I’ve been advising clients for 30 years, and apparently, I still have things to learn.
I built a firm. I advise accounting firms and technology companies. I speak for a living. I literally teach accountants how to have better advisory conversations.
And now… My own software is calling me out! It’s got a lot of nerve.
Navi is an AI coaching platform we built to analyze professional conversations and help accountants become better advisors.
I missed the opening. Then I went full CPA.
Recently, someone told me that they were struggling with AI tool overload and figuring out how another product would fit into their stack. I didn’t think twice about it, until Navi flagged it for me once I got off the call.
After analyzing our conversation, it told me: “You didn’t follow up on their stated pain point about tool overload and fitting into their stack.”
They’d handed me an opening to understand their problem better, and the Radical CPA herself blew right past it.
And that’s not the only time it’s happened. Another time, I was advising a group of non-CPAs who were building a new accounting firm. We started talking about professional liability insurance and workpapers, and I went full CPA on them. I knew exactly what I was talking about, so I didn’t stop to think whether or not they did!
Navi told me to pause, summarize what I was saying in one sentence, and ask what decision they were actually trying to make with the information.
Experience comes with blind spots.
It’s fascinating to get feedback like that even after you’ve been doing this kind of work for decades. Experience makes you better, but it also creates habits and blind spots.
When you know the material so well, you can forget what it sounds like to someone hearing it for the first time. You’ve handled the same problem enough times that you can start moving toward the solution before the other person has finished explaining what they actually need.
And it’s really hard to catch that in the moment!
Navi doesn’t need to know more about accounting than I do to make me a better advisor. It can pay attention to the conversation while I’m busy having it.
Did I actually follow the pain point the client gave me?
Did I ask another question?
Did I explain something in a way they understood?
Did I start solving the problem before I understood enough about it?
Those are little moments, but they change conversations.
Thirty years in. Still getting better.
It’s kind of obvious how AI can help younger professionals grow their budding knowledge, but it’s interesting to see what happens when we use it to examine the expertise we’ve already developed.
Thirty years of experience doesn’t mean I’m done getting better. It just means the things I need to work on are probably harder for me to see.
And apparently, sometimes I need my own software to tell me to shut up and ask another question!
