How to Master Strategic Visibility and Lead Fortune 100 Companies with Nadine Niba

0:00 The most costly mistake high performance make is assuming that competence alone creates influence. A lot of people believe that their results will speak for themselves, but in reality, influence is built through strategic visibility, through relationship capital and aligning yourself with the enterprise goals.

0:19 So you don't have to just focus on let me just get my job done. It is your job to get your job done, to build strategic visibility for yourself, to go out there and create relationships with the decision makers and ensure that you are proven that the work you're doing aligns with the vision of the company. Hi there, are you a professional or business owner teaching investors for sharing big ideas about your presentations just are not keeping up with your vision? That's exactly why I use Gamma app or Proud partners. Gamma is an AI powered platform that helps you build beautiful decks, documents and web pages in just minutes. No complicated formats in no design headaches, just clean modern presentations that

1:10 communicate your ideas clearly and professionally. If you want to present like a pro, Sign up today using the two start link in the description below and start creating smarter with camera app. We are live. Ladies and gentlemen, you once again welcome to the Kingdom's podcast in Diary of the CFO. And today are going to be a very, very, very special guest fighting out of Alberto, Canada by way of Amanda Cameron Nadine, the superhero engraved Devo.

1:48 I'm so glad to be here if you're watching this. Hi, thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed the episode. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Bonjour. Bonjour, my Mozart, I said today on the Kingdom's podcast Summer trip. Sava, Sava. OK, OK. Masi, Masi. Yeah, Masi Baku. So today on The Kingdom's podcast, we're joined by a leader.

2:12 News journey from the Republic of Camry to the highest levels of corporate North America is nothing short of remarkable. Nadine Anibar is the Alberta back, a leader for risk advisory at BDO Canada and the best selling author of Quarterback, which reached the number one on Amazon within 24 hours of Billings. With over a decade of experience crossing by PwC and KPMG, she has built a reputation for helping organisations achieve sustainable growth by balancing in technology risk with human integrity.

2:45 Beyond titles and accolades, Nadine represents a philosophy of leadership rated in relationships. She believes the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our connections. Today, she joins us to share the strategy, discipline and mindset required to architect a legacy at the highest level. Nadine is an absolute honour to welcome you to the game cast. Whoa, how are you once again?

3:13 I'm good. How are you? I'm good, I'm good, you know, I'm happy. I'm happy to have you on here and I'm in it. I'm. Asking you, how are you? Yeah. How are you? Would I say I'm exhausted from reserving a lot of oxygen for the introduction of the superhero? No, you're not exhausted. You're fine. You're happy to be here. I'm fired up.

3:37 I'm fired up. You know, it's, it's really amazing having somebody that, you know, would I say, share similar backgrounds, similar experiences. It just gives you a positive bias towards that person. You know, the PC, the KPG, you know, influence you. You have to talk to this person. You have to enjoy such a conversation. Well, before we get up to that best face of origin and of course a resilient story of yours, your long term vision is to lead a Fortune 100 company.

4:12 Not Fortune 500, Fortune 100. That is a tall one. Very specific. Yeah, I'm going to be that kind of. CEO Amazing How did your early years in Cameroon and your first professional experience at Smart Track Africa shape the resilience required for that scale of ambition? You did, you did. You did a good homework on me before this podcast, so.

4:35 Thank. You my LES in Cameroon yeah, you did a lot of people who remember I worked at smart track but but I did so talking about my early years in Cameroon. My early years in Cameroon shaped my understanding of responsibility and opportunity because I was growing up in an environment where progress required discipline, community and faith, and principles like that build resilience and fuel ambition. So like my first professional experience at Smart Track Africa, it exposed me to an emerging market. Cameroon is an emerging market.

5:11 It's not a developed market and in an emerging market, structure is limited, expectations are very high. You learn to do the absolute best with very imperfect conditions, right? So you rely a lot on your creativity to solve problems in an environment that a lot is very onsetting. So I think, and I was an internal auditor at Smarttrac. I think those early days working as an internal auditor in Smarttrac, though Basic Cameroon was a global organisation because they had branches throughout Africa. Working as an internal auditor in an emerging market, having to put all of me to get things right, really build the foundation of my resilience.

5:56 Living Cameroon coming to Canada now, a developed market working across all of these large organisations within the same function. That Price Risk Management tenor audit gave me a 360 view on how an organisation is being run and how every part intersects with each other, every department intersects with each other. That eventually informs the CEO on how to make decisions on what strategic direction this organisation wants to go. I found myself in a position where I I said I've seen a lot and my experience so far being how 360 it is, has prepared me to lead a large organisation and that's why I'm really intentional and specific when I say that I'm going to be the CEO of a Fortune 100 company.

6:47 This is coming from experience built over the years in an enterprise risk management function where I've advise business unit leaders across the organisation in both an emerging market and a developed market. Giving me a very 360 well grounded experience that whatever company I step into to lead that company from point A to point B will be getting a very refined professional. Wow.

7:13 Amazing, amazing. You know, it's quite interesting that I studied economics for my first degree, right. So looking at this from a global perspective, you talked about emerging markets, developed markets, right, for a Fortune 500 company. But when I say branches across different markets, how do you handle, would I say the different moving parts across regions?

7:41 Like what is your strategy on ensuring that each branch goes to market and they actually complete favourably within the political environment, you know, the social, cultural, technological, the legal frameworks within, you know, those different markets? Like how do you envision it from, would I say, a better eye for you?

8:10 Yeah. So first of all, we need to understand that that's that's not a one person's job and that's not a one department's job. So you're thinking about maybe expanding or establishing presence in a foreign market. You have to look at legal, the rules and regulation. You have to look at the competitors, what the competitors are doing when it comes to even pricing. How do you price your products?

8:32 What price? Like transfer pricing? As well enter into the market, yeah, now transfer pricing has to come in the tax, you have to look at taxation rule. There's a tax department coming into the equation. So if you are a CEO of that kind of company, you need to build your a game team to tackle this expansion.

8:51 You have to have a solid legal team, you have to have a solid transfer pricing team, you have to have a solid and marketing team, you have to have a solid. I think it's going to be the strategy team that is going to go in and do SWOT analysis, strength, weakness, opportunity to look at what the competitors are doing. And then it's you guys are going to based on the results. Yes, yeah, you also have to do look at the pastel analysis and it's based on the results of all of this analysis that you see to together and make a decision.

9:21 The cash we need to there is you don't have to wait till you have 90% of the information to make a decision. You should be able to confidently make a decision with 60% or 70% of the information that gets available to you. But it's it's it's not a static thing. You're constantly evaluating, you're constantly evaluating maybe every six months, everyone year.

9:44 Are we still on the right track? Do we need to pivot? Do we need to change course of action? So the first thing that will make anyone feel as ACEO when considering that kind of move is thinking that you are the master of knowledge and or be or you're going to be able to do this by yourself. You won't.

10:01 And that's why companies hire consultants. That's why they're going to hire AKPMGAPWC and EY a video because they have this, that specialisation in house to really come in and help you with things like this. Amazing, amazing. So you've actually beats credibility within the Beaker environment. EYPWC So what is the most costly mistake high performance make when trying to build influence inside highly structured corporate systems? The most costly mistake high performance make is assuming that competence alone creates influence. Many, a lot of people believe that their results will speak for themselves, but in reality, inference is built through strategic visibility, through relationship capital and aligning yourself with the

10:49 enterprise goals. So you don't have to just focus on let me just get my job done. It is your job to get your job done, to build strategic visibility for yourself, to go out there and create relationships with the decision makers and ensure that you are proven that the work you're doing aligns with the visual of the company.

11:10 I think high performance that remain technically strong by relationally invisible often plateau in their career because influence is not only about performance. You're supposed to have trust, clarity of voice and you have to clearly demonstrate how the work you do impacts the organisation bottom line. That's the profit and the organisation vision, where the organisation is going.

11:36 Those who constantly demonstrate that they have what it takes to align with an organisation, to get it from point A to point B, are the ones who are going to stay within an organisation, progress within an organisation and build influence. But the people who just come in, get the the work done in silence and get out, no one is gonna know.

11:58 So it's very important to do to hit all these pillars if you're trying to build influence. Amazing, amazing. The experience at PwC is coming in right now. I used to tell my colleagues at PwC, you guys have been given the chief code to succeed as a professional, The PwC professional framework, leadership, technical competence, thesis acumen, global acumen.

12:21 That is the ability to work with cross functional teams and building relationships. Yeah. What else do you need? I'd like for you to speak to how much you appreciate that model and know how you actually internalise it. Utilise it for your own account career growth as well. That's exactly what I what I what I expect and I like the way PwC articulates it.

12:43 It's not just the technical competence, it's the relationship capital. It's being able to work across service lines, understanding of global, a global perspective. You cannot go to a client meeting and something really serious has just happened in the political landscape or in the economy landscape of the world that people are panicking about it. And then you just go into the meeting and you just go, good morning.

13:08 Let's jump into the walkthrough. Can you can we at least talk about what's happening in the world right now? It's it's very important. We are no robots, right? I've hardly had a meeting where I went into the meeting and we just went right into the meat of the matter. You have to even if you it goes beyond, oh, how are you?

13:26 How was your day? How was your weekend? What even the weekend. There was a war in Iraq and the person you're speaking with on that call had family in that country and you know nothing about it. This is just the most basic way that a global perspective comes into the picture. You don't know, you might think, ah, that doesn't concern me. I don't even need to talk about it. But at the end of the day, when it comes to a job, you are relating with people and people face all day every day. If you don't care about the pressing that you're working with and you just want to get an outcome out of the person, it's not going to go anywhere.

14:04 It's very much it's a people centric business. You have to care about the people and you cannot care about the people if all you care about is the technicality of the job you're doing. You have to be a well-rounded, balanced professional to succeed in the professional services space and I'll say in in any career basically.

14:24 You know, so some some people you have different types of leaders, some leaders are people oriented, some others are task oriented. So I think that is the division right there. But then the people centric leaders tend to be more successful than the task centric leaders. Speaking of the people Fest leadership. I think.

14:47 You think what? Yeah, that's my philosophy. My philosophy is people first leadership. I wouldn't say that being a people first leader is what you should 100% be or be a task central leader is what you should 100% be. I think great leaders are able to find a balance. Yes, I'm a people first leader but I do realise the times when I have to put my foot on the ground and say OK giving you enough pass is impacting the organisations bottom line. If you don't deliver this by this day I think it's no longer profitable for the company to keep keeping you on the paycheck.

15:20 I'm capable of doing that even though my people and 1st leader, so it's very important to know when you have to pull a trigger or when to not pull a trigger. I consider myself a people first leader because I tend to really invest more in people. I think the onus is on the leader to invest in their team.

15:41 I feel like a lot of times some people make the mistake of thinking leadership is a fancy title and people should serve you. I think the responsibility of leadership is enormous. It is your responsibility to understand, at least to an extent, everybody that is a direct report to you did their different frame of reference how their live view was. Because we live in a world right now where in every office, in every team at least, let's say you have 10 people reporting to you.

16:14 And if you wanted to do a survey, this 10 people will probably have come from 7 different countries. There be somebody from India, somebody from Nigeria, probably somebody from Cameroon, somebody from South Africa, there be somebody from Brazil, there's somebody from Ghana, there be somebody from Asia. It's, and all of these people have a different way of seeing things.

16:33 They grew up doing things in a certain kind of way. Your job as a leader is first to understand your people, not to make your people see things from the way you saw things growing up. So I tend to do the job of understanding my people, understanding their frame of reference, understanding how growing up was for them because guess what? Different cultures, different ways of life, different ways of doing things.

16:59 And it translates into the workplace. You'll find that in some cultures you don't speak unless you're spoken to, especially if you're the junior person. And then people who come from that kind of culture will translate that in the workplace in being most often silent. Even when they're in a team meeting, their contribution will not be heard because they will be silent.

17:20 Two kinds of leaders. One person can say Damilola never speaks during meetings. I think she's reserved. I think she's not a team player. I think she doesn't fit into the team. So I think we are going to severe this relationship. Another leader is going to say Damilola hardly speaks. I would like to understand her thought process and what's going on with her.

17:40 And then this leader takes the next step of understanding. Damilola speaks with Damila. Tell me about growing up. How is it like working in Nigeria? And then Damila is going to say where I come from. I don't speak to the leader First. The leader has to speak to me before I respond. I don't speak unless I'm spoken to.

17:58 And then, then the leader is going to realise in order to get a contribution out of Damilola, I have to call her out to say Damilola. I'd like to know what you think. The next time they have a team huddle, the leader decides to change the way this meeting is being run. So instead of saying hi everyone, we are this face of the project today, I'd like to know what everybody thinks.

18:19 And when you say I like to know what everybody thinks, The very bold and confident people who grew up in environment, they were encouraged to always speak up who speak up. And and this other person will not speak up because that's not their culture. And then you come in this day after you've really understood what Daminola is, who Daminola is, you come in and say, OK, hi everyone.

18:36 We are at this phase of the project. And today I'm going to be going person by person to understand what your contributions are. I'm going to begin with Daminola. Daminola, what do you think? And then now Daminola starts speaking and you realise that this person is stupidly intelligent and their contribution is just very sound. Two kind of leaders.

18:55 Now this leader is able to to bring this person out of the shelf. The other leader assumed this person was not good enough and kicked them out. So I tend to be the kind of person that do not make very quick decisions or judgments about the competency of my people. I get I first try to meet them where they're at, understand how they prefer to be communicated with, understand what power dynamics look like based on their culture, understand what communication looks like based on their culture. And I realise that I get more success with building a high performing team.

19:30 That's why I consider myself a people first leader. However, it does not mean that if I find myself in a situation where somebody is constantly slacking behind and is beginning to impact the company's bottom line, I will not make the right decision. I will. So I think it's important that mostly that strike a balance between people and task and take the right decision when it's necessary. Of course, not too fast, not too judgmental. Giving people the opportunity and chances that they really need.

20:00 That is reasonable and strike a balance between putting people 1st and helping the company hit their bottom line. Amazing. Amazing. You just reminded me of a line from mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor. He says position beats power and timing beats speed. You know, and that is applicable to, you know, different areas of life.

20:22 Position beats power and timing. You know, big speed is not about time in the market for timing the markets actually to be a good trader just as a leader as well. It's about that balance between the concentration on the people and the concentration on the task. It's quite amazing you give this illustration.

20:43 Of course, the lady who was on the last episode of this podcast talked about moving from Nigeria to Ireland. And you know, she was that kind of person who don't like to speak up to your meetings. And then she had a run in, become manager, accused her of doing something and then the manager reached out to her after the meeting.

21:02 I expected you to speak up. And then she was like, no, in my culture, we don't speak up to authority or elders. Wow, She said she meeting with the manager, right And then the manager spoke to her saying next time you have to speak up for yourself, right. And she, she learns to, would I say, act in a more favourable way for herself.

21:24 Because really a lot of us will come from Africa, tend to have this culture of not speaking up to say it's humble for you not to speak up, but you go abroad and then it's a culture shock that you can actually speak up for yourself. It's it's really, really amazing. Yeah, a lot of people come here and it impacts, it impacts us negatively in the workforce. And I covered a lot of that in quarterback. Yeah.

21:50 So when I was writing quarterback, I had seen a lot of amazing things about not just the African culture, because I I also think in other parts of Eastern part of Europe, the culture is the same as the African culture. And I think Asia, Chinese culture, that those culture are very huge on respect for the elder faith hard work when they come to corporate North America. And it's not just corporate North America because when I published Quarterback, I had people reaching out to me from UK, from Australia, telling me that they experience the same thing.

22:22 So it's, yeah, it's in most developed countries, we struggle a lot with getting rewarded in direct proportion to the work we do. And that's basically because of our culture and our upbringing. You get to work, you bury your head, you do the job, you come back home, you pray, you go to church on Sunday, you know that God is going to reward you for your work. But corporate North America is not a church. Everybody is facing their own self-interest. And so you really, there's supposed to be a mindset shift. But for somebody that you've grown in a certain way for over 30 years, 25 years of your life, 18 years of your life, migrated to a new country, it's hard to begin to unlearn things that have been ingrained in you for

23:05 over 10 years, 20 years, 30 years to Start learning a new way. Some people say, isn't that bragging? Hell no, it's not bragging. You got the job done. Exactly how do you talk about the fact that you got the job? Done exactly you, you know, even for me or the personal notes, right. So when I say I started this forecast two years ago, yeah, two years and a few months and now we're global top 2%.

23:30 And sometime last year, I think I was speaking, I think when I first got into the global rankings, you get into the global top 10%, then you move to top 5%, top three, top two, top 1.5 and top 1% in the world. So we, we, we are going for that top 1% this year. So it's interesting that I was talking about it and then talking about my experience with KPMG, PwC, you know, looking for accounts and fans and talking about the fact that I have an MPA and my mother watched that episode and she was like, that too much, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, nobody's gonna know if you don't blow your trumpet. And there was another episode with a guy who he's highly branched, you know, in the world

24:11 at what he does. And then he was like, I did my research and you, I see you have your MBA. I know you. You'd worked at the B Cross there. And then my mom was like, oh, wow, I see why you do this thing. Because really, if you. Yeah. So that's your mom trying to read it still? Yeah, yeah, try to reinstall those African values in you, but you're like, mommy, I'm operating on the global stage now. It's not just.

24:39 Man you. Have to hold the values close to your heart, but you need to know what works on what stage. Yeah, because at the global stage, first thing you reach out to a sponsor, they ask you what are your numbers? OK, what sets you apart? So if you don't brag about what you've been able to accomplish, how would you be able to be compelling, you know, on a global stage?

25:02 Exactly. I think for for for Africans watching us right now, you need a mindset shift, need a reorientation to, yeah, you can be humble, right, While still proud of yourself. So I think our people have a distorted notion of what humility is. They feel like being humble is you having, would I say lacking your own self-confidence. You know, you're not painting yourself as a star, as a superstar.

25:31 I. Think that I think that the watch the phrase there is confidence. Humility is confidence humility. So when you talk about your accomplishments, you're not you're not not being humble. And if you look at it very well, the people who don't talk about their accomplishment are probably lacking confidence to talk about it. You have to bring both together.

25:51 You have to be confidently humble. It is your accomplishment. Tell people about it. They will not know about it and the reason why you have. To do that. Is because everybody, yeah, because everybody is facing their own front. Everybody is trying to create the next best opportunity for themselves, so it is nobody's job to go and do a research about you. Sorry, it's nobody's job to go do research about you. You're supposed to tell them who you are. I like that it's nobody's job to go do research about you, the people first leader.

26:26 Nobody. 'S job to do, yeah. And you know, this is the age of AI, you know, where people just act in a way in an ignorant manner. I tell them she's been. Do you have GPT? Like do you have any AI to lawyers for the CES? Can you please just type that in good English? That question you just you find the answer.

26:47 You know, the age of AI has actually driven a lot of disruption. And why do you believe People First leadership is is still not optional, right, but essential for organisation also? Yeah. So why do I believe people first leadership is not optional? Yes, right now in the in the age of AI, AI beginning to do many more things. You call a company, AI is the one talking to you. You send an e-mail AI response to you. Have you ever found a safe registration where you're like, that means connect.

27:20 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I, I don't know. I'm not talking about. I know you. Yeah. Like connect to a human. Connect. Can I really just talk? To I get frustrated, so I get frustrated. Yes. And you get you get frustrated. So it's become so important that companies double down on nurturing those human relationships because those are the only things that will make a difference.

27:43 The human relationships are going to be the huge differentiators right now. AI cannot go out for coffee meetings with colleagues. AI will not build bonding relationships for you with with your team. AI will not have difficult conversations with somebody on your team when they lost their loved 1.

27:59 So it is very important now more than ever to double down and develop those skills of emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, empathy. These are all little buckets under the human skills. So organisations now more than ever need to retrain those in leadership, those charged with leading other people to be very apartment with emotional intelligence, empathy, cultural intelligence.

28:28 Because right now, where AI can do almost everything is those organisations that still have these human values that will have a competitive advantage. Amazing. I have an episode with Andrew apart from America, Andrew, it's titled Humans first, AI next, humans first, AI next. And that's just the way it is meant to be.

28:48 So let's talk about risk, right? A strategic risk and market leadership. As Alberta's market leader for risk advising, you focus on balancing eases risk with technology risk. How come founders and executives position risk management as a growth accelerator rather than just being a defensive function? Organisations need to integrate risk into decision making because if even you look at the world and the way it's rapidly changing, you can make risk an optional function. You need the risk enterprise risk management function side by side with every decision you're making. Is it like investing?

29:34 You need to look at the risk. Is it in hiring? You need to look at the risk. Is it in considering what AI tool to implement into your organisation? You need to look at the risk because there's also a risk of confidential data being exposed, right? So I think organisations don't need to, yes, organisations don't need to treat risk as that function that they bring in where something has gone wrong. It's already too late at that point. Risk management has to be that function that we begin every week because risk is embedded in everything we do. So when you do that, you are actually being proactive and putting in measures and controls in place to prevent costly occurrences in the future that

30:23 could impact your reputation. Financial losses. I think reputational damage and financial loss are the two biggest things. Reputational damage and financial loss that can even make the business, the company go out of business. Because if it let's take for example, in a situation going concerned, let's take for example, in a situation where it's like a hospital and you, you, you implemented an AI tool without risk considerations and patient's data is out in the open.

30:50 I don't ever see that kind of hospital coming back into business. I don't see that happening. OK, goodbye. So yeah, it cannot be an afterthought. Yeah, OK, so let's talk about the signals of integrity. We work closely with boards and audit committees to strengthen governance. So what are the three non negotiable credible executive?

31:14 Sorry, what are the non negotiable signals of integrity that define credible executive leadership today? I would say consistency, transferability, and accountability. Consistency between what you state as your values out there and what actually happens inside. Transparency about both your successes and failures, and proper accountability leaders who demonstrate these signals. They build trust with both boards, their employees, and their stakeholders.

31:44 Putting it plain and simple, that's it. So what? What would you say about being an authentic person? You know, authenticity is actually very important. Of course, a lot of people in the corporate world tend to put up a fake face. The fake it to you make it character, you know, and it's difficult to keep up with a character if that is not the true you. So how do you help individuals in that kind of a position? So this is quarterback, I don't know if you can see this. This is quarterback I this is a very interesting question you just asked because I put a note in here. I said, I don't know if you can see this. I said, Nadine, you did this because, you know, this book became a bestseller 24 hours

32:26 after its release. It was unbelievable. But the reason why I brought this up is, yeah, in chapter, I think in Chapter 9 I spoke about the power of authenticity, obtaining your identity, consistency. Transparency. And accountability are part of authenticity. I'm going to Chapter 9 now. This is amazing FC. This is highly aligned.

32:49 The power of authenticity Maintain your identity. This is Chapter 9. The power of authenticity Maintain your identity. I think it is very important that you are authentic. Authenticity builds credibility, it helps people to trust you and it is a first sign of leadership. They realise that a lot of people in corporate spaces, it's not, let me not say a lot because what percentage is a lot?

33:13 Some people struggle with authenticity and they, they, they find put themselves in situations where they have to fit a mould, they have to talk a certain way, they have to dress a certain way. I'd like to put out a catch 22 year. There's a difference between authenticity and making an environment comfortable for everybody. Let me use a very basic example to differentiate what I'm saying.

33:40 You cannot be working in a team. And the kind of food you eat is very spicy, a little cooked from the house, a lot of pepper. And then you come to work, you put it in the microwave and the smell gets everybody in the office coffee. And then you keep doing it again and again. And in your mind you say, well, that's my traditional food.

34:02 I have to eat. If the smell of the pepper is talking, you get out. No, that's wrong. So you have to be authentic, but not without making an environment comfortable for everybody to coexist. You have to be authentic, but you have to be considerate. Another example is they can't say, OK, today the entire team is going out to play golf and you say where?

34:24 Where I come from, we didn't play golf. I'm not going to go. That's going to work against you. You have to be authentic, but you have to be wise. That's a team burning activity. You don't know how to do it. Shrub anywhere and clap for the others who are doing it right. So it's very important to be authentic, but not at the cost of making an environment uncomfortable for everybody else to coexist.

34:44 Yes, I. Think that is you. Can be authentic, Yeah, And keep your authenticity. And it could be something like, well, if this pepper is just too much and everybody will be coughing in the office, maybe I should rather just eat this food for dinner and take something lighter for lunch in the office. Golf is not what I play.

35:03 How about I go there because for the team bonding and interact with everybody else, clap for those who are playing and maybe take one or two lessons because it's not something I grew up playing. They should be your negotiables and non negotiables when it comes to authenticity. These are my values. I'm a Muslim, I'm a Christian, nobody's going to force me to become an atheist.

35:24 That is black or white. That is not going to impact anybody's coexistence in the workplace. Stay true to your faith, but there are some other things that will clearly impact. It's going to make some people's chick turn red. Insist to do it, to say, OK, this is me. Yeah, I'm being authentic. Let me bring an example for myself.

35:41 Most African women are very loudly spoken, overly confident. That's me. When I walk into a room, I dominate the room. But I've had a lot of situations where the people who report to me come to me and say some that's why you speak to me. I feel scared. And I'm like, Oh my God, why do you feel scared?

35:56 Like, Oh my God, your voice is sometimes loud. It's very commanding. OK. Oh, no, I wasn't really trying to shout at you. So imagine if I said, well, that's the African woman thing. If you can't take my voice is OK, I'm not going to have anybody on my team like it or not. But I have had to learn to tone it down sometimes when depending on who I'm talking to so that the same message, I'm not diluting the message can go through and be understood.

36:24 Remember, communication is two ways. You have to say what you're saying, but the other person has to understand what you're saying. Now, if you take that authenticity bullshit and put it at the front and you're like, well, I'm a strong black woman, I'm gonna speak and scream to the top of my voice.

36:39 If you don't get it, you don't get it. You failed the basic possible communication. Exactly. The message did not communicate. The reason why I brought in all of these examples is to say that you have to be authentic. You have to maintain your identity, but you have to read the room. Amazing know when to draw the line but sometimes the line may not be white or black if I be grey like they did LinkedIn photo. Well, OK, so global leadership patterns right through your involvement in the Commonwealth, Caribbean, Canada Leaders Dialogue, what patterns have you observed about leadership excellence across different economic environment? Nice that across different economic environments, leadership excellence is defined

37:23 by adaptability, clarity of purpose, and respect for local realities. Leaders who succeed globally listen first. Sorry, the two. Years one mouth for user, two years one mouth for. Exactly, exactly. They listen first before they prescribe solutions and then they align their strategy with context rather than imposing uniform approaches.

37:47 So I can't leave Canada and go to Jamaica and I say this is how we do it in Canada, This is how you should do it. No, you have to have respect for local realities. You should be able to adapt your leadership style based on the realities of the localization you're operating in at that time. And the only way you're gonna succeed at that is if you listen first.

38:12 I was watching this master class about this CIA agent. I think he worked under Obama and Obama has sent him on a mission to North Korea to establish a, to establish a strategic relationship with North Korea. And so he was talking about, even though I think the primary thing that they wanted to get out of North Korea, they did not get, he said that on that mission.

38:37 That was the furthest they had gone in any negotiation whatever with North Korea. And to him he categorised that is success and the reason why he categorised that and to him he categorised how far they went on that negotiation is success. And this were the things he did differently when he went there and he arrived, he didn't just go OK, I came for us to talk about this, let's go talk about this.

39:01 No, when he met with the minister he was going to meet with, he accompanied him to the local Korea festivals, he danced with the people, he went with him to his kids school event, went to all the monumental places in North Korea. He digested the culture and the way of life and he saw that the more he did that, the more they saw him as somebody who didn't just come to get what he needed out of a negotiation, but somebody who cared about the North Korean way of life, about their values, about their principles.

39:42 And because he demonstrated that they were more receptive and more friendly to him. You see, this goes back to what I spoke about cultural intelligence and a leader being the one that has the honours to meet people where they're at. People are more like you're more likely to get. Outcomes out of things. When you demonstrate that you deeply care about the people you're working with beyond just getting outcomes, even if just getting outcomes is your real intention, if you don't demonstrate empathy, care, and respect for their culture, that negotiation is going nowhere.

40:21 This is actually a very, very, super amazing illustration. And then you just reminded me of something that I always tell my guests, I have only two goals on this podcast. That is to educate and to motivate. And if you help me achieve those goals, I'm very happy with you. So from me to you today, baby niever.

40:41 Thank you very much. I'm very happy for, you know, doing my own job for me. Wow. So let's talk about your book, your book, the quarterback framework. Like so the quarterback metaphor, like that book actually held an under one position for 90. Why did you choose the quarterback metaphor to represent the even grand experience in corporate in North America?

41:04 Quarterback represents leadership under pressure. Think about the qualities of an essential of an elite quarterback. Pocket presence, composure. It does not matter if the opponent is winning. You keep playing undefeated with that undefeated spirit until the final whistle is blown. Pocket presents.

41:24 It does not matter if somebody is shouting at you. Stay calm. Confidence. If your opponent is winning, you can't keep your spirit down. You keep playing like it's a fair field because you know that even if it's 10 minutes to the end of the game, you can still emerge the winner. So when you look at the qualities of an elite quarterback, those are the same qualities I want the immigrant to possess in corporate North America. It does not matter how many times you get fired, you don't come back and say, my goodness, I've been fired 2 times. I'm never going back to work.

42:00 So you keep fighting, you keep, you dust your resume, you go back out there, you keep applying because trust me, until the final whistle is blown, which is you're dead. Nobody has won over you. You need to even remember that. And with the quarterback mindset, you would know this. Nobody can sit in a boardroom and make a decision about your destiny. The worst they can do is say that you're not a good fit for this company.

42:24 But guess what? If you have an undefeated spirit, 2 weeks later you could be in a better company. A local champion could be kicking you out and telling you you're not a good fit for our company, and two weeks later you are in Google if you didn't let your spirit go down. So when I was writing quarterback, my goal was to infuse the qualities of an elite quarterback into the mindset of the reader. I want you to know that you are the champion. The quarterback is always playing in unfamiliar terrains. It's not.

42:54 The field that they're playing in is not always a field that they know naturally. For immigrants, you're already playing in an unfamiliar terrain. You left your home country, you're in a new country. It's an unfamiliar terrain. They gave me stuff, But failure is not an option. Pocket present. You wouldn't go to work and your manager scrolls at you and you scrolled back. You dare not do that.

43:16 You know that when you do that. And if you're even black, if you become an angry black woman, Pocket presents, you stay calm, even under pressure, even in unpleasant situations, you may take your teas and your respect because you know that you have it in you. And if you realise that that's not an environment, a good environment for you, you walk away with your head high. Because guess what?

43:41 I'm qualified. I'm triple qualified. I've surmounted a lot of mountains, living a whole new country, starting life in a whole new other country. It is not this little thing you're putting in front of me that's going to make me act out of character. I'm not going to act out of character. I won't tarnish my reputation. Because of you, I have a brighter future ahead of me. There are other fields for me to play in bigger, bigger games more than this.

44:06 So I'm going to walk out of the situation with my head high, my confidence and everything intact, and I'm going to be playing in the bigger field 2 weeks later. So it was very intentional titling the book quarterback and the strategies that I wrote inside. Because you are the quarterback of your career.

44:23 You are the mastermind. Nobody has the authority to decide how that career goes except you. The worst anybody can do is tell you I want you out of my company, but they have no power to determine how far or how short your career turns out. Because in your hands, you and you alone. Basin, your career is in your hands. And of course, Speaking of elite level quarterbacks, what are your thoughts are Tom Brady?

44:50 Where does the best? The greatest of all time. The greatest of all time. Out in the book, yeah, he's the greatest. Oh wow. You know, I, I really, really appreciate that guy and what his views, what he represents. But what being sticks out for me is the longevity of his career. Like how consistent consistently hard working, because hard work is not interesting, it is boring. Nobody likes to work hard, but I'd love for you to speak to the power of consistency.

45:22 Another connecting dot I find between yourself and myself is that we are African professionals, black African professionals who have been able to recognise the power of consistency right? If you are consistent at something over for a long period of time, yeah, the results will be astronomers, the results will be exponential.

45:45 So I think about myself for example, starting two years ago, right, within just two years, making it into the top 2% in the world. For context, there are over 4 million podcasts in the world and to be in the top 2% amongst the 4 million it made and being African, right? And looking at the time, I see people who started in 2020, that is COVID period. I was not even outside of the country at the time, DC bar top 5% and you top 2% and people ask me, oh, how do you get that high?

46:17 Look at the body of work. Go look at the body of work and people see the massive number of episodes, right? But it has always been every week, every week, every week, every week. And at the end of two years, you just see, whoa, so you have this massive body of work, right? And you know, looking at organisations like Better Help, Better Help is number one in the world, number one in the world for online therapy. And they reached out to me and said we admire your body of work and would like to partner with you. It was humbling for me, you know, and I think validation when when you get corporate validation, it kind of humbles you and makes you feel appreciated. Like I likely to speak to the

46:57 power of consistency, you know, for the young especially. Young people. You know, listening to us today. The sacred of your future is hidden in your daily routine and the word routine is consistent. It's something you do every day, every day, every day. You are going to get it really, really wrong when you you think that oh, I'm just going to skip the workout and then one day I'm not going, I'm just going to take a setting drug and the weight just goes down.

47:25 No, it doesn't happen like that. In order to maintain a healthy weight, a fit physique and it comes through the daily consistent workout. It's not going to be 1 grand gesture, gesture one day that is going to save the day, right? Same with your career is consistently showing up every day and consistently doing great work.

47:48 It's not one grand gesture one day that's going to make you an excellent internal auditor or it's going to make you out, but instant. It doesn't work like that. So every time when I when I speak with youths, professionals, I tell them that the secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. And that routine, everything about that routine is consistency is boring.

48:11 Yes, it is boring, but you have to wake up and do it every day. Amazing. I was Speaking of boring. I remember having to write the professional exams, you know. Yeah, back in those days, you know, studied every day, studied every day, and then, you know, get the results. It's really, really amazing. And it's kind of amazing.

48:28 How many kilometres? How many mountains? How many, you know, seas and oceans we've had to cross to get to where we are today? Cool. You did it. You did it. Oh, they did a rather plus what they did, you know. And you know, it's something I'd like for you to speak quickly about the faith aspect because I remember sometime last year I was speaking with somebody and then I told them, but it's not possible for me to feel like it is not possible.

48:56 Like we got all things are possible. And did you know the probability, right? If if a lot of times you wouldn't appreciate the, the journey of an immigrant, especially the journey of a black immigrant, right? If you're born in Africa, it feels like you are not starting life at the point of origin.

49:14 You're starting at maybe -5 and you need to beat the odds to get to the origin. 100. This should be a highlight reel 100 you know, and then you're from Cameroon or from Nigeria. Think about how, like, do you know how many accidents go to save me from. Do you know how easy it is to lose yourself, to lose your life, you know, in Nigeria or Cameroon? And then I left there, Yeah, moved, you know, countries and, you know, promotion after promotion, denture after adventure.

49:48 Come on, you, you're, you're, you have come way too far just to come this far. Do you ever think that way? And of course, like what's the role of in your tribe and most of. I like when you said that you can never fail. It's impossible to fail and the reason why that statement is true is because all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and to those who are called according to. His purpose?

50:14 And so if you believe that Romans 828, you realise that that two principles hold true. The only thing that counts as failure in this life is the chances you didn't take and the chances you took but you gave in your mediocre self. You didn't do your best, you took it for granted, but as long as you took the chance and you gave it your best shot, what comes out of it is the result. Now that result could be what you want or what you know you'd want but depends on.

50:44 Depending on your faith level and your work with God, you are able to see the message in either result you get. Definitely you will be expecting a certain outcome in mind right? A lot of people would think if I don't get the outcome I wanted, I failed. No, no, you did not fail if you didn't get the outcome you wanted.

51:06 But this was something you put in your best and you did everything right and you were expecting outcome A. You got outcome B. God has probably given you what you need and know what you wanted. And what you have to do is reframe your mindset and how you're looking at it. Because chances are, the B you got instead of the A is what is going to propel you forward, depending on how you look at it. My greatest breakfast in life have come from the things that a kind of mind would have seen as failure, but they were just the best outcome that God wanted for me. Preach it, preach it.

51:38 But it's it's amazing. Do you know what is my favourite Bible verse? No Philippians chapter 4 verse 13. I can do all things. Surprises strengthens me. Exactly. All things. Not some things, not a lot of things. All things we have to say yes, yeah, yeah. I love that scripture. Keep you going. You know, let's talk about mentorship and financially to racing.

52:04 So mentorship is central to your work with Junior Achievement Southern Alberta. How does teaching financially Tracy to young people sharpen your strategic decision making as a corporate leader? You know that anything that you teach, the knowledge you have of in multiplies I mean CPA. So definitely yeah, it's I understand finances and taxis and investment because things that I learned.

52:34 However, it is in the teaching of it that my knowledge of it has been refined and I genuinely enjoy doing it because teaching young people how to grow money and save money and preserve money and the tax system and how to take advantage of the tax system that the tax haven, because this is a company that is heavily taxed. Sometimes my boys pay up to 40% in taxes. You need to understand the things that the government has put in place to give you a tax breeder, the tax free savings account, the registered retirement account. If you don't take advantage of all of these breaks that the government has put in place, all you're going to do in this country is work and pay taxes.

53:18 And so I'm really passionate about helping people gain financial freedom when I do these things and it helps me in return. That's that's the gift to gain part of it. I'm giving, but I'm gaining. Amazing, amazing. I I love the way you framed it that you know, if you know something, it sort of like gets multiplied if you teach and that's another connecting dot that yourself and myself have. I used to be a teacher, right?

53:44 I your CPA. I'm an ACA, so I taught corporate reporting, financial reporting, financial accounting for the professional students writing their professional exams. And it's amazing the exponential way in which I was able to understand the concepts. Of course, it's one thing to study and pass exams on your own is another thing for you to study for the purpose of impacting that knowledge on another person.

54:16 And even when you're in the classroom, questions that different individuals ask you make you see things from different lenses, different perspectives, and it broadens your horizon. It's a, it's a really, really amazing thing to be a teacher, right? So relationships and alignment, right? You often say the quality of our lives depends on the quality of our relationships. So how do you intentionally evaluate and elevate your professional circle to ensure alignment with your Fortune 100 CEO goal?

54:50 The quality of our lives depend on the quality of our relationships. It goes down to people. People are more likely to give opportunities to people that they like and trust, not who is most competent. People are more likely to work with people that they like and trust, not who check the box on every qualification that was mentioned on the job advert. So the most important capital is your relationship capital. The most important currency you have is your relationship currency.

55:26 And so for me, I don't take that lightly. I do the work of investing into my relationships, the relationships I want to keep. It's a lot of work to maintain relationships, so you can't go having relationship with everybody because you. Yeah, that's honest to all. You can't go around have a relationship with everybody, you know. It sounds more like the robotic relationship, Yeah. That's not what I'm talking about. That's not what I'm talking about. Like.

55:59 Even let me interrupt you a bit. Let me interrupt you a bit. I remember in London, this girl from Hungary, and then she was telling me I want a relationship. I want a relationship. I think, I think I'm having when I say flashbacks it, it, it was like at a social event and you know, with the accent. I want a relationship, want a relation. Oh.

56:24 My God, Oh my God. You're telling me you can't keep having relationship up or down? Maybe I should tell that person you can't have relationship. No, no, you can't. You can't. You can't just, it's at the end of the day, it's gonna be very shallow, right. And yeah, identify. Yourself in. There's going to be. Don't spread yourself in there's going to be close friends that going there's going to be acquaintances, there's going to be professional networks.

56:50 You, you, you have to define for yourself how frequently you want to keep contact with each of these buckets. Maybe professional network. You want to say, hey, can we grab a coffee every once in six months? Because you know that in a professional space, these relationships are very important, right That closely.

57:06 These are the ones where you can be calling on WhatsApp and you guys are just gisting everyday. That's not what we're talking about. I think now we are really focused on maintaining the professional relationships. It's very important to for the professional relationships you want to maintain, even if it's a once a year coffee meeting, to just sit and talk about how the year has been.

57:25 My very first employer in Canada 12 years ago, I think she was the person who gave me my first years and then referred me to EY 12 years later without working there. She and I have a coffee meeting January of every year just to talk about how is life going, how's your career going? Any areas you need advice from me?

57:45 Yeah, and once a year. And it is still a very solid relationship. So to preserve a relationship, you don't have to talk to them every day or go out with them every month. It can be once a year or once it's six months, but it could be a very quality one hour. Just don't make relationships transactional that you're only reaching out to somebody at a point where, oh, you're out of job and you need another job and that's when you have to speak with them. Nourish the relationships throughout so that it's not a transactional something.

58:15 I think relationships should not be transactional. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I totally, totally agree with that. And of course, Speaking of, you know, quality relationships, myself and yourself, we're able to connect due to a quality relationship with our virtual friend. So big shout out to Damilola if you're watching this baby, they have the podcast today and you're going to move to the rapid fire ground.

58:42 Are you ready to rumble? Let us go, let us go. So I'm going to ask you 5 questions. Just tell me what comes to your mind real quick and wrap it up. So number one is the legacy metric. So when you step into a Fortune 100 CEO bro, what is the first structural change you will make to define the workplace of the future? Our embed leadership development coming into the core strategy with the focus on people first leadership and striking the balance.

59:11 Amazing, amazing. It means first AI debt. So #2 question the growth catalyst. So what is 1 overlooked technology risk that leaders are underestimated right now? Lastly. Ethical governance of AI? None of it. That, yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. I appreciate that it's something that we have spoken on on this show multiple times. And really for you articulating it that way, I think you need, you deserve maybe in the next Grammys would have a Nadine Niba with a nomination for the next Rabbits. So, the essential assets beyond your CPA and NBA, what single skill has generated the greatest return in your career? Strategic visibility.

59:55 Amazing. Yeah, I love that. I love that. You know, because when I think about it, NBA, you have an AB as well. I'm an ACA year CPA, Yeah, but the green economics as well. But I think about to be what has really even me the greatest returns has been relationship building. It's not just about the credentials.

1:00:15 Yeah, it's about the relationships that you build a lot the way. So let's talk about the immigrant edge. What cultural value from Cameroon do you protect fiercely in North American boardrooms? Community. Amazing, amazing. So I've. Never had a word. You know, we, we, we grew up in a very communal.

1:00:34 The lifestyle back home is very communal. Yeah. Very, very, Yeah, Highly, highly. And even in corporate spaces, I haven't dropped that part of me. And, you know, it's amazing what we can do with technology these days. You can also strengthen the bond of a community by leveraging our technology tools to close feasible gaps.

1:00:57 So the final word If your lifes work were distilled into one sentence for the next generation of leaders, what would? One sentence for the next generation of leader. Let's see of the rest of your life depends on the quality of your relationship. Amazing you. I keep saying this even at the experts.

1:01:17 Sounded like a broken record. But the fortunate and unfortunate it is that it is 100% true, no lies told. Yes, 100% true, no lies told. You know, this, it's, it's good to always have, you know, sayings that you leave by or you can even die by, right? And you keep repeating it. It's amazing. I, I mentor like a group of podcasters, right? And it's, it's crazy when you're a pacesetter. As a Black person, I've been privileged to mentor guys in the top 5% and two guys in the top 10% and one of them stole my life.

1:02:00 That I always tell people, and this is my authentic life. You know? Alice say gratitude is good. What's that? Please tell me. Gratitude is good attitude, Yeah. And when a person shares the time with you, they share their life with you because the SI units were measuring life this time. So thank you very much, Nadine, for sharing your life and your time with me today on The Kingdom's podcast and Diary of a CFO.

1:02:24 And for me, it is goodbye to the guys, right? But guys, what's up, what's up? Watch our ads, you know what it has on YouTube and Spotify. And always go for something in your lives, right? Conceive belief, strive to thrive and achieve. Lady Niba, do you want to leave a shout out to anybody or do you have any last words before you say goodbye? My last words to you is the secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine, so stay consistent. I'm amazing.

1:02:53 I love that. I love that I love that I love that, I love that. I love that Consistency is a weapon, and I like to say I weaponize consistency. So you've heard it from me, you've heard it from the game. So guys go out there and put in the work. So it's goodbye from me, and of course it's goodbye from Dating Bieber. Bye.

1:03:11 Bye.