How You Can Succeed as an Internal Auditor Even if the Deck is Stacked Against You

Problem: Some internal auditors are surrounded by stiff competition. Perhaps some of the other auditors are smarter, better looking, have better personalities, are liked more, or know how to kiss a$$ better than you. Whatever the reason, you find yourself at a disadvantage.

Solution: Stack our lesson on ‘hacking’ with a mindset that you will outwork everyone else in your department, period. End of story.

We previously discussed how I was able to hack meetings by getting the critical tasks done in 20% of the time, thereby freeing up the other 80% of my time for actual audit work. This doesn’t mean I did NOT “do” the meeting. I just did it better and faster.

Hacking doesn’t mean you don’t have to do your job and put in the work. It’s about getting more done, faster and better.

Some internal auditors don’t understand the concept of hacking. They think it means doing less work and less quality work. That’s why when some internal audit managers hear the word ‘hack’, it has a negative connotation. But not you. You’ll know how to pull it off. You’ll find ways to do things faster, AND better.

That’s also why you don’t advertise your hacks. No need to tell your internal audit manager what you’re doing. Just let the results speak for themselves. If you tell your internal audit manager that you hacked some process, they’re not going to appreciate your ingenuity. Rather, they will be threatened by it and make you do it the old way. The mindless, inefficient way it’s always been done.

I get that some process can’t be, or shouldn’t be hacked. Sometimes you need to go through certain steps. For example, surgeons realized that they need to go through a checklist prior to and during each operation. Those checklists help ensure risk is reduced. Many of the steps are rudimentary and obvious, but it’s been proven that those steps can save lives.

There are some steps that internal auditors should always adhere to. Very few, but some. We’re not surgeons. We like to believe that if we make a mistake, it costs lives; but that’s just not our reality. In our world, opportunities to hack processes are everywhere, and with little downside.

It will take time to develop your hacks and perfect them. But over time, you’ll gain extraordinary efficiencies and extraordinary advantages over others.

But you still need to put in the work.

It takes hard work for things to look effortless. When you master these skills, you’ll appear like your work is effortless to the untrained eye. But the reality is, it will be because of the volume of practice you put in.

Some of us don’t want to admit it, but one of the reasons other internal auditors get ahead, when perhaps we don’t, is that some other internal auditors outwork us — and they outwork us by working smarter.

Consider this mindset from the actor Will Smith (I know he’s not everyone’s favorite right now, but this was pre-slap Will Smith):

“The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple, right? You’re not going to out-work me. It’s such a simple, basic concept. The guy who is willing to hustle the most is going to be the guy that just gets that loose ball. The majority of people who aren’t getting the places they want or aren’t achieving the things that they want in this business is strictly based on hustle. It’s strictly based on being out-worked; it’s strictly based on missing crucial opportunities. I say all the time if you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready.”

Imagine if that was your mindset. Imagine what you could accomplish.

It’s not that hard to outwork the rest of the office.

Consider how much time others waste:

1. Talking to others throughout the day, about trivial matters.

2. In unproductive meetings.

3. Long lunches or breaks.

4. Working on trivial tasks.

Here are three simple steps to apply this lesson:

1. Put in the work to master these skills. I.e., hack everything so that you can get certain things done faster AND better.

2. Armed with those skills, outwork everyone else.

3. Enjoy the rewards you reap.

Check out our Newsletter “Secrets of Millionaire Internal Auditors — Mastering the Game of Internal Auditing & Getting Rich While Doing It” for street-smarts, in-the-trenches internal auditing hacks, techniques and strategies that you won’t get anywhere else.