Why I do what I do
March 2024
I recently had the privilege of joining an event celebrating International Women’s Day, hosted by the Chartered Institute of Taxation Bristol Branch, Women in Tax and Burges Salmon, where I was invited to give a keynote speech alongside a panel of inspiring women sharing their career stories.
The session could not have been better timed for me in giving cause to reflect on my career so far, with this month seeing me bring the curtain down on Act I by leaving PwC to set up my own business. So, in my first blog in Act II, I thought I would share some snippets from this speech.
In 1998 I joined Deloitte in London on their graduate programme, being only the third intake focusing on employment tax, and I studied for the ATT and CTA exams over the next three years. While I was providing typical employment tax advice to clients, including due diligence work, reviews and disclosures, I was also drawn to ways to improve how we did things, using data analytics tools to automate compliance processes, and the training, coaching and development of the team. I was promoted to Senior Manager in 2005, particularly but not solely, in recognition for managing a complex and high value disclosure and negotiated settlement with HMRC.
I was generally seen as one of the good guys but ultimately I didn’t look after building a sustainable client portfolio and started to struggle, both in terms of my performance and my mental health. So, without evaluating the root causes, I moved to EY to try to be successful doing the same job!
At EY, building a traditional employment tax advisory portfolio in Financial Services felt hard and I realised I didn’t really believe that clients needed what I was selling. And I didn’t feel enough was changing in that area of tax to keep my interest. I found my way into designing, articulating, pitching and implementing a solution for a large global bank for tracking global business travel and managing the tax and immigration implications. That went really well, and you would be forgiven for thinking I would by now have noticed my penchant for novel, complex and multi-disciplinary projects.
Instead, PwC tempted me to move there as a Director, focusing on building a traditional employment tax advisory business in financial services. It should be no great surprise, then, that I had a miserable first few years at PwC. I kept trying new things that didn’t really land. What kept me going at that time was completing my studies for an Executive MBA, where I was challenged, I learned new things, and I understood more about my strengths and what makes me tick. The confidence and learning set me up well for being noticed for the thinking I was doing in the managed services space and I was asked to join a project team.
In my last five years at PwC I had a brilliant time focusing on transforming PwC’s approach to Tax, Workforce and Legal services through managed services. This involved taking a fresh look at what clients need, articulating why PwC was the right partner, and re-thinking delivery through people, processes and technology. During this period I also trained as a coach, including working with my own coach, and this unlocked for me that I was missing something big about who I am and what I want to achieve.
As the work I had started on managed services was moving into an operationalising and scaling phase, I felt less energised by it and that there were others better placed to do it. This gave me sufficient pause for thought to answer the nagging voice saying “if not now, when?”
What I was finally able to reflect on from my career so far was that I am someone who is drawn to new things, what could be, and better ways of doing things. I’m brilliant at articulating and proving the concept and brave enough to have a go because it feels right, whether or not it is the right time for the market. I am someone who has ideas that become great when the time is right but that others may be better placed to monetise and scale.
The experience of formally training as a professional coach, and being powerfully coached myself at that time, also highlighted that coaching has always been a strength and a passion for me. It is something I am called to use in service of others and part of my toolkit for helping them to ignite and fire up their own innovation story.
So I let the nagging voice continue its narrative, and it said “what if?”
What if you could help others to notice and unlock what really drives them and what they really enjoy sooner than you did?
What if you can help others to make more informed and conscious choices in their careers so that they will be more fulfilled?
What if you could be an innovation or thinking partner for people who are the great executors and finishers of the ideas you create with them?
Listening to that voice felt uplifting, energising, and freeing and I am listening to it as I begin Act II. Watch this space!
Ruth, March 2024
PS - I don’t regret my earlier career choices. It’s not possible to know what an alternative reality would have looked like. What I do know is that all of the experiences from Act I of my career, whether positive or negative, set me up well for what I am doing now, including giving me a level of financial freedom to start my own business from scratch, which I am grateful for.