Steve Pipe
Member Since: 28th Mar 2008
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Academically Steve is a prize-winning economist, with degrees from two leading schools. Professionally he is a UK-based Chartered Accountant. And commercially he founded a 40-person consultancy and was once chosen by a leading business magazine as their UK Entrepreneur of the Year.
His 2020 book 'Our time to RISE' contains a step-by-step guide to becoming a Business for Good - www.ourtimetorise.global
His other books include ‘Stress proof your business and your life’, ‘101 ways to make more profits’, ‘How to build a better business and make more money’, ‘The World’s Most Inspiring Accountants’ and the ‘Better Business, Better Life, Better World’ trilogy.
He has now taken ‘early-retirement’ from his previous business activities in order to devote his life to giving away his time and intellectual property for free in order to help make the world a better place.
Outside of work Steve has been married for almost 40 years, has three adult children and lives in Yorkshire. His hobbies include playing tennis badly, and playing blues guitar terribly.
Author of 'Our time to RISE' stevepipe.com
My answers
No idea which article you are referring to, but regardless I think your comment nicely illustrates the key point in this article and all the comments on it ... we ALL need to do more to make sure that kindness and fairness really are built in to everything we do. Lip-service simply won't cut it.
Couldn't agree more Mike.
@indominatble and everyone else
I do and I don't agree.
I DON’T AGREE with any kind of fatalistic analysis that says there's nothing we can do via businesses and governments etc, so we shouldn't even try.
Take businesses for example, my main area focus… over the last few years my efforts have resulted in over 18,000,000 small acts of kindness that have made a real, measurable and independently tracked difference towards the SDGs (you can see exactly how that figure is made up on the real time Impact Scorecard here https://stevepipe.kartra.com/page/Impact )
And even those numbers are tiny compared to the 208 million small acts of kindness carried out by thousands of businesses here https://www.b1g1.com/businessforgood/ (all independently measured and verified).
Included within that total is an average of over 50,000 days of food, water, education, sanitation or other help per business… by thousands of businesses. Every single one of which cares enough to take a stand.
Imagine if every business in the world made that kind of difference. There would be billions of acts of kindness. And every single one of the UN global goals would be achieved very quickly.
That is our opportunity. And it is massive.
BUT I DO AGREE with the idea that it is down to each of us as individuals to make a start by doing what we can. And I believe that what we can do that together in that way is profound.
As human beings we can make our personal behaviour better. Starting with you and me making our personal behaviour better.
As human beings we can improve the behaviour of the businesses we work in, own or buy from. Starting with you and me and the businesses we influence.
As human beings we can improve the behaviour of governments by lobbying and voting. Starting with the lobbying and voting that you and I do.
And as human beings we can be leaders who inspire, encourage and support other human beings to do the same. Starting with the leadership that you and I provide.
Ultimately therefore, as you say, it is down to you and me.
And we come back to the same key question I asked before…are we doing enough, you and I?
Each and every one of us… are we really doing enough?
Because if not, now is the time to do more
@indomitable (and everybody actually)…
… I agree 100%. We can’t expect governments to do everything (or, in some cases, to even do anything).
So it is VITAL that we each do what we can. In our businesses. And in the rest of our lives too.
For my part I have written a “Letter to my grandchildren” setting out my promises to them and the world. And as part of those promises I have:
1 - Sold my car and bought a bike, and will
2 – Spent the last 12 months researching and writing a book which I am giving away free of charge to millions of businesses – to help them put the kindness, fairness and the Global Goals at their heart of their businesses in a way that also makes them more successful (you are welcome to see for yourself by grabbing a copy as my gift here www.ourtimetorise.global)
3 - Switched my entire focus, and am now doing 30+ hours a week as an unpaid volunteer helping businesses put kindness and fairness at the heart of their business models, and acting as a cheerlead for the B1G1.com global Business for Good movement that has already made over 217 million measurable impacts towards achieving he Global Goals
But obviously this isn’t about me.
It’s about what every single one of us.
What every single one of use does: every single business, and every single human being.
And as accountants we can play a leadership role. Leading by example. Being the change we want to see. And inspiring and supporting others to do the same.
The question is not whether we can. Or indeed whether we must.
The question is whether we will?
That is the most important question facing each of us today: Will we do enough?
Or will we carry on huffing and puffing, paying lip service, blaming others, abrogating responsibility, claiming nothing can be done, kidding ourselves we’ll do more later (when we all know that tomorrow never comes) and hiding behind the thousand other excuses we are brilliant at making to justify not doing enough, and not doing it now.
Great to have you with us Simon
In addition to the the ICAEWs' CEO as quoted in the article, I have just seen the new ICAEW President say this…
“Accountants will play a pivotal role in rebuilding the world’s economy after coronavirus,” said Matthews, “making it better, more equal and more sustainable by identifying risks, presenting information, measuring goals and using data. I’d echo Gillian Tett’s warrior accountant call, positioning accountants as agents of change"
(Source: https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2020/june-2020/new...)
And the Gillian Tett he refers to, the FT’s editor at large, is even more blunt in her “accountant warrior” call in this 3-minute vdeo for the FT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR0n8mekzro
So many big hitters seem to agree on this.
But what about you?
Well said.
Such a good response you posted it twice Paul! But seriously, you are 100% correct. They really do deserve praise. This really is important. And the profession really does need to take a stand. It will be interesting to see who does.
FROM THE ARTICLE’S AUTHOR…
I like petitions and letters. But they are slow. And I believe we need to start taking meaningful action today.
But what kind of action?
Hopefully we’ll get some answers in the debate here.
And as my first contribution to those answers, you’re welcome to download a pre-publication copy my new book ‘Our time to RISE’ as my gift here www.ourtimetorise.global
I wrote it with Paul Dunn (who won Accountingweb’s first ever ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Profession’ award).
And it contains a really simple 4-step RISE model that any business can use to become a positive force for good in the world – easily and quickly - at the same time as becoming much more successful commercially.
You can use it to help your business.
And you can share it freely, to help your customers and contacts businesses too.
But what else should we do?
I have just spent 90 minutes exploring the software – and in my opinion it is a game changer.
I love the way it doesn’t require us to do any regulated work.
I love the way it gives us an amazing content and data rich app to give to every single client at no extra cost – the foundation for a whole host of highly profitable new conversations and services.
And I love the (genius) way it allows accountants to automatically identify opportunities to serve clients better, and (largely) automate the process of turning those opportunities into clients who happily pay extra fees for extra services.