Zahra Al-Harazi on resilience, success and entrepreneurship

CPA Canada: With your skills in building a multi-generational workforce, what advice do you have for CPAs in bridging the gap between younger and older practitioners? 

Generational disconnect is an ages-old problem. We now have five generations in the workforce and not understanding each other, how we work, how we live, how we engage directly affects a company’s bottom line.  

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Our goal in employee engagement should always foster a shared sense of purpose. We should capitalize on friction between generations and use it to spark creativity by instilling a sense of purpose across the whole employee base. 

I prefer the social aspects to helping understand each other than the more formal training ones. That way you build relationships and comradery within your teams at the same time.  

1. Hold town hall meetings that put small groups of mixed-generations together and have them answer a set of questions about purpose together. Centre the questions on linking one’s personal purpose with the corporate purpose. On what each member of the group thinks their personal is, on how they all connect to each other. 
2. Do the same again but now talk about difference, how to work together, what each person’s expertise and background is and why it is valuable to the team.  
3. End with a game, a social outing, or a corporate challenge. This is how relationships are built and valued. 

How can women/female CPAs ensure their voices are heard and presence is seen in senior leadership within the profession? 

I think that is not up to the female CPA’s to ensure that their voices are heard. It is also up to their male colleagues to make sure that they are not forming boy’s clubs that leave their female colleagues out and it is up the organization to make sure that equal pay and equal opportunity is engrained in the DNA of their organization. 

I am pretty sure that every female CPA is smart, capable, able, strong and a contributing and powerful member of the team and putting the onus on her to solve this problem is not only unfair but puts female employees in a defensive position rather than a positive one. The only way to do this is together…. how we value our member, how we celebrate and value our differences, how we engage and grow together how to solve the diversity issue.  

You famously built your success without higher education – what are the qualities necessary for CPAs to excel outside of the standard technical training and knowledge? 

I came to Canada as a young immigrant with 3 children and no higher education. I had to go back to school and get some expertise in my field to get my first opportunity, however, it was not my technical knowledge that took be beyond that first job, it was my soft skills. I worked harder on my communication, creativity, problem-solving, empathy, teamwork, adaptability, optimism, emotional intelligence and judgment skills than I did my technical knowledge. Those are the skills that took me past just simply being able to do my job. 

How will these change, if at all, for future generations? 

I have a lot of faith in this new generation, they are very aware of the need for the skills of the future which according to the World Economic Forum are mostly soft skills. They know what they want, they care about the people, the environment, and their life work balance and their mental health and are actively working to impove those skills. I think they are going to teach us a thing or two and we are going to do the same back.  

You’ve faced your share of adversity and come out on top – how does one prepare for the unexpected and even catastrophic? 

I firmly believe that we all have the resilience and capacity that we need to face adversity, we just haven’t been tested. And being tested in a catastrophic event make it extremely hard for us to recover.  

Getting prepared is the key. We need to take baby steps into areas that are uncomfortable and even scary, that way, with each step, we get more confident, more able, stronger, and more resilient and we understand that this was a bump in the road and we are able to get past it. That way, when the event is catastrophic, we already know that we can handle it, we are strong, and we will have the confidence we need to tackle it. 

I googled getting resilient, and I disagreed with what I found. Relaxation, getting out in nature, being kind to yourself, finding a hobby are all great things to have in life, but I believe that resilience is learned in uncomfortable places not in a perfect life.  

What are the design principles that helped you most when building your business? 

1. Prioritization 
2. Problem solving 
3. Adaptability 
4. Focus 
5. Agility 

I think if you put that lens on your day to day, then you get things done, you make decision quickly, and you move forward towards your goals.  

What’s the single most important thing for business leaders to focus at the outset of starting a new business? 

Ownership, I believe that feeling like you own the good, the bad, the ugly is the key. Taking responsibility, working hard, feeling the pressure of success or failure, taking the lead, moving forward with steps both big and small, owning up to mistakes, speaking up and listening at the same time…. All of those things start and end with ownership. There is no one else to take the fall or to blame, I know that seems exhausting and it is, but if you are the leader than the responsibility is all yours.