The Audit Podcast

Episode: IA on AI - Happy Holidays
Host: Trent Russell
Date: December 24, 2025

Episode Overview

This special holiday episode blends a seasonal message with a focus on the importance of soft skills in internal audit leadership, while also featuring a book giveaway for listeners. Host Trent Russell underlines the value of relationship-building and personal development—what he refers to as “power skills”—alongside technical proficiency and AI analytics in audit. The episode is guest-less and centers around the announcement of a book giveaway tied to enhancing Chief Audit Executive (CAE) capabilities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Acknowledgment of the Holiday and Episode Format

[00:00–01:00]
- Trent notes that, given it's Christmas Eve, this episode is an informal "replay" of the previous day's message.
- The episode targets listeners interested in the intersection of AI and internal audit but emphasizes that both technical expertise and "soft skills" (or "power skills") are crucial.
- Notable Quote (Trent Russell, 00:30):
  
  "The soft skill stuff and the how to be a CAE is as important, if not more. And so it's really just our way of sending the message of, yep, AI analytics, the technical stuff is critical. It's super important, but it's still about the relationships and the soft slash power skill."

2. The Rarity of Chief Audit Executive (CAE) Resources

[01:35–02:12]
- Trent shares his motivation for starting The Audit Podcast: the lack of practical resources for aspiring or current CAEs.
- He points out the abundance of books for other C-level positions and the scarcity for CAEs—a gap addressed by Navin Pashrika’s book, “Getting Ready to Roar: Chief Auditor's Guide, Audit Room to Boardroom”.
- Notable Quote (Trent Russell, 01:45):
  
  “There is no book on how to be a CAE. There’s a lot of CEO books, CMO, CDO, now Chief Data Officer books... but type in CAE book—not a lot of good stuff out there. And that was the case until somewhat recently when Navin Pashrika wrote a book...”

3. Endorsement of “Getting Ready to Roar”

[02:13–03:10]
- The episode highlights the significance of Navin Pashrika’s book for audit professionals.
- Trent references Hal Garon, a well-regarded internal audit thought leader, whose endorsement further validates the book’s value.
  - Hal is noted for his prolific book reading and strong recommendations.
  - Notable Quote (Trent Russell, 02:45):
    
    “Hal reads a lot of books... he came across this post from Hal a month ago where he basically said the same thing or is echoing the same sentiments and thoughts that I have on Getting Ready to Roar and said it’s really great.”

4. Book Giveaway Details and How to Enter

[03:11–05:00]
- The podcast is giving away a copy of “Getting Ready to Roar”, and listeners can enter by:
  - Engaging (commenting) on the LinkedIn post about the giveaway, either on the Audit Podcast page or Trent’s personal profile.
  - Leaving a written review of the podcast on iTunes or Spotify (with a screenshot sent to Trent).
- The contest is “raffle style” and based partly on the honor system for review submissions.
- Instructions from Trent (04:08):
  
  “Go to either the Audit Podcast and find it from there or you can go to Trent Russell, my LinkedIn profile, find it from there, engage with a post, add some kind of comment... We will just let—literally any comment is fine and we will raffle that off...”
- Trent’s contact details are given for review confirmations:
  
  “Trent dot Russell at GSKanalytics dot com”

5. Final Thoughts and Holiday Well-Wishes

[05:01–06:36]
- Trent encourages listeners, even if they don’t win, to buy the book themselves.
- He closes with well-wishes for the holidays and promotes the next episode (first of 2026), featuring Pat Niemann of EY discussing risks for the coming year.
  - Notable Quote (Trent Russell, 06:30):
    
    “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, enjoy the time off for those that have it... Our first episode in 2026 is from our friend Pat Niemann over at EY who's going to talk about 2026 risks to keep an eye out on.”

Memorable Quotes

On balancing technical and interpersonal skills:

“AI analytics, the technical stuff is critical. It's super important, but it’s still about the relationships and the soft slash power skill.”
—Trent Russell [00:30]
On the scarcity of CAE resources:

“...not a lot of good stuff out there. And that was the case until somewhat recently when Navin Pashrika wrote a book...”
—Trent Russell [01:45]
On trusted endorsements:

“He [Hal Garon] reads a lot of books and posts about it very consistently... said it’s really great. He bought it himself. He also is sharing it with basically anyone who will listen to him.”
—Trent Russell [02:45]
On holiday spirit and future episodes:

“Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, all stuff. We will see you all in 2026.”
—Trent Russell [06:33]

Timestamps for Key Segments

[00:00–01:00] — Holiday setup, episode’s informal format, and the emphasis on “power skills”.
[01:35–02:12] — Motivation for the podcast and lack of CAE-specific resources.
[02:13–03:10] — Importance and endorsement of Navin Pashrika’s “Getting Ready to Roar.”
[03:11–05:00] — Detailed explanation of the book giveaway and how to enter.
[05:01–06:36] — Wrap-up, encouragement to check out the book, holiday wishes, and preview of next year’s content.

Summary & Listener Takeaways

This episode underscores the enduring importance of soft (or “power”) skills for auditors, especially those aspiring to be (or currently serving as) CAEs.
“Getting Ready to Roar” by Navin Pashrika is highlighted as a much-needed, practical guide for audit leaders, strongly endorsed within the professional community.
There’s an open invitation for listeners to join the giveaway for this resource or seek it out themselves for professional development.
The podcast wishes all listeners happy holidays, reiterates the value of personal growth and relationships in audit leadership, and promises insightful content in 2026—including a look ahead at emerging risks.

For more, follow The Audit Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. Happy Holidays!

Transcript

A (0:00)

Hey, everybody. This time on the IA on AI show, we're going to. Because it's Christmas Eve and most people aren't going to be listening anyway. Or we have people who are just tuning in to the AI piece. More so than when we do the guest Q and A interview stuff. What we're going to do is the episode. If you listen to the episode yesterday from the Audit podcast, then you can stop listening right now because we're just going to replay what we played yesterday. The reason we're doing that, though, is because, yeah, this is the AI show that we do, but the soft skills or the power skills, as one guest put it one time, which I thought was fantastic. The soft skill stuff and the how to be a CAE is as important, if not more. And so it's really just our way of sending the message of, yep, AI analytics, the technical stuff is critical. It's super important, but it's still about the relationships and the soft slash power skill. So with that said, we're going to replay the announcement giveaway from yesterday's episode. Take care, everybody. Oh, we don't do take care everybody. Doing we go. Here we go. Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Audit Podcast. I'm your host, Trent Russell, and we are guest lists today. But what we want to do is considering the time of year and the giving season, at least in the part of the world that I live in, we wanted to give something away to the audience. One of the reasons that I started this podcast was because there is no book on how to be a cae. There's a lot of CEO books, cmo, cdo, now Chief Data Officer, books, cfo, like go to Amazon and type in CEO book, CFO book, whatever, type in CAE book. Not a lot of good stuff out there. And that was the case until somewhat recently when Navin Pashrika wrote a book called Getting Ready to Roar, Chief Auditor's Guide, Audit Room to Boardroom. So we are going to have Navin on the show in 2026. But this is something that, again, I've been looking for for years. There's various books that do hit on. You know, obviously there's a lot of audit books, but. But this is the one that I've been looking for. And what we've tried to create through the podcast, I've jokingly said we started the podcast because I tried to write a book and spent five minutes on it and then went, I would rather just talk in front of a microphone instead of having to do this. So book writing is not for me. So this is. This was again, this was the goal for the podcast for a long time is like, let's tease out what a CAE typically does. Let's get their guidance and let's share it across everyone who is current CIE or looking to become a CAE just to help the profession. Now I think we have it in a bit much more compact way in Navin's book. If you need further proof of like, even if you when we give the book away, if you don't get it, why you should go ahead and get it. Anyway, for those that are familiar with Hal Garon, he's been on the show multiple times. He's on Richard Chambers top Internal Audit Thought Leaders list, I think three, four, five years in a row. However long Richard's been doing it, Hal has always been on the list. If you follow Hal on LinkedIn, you also know he reads like a book a week or a book a day. It's kind of hard to keep up, honestly, but he reads a lot of books and posts about it very consistently. To say he's read X amount of books so far this year, I think he wants to read like a book a week. Anyway, Hal reads a lot of books. And so I came across this post from Hal a month ago where he basically said the same thing or is echoing the same sentiments and thoughts that I have on getting ready to roar and said it's really great. It's really great. He bought it himself. He also is sharing it with basically anyone who will listen to him. And so again, this just kind of further adds to why I think everyone should check this out. I've had people in these like tech startups recently who they've talked to and they reach out and they go, you know what, point me to some resources. Or they came across the podcast and go like, I'm learning about the industry through the podcast. What else do you have? And I go read this book. This is the one that I would highly recommend in addition to some Norman Mark stuff and some Richard Chambers stuff. But anyway, with all of this said, what we are doing is we are going to give away one copy of the book and how we're going to do it is somewhat raffle style. So you should see today is going to be a Tuesday. You can see how well I've thought this out. So on December 23rd today we will post about this on LinkedIn. You can go to either the audit podcast and find it from there or you can go to Trent Russell, my LinkedIn profile find it from there, engage with a post, add some kind of comment. We're not going to do like in the post. We're not going to say like ah, comment to get the book, but we're going to do it through the podcast instead. And so do that. And we will just let literally any comment is fine and we will raffle that off the other way. Or in addition to that, you can, if you go to either itunes or Spotify and leave a review of the podcast on there, like a written review as well as I think after you write it you have to hit like the 3, 4, 5 stars, whatever it is, we'll throw you in there for an additional entry. We're gonna go based on the honor system on those. I know that for comments usually it's not someone's first and last name, but if the comment is left by boy mama5 and I know you're a single dude, I'm probably going to exclude that entry from the contest. So you can take that screenshot, you can send it to me on LinkedIn, you can email it to me. My emails out there on the Internet, pretty easy to find. But if not Trent T R N t dot Russell R U S S E L L at g s kanalytics.com send that over to me. We'll do a drawing over the break over the next week and then we will announce the winner and get that shipped out to you again. If you aren't the winner, I would still highly recommend going to Amazon and checking the book out. With that said, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, enjoy the time off for those that have it. So with that said, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, all stuff. We will see you all in 2026. Our episode, our first episode in 2026 is from our friend Pat Niemann over at EY who's going to talk about 2026 risks to keep an eye out on. So we'll see you again in 2026. Take care everybody.