Last week, three members of the Multi Business Solutions team—Natalie, Laraya, and Megan—attended Intuit Connect 2025 in Las Vegas. The event brought together accounting professionals and QuickBooks experts from across the country. Although Intuit Connect is known for unveiling exciting product innovations, this year’s biggest takeaways for us weren’t about new software features. Instead, the focus was on people, purpose, and partnership.
The recurring message from world-class leaders like John Foley, Brené Brown, Vanessa Van Edwards, and Queen Latifah was clear: the future of accounting belongs to firms that prioritize human connection and strategic leadership alongside innovative technology.
With that in mind, here are the three most powerful lessons we’re integrating into our firm, straight from the main stage.
1. Building a Culture of Excellence: It Starts with Trust
A truly high-performing firm isn’t built on spreadsheets alone—it’s built on a foundation of trust. John “Gucci” Foley, former lead solo pilot for the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, delivered a powerful message about the “Glad to Be Here” mindset.
His takeaway that “Small things matter in building trust” is one we’re taking to heart. High-performance teams require daily connection, alignment, and commitment.
For Multi Business Solutions, this means leaning into our core values every day. MBS strives for continuous growth for both our team and clients. In addition, we care about the people we serve, and bring reliability and leadership to the table, built on respect, humility, and gratitude.
2. The New Accountant’s Role: From Historian to Storyteller
The days of the accountant as simply recording past transactions are over. Today, our clients look to us to tell the story behind the numbers. This shift was a central theme, highlighted by renowned author Brené Brown.
Yes, AI and automation are changing how we work—but the real transformation starts with people. Our team’s role is to combine financial insight with real-world understanding to help clients make confident decisions. We take financial information with “LEGO-level” complexity and turn it into “DUPLO-level” simplicity—straightforward, useful, and easy to act on.
As Brené Brown stated, it’s all about understanding “what’s on the hearts and minds of your clients – what keeps them up at night.” That’s the mindset that drives everything we do at Multi Business Solutions.
3. Mastering the Charisma Zone: Balancing Connection and Expertise
How we communicate what we know is just as important as what we know. Vanessa Van Edwards, bestselling author and founder of Science of People, introduced the idea of what she calls the “Charisma Zone.” It’s that sweet spot where warmth – being trustworthy, friendly, and likeable – meets competence – showing you’re capable, powerful, and smart.
We learned that being too competent without warmth can make a firm seem unapproachable, while too much warmth without competence makes a firm seem unreliable. Our goal is to always be in that Charisma Zone. This ensures our clients feel both confident in our capabilities and comfortable in our partnership.
Queen Latifah echoed this philosophy, and her journey offers some powerful lessons. Early on, the toughest part of breaking into music wasn’t her vision and talent—it was getting people to believe that Hip Hop was here to stay. Along the way, she learned the importance of making connections, helping others, and always being kind, because you never know who might open a door for you or help connect you with new opportunities. Expect “no” and doubt from others, but remember her words: “If you bring you, you bring something different.”
At Multi Business Solutions, we take that same approach with our clients. We’re inspired to grow alongside them—embracing new technology, deeper connections, and meaningful leadership. If you’re ready to partner with a team that combines QuickBooks expertise with a people-first approach, let’s connect!
