With the accounting profession changing rapidly, executive coach and leadership strategist Janine K. Brown said women can no longer afford to wait for opportunities to find them.

Speaking at CalCPA’s Elevate: Women’s Leadership Forum, Brown delivered a clear message: technical excellence alone is no longer enough to move ahead.

“Performance matters,” said Brown, CEO of Everyday Lead. “But positioning matters too. And sometimes positioning matters more.”

Brown spoke about her own journey from her Midwestern upbringing, her love of the ocean and her early years in accounting, wearing “little gray suits and black suits” from Casual Corner before upgrading to Brooks Brothers.

But beneath the humor was a serious call to action for women navigating a profession undergoing massive transformation.

A Profession in Transition

A former accounting professional who worked in state and local tax and banking strategy before moving into leadership consulting, Brown spoke about how dramatically the accounting industry has evolved since she entered it in 1999.

“We are not the accountants we used to be,” she said. “The profession is so different than when I entered it.”

She pointed to the growing influence of private equity investment, rising pressure around revenue generation and the accelerating pace of change across firms.

“The business of accounting is changing, and it’s not just AI,” she said. “Are you prepared? Do you know how it’s going to impact you? Can you manage your career to respond to that change?”

Drawing from her leadership experience with the AICPA & CIMA Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee, Brown said firms increasingly need professionals who are future-ready—not just technically capable.

“We need women who are not only prepared to lead the next generation of practitioners, but who know how to manage their own careers,” she said.

The “Good Work” Myth

One of the strongest themes of Brown’s presentation centered on what she called “the good work myth”—the belief that hard work alone will naturally lead to advancement.

She described the mindset many professionals adopt early in their careers: work hard, stay reliable, keep your head down and eventually someone will notice. But too often, she said, that strategy leaves talented women overlooked.

“The only thing that happens to people who wait is that they keep waiting,” she said.

Instead, Brown encouraged attendees to think intentionally about how they position themselves within their organizations. Technical competency may open doors early in a career, she explained, but visibility, advocacy and influence become increasingly important over time.

“Those first four to five years are extremely important because you have to be technically competent,” she said. “That’s a baseline. But how you position your competency is the thing that matters.”

Why Women Must Advocate for Each Other

Perhaps the most powerful moment of the session came when Brown addressed one of the barriers she believes continues to hold women back in leadership pipelines.

“You’re not advocating for each other,” she told the audience.

Brown described conversations she’s had with firm leaders and managing partners who say women often undersell themselves and fail to actively champion other women in promotion and performance discussions.

The solution, she argued, requires both self-advocacy and collective advocacy.

“We have to self-promote,” Brown said. “And we have to be promoters of other women. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”

Finding—and Using—Your Voice

Throughout the presentation, Brown repeatedly returned to the importance of visibility and communication.

“A lot of women are not comfortable bragging about themselves,” she said. “But if you don’t, who will?”

She encouraged attendees to think carefully about how they describe their impact and contributions so others can accurately advocate for them when they are not in the room.

“Don’t think that just because they see it, they know the right words to say about your work,” she explained.

Brown also acknowledged that cultural background, personality and upbringing can shape how comfortable professionals feel speaking up. Drawing from her experience teaching graduate students, she encouraged women to practice using their voices early and often.

A Message That Resonated

While Brown’s focused on career strategy, she carried a message of community and encouragement, and spoke about building a stronger sense of sisterhood within the profession and creating environments where women support each other. Because in today’s rapidly changing professional landscape, she said, leadership isn’t something that simply happens to you. It’s something you actively claim.