Here you'll find insights and templates on how to succeed once you’re in the CFO role, beyond just “owning the numbers.”
You’ll find playbooks on leading the business, running a high‑performing finance team, avoiding burnout, and turning metrics into decisions executives can act on.
Download 10 full-page prompts with the context and structure you can put to work right away. Plus:
Executive Summary Most AI tool purchases fail because the decision is made before anyone asks the right questions. When there is pressure to move quickly on AI, it's easy to adopt something qui...
Executive Summary Most finance functions are built to report what happened. The ones that drive growth are built around a different question: where are we going, and how do we get there? This a...
Executive Summary Most FP&A teams rely on a single forecasting method and wonder why their numbers keep missing. The fix is not working harder. It is thinking differently about method, mode...
Executive Summary Almost every first-time CFO steps into the role carrying imposter syndrome, a calendar full of expectations, and a skill gap no training program fully closes. This article tur...
Executive Summary Many CFOs are hired to be strategic, but their direct reports spend most of their time on transactions and compliance. This article explains how controllers, FP&A, treasur...
Executive Summary Many CFOs are hired to be strategic, but their finance function remains transactional. This article explains the “evolution gap” between a strategic CFO role and finance roles...
Executive Summary Difficult board conversations become manageable when preparation removes surprise and clarifies the decision. Strong preparation includes defining the issue, writing a one-pag...
No matter the industry, and no matter how healthy the business looks today, three board conversations show up sooner or later. A number gets missed. Cash stops feeling comfortable. Or someone f...
Executive Summary A new CFO’s first 90 days should leave the company feeling, “We can finally trust the numbers and the finance leader behind them,” because you’ve spent that time learning the ...
3 Simple Ways You Can Do More Strategic Work in Finance, Despite a Packed Schedule Practical methods to add value without adding hours If you're like most finance professionals, your days are p...
In this episode, I sit down with Julianne Averill, a healthcare AI CFO, board director, and fractional CFO with over 20 years of experience helping life science and digital health companies scale through fundraising, M&A, and IPOs. She has been through over 50 transactions on both the buy and sell s...
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, we examine what it actually takes to build a 30-year career at a Fortune 50 company and reach the Group CFO seat. Dave DeFreitas, retired Group CFO of Caterpillar Inc., shares the career moves, leadership frameworks, and operational mindset shifts that shaped o...
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, we explore what truly separates a good finance team from a great one and what it takes to grow into the full scope of the CFO role. Kevin Appleby, Head of Partnerships at GrowCFO and host of the GrowCFO Show, brings 25 years of management consulting experience ...
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO Podcast, host Wassia Kamon sits down with Teri Kozub, a three-time CFO with more than 33 years of experience in nonprofit finance and current CFO at Community Legal Services of Mid Florida. Teri shares how her non-linear career shaped her leadership style, why ...
What does it take to turn a traditional finance team into a true strategic business partner? In this episode, Paul Young, CFO of Liberty Bank, shares how he connected strategy, budgeting, and talent development to create a finance function built for impact.
CFOs are expected to drive transformation, lead strategy, and still deliver flawless numbers every month. In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, I sit down with Tom Hood, one of the most influential voices in finance leadership, to unpack what’s really behind the growing pressure on today’s CFOs.
Bona Allen has led finance at both public and private companies, navigated the savings and loan crisis, the 2008 crash, and COVID, and built strategies that kept projects and people moving through uncertainty. In this episode, he shares what it takes to lead finance through real estate booms, constr...
Not every CFO starts as a controller or FP&A lead. Axel Talout shares how banking and private equity shaped his journey, why your “different” background can be your edge, and how to intentionally build a team that fills your blind spots.
Mike High (CFO, NAIT; ex-Shell Deep Water CFO) shares leadership lessons from the Army to corporate finance: why the “platinum rule” beats one-size-fits-all leadership, what truly changes when you move from FP&A to the CFO seat, and how to carry a portfolio of crises without burning out.
