Talks and Workshops
For
Financial Executives and Leaders
Discover the intersection of finance and neuroscience with Dr. Toby Groves’ captivating presentations. Combining deep expertise in financial principles with cutting-edge psychological science, Dr. Groves offers a unique perspective on enhancing decision-making, strategy, and leadership in the financial sector.
A recognized authority in the field, Dr. Groves has spent years studying the cognitive processes of CFOs and financial executives, uncovering strategies to optimize performance and drive success. With a track record of over 700 dynamic events, including keynote presentations at premier financial conferences, Dr. Groves delivers actionable insights that resonate with today’s financial leaders.
From workshops with state CPA societies and the Federal Reserve to engagements with corporate and government financial teams, his presentations empower financial executives to sharpen their thinking, improve organizational outcomes, and lead with clarity and confidence.
Ready to explore an event for your group? We invite you to submit a speaking inquiry today. You can jump to see specific talk titles here.
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How These Sessions Are Different
My sessions are dynamic, interactive journeys designed to challenge and expand the way financial executives think and work. With a foundation in psychology (PhD) and extensive experience collaborating with financial professionals, including my tenure as a former CPA, my expertise bridges forensic psychology, financial analysis, and cognitive sciences to deliver content that truly resonates with financial executives.
Research-Backed, Results-Driven Presentations
At the core of my sessions is a pioneering scientific study on thinking that included CFOs and other financial executives, an endeavor that has evolved into a dynamic repository of financial decision-making patterns. This ongoing research energizes my interactive presentations, making them not only captivating but also profoundly educational and impactful for financial leaders.
Beyond Technical Knowledge: A Focus on Cognitive Excellence
My philosophy centers on a simple yet profound truth: the value of a financial executive’s technical knowledge is magnified by their ability to think critically and apply that knowledge effectively. My sessions are crafted to enhance this aspect, equipping financial executives with the tools to become more efficient, insightful, and impactful in their roles.
Topics Tailored Especially for Financial Executives
From the psychology of critical thinking in finance and tackling fraud to effective communication strategies, ethics, and leveraging data science, my presentations cover a wide range of topics crucial for today’s financial executives. Each session is tailored to address the most pressing issues and trends in the financial world, ensuring your team remains at the forefront of the industry.
Talks
The session titles below have been some of the most popular in the financial industry, having been chosen for keynotes and workshops at top conferences and by leading financial firms, government agencies, and leading financial associations including the AICPA, as well as The Federal Reserve, KPMG, Deloitte, the Institute of Internal Auditors, the ACFE, IMA, PMI, ISACA and others too numerous to list. They can be merged to create custom events in lengths of 1-hour keynotes to full-day workshops.
For pricing and availability, submit a speaking inquiry here
Critical Thinking
Untapped: Next Level Thinking for Financial Executives
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
This highly acclaimed session, tailored specifically for financial leaders and led by Dr. Toby Groves, delves into the fascinating intersection of psychology and strategic decision-making. Designed as a practical and inspirational call to action, this session equips financial executives with advanced tools to enhance their thinking when it matters most. It introduces innovative strategies, actionable habits, and transformative insights that significantly improve judgment and leadership effectiveness. Participants will learn how to cultivate the foundational cognitive abilities that drive exceptional decision-making, enabling them to uncover insights and opportunities that others may overlook.
The session empowers financial leaders to break through mental blocks and approach challenges with fresh perspectives. These strategies naturally foster confidence, mental clarity, flexibility, and resilience, enhancing mental well-being while building resistance to stress and burnout. Additionally, we will critically assess financial leadership approaches in the context of emerging challenges such as artificial intelligence, regulatory changes, sustainability, evolving market dynamics, data analytics, fraud prevention, and cybersecurity. This equips participants with the foresight and adaptability needed to excel in today’s fast-changing financial landscape.
- Foundational Cognitive Abilities for Exceptional Financial Leadership
Explore the critical thinking and judgment skills that distinguish outstanding financial leaders. Learn how to cultivate cognitive flexibility, clarity, and insight to uncover opportunities and risks that others may overlook, strengthening strategic decision-making and organizational impact. - Advanced Thinking Strategies to Elevate Financial Judgment
Master innovative strategies to overcome mental barriers, approach challenges with fresh perspectives, and significantly enhance decision-making in high-stakes financial environments. - The Intersection of Mental Well-being and Leadership Excellence
Discover how confidence, resilience, and mental clarity empower financial leaders to perform at their best while reducing stress, combating burnout, and promoting overall well-being for themselves and their teams. - Preparing for the Future of Financial Leadership: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
Gain actionable insights into navigating the rapidly evolving financial landscape, including artificial intelligence, regulatory changes, sustainability goals, market volatility, data analytics, fraud prevention, and cybersecurity. - The Financial Leader’s Toolkit for Perceiving the Unseen
Equip yourself with tools and habits to uncover hidden risks and opportunities, strengthen fraud detection, and adapt effectively to industry changes, ensuring your strategies remain innovative and impactful.
Thinking Outside the Audit: Innovative Approaches to Uncovering Hidden Risks
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
The highly structured world of auditing provides essential frameworks for accuracy and accountability, but it can also narrow our focus and lead to black-and-white thinking. This session challenges auditors to expand their perspective by understanding the neuropsychology behind creative problem-solving. By exploring how deeply ingrained structures influence our thinking, participants will learn to recognize and overcome mental blocks, enabling them to uncover counterintuitive solutions to complex problems.
Through engaging discussions, practical exercises, and cutting-edge research, this program introduces strategies for broadening cognitive flexibility and identifying risks that traditional methods might miss. Participants will leave with actionable tools to respect the structure of audits while thinking beyond its boundaries, driving deeper insights and strengthening organizational resilience.
Major Subjects:
- Breaking Out of Cognitive Traps: Explore how structured environments can limit perspectives and obscure unconventional solutions.
- Expanding the Auditor’s Mindset: Learn techniques to think creatively and approach problems from fresh angles.
- Neuropsychology of Problem-Solving: Discover how cognitive flexibility and counterintuitive thinking lead to innovative risk identification.
- Identifying Hidden Risks: Develop strategies to spot anomalies and patterns that traditional methods might overlook.
- Balancing Structure and Innovation: Respect the frameworks of auditing while fostering a mindset that looks beyond the checklist.
- Leveraging Technology and Collaboration: Explore how new tools and cross-functional teamwork can enhance risk detection.
Advanced Communications
The Language of Leadership: Great Ideas Require Great Communication
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
No matter how brilliant your ideas or rigorous your analysis, success hinges on how effectively you communicate. This session explores the psychology of communication, equipping participants with tools to transform complex ideas into messages that resonate, inspire, and drive action. Whether presenting data, pitching ideas, or leading discussions, this program provides strategies to develop executive presence, and elevate your communication to match your expertise.
Through interactive exercises and insights from psychology, participants will learn to bridge gaps in understanding, adapt to diverse audiences, and build influence through clarity and connection. This session tackles key communication challenges, including overcoming perception barriers, crafting compelling messages, and navigating cultural differences in today’s globalized business environment.
Major Subjects:
- What You Say is What They See:
Learn how communication shapes perceptions of competence and credibility, and why clear, intentional messaging is essential. - The Power of Being Understood:
Challenge the old adage that “knowledge is power” and explore why communication is the true driver of influence, connection, and action. - The Perception Gap:
Understand how misaligned assumptions between speakers and listeners lead to communication breakdowns—and how to close the gap. - Communication as Currency:
Discover how effective communication translates into tangible influence and professional success. - Cross-Cultural Connection:
Master strategies for communicating across cultural boundaries, recognizing and adapting to diverse styles and expectations.
Fraud
Fraud in Plain Sight: Why We’re Losing the Fight*
*And what you can do about it
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so."
Why do fraud schemes so often go undetected, even when the evidence is right in front of us? This session dives deep into the psychology of investigation and auditing, from the perspective of someone who has been on both sides of fraud investigations, revealing how the very ways we are trained to think can obscure fraud rather than expose it. By exploring the traps of over-reliance on tools, misplaced trust, and the pitfalls of narrowed focus, participants will gain a fresh perspective on what it takes to uncover deception.
Through engaging discussions, real-world examples, and an eye-opening simulation, this program offers an innovative approach led by a fraud researcher who has been on both sides of fraud investigations. Attendees will leave with a deeper awareness of how fraud hides in plain sight and actionable methods to uncover what others miss.
Major Subjects:
- The Trust Trap:
Explore how assumptions about trustworthiness and credibility misdirect investigations and allow fraud to flourish undetected. - Blind Spots in Thinking:
Understand the psychological and cognitive limitations that cause investigators to overlook critical clues hiding in plain sight. - Lost in the Evidence:
Examine how over-reliance on tools and data can obscure intuition and deeper analysis, leading to missed opportunities to uncover fraud. - Chasing Shadows:
Discover how focusing on the wrong targets or patterns diverts attention from the real perpetrators and evidence. - The Double-Edged Sword of Tools:
Investigate how the tools and technologies used in audits and investigations, while powerful, can inadvertently narrow focus and obscure critical insights.
AI Think Therefore I AM
This cutting-edge course teaches financial executives the important skill of integrating critical thinking with artificial intelligence to significantly enhance the performance of financial tasks, decision-making, problem-solving, data analysis, and more. This class explores the intersection of cognitive science and AI, capitalizing on the unique opportunities AI presents. Participants will learn thoughtful and powerful prompt engineering, how to critically evaluate AI outputs, recognize nuances, biases, and gaps, and use specialized critical thinking skills for more useful outputs.
The course employs practical techniques and hands-on examples to demonstrate how to effectively identify and mitigate biases in AI outputs, uncover logical inconsistencies, and formulate contextually relevant questions. Participants will learn how to apply these skills in real-world scenarios, augmenting human expertise in areas such as data analytics and decision support.
Emotional Intelligence in Accounting and Auditing: Enhancing Judgment and Communication
Emotional intelligence deeply influences our reasoning, shaping how we prioritize, interpret, and present information. It’s crucial for financial executives, affecting judgment and decision-making. This session delves into emotional intelligence’s role in finance, focusing on enhancing this skill to improve our thinking and effectiveness as financial leaders. We’ll explore strategies to boost emotional awareness and mastery, vital for navigating financial challenges. Attendees will learn how to elevate their emotional intelligence and communication, key for mastering complex professional interactions and engagements.
The New Psychology of Professional Skepticism
The course will go beyond traditional methodologies, delving into how cognitive biases and social dynamics subtly shape accountant and auditor judgments and decisions. Through interactive case studies and psychological insights, accountants and auditors will gain the tools to critically assess their own skepticism in practice, enhancing their ability to discern truth in complex scenarios. Additionally, we will introduce innovative strategies to foster a culture of thoughtful skepticism within teams, ensuring that accountants and auditors can navigate the intricacies of modern accounting and auditing with confidence and precision. This session promises to transform the way accountants and auditors apply skepticism, offering a richer, more nuanced perspective critical for the challenges of today’s accounting and auditing landscape.
Seeing Patterns Others Don't
In a world brimming with complexity, the ability to discern how various elements interact and influence each other stands at the heart of innovative problem-solving and sound decision-making. This session promises to unveil the secrets of connectivity, offering a deep dive into the art of systems thinking and pattern recognition. You’ll explore cutting-edge techniques to uncover hidden and unconventional patterns, tackle contradictory evidence with finesse, and master the art of identifying and interpreting intricate connections. Prepare to transform your perspective and develop a keen eye for the patterns that elude others, opening doors to unparalleled insights and strategic advantages.
Jump to talks on: Critical Thinking, Communications, Data, Ethics, Fraud, Leadership, Culture and DE&I
Fraud
Finding Fraud is a rare look at fraud from the inside, including the perspectives of auditors that unwittingly helped perpetrators, and Investigators that found themselves on the wrong side of the law. We’ll examine the viewpoints of the victims, forensic psychologists, interrogation experts, perpetrators, fraud researchers, and law enforcement. The session confronts the most persistent challenges we have with fighting fraud today. It presents behind-the-scenes research from multiple perspectives that will challenge everything you thought you knew about fraud.
This story-based session from the speaker’s perspective is a paradigm shift in understanding the minds of both investigators and perpetrators. Through a compelling narrative-based approach, incorporating firsthand accounts and cutting-edge research, we’ll unravel why conventional investigative techniques may inadvertently hinder rather than help. This session will illuminate the hidden myths and pitfalls entrenched in our standard practices and assumptions about fraud. We will dissect the often-misunderstood concept of skepticism and reveal how investigators might, despite their best intentions, play into the hands of sophisticated fraud schemes.
Jump to talks on: Critical Thinking, Communications, Data, Ethics, Fraud, Leadership, Culture and DE&I
Data
We have more data than ever, but what is it really telling us? New technologies and analytical methods detect myriad patterns in our data, but what do they really mean and what decisions can they help us make? Is the underlying data reliable? Is it valid for the purpose you are using it? Cognitive technologies distance us from the context of our data, shrouding the meaning behind the patterns and how to apply the information for effective decision-making. New thinking approaches are required to move beyond simple recognition of correlations to insight into why relationships exist. This session will teach methods that give us the ability to discern the inner character of problems, to recognize why interactions occur, and what decisions can be made with the information.
Jump to talks on: Critical Thinking, Communications, Data, Ethics, Fraud, Leadership, Culture and DE&I
Ethics
Ethics in The Real World
Codes of ethics, ethics training, and “tone at the top” are expected to improve ethical behavior. But do they? Research shows that not only can these traditional initiatives be unhelpful, but they can harm ethical reasoning! Instead of looking at how people are “supposed” to behave, this class examines how people actually make ethical decisions in the real world. We will explain how ethics codes can cause unethical behavior, why we misunderstand the influence of tone at the top, and why people betray their own ethical beliefs.
Best Intentions: Why You Fail to Do What’s Right
A primary reason we fail to do what’s right is that we neglect to see the important ethical aspects of a situation in the first place. Therefore, training our brains to notice the moral and ethical facets of our environment is critical to ethical reasoning. When we are aware of the ethical aspects of a situation, we lack objectivity about our own ethical views and rationalize behavior that supports those views. This class explains the psychology behind why we fail to detect the ethical parts of a decision and what we can do to gain awareness and objectivity to improve ethical reasoning.
The Science of Ethics
This session delves into the fascinating neuroscience behind how our minds work when we face decisions with conflicting motivations or difficult dilemmas for which the best answer is not clear. Attendees will explore real-life dilemmas and learn effective cognitive processes to deal with those dilemmas as revealed by the latest research in neuroscience. The session draws on organizational psychology, cognitive science, psychobiology and even sports psychology to create an immersive experience and unveil the hidden ways our minds perceive and interpret problems.
Jump to talks on: Critical Thinking, Communications, Data, Ethics, Fraud, Leadership, Culture and DE&I
Comunications
Advanced Communication Skills for Financial Executives
Master communication skills that are pivotal in both your professional journey and personal growth as a financial executive. Gain the confidence to speak persuasively, whether it’s in one-on-one consultations, strategic boardroom discussions, or presentations to larger audiences. This session is designed to empower financial executives with the ability to craft compelling narratives, establish trust, and present financial insights persuasively, motivating action and understanding across diverse stakeholders. These essential skills not only boost your confidence but also foster empathy, vital for client and team interactions. They are the cornerstone of exceptional leadership, promoting collaborative problem-solving and enhancing decision-making within financial teams and with clients.
When the Facts Aren’t Enough: The Art of Communicating Complex Information
Mastering the art of translating complex information into influential insights is a skill that transcends mere data analysis—it’s about crafting narratives that resonate and motivate. Our session, ‘When the Facts Aren’t Enough,’ focuses on the nuanced art of making intricate data accessible and compelling, even to those unfamiliar with the subject matter. This expertise signifies not just an in-depth comprehension of the data but a profound insight into its real-world implications and how it’s perceived by diverse audiences. By adopting the perspectives of your listeners and embodying their experiences, this interactive workshop delves into the cognitive strategies and thinking paradigms essential for clear, impactful communication. Participants will emerge with enhanced abilities to convey their knowledge persuasively, ensuring their messages are not just heard but felt and acted upon
The Art of the Information Gathering Interview
Unearthing vital information, demystifying assumptions, and revealing the intricacies of actions are the hallmarks of masterful audit interviews. These interactions provide a unique chance to navigate through narratives as they emerge and to pose impactful questions that extract critical insights. The art of the audit interview extends beyond mere conversation—it is a strategic tool for investigation, understanding, and essential information gathering. In this session, you’ll learn the subtleties of adopting an effective interpersonal style, formulating incisive questions that go beyond surface answers, interpreting non-verbal communication, and adjusting your approach to suit various cultural contexts. Participants will depart equipped with the most current behavioral research tools to conduct audit interviews that deliver results.
Jump to talks on: Critical Thinking, Communications, Data, Ethics, Fraud, Leadership, Culture and DE&I
Leadership
The Science of Great Leadership for Financial Executives
Leadership skills have never been more important, in all industries and at all levels, whether executive or front-line employees. Organizations succeed in meaningful ways when their individual members have the ability to inspire action, build trust, solve complex problems, coordinate effective teams, and resolve contentious conflicts without damaging important relationships. This requires a deep understanding of human motivation, emotional intelligence, and nuances of cultural psychology. This session teaches a powerful model that allows attendees to build their own core leadership skills as well as the psychology of performance and motivation and the social psychology of organizational behavior.
Jump to talks on: Critical Thinking, Communications, Data, Ethics, Fraud, Leadership, Culture and DE&I
Culture and DE&I
The Science of Organizational Culture and Decision-Making
Equity and diversity across neurodiversity, racial and ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and ages enrich social networks, fostering deep learning, flexible thinking, and long-term organizational health and wellness. Diverse teams, embracing a spectrum of perspectives, achieve higher satisfaction, superior decision-making, and elevated performance. Discover the science that enhances social networks and learn to embed social standards and norms promoting equity and inclusivity. Master strategies for building a culture that encourages personal responsibility in shaping group norms and attitudes essential for embracing a broad spectrum of diversity, driving collective success.
The Science of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Equity and diversity across neurodiversity, racial and ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and ages enrich social networks, fostering deep learning, flexible thinking, and long-term organizational health and wellness. Diverse teams, embracing a spectrum of perspectives, achieve higher satisfaction, superior decision-making, and elevated performance. Discover the science that enhances social networks and learn to embed social standards and norms promoting equity and inclusivity. Master strategies for building a culture that encourages personal responsibility in shaping group norms and attitudes essential for embracing a broad spectrum of diversity, driving collective success.