Practice Management | NewsAccount | Events | Networking

Connected Leadership Yields Cultural Improvement, Employee Engagement, and Business Success

What if you could create a culture where well-being became your competitive advantage? Amy Vetter, CPA, says not only is it possible, it’s also the key to organizational survival and success.

Vetter understands CPAs, not only because she travels the country speaking to them, but because she is a CPA herself. It gives her a unique insight into how a CPA’s mind works – which is essentially on overdrive most of the time. 

In the summer 2025 issue of NewsAccount, now available online, Vetter offers advice on how practice leaders can slow down, work to improve workplace culture, and transform their organizations without sacrificing business rigor or outcomes.

Traditional Beginnings with Nontraditional Turns

Vetter, a keynote speaker at this November’s PEAK – the Colorado Accounting and Finance Summit in Denver, began her accounting career very traditionally – in KPMG’s audit department – before taking some nontraditional turns. After several years in public accounting, she launched her own practice, offering client accounting services before that was ever a thing. 

Out on her own and forging her own path, Vetter found a love for accounting software, seeing firsthand its power and the benefits to the small businesses she advised. She merged her firm and became a partner in the new firm’s small business services area before later launching out on her own again, this time with a national practice specializing in advising franchisees.

After she sold that practice, Vetter pursued new opportunities at Intuit, Sage Intacct, and Xero before again striking out on her own. 

This time, there was a twist: Over the years, Vetter had earned her Yoga Teacher Training certification, and after 20 years, she believed yoga and mindfulness could play a role in transforming the workplace for accountants to find more fulfillment in their work.

Today, as CEO of The B³ Method Institute, she has dedicated herself to helping organizations achieve measurable “Fulfillment ROI™” by creating cultures where well-being drives business success, and people achieve Work-Life Harmony®.

What is Connected Leadership?

Connected leadership gets to the root of our belief systems and how they drive our habits and programming, Vetter explains. It requires a lot of internal work, which she recognizes can be challenging and uncomfortable. 

“We can try to fix things at the surface level, but we need to really understand why we do what we do so that we can break through and as leaders, be better examples,” she says.

Take work-life balance for instance. “What is the actual breakdown of why someone works so much?” she asks. Leaders must ask themselves some important questions:

  • Why do I feel the need to please so much?
  • How can I step back from that and really identify what brings me joy and fulfillment now?
  • How do I better connect with each person individually?
  • What’s holding me back from doing that?

Why the Work Matters

It’s critical that leaders work through their own issues first, and then let the concepts filter down through the organization’s culture, Vetter emphasizes. The firms that really believe in and invest in the process of connected leadership achieve “fulfillment ROI,” which creates well-being without sacrificing business rigor to create an optimized workplace.

For a deeper dive into Vetter’s strategies for implementing connected leadership and bringing about meaningful cultural change within your organization, check out the full article, “Connected Leadership: The Competitive Advantage of Well-Being,” in the summer issue of NewsAccount

Along with NFL Hall of Famer and Superbowl XXXII MVP Terrell Davis, Amy Vetter will be a keynote speaker at PEAK – The Colorado Accounting and Finance Summit, Nov. 12-13 in Denver. Don’t miss this inaugural event, bringing together CPAs, financial leaders, and accounting professionals from across Colorado for an immersive experience of learning, networking, and collaboration.

COCPA members can now earn free CPE credit for NewsAccount readership! Take advantage of the opportunity to earn free CPE while staying on top of the latest news from the profession. Click here to learn more and register.