Kelly Richmond Pope on Fool Me Once, All the Queen’s Horses, and Her Journey as Professor, Board Director, Tech Exec, and Filmmaker
In this empowering Verses in Service episode of No Boxes: Just Verses, we sit down with Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope, CPA, documentary filmmaker, and fraud expert. Are you a leader trying to understand risk management, curious about how fraud works, or looking for the blueprint to scale your research into a globally consumable business? Dr. Pope's journey is a powerful testament to resilience, the art of turning academic passion into a public service, and why true crime is the perfect lens for teaching finance. Tune in to hear the playbook for synthesizing complex concepts into compelling stories.
Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope is a nationally recognized expert in risk, corporate governance, and audit practices. She is a published author, documentary filmmaker, and endowed full professor. Her book, Fool Me Once: Scam Stories and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry, was recognized as one of the 15 best business books of 2023 by Inc. Magazine. Dr. Pope is also the founder of the ed tech company Red Flag Mania, which uses true crime to train professionals in accounting and fraud risk management. She is a Qualified Financial Expert and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Watch on YouTube:
Key Takeaways:
Learn how the profound, back-to-back loss of both parents in her twenties forced Dr. Pope to rely on gospel music and deep resilience, setting a foundation that redefined how she works and moves.
Discover how Dr. Pope successfully scaled her academic research and knowledge into a global platform (a book, a documentary, and an ed tech company) by using the universally appealing genre of true crime to explain complex accounting and auditing concepts.
Hear the powerful lesson Dr. Pope learned by studying for the CPA Exam ten years after college: even with a PhD, technical competence is never assumed. You must be willing to re-study the basics and prove your credentials.
Find out why organizations—large and small—still fall victim to basic fraud schemes (like the Dixon, Illinois municipal fraud). The root cause is simple: trust, and a lack of proper checks and balances, proving that human nature is still the biggest risk.
Understand why Dr. Pope intentionally plays upbeat music (like the bonus song "What's My Favorite Word") before leaving the house: she channels that joy to give her the energy to be the enthusiastic, present, and successful leader she is.
Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope's journey proves that the most impactful leaders can transform complex knowledge into accessible, powerful stories. What area of your expertise can you teach the masses using a compelling new narrative? Follow Dr. Pope's work and be inspired to Stomp your way to success!
Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate, and review the podcast!
CONNECT WITH KELLY RICHMOND POPE:
Playlist
CONNECT WITH SHANNON:
LinkedIn Shannon | LinkedIn NBJV
Theme Song: Pedal to the Medal by Martin Luther (Spotify | Apple Music)
True Crime and the CPA: How to Turn Academic Passion into a Global Platform
Have you ever felt like your expertise is trapped inside jargon, making it hard to share your true passion with the world? It's a common problem for academics and specialists. They spend years mastering complex concepts, only to find their research read by just a handful of people. But what if you could take your technical knowledge—like accounting or risk management—and transform it into universally compelling stories?
In an interview on the No Boxes: Just Verses podcast, Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope, CPA, documentary filmmaker, and fraud expert, shared her unique blueprint for scaling academic passion into a global platform. Her journey proves that resilience, creative storytelling, and an unwavering focus on the basics are the keys to a truly impactful career. This article is for you if you're ready to break free from the academic ivory tower and build a business that makes a difference.
Are you ready to share your passion with a global audience? This content is for you if you're a specialist, academic, or professional who wants to transform complex concepts into accessible narratives. You don't need to be a celebrity or a full-time filmmaker to start. You just need a strong desire to master creative storytelling and the courage to re-study the basics of your field.
Step 1: Forging Resilience Through Loss and Faith
It’s a painful mistake to think that your career can thrive without a foundation of personal resilience. Dr. Pope’s early life was defined by the profound, back-to-back loss of both parents in her twenties. This trauma could have derailed her, but she leaned heavily on gospel music and her faith, which set a foundation that redefined how she works and moves. This resilience allowed her to pursue her Ph.D. straight out of college, even as a very young student among much older colleagues.
Conclusion:
Personal resilience, forged through life's hardships and faith, is the non-negotiable foundation for your long-term professional success.
Recognize that gospel music or other sources of faith can be a powerful tool for personal resilience.
Do not let profound personal loss stop your momentum; use it as fuel to redefine how you work and move.
Understand that your early struggles are part of the foundation that makes you a stronger, more empathetic leader.
Remember that a focus on perseverance is what will carry you through low moments.
Step 2: Master the Basics and Prove Your Credentials
A common mistake professionals make is believing that a high-level degree automatically validates technical competence. Dr. Pope’s experience proves that you must always be ready to master the basics. After earning her Ph.D. in accounting, she decided to pursue a job at a top accounting firm, only to be told she needed to be a CPA. Despite having her doctorate, she had to stop and spend time re-studying material from 10 years earlier, proving that credentials and foundational knowledge are never assumed.
Conclusion:
Technical competence is never assumed; you must continuously master the basics and be willing to prove your credentials.
Do not let a high-level degree prevent you from re-studying the basics of your field.
If your industry requires a specific certification (like the CPA), understand that you must pursue it, regardless of your other degrees.
A Ph.D. is a research degree, which is different from being an accounting professional—know the difference in your domain.
Be willing to invest the time and effort into proving your technical credentials to your industry.
Step 3: Use Creative Storytelling to Scale Your Research
Academic isolation is a real problem: specialists work for years on papers that might only be read by 20 people. Dr. Pope found a way to solve this challenge by transforming her forensic accounting research into globally consumable stories. She realized that the popular true crime genre was the perfect "avenue to pull people in" and explain complex concepts like fraud risk and accounting checks and balances. This creative storytelling allowed her to scale her passion into a documentary, a bestselling book, and an ed tech company.
Conclusion:
Transform your specialized knowledge into widely consumable content by leveraging the power of popular storytelling formats.
Look for a way to scale your research beyond academic papers and into consumable media like books or documentaries.
Use universally appealing genres, like true crime, to teach core concepts in an engaging way.
Recognize that your technical skills are transferable to creative fields (writing, directing, producing).
Remember that storytelling is the key to achieving wide-scale public service and impact.
Step 4: The Fraud 101 Rule: Never Underestimate Human Trust
The reason organizations, large and small, fall victim to basic financial fraud is often surprisingly simple: trust. The core rule of fraud prevention is that the person who brings in the money and the person who pays out the money should never be the same person. Dr. Pope’s work highlights that despite the simplicity of this rule, fraud persists because human nature is wired to trust others, leading to a lack of proper checks and balances.
Conclusion:
Fraud persists because of human trust. You must implement simple checks and balances, regardless of how much you trust your team.
Never let the person bringing in money and the person paying out money be the same person.
Understand that trust is the single biggest vulnerability in fraud prevention.
Be disciplined about implementing and enforcing internal controls and checks and balances in your business.
Remember that fraud is a mix of accounting, criminology, and simple human temptation.
Conclusion
You’ve learned that the path to a meaningful career is built on unwavering resilience, technical competence, and a commitment to serving the public. Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope’s journey proves that the most impactful leaders can transform complex knowledge into accessible, powerful stories, using their passion to create a better world.
The big idea: Your unique expertise should not be a secret. It should be a public service.
Now it’s time to integrate these ideas into your life:
Final Steps to Take:
Affirm your passion: What is one area of your expertise you are ready to teach the masses?
Review the basics: What is one fundamental concept in your field that you need to re-study this week?
Write your story: What is the compelling, human-interest story in your area of expertise?
Find your joy: What song will you play today to energize your mind and put a smile on your face?