Episode 61

full
Published on:

25th Feb 2023

A Conversation with Alex Oxford, CEO, and Growth Lead at TaxValet: Part 2

In this episode of the SALTovation podcast, Meredith Smith and Judy Vorndran continue their conversation with Alex Oxford, Founder of TaxValet. Alex discusses how businesses have begun to shift their traditional cold and concrete environment to one with more emotional intelligence. He shares why he believes this shift has allowed for more of an emotionally safe environment for people to work in and how creating a culture with more emotional intelligence, allows for better communication and collaboration between teams, ultimately leading to more success for companies.

 

Topics discussed in this episode:


  • The value of creating emotionally safe and open work environments 
  • Assigning tasks to team members based on individual strengths
  • Using data to help your client make the best decisions


 


What You Will Learn:

  • 1:47 Creating a Safe and Accepting Work Environment at Tax Ballet
  • 9:37 Sales Tax Registration and Employee Engagement Platforms
  • 12:41 Exploring the Emotional Side of Business




Quotables:


  • “Every single person is unique in their own way, even the people who aren't that unique, because sometimes tax accountants, are just kind of tax accountants. And that's okay. Creating an environment where it's okay to show up and be who you are, and you will be loved, accepted, cherished just as you are is important.” -Alex Oxford [02:27]
  • “If our core purpose is to transform negative emotions and it's something positive for our clients, partners, and employees, if we have too many clients, then we're not going to be able to deliver on that promise for new clients coming in the door. And we're not going to be able to deliver it for our employees because they're going to be overworked and stressed out.” -Alex Oxford [07:08]
  • “We're able to do surveys for different departments. But when we talk about data, I think it's really easy for a lot of business owners and data junkies like myself to just think about the quantitative. But a lot of it is the qualitative information gathering.” -Alex Oxford [11:19] 

“One of the things that I'm the most excited about is being able to proactively identify issues with our clients that need to be escalated higher up in the chain of command before the client realizes it needs to be escalated and before the employee realizes it needs to be escalated and then being able to look at these issues and pinpoint what the root cause is.” -Alex Oxford [12:21]

Mentioned in this episode:

SALT Contact

Advanced Sales and Use Tax Workshop

Take your sales tax to the next level at Advanced Sales and Use Tax Workshop, February 19-21 in Nashville. Diane Yetter and the Sales Tax Institute’s industry-leading faculty provide individualized training, valuable resources, and practical solutions. Expand your network and earn 23 CPE credits. Visit the link in the show notes and use the code SALTOV10 for 10% off. Save your spot now!" https://keap.page/xp141/saltovation-podcast.htm

Use Tax Workshop

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for SALTovation: Making Sense of State and Local Tax

About the Podcast

SALTovation: Making Sense of State and Local Tax
Welcome to SALTovation. The SALTovation show is a podcast series featuring the leading voices in state and local tax (SALT). Here we talk about issues, strategies, and planning tools to help you make sense of SALT. Because, in SALT, there is no “one and done.” SALT is a puzzle of ever-changing pieces. Solving that puzzle is our business at SALTovation. Tens of thousands of listeners know they won't get tax talk as usual with the SALTovation team. Our team is known for straight-talk with a flair for fun, providing clarity and opinions that move businesses forward with confidence.

Attorney, CPA, speaker, and writer Judy Vorndran leads the SALTovation team as they go inside business to help deal with the daily operations and long-term strategies of making SALT less “taxing.” Judy has spent more than 25 years advocating for businesses with innovative strategies, renowned knowledge and experience. She has helped guide thousands of taxpayers across the nation and globally through the morass of SALT, freeing them to concentrate on growth. Joining Judy are the wickedly smart members of the SALTovation team, who have seen, worked with and tamed some of the most prickly issues in SALT. They enjoy sharing their stories and knowledge with listeners.

Solving the SALT puzzle doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it takes a community. So, we invite leaders in business and state and local tax to share their stories, challenges and successes on this show. Drop us a line at SALTovation.com if you'd like to join the conversation and tune into our regular series at TaxOps.com.