How to Get on High-Impact Projects and Lead Major Change, with Sindy Wilson

TRANSCRIPT

Wassia Kamon: The path to the C suite is rarely linear and the challenges don't stop once you get there. I'm Wassia Kamon and I'm taking you with me on my journey as a newly appointed CFO, sharing the hidden challenges and spoken roles and lessons I wish I had known. So whether you're in finance, Work in finance or just trying to get your budget approved faster.

There's something here for you. The purpose of this podcast is to make better leaders and help leaders be better at life. Welcome to the Diary of a CFO. Welcome back to the Diary of a CFO podcast. Today, I'm so delighted to have with me Sindy Wilson. She is a former chief financial officer of Kickstarter, the go to crowdfunding platform for creative projects.

Sindy is a strategic and transformational finance executive with over 20 years of experience. Most recently, Sindy was a VP of Finance Transformation and Analytics at Lyft. Prior to joining Lyft, she led finance for Autotrader and Kelly Blue Book, led business transformation and accounting operations for Old Castle Infrastructure, and was in Strategic Finance Management Consulting at EY.

Sindy was the recipient of the Emory Alumni Association's 40 Under 40 Awards. She serves on the Emory University Board of Visitors, where she is a past chair and executive committee member. Welcome to the show, rock star Sindy.

Sindy Wilson: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to talk to you, Asif. You are, I'm telling you, you're a powerhouse.

Wassia Kamon: Thank you. Trying to grow up to be like you, because what I just said was a lot. So why don't you tell us about your journey, the story behind all these great things that you did and any unexpected twists along the way.

Sindy Wilson: Absolutely. So, you know, I'm African, right? So I was going to be a doctor. Okay. I went to a pre med as a, to, to, to be a pediatrician.

And after dissecting, uh, in a, in a cat, I realized this is not going to be my path.

Well, at the same time, I was working for a telecom and customer service and was tapped to do a special project with finance and my love of numbers. And what the stories are behind the numbers and how it shapes the business and where it goes.

I knew right then. I went back, I changed my major so quickly. And then from there, it just skyrocketed my career of curiosity, of understanding and learning how numbers tell the story of stories around the business. And I went from the customer service role to being an analyst to a really having that be what my path was.

Right. So from there, I have a traditional, a very traditional background. I went to business school with Emory.

Wassia Kamon: Okay.

Sindy Wilson: Then I went into consulting with EY. And if I were to give my career a motto, it would be, I am a thrill seeker. I love to understand how things work. And I like to work with other people to build things.

So when I leave a role, I leave a company, I leave a project, I like to see something that I've built and that I've left. So, I went from EY to work for Cox. And in Cox I had several roles in finance, which ended, uh, with me serving as the brand CFO of Autotrader at Kelly Blue Book. I went from there. To work for CRH and CRH is a really large vertically integrated building product company I manufacture.

And I went there to do business transformation. And I think the transformation is the plot twist for me.

If people ask me, what's the thing that you've done in your career that's you wouldn't have expected. So we, we know as CFOs, CFOs a lot of times will. Be addressing an issue for a company, right? So, you know, Sindy, the performance looks low in sales, Sindy operations, the service levels don't look great in operations.

Manufacturing, uh, efficiency is necessary. Whatever those things are, even for our own finance function, Oh, our controls in space A or B don't meet the auditor's expectations per se. And when you go in there, typically you go in, you work with the leader, you put together a plan. In some cases. I've been asked to be the transformation leader in partnership, or in some places, like to lead a function through its change.

And I say like, it's a gift. Initially, when I was younger, I was like, Whoa, wait a second. I don't know if I could, I could do this. But over time I've learned it's a real gift because what it does is it teaches you what it actually takes to build, shift and change a people, a process. systems, culture, all of the components of what it takes to build a really good, a really good and thriving, uh, function, even sometimes out of the finance space.

And so that's been like the tell of my career, right? So from now, even now, um, a, whether it's going from CRH to lift to help them with transformation or going. to really do the same thing, which was build, help them build up their strategy for growth, uh, and how Kickstarter will grow into the future. It's all around how do we identify what are the challenges to achieving the financial, uh, sustainability that we're looking for, achieving the growth, uh, that we're looking for.

And how do we. How do we, you know, set a plan forth for that? So that's what I've been doing, uh, in my career ever since.

Wassia Kamon: That is awesome. And I like how you said, I look back at my younger self and I didn't think I would be able to do it, but it was a gift. How many times would you say leading a project is really what will make you visible?

Because you worked at very large companies where sometimes you may. feel small or how do people realize that it even exists to grow in your career? Can you speak a little bit about what helped you stand out for you to even be the leader in those cases?

Sindy Wilson: I said a few things. One is first of all, how you treat and work with others matters. And in finance, we don't always own. What it is that we're trying to shape in, in, in, in influence. And so first things first, you're you, the way that you handle and work with others is important because before you, before you can be put on a, on a big cross functional project, I would say really hone your partnering skills.

Wassia Kamon: Wow.

Sindy Wilson: The second piece is. Understanding what your talents are, right? So for me, I am a creative, I like to build creative solutions to things in partnership with others and being able to articulate. That to your, your leader and it's really important. And then lastly, you're going to do, I've had this, I've had a major, I've made some mistakes, right?

Some missteps. People like, what are the missteps that you've made? One of the missteps that I've made is when I'm not focused on what I've been given. And I want to move on to the next sexy thing. Cause remember I'm a thrill seeker. I'm a creative, I like challenge. And so it's so easy to go, all right, I'm going, I want to go work on the next biggest project that we have, but doing your job well.

In the role that you've been given really creates a followership and trust. And from there, that has been how I've got on all of the sexiest projects. So I over delivered in my role. I have really focused a lot on how I handle people. And then from there, I've been really clear about where I want to develop.

And that's, what's gotten me there. So I've been on so many really amazing. Projects where you can add value and because I've added value in my roles, it's, it's, it's been, uh, definitely easier for me to make a case. to be on those really high profile projects.

Wassia Kamon: Nice. Now tell us about how we can do the same.

So you mentioned earlier how you lead change, right? Because it has culture, people, systems, and all this at the same time, especially at large organizations. So let's say you are now given a new, a new challenge, a new digital transformation. What is your go to approach, your go to framework to get that done?

Sindy Wilson: Oh, this is really, it's a really great question. So We're entering into, let's say we're going to do a transformation and we want to change how we do inventory management, we're looking and we're saying, I don't know what the right inventory levels are. So when we go, when I go into a transformation, the very first thing that I want to do is.

First of all, build a, build a team and in finance, because I typically do this from the role of finance, we're, we understand, we understand the function, but we're not always the expert in every single step along the way. So the very first thing I want to do is build a good team of folk that, that, um, are from across the business that can help us come up with.

The approach to the problem and also help as culture champions to champion the change. The last thing someone wants is someone in the corporate office to come down to a manufacturing location or go into engineering or another function and tell them what to do without being a counterpart in that function.

So the first thing I've got to do is really build a team. They can help.

Then from there, I like to be able to truly break down the problem. So first thing that I typically end up doing is taking that team to go out and spend time across all the parts of the business or whether it is, uh, let's say we're doing inventory management and you do inventory management across five different product lines in 10 countries.

And we really need to understand the variation of what we're trying to change. And that ends up giving your transformation so much more credibility. So, that's the second thing, is really understanding, um, getting an understanding for what the problem is. And then from there, it's coming up with the plan for like, how do we have, how do we put in incremental change?

Big bang solutions don't typically work, right? So you go in, you're making too much change at a time at one time, but it's, how do we go in and make incremental change? And that incremental change creates wins shift. So an example of this, and I would like to give examples because when you talk about this in theory, like no one understands, so you're

Hey, we're going to first start with what you mean max levels. You're going to go in and we're going to put in metrics and we're going to say here's the metric we're going to look at. Here's the data that a standardized way of looking at data. First incremental step. And from there, what it does is it creates this inertia and natural culture change so that you can attack bigger problems.

Like maybe we need a different inventory management system. But now everybody looking at information the same way, we're putting information in the system the same way, we may be putting in a new process so that we're doing the steps the same way, now we can go in and we can put a system in place. And so those incremental changes are necessary, just like I said, to create.

the momentum in the culture for the bigger steps of change.

Wassia Kamon: I love it. I love it because often when we think transformation, we think about a better system, but that's not transformation. I love your approach to really shift things, like being more intentional about all the steps that are in it. Now I hear you and I'm like, yes, I want to be on that team with Sindy because I know I will get that visibility.

How do you pick the people in that committee? What are the typical traits, habits, or background you're looking for? Besides them being in different functions, is there a specific mindset, a specific vibe? Like, what do you look into? Because I want to be on that team with you.

Sindy Wilson: So the first is, remember I mentioned about myself, like how do I get on all these projects over the years to Number one is how you work with others.

I am first looking for who are those people that other people call when they have a challenge. And these are folks that are, if you put them on the team, they're going to have already the credibility so that when you send them out there to start working with others on understanding their problem, they naturally have the relationships.

The other thing that I'm looking for is learning agility. Right. So what's learning agility? People have heard this term. It's really your level of curiosity. In how quickly you can learn, but not only just learn it, but shift your personal habits. Right? So, I'll give you an example. You may learn that you, you're trying to improve your nutrition.

And this is a great one. And you're like, Ok, vegetables, ha ha ha ha. That really resonates with me right here. Improve your nutrition. Yes, go ahead. You need more leafy greens in your diet. Your doctor is like, more leafy greens for, you need to improve iron. So now you've learned something. You go like, all right, I have a goal.

I'm learning that I need to eat more leafy greens is what I need to do to improve. But it's also like, can you do it? Like do you actually have the discipline where you're going in, you're learning and you can deploy that. So next time you go for lunch, you should get a side salad. And so you can take that and apply that to the corporate environment.

Have you seen this person? That they can learn something, they can grasp it, and then they have the discipline to put it in place. The second thing that I'm looking for. So we say, we talked about people, how they get the work done. Do they have learning agility? And then I'm looking for them to be really great, good in their discipline.

So if you do industrial engineering, if you do sales, if you are a marketing, whatever that function product, and I've worked with on projects in the finance realm, you're talking about like a strategic leader, right? What is a strategic leader? What does that mean? It's really someone that understands and can look at the company as a holistic system.

Uh, functions in people in culture and understand where you need to go next to help the company move forward. And so this means that you work across the business often, right? You may be working with a marketer, you may be working with a product person. And so I, I need that person to be strong in their discipline.

As well. And so those to me are typically the skill sets that I'm looking for. Nice. And it's quite fascinating that you have such a framework, like a clear idea of how you're going to lead the project, how you're going to select people. And coming from your background, not the pre med, from accounting and finance, what are some of the things that shaped your approach to leadership and strategic thinking?

Oh, this is great. I would tell you good mentorship.

Wassia Kamon: Mmm. Good

Sindy Wilson: mentorship. I think that I had a mentor, and over the years he taught me some different things. The first one is that he taught me was, one, Sindy, you don't have to prove yourself, we already know. Selected you, you're already here. We back away from this proving of self quote.

Why did he mention this to me, right? Because when you're proving yourself, you got sharp elbows, right? Cause you're, you're like, I gotta get in there. I gotta, I gotta prove myself. And instead, what he said is you're really working with others to get things done. And you want to take away this desire to prove because then from there, you're only looking at your contribution opposed to the contribution of others and you know what you need to do to help them along the way.

And so that's been first one of the leadership lessons that I think has been like transformational for me. So when you do a new thing like a podcast. It's

easy

to get back into this notion of like, Oh, I got to prove myself. I got to know we're having a conversation with some people, person to person, and hopefully other people can find that, that useful.

Wassia Kamon: Oh, that's so good because I realized, so I started working with a coach a couple of years ago and she, she asked me, well, Sia, why do you always try to prove yourself? So we actually went back and I realized it was because of a. bad boss I had earlier in my career. So almost everything I was doing was in proving that I was worthy because of some things he said.

And over a decade later, those things were still affecting me in my work. So. Thank you so much for sharing it, uh, because I, I think we don't realize enough how maybe some of the things in the past, past trauma at work or even in life can affect your life now. So what's your experience? So besides, I, I learned it through trauma, you learned it through mentorship, but what are other things that helped you move on in your career and grow from whether it's mistakes or something bad happening to you at work?

Sindy Wilson: Absolutely. I think, first, I just have a personal philosophy, like, we're all human beings doing our best, and that's at the, that's at the root of a decor. I would tell you, and I'm going to give a shout out to Everett Taylor, so if he hears this, he'll know that I gave him this credit. But he always says, he's like, assume good intentions.

And so that's another way of, of saying that the same thing, which is, and then from there, because we're all human, like I study myself, I spent a lot of time with myself. I do long walks, I meditate because if I can't shift and change and know what my habits are, then really it's hard to lead, to lead others.

And so I think along the years, that's what I've spent most of my time. on, which is knowing and learning myself so that I can show up to be the best version of myself for others. And I believe that creates a more empathetic human being, knowing yourself, what you're good at, what you're not good at, uh, what your triggers are.

It just creates a level of empathy for others because you know what work it is. You know, you're a work in progress, right? I'm a work in progress.

Yes.

Um, so. Thank you. Yeah, I think that's really my, my biggest, the biggest arc to my career.

Wassia Kamon: Spending time with yourself. Wow. Thank you. Cause I, I need that. And I remember when we had lunch, you were talking about going to the university of you and studying you.

and he's just stuck with me and I've been spending more time with myself away from the, the not leafy, uh, vegetables.

It really helped, but it's amazing because people don't realize what being a CFO involves, right? So what would you say? Part of your work as a CFO might surprise people because we tend to think we on our spreadsheet calculating numbers and it's so much more than that.

Sindy Wilson: Oh, wow. It's so much more of that.

And I want to talk about two, two ways. I think being a CFO is our surprise. So the first is I'm going to make it all human as a CFO, you work across all functions, right? And so you're building relationships. With so many different, with so many different people that you become a bit of a go to on how to work with that person.

Right? So think about CFO's role. So I'm, I work with you and I'm, we're working on. We're working on how to resource you, we're working on how do we move the company forward together, we're working on decisions that are being made, and so I've learned a lot about how you like to work, how you get work done, and how to put your recommendation to you, how to advise you, and so when you do that across so many people, you then become a person that advises others on how to get work done with others.

It's just a natural thing. And over the years I've had bosses say like, are you serving as an intermediary between function A and function B? I was like, well, you know, guys, I have all the information. So I know function. The sales team and the product team have a gap and I'm going to bring them together in a really positive way so that product doesn't over commit sales.

Right. And so that is really one of those things that, uh, is a very concrete way that people probably didn't realize that they were going to be. Uh, connector of folks and an advisor of folks, uh, so that you can get to the right outcomes as a business.

Wassia Kamon: Wow. And a therapist sometimes too. I feel like , you sound like a CFO bit of, a bit of a therapist as well.

It's, it's the, the other thing that I would say that really surprised me about like the CFO role is how much of this role is, is not about the numbers at all. It's definitely, it's more about where the industry is going. And what the business needs to do to meet it there. And so, uh, an example could be, you know, hey, we have a, you know, ai

mm-hmm

We have AI is a disruptor. And working across the business to understand what AI could mean for us, and understand, you know, not only from an investment perspective. But from a strategic perspective, what do we want AI to mean for us? And, and, uh, and then from there, you could talk about what the investment should be in it.

But there's a lot of times where you're spending more of your time talking about these disruptors to the business. How do you handle those?

Yes, because you have to mitigate risk. And sometimes you feel like risk management's Like, just stay on the shoulder of the CFO of, okay, guys, yeah, no, we cannot do this, but how can we do it better?

So what are some things like in your career you think helped you get to that think, thinking and operating beyond the numbers? Cause yes, the CFO is so much more than that. Um, but what kind of things prepared you? I know you mentioned digital transformation, but what other things?

Sindy Wilson: Oh, wow. A lot of times when you are growing up in the CFO, going the CFO track, you're growing up in the finance world, you hold these FP& A jobs and they almost embed you with a leader.

So whether it's a part of the business, like a division, or even sometimes it's just a function, like you're partnered with product or sales. And I would say, study the work, not only the finance part of that, but whether it's, hey, we're going to have a new product. And, you know, can you build out a model that tells me what we think this new product is going to make?

We studied how the product function works, how they get their work done, how they partner. And I think The more you can understand each function of the business, how that function works, and then take that, take that, um, back to what we do, it really prepares you to be an advisor and understand what it takes to do whatever it is you.

You think it's necessary to move the business

Wassia Kamon: forward. Wow. So looking deeper than just the surface, just the spreadsheet, but really diving deeper into the business. So that makes me wonder, what is, what is your day look like if I was to shadow you, uh, on a Monday or Tuesday, what will I, what will I learn?

What will I see?

Sindy Wilson: Oh, wow. Wow. This is a good question. I don't see, but we're in, we're in February. So typically at this part of my day, I start every day with a bit of a, a standup. So I've started a new role. I have a team of people that I'm getting to learn. And typically when you come in and you've taken over a new CFO role, there's a bit of some fires that need to be put out.

And so I like to work, like I said, I would like to work collaboratively with others. And I like to be very, I like to be very organized. So, typically in the morning, I'll bring, uh, folks together to be really clear about anything that is, like, very, very high priority.

Wassia Kamon: Okay.

Sindy Wilson: So, I'll do a quick 10 15 minute morning meeting where I put my team together and go, Hey, hey guys, we have these, the auditors are coming in.

From X time to Y time, you know, how do we prepare, how are we prepared for that, that meeting and what should I know because I like to be, I like to be prepared. So I typically start my day with understanding what the highest priorities are from there. Like it's been, it's a bit of a mix of working with a leader to solve a problem, reviewing where we are against our performance.

And then. Reaching out to folks to better understand what I'm seeing and what we need to do next. And that's just kind of the mixture of what my day looks like. Sometimes there's a fire drill. Sometimes there's an urgent call from the CEO. You know, those gotta get, get handled. But typically I started off the day, I should be real organized, be really clear about where my time is needed.

And, um, how they want me to be input into that. And then from there, like I said, I, it's, it's a mix of decisions that need to be made and then driving the business forward through where I'm seeing what I'm seeing happening with the numbers.

Wassia Kamon: And how do you keep yourself? Sane, like outside of work, like, cause there's life, right?

And then there is this intense day you just mapped out because yes, February, this first quarter of the year, especially for companies that are calendar based reporting is a tough quarter. So it is a lot, a lot going on. So what helps you stay balanced, stay on top of your game outside of work?

Sindy Wilson: Oh, wow. So earlier in my career, I was horrible at this.

I spent, I probably spent all day and night working. I don't know if I slept more than five hours a day for the first 10 years of my career. But over time I realized that, you know, I got married, I have kids. And I want to make sure that my work day, that more days than not, I'm managing the work day in a way where it does not bleed into my personal life too much.

Sometimes it does at month end close or whatever else. Um, if you need to report out results, you got a board meeting. Sometimes it does. So first of all is I set boundaries. I set boundaries at work and so I do try to not let my work bleed, bleed too much into my personal life as well. From there, I, I'm, all things fitness, all things family, fitness, family, that's it.

So whether it's going out for a run, and if that fitness is not just about physical but it's also mental. Like I said, meditation and then I'm at a kid's baseball game and I'm at a kid's baseball game quite often. And so just spending time with my kids. And watching them grow reminds me why I do, why I do what I do, right?

To be able to provide a stable life for my children matters a lot for me, right? I am a first generation born here in America. My family, I said before, is from Nigeria. And so for me to Continue to build on while my family moved here, provide that for my Children. I'm telling you, it is, it is. It gives me so much purpose to my life.

Wassia Kamon: Awesome. Wow. That's such inspiring. And I like how you said fitness and family. And I could say for me, it's food and family, but I think we're on the same page on the family side, so that's good. We align. Um, but that's so inspiring because yes, you always have to remind yourself why you're doing those things as you're going through it, because it can be a lot, it can be overwhelming at times, but having that anchor always helped.

Sindy Wilson: Yeah, I had, I had a mentor help me with this as well. Actually the same one that told me about like, don't, you're trying to prove yourself, you don't need to do that. He said, he said, Sindy, you got three balls that you're juggling at all times. Two are made of glass and one is made of rubber. Mmm. He said, your health is one, and your family is one, and your work is one.

So there's three balls. Which ones are glass and which one is rubber?

Ooooooh.

And I was like, Touche. Touche.

Wassia Kamon: Yeah. Touche right there. Like which one would you not drop?

Sindy Wilson: Which one? He's like, you can never drop the health ball. You can never drop that family ball. He says, but you can always come back and pick up your career.

And she said, so just make sure that you're thinking about that and you're balancing those things as you grow.

Wassia Kamon: That is so true. Because life be lifing sometimes. Sometimes you just, it's just a lot going on in life and you have to be able to take a break. You have to be able to take a break to come back stronger, for sure.

Sindy Wilson: Absolutely. My, my last living career, my father passed away in November of last year.

Sorry.

Um, thank you. And it was one of those times in life where you go, the world stopped for me. My whole world stopped. And a lot of times you decide, I'm gonna push forward. You know, you have something going on personally, people push forward.

You go like, that's the professional thing to do. For me, I, I, I realized I needed to take A big, a big step back because for the first time I wasn't, I wasn't okay, right? And I think it's, I think grief in life, you know, we see like on LinkedIn and Instagram and all of the social medias folks talking about.

This concept of life, you know, life lifing and being honest with yourself around which challenges you could, you could still balance everything with, and which challenge, challenges require you to take a break. And so for me, when my dad passed away, I knew then my life had been rocked and I needed some time to care for myself.

And making all of his arrangements, all of those things, hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And I'm so proud of myself for taking the time that I needed to, you know, I took, I took quite a bit of time off. Um, and I'm proud of myself for taking a step back and going, Hey, hey guys, at this time in my life, I need to focus on me and me being whole.

So that I can be there for others. Um, leadership is a lifestyle. And when you, the lens in which you. are living your life will show up work. And so if you're grieving and you are hurt, you will show up with work with your heart hurt. If you're, you know, having a sick parent, you're going to show up with a care, with that caregiver's mentality.

If you have a healthy, you know, marriage, you're going to show up with a healthy If your marriage is not healthy, then maybe you're going to have trust issues with people at work. So it is a lifestyle. And, um, that's the reason why I said that, that arc I talked about, know yourself, work on yourself.

You

have to, as a leader, because you really do need to be whole and healthy in a good, especially in a really healthy mental place.

So that you can show up with the energy that accompanies, um, the energy that your team needs, and with the soundness that a company, a company needs for you. Because they bestowed their trust in you.

Wassia Kamon: Yes. Yes. Oh my God. Ha! You're bringing back memories. Because, um, and like you, I didn't take a break, unfortunately, when my dad passed away.

And I thought I could push through. I thought that the world had to keep going. I could do it. Only to break down months later. So I didn't fully recover and it's something we don't always make space for in our organizations, right? We did, we give a three day bereavement, hope you make it, see you next week.

And it's just not. Easy because like you said, as leadership is a lifestyle, if you're not okay internally, you're going to be a bad boss. Even if you were great, you're going to make somebody pay for it. That's right. You know, the state you're in.

Sindy Wilson: That's right.

Wassia Kamon: It's so true.

Sindy Wilson: We're human beings and I, that's why.

Full circle. We are human beings first. And I always say we bring our whole self to work. That's what makes work some, right? Like your whole self to work and you get to see people's passion and talents and we all come together to do amazing things and in the company to the company's benefit.

Wassia Kamon: Wow. Thank you so much.

Oh my God. I have one last question before I forget because. Yes. What you say resonates so much with me. What would you say are some of the things that the next generation of financiers should be mindful of or should be intentional about working more, especially in today's fast changing technology, AI? I mean, it's a lot going on.

How do you think they can better prepare themselves for roles like CFO, just being a business executive?

Sindy Wilson: Oh, wow. A couple of things. I'll take it from like a very literal. In a very literal way, we need to train our finance teams on how to integrate with the ever changing world of technology. And that's just from the, us, from our perspective that we're performing the finance work.

So that's first, CFOs, work with your team, get them training for AI. I, Oh, I got to tell you, I was in the most awesome meeting. With one of my lead accountants and we were looking at, um, um, I mean, I'm new to my new role, right? So I'm going deep, right? I'm looking at a prepaid account. Are we making sure the financials are sound?

And we used AI to build a whole schedule that we can use to prepare all, like all of these journal entries. And to watch her do it. I was like, I was like, I am no longer needed in this meeting. I, I was like, I was so proud of her. So when I say teach, making sure that we're, we're enabling our teams to work with latest technology is so important to, they won't get left behind, but so that our functions are not getting left behind, how technology is evolving.

And then the other space that I would say is. Get comfortable with industry disruptors. If you looked, you know, you could look a hundred years ago. If you look at like the cycle of economic turmoil, there's going to always be like kind of a, some recessionary, um, conditions that occur. And it used to be like 20 years.

Then it went to 10

years.

Now it's like every. Five to seven years, you're seeing some economic turmoil happening. What was driving that? It's disruptors. It's the pace of innovation. And so if I were talking to a group of CFOs, which I do all the time, I say, what are the, what are your industry's disruptors?

And how do you stay with your ear to the ground where you, so that you know what those are? So that you can prepare companies for the inevitable disruption that

Wassia Kamon: will come. Love it. Love it. Well, thank you so much, Sindy, for being on the show. I really, really, I can't even say how much I appreciate your time, your insight, your wisdom that you share with me.

Sindy Wilson: Pleasure is mine.

Wassia Kamon: And that's it for today's episode of the Diary of a CFO. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to like, review, subscribe, and share with others. Our website is thediaryofacfo. com. That's where you can find all the episodes. Access all the guest profiles, see their bios and their social media links.

It is also the place where you can apply to be a guest on the podcast and have information about how you can sponsor the show. As always, if there is any topic you would like me to cover in the future, just email me at ask at thediaryofacfo. com. Again, the email is ask at thediaryofacfo. com. See you soon.