents approximately 6,000 individuals in public practice, business and industry, government, education, and more.
In her role as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bonnie works with the CTCPA Board of Directors to lead and grow the organization and engage, empower, and advance its members, the profession, the business community, and future CPAs.
Under Bonnie’s leadership, the CTCPA has developed and implemented a broad range of strategic initiatives to sustainably steer the organization into the future. These include the investments in state-of-the-art technology; modernizing professional development content and delivery; forging strategic partnerships with a wide variety of professional organizations; developing robust, just-in-time member communications; creating vibrant networking and collaboration opportunities; and working to implement a diversity, equity, and inclusion program.
In 2019, Bonnie and her team joined forces with several other statewide organizations to spearhead the Connecticut Professionals’ Leadership Academy. This one-of-a-kind program brings together CPAs, attorneys, architects, insurance professionals, and CFAs. Throughout the year-long program, these emerging leaders strengthen their leadership skills, build relationships, learn from local and nationally renowned experts, and forge a collaborative community.
A registered lobbyist, Bonnie works alongside CTCPA’s government relations consultants to advocate on behalf of the profession, defend the profession and Connecticut organizations against harmful legislation, pursue legislative and regulatory initiatives, and build strong working relationships with legislators and regulators, standard-setting bodies, and state and federal agencies.
She also represents the CTCPA nationally before organizations including the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), where she serves as a member of the AICPA Peer Review Board, and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). Bonnie also serves on the Board of Directors for Dime Bank.
Before joining the CTCPA, Bonnie served as Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) and in the office of the Connecticut Attorney General. She received her Juris Doctor from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire, and her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Connecticut.