Leveraging analytical and creative skills
Tina Thomas attributes much of her success to being both analytical and creative—skills she gained from her CPA and other credentials
For Tina Thomas CPA, CMA, a big part of what drew her to the accounting designation was that it combines analytical thinking and creativity—two seemingly disparate attributes she knew would help her get a leg up on the competition, no matter what field she worked in.
“That was kind of the first thing that made me think an accounting designation has value outside of just doing traditional accounting,” she says. “I have never worked as an accountant, and realistically, I’m never going to work as an accountant. But that doesn’t mean the education wasn’t valuable.”
Immediately after receiving her accounting designation (which she pursued at the same time as her MBA while working at telecommunications company Nortel), Tina took on more responsibility, which exposed her to new technologies, new senior leaders in the organization, and new industry analyst firms.
At Nortel, she also had the opportunity to change roles from market analysis to business operations, and she says her accounting designation set her up with the skills required to succeed.
Now the Executive Director of Customer Experience at the Edmonton Public Library, Tina believes being a CPA in a nontraditional CPA role has really enabled her to see all sides of an issue in a unique way. Her designation has helped her broaden her work experience and be more likely to work in various fields, gain promotions, and help her organizations succeed. “My designation reinforced my propensity to ask questions and broadened the type of questions I would ask before undertaking, recommending, or approving a project or initiative,” says Tina as she reflects on the progress in her career.
But it really all comes back to her biggest strength—leveraging both her creative and analytical sides. “I can come up with a really interesting concept, but I’ll also develop the evaluation plan to help my team understand if we were successful or not. I can look at data and help us determine what we should do in the first place,” says Tina. “And I think that is the kind of thing that a CPA can do. There is a lot of focus on accountants sticking to data and analysis, but I have no doubt that there’s a lot to contribute on the creative side too.
“I’ve been successful because I have both skillsets…. I think there is value in being both analytical and creative, and organizations should be looking for more opportunities for people to bring both together.”