kburns

About kburns

Kent Burns is President of Simply Driven Executive Search, whose mission is improving the lives of both the clients and candidates they represent. A search industry veteran since 1999, Burns is a CPA with prior experience at PwC and KPMG. He also served as a Corporate Controller and Chief Financial Officer in both public and private companies.
11 12, 2018

“No” is a Great Answer

By |2018-12-13T16:32:11-05:00December 11th, 2018|

The word “no”.  It’s one of the first words we learn as infants.  First, we hear it; then we learn to say it.  And we soon figure out that it’s one of the most frequently used words in the entire world. No is very interesting.  We often love to [...]

10 12, 2018

Indy CFO Spotlight-Jenny Quinnette

By |2024-10-16T11:15:35-05:00December 10th, 2018|

Jenny Quinnette is the new CFO of Viral Launch, an early stage SaaS company in Indianapolis. She’s been in the CFO chair there for less than two months and she’s having a blast. KB: Thanks for meeting me. JQ: My pleasure. KB: Tell me a little bit about your [...]

3 12, 2018

Passing Judgement

By |2018-12-10T15:44:03-05:00December 3rd, 2018|

We are living in such interesting times.  Times have always been changing, and people have always been changing, but these days I find myself getting surprised more than usual.  Case in point: I was communicating with a potential candidate about their career.  The discussions were early and general in [...]

27 11, 2018

Chasing Your 2018 Goal    

By |2018-12-10T15:49:31-05:00November 27th, 2018|

Four weeks until Christmas.  Are you chasing a goal for 2018?  If you are, where do you stand?  In the event you’ve already achieved it, congratulations!  Was your goal too low?  Or did you just hit it out of the park with time to spare?  Either way, it’s a [...]

26 11, 2018

Indy CFO Spotlight-Eric Harton

By |2024-10-16T11:15:35-05:00November 26th, 2018|

Eric Harton is an amazing, global, CFO talent flying under our radar here. His career has taken him literally all over the world with some of America’s premier CPG companies. It’s a cold Thursday, but we’re in a warm spot at Muldoon’s in Carmel. KB: Eric, thank you for [...]

20 11, 2018

No Slowing Down

By |2018-11-20T20:44:53-05:00November 20th, 2018|

It’s Thanksgiving week.  For many (not in sales), it’s the beginning of the end.  People start manufacturing all kinds of excuses on why things can’t get finished/get started/get bought/get sold...you name it.  Thanksgiving week leads to the week after Thanksgiving, when many have a Thanksgiving hangover.  Then there’s about [...]

13 11, 2018

The Dreaded Internal Candidate

By |2018-11-13T17:04:14-05:00November 13th, 2018|

Both recruiters and external job candidates alike become mortified when they hear a hiring manager say, “We may have an internal candidate.”  After all, how can someone who is unknown compete with someone who is known?  It’s difficult – but not impossible – to overcome. What fascinates me is [...]

6 11, 2018

Risk is Not a Bad Word

By |2018-11-06T22:11:43-05:00November 6th, 2018|

Few people I encounter embrace risk.  Let me restate that...few people I encounter want anything to do with risk.  Granted, my audience is mostly accounting and finance professionals.  But shouldn’t we be particularly attuned to risk?  Aren’t we professionally trained to evaluate and assess risk?  Accountants and finance people [...]

30 10, 2018

The Power of Focus

By |2018-11-01T16:03:01-05:00October 30th, 2018|

Simply Driven is on the march to a record year.  A lot of things have contributed to the company’s current success, but perhaps none more than our ability to get focused late in Q2 of 2018. The world is a noisy place.  There are bright lights and shiny objects [...]

16 10, 2018

One Last Move

By |2018-10-15T16:42:54-05:00October 16th, 2018|

It’s that time of year.  Summer is over, and school has started.  Raises are in place, and promotions are finished.  Fall is here...but the Holidays are still a good five or six weeks away.  It’s time for the annual ritual – One Last Move.  The final migration of CPA [...]

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