MGI Worldwide's Joanne Kingsnorth shares her valuable experience in the latest 'Words of Wisdom' from our Women Who Lead

As part of MGI Worldwide's Women Who Lead initiative, Joanne Kingsnorth, Joint Managing Director at member firm Seymour Taylor, UK, shares her Words of Wisdom about her professional journey and the need to get outside of your comfort zone to encourage personal growth.

Hi, I’m Joanne

I discovered early on in my career that I love working with people. I enjoy getting to know my clients, both within their business and personally, and building strong working relationships. That is why I love the role that I do, as it is so varied and no two days are ever the same.

I started my career in the financial services sector straight from school after my A-Levels as I wanted to experience working straight away rather than go to university. I worked for four years in a customer service based role, learning people skills and communication. This role gave me invaluable experience and knowledge that I still use today. In the accounting profession, building a rapport with people is so important as it’s all about developing strong
relationships, both with clients and peers.

I joined Seymour Taylor as a trainee in 2003 and qualified in 2006. Since then I have progressed upwards through the firm to my appointment as Joint Managing Director of the firm in 2021 with my colleague, Liz Horton.

Our firm strongly believes in developing and progressing our team. I hope that the role of Joint Managing Director that we hold encourages and inspires our younger team members to see that they can grow and achieve what they want to with hard work and commitment.

As Joint Managing Director, I have responsibility for the business development and financial side of our business whereas Liz takes responsibility for our fantastic team, training and ensuring that the systems and processes that we use for the delivery of our client services remain seamless and smooth. Together, we make a great team, making fantastic use of our complimentary skills and I am very proud of the roles that Liz and I hold in a forward thinking firm.

Throughout my career, Seymour Taylor has allowed me to flex my working life around the changing situations I have been through. I feel proud to work for a firm which has helped me to achieve my career aspirations. Along the way, I have had great mentors and personal development opportunities, which have helped me to become the leader I am today.

My most valuable piece of advice for you…

Be prepared to get outside of your comfort zone as this allows you to grow as an individual and in your team.

I love this quote from Ginni Rometty who is the former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of IBM :

“I learned to always take on things I’d never done before. Growth and comfort do not coexist”.

I try to follow this philosophy by embracing new challenges each year.

The best advice I received…

Never underestimate what you can achieve. The barriers you perceive are often able to be worked through and sometimes are barriers only in your view, not in the view of others.

And, what NOT to do!

Don’t compare yourself to others too often. We are all on our own journey! Our uniqueness is our own individual combination of strengths.

Click to open/download Joanne Kingsnorth's Words of Wisdom testimonial (PDF).

By celebrating the successes and talent of our female leaders, we hope to inspire positive change throughout the MGI Worldwide network and in the accounting profession. Did you find these Words of Wisdom useful? Please tell us!

Join MGI Worldwide’s Women Who Lead Group to explore opportunities and support the next generation of future leaders of accounting contact [email protected].

MGI Worldwide with CPAAI, is a top 20 ranked global accounting network and association with almost 9,000 professionals, accountants and tax experts in some 400 locations in over 100 countries around the world.