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...
She spent 19 years at Southwire. She started in treasury, moved through business unit finance, became Chief Accounting Officer, and then made a move nobody saw coming. She left finance to run supply chain at a $9 billion company that provides cable for and electrical transmission throughout the US. ...
She spent her entire career in accounting and finance. Public accounting, FP&A, financial reporting, corporate accounting. Then she made a move nobody expected. She went into operations. And when she came back to finance as a CFO, everything was different. In this episode, I sit down in person w...
Most finance leaders think about making the jump to a private equity backed company at some point. Very few know what they are actually walking into. In this episode, I sit down with Chris Voudouris, a 3x PE CFO who has been on every side of the table. He started at KPMG in audit, moved into transac...
In this episode, I sit down in person with James White, CFO of ScanTech AI Systems. We talk about what kept him in public accounting for 20 years when most people leave in five. How he made himself easy to get to know in rooms where he was often the only one who looked like him. Why he believes bein...
Lori Kaczynski won six Canadian national championships in speed skating and was training for the Olympics. Then, had a car accident at 18. Four knee surgeries. Three years of rehabilitation. Today she is the Senior Vice President and Chief Audit, Risk, and Compliance Officer at Graphic Packaging In...
He started at Ernst & Young, moved to Home Depot where he had a front row seat to one of the most operational CFOs in the country, then jumped into high-growth startups and never looked back. In this episode, I sit down in person with Chad Gold, 2022 CFO of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chron...
I sat down with William Washington III, Global CFO of Baker McKenzie. He oversees $3 billion in revenue across 45 countries. His CFO told him he would be ready in five years. He said give me one. A year later, he had the job. We talked about the coaching session that made it happen, how he leads as ...
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...
