THINK DIFFERENT! A heartfelt tribute to the Late Brian Friedrich, FCPA

I first met Brian in 2016. We were looking to produce ethics professional development courses specifically for accountants in StoryStyle™ format. Brian and his wife Laura were both highly regarded FCPAs and ethics experts, working with the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. In 2018, Brian also joined the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA).

I was intent on working with them for our ethics courses, but I was nervous to contact them.

Would accountants understand what we were trying to create with audio storytelling? Would they be able to accept this new way of learning, or would they just reject it?

I'd already been rejected a number of times with the response "how can you possibly learn anything in audio?" I was anticipating the worst when I hit send on my email.

To my surprise, it wasn't long before I received a response along the lines of "This sounds awesome! Would love to meet to find out more."

Not long after, my wife Christine and I met with Brian and Laura in a pub. Christine is Co-Founder and Head of Production at ProDio - we instantly hit it off, and they both expressed great enthusiasm for our idea, also revealing that they'd been involved in producing audio learning in the early 2000's with the Certified General Accountants Association (CGA-BC), but more in lecture-style format.

Brian and Laura fully embraced the StoryStyle concept - so much so that they purchased a share of ProDio, and immersed themselves in the work of creating two high-quality ethics courses using stories, scenarios, quizzes, media clips and interviews with experts. They even facilitated some introductions to new clients.

Over time, Brian and I developed a friendship and mutual admiration for each others' perspective and insights. I admired his achievements, his travel and his love of the outdoors, and always enjoyed my conversations with him - the time spent together was never enough.

Brian and Laura later created a 3rd ethics course. All 3 accounting ethics courses are still powerful and relevant and hosted on the ProDio platform and on LinkedIn Learning, reaching over 80,000 learners.

One uneventful day in January 2023, we received news that left a hole in my heart - Brian had passed away unexpectedly on January 26th, 2023.

His obituary included these words: "Brian lived life to the fullest, on his own terms, and challenged all around him to push boundaries and question arbitrary conventions." At his memorial, we were given beautifully designed cartoons that demonstrated Brian’s best character traits.

I keep this picture at my desk – it’s my favorite.

Brian had been an Apple enthusiast since the early ‘80s, and the back of the picture bears the wording from an iconic Apple commercial that inspired him throughout his life:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. 

Every day, as sit down to continue my mission to transform professional learning, Brian's spirit of innovation, creativity and critical thinking encourages me to not give up and inspires me to THINK DIFFERENT.

I miss you Brian. We miss you!

Russell Cullingworth

Find Brian and Laura Friedrichs' accounting ethics courses on ProDio

Ethics Conversations: Building an ethics-based culture https://prodiolearning.com/course/conversations-building-an-ethics-culture

Ethics: Mis and Disinformation and Professional Skepticism https://prodiolearning.com/course/ethics-mis-and-disinformation

Ethics: Conflicts of Interest Unpacked https://prodiolearning.com/course/ethics-conflicts-of-interest-unpacked