Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast GrowCFO Show
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| #203 Counting More Than Cash: Can CFOs Handle Human Value? with Arjan Udding, Director at Impact Institute and Werner Schouten, Director, Impact Economy Foundation | 01 Oct 2024 | 00:43:25 | |
#203 Counting More Than Cash: Can CFOs Handle Human Value? with Arjan Udding and Werner Schouten
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4XDwgSdG36iRyx8uhedCK4
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/203-counting-more-than-cash-can-cfos-handle-human-value/id1529443371?i=1000671388078
In this episode of the GrowCFO Show, host Kevin Appleby engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Arjan Udding, Director Impact Institute, and Werner Schouten, Director Impact Economy Foundation. The conversation centres around the evolving role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in the realm of sustainability. The guests make a compelling case for the CFO to transition into a Chief Value Officer (CVO) role, emphasizing the need to balance the traditional focus on financial value with equal consideration for social, human, and natural value creation. They delve into the importance of impact accounting, a methodology that quantifies non-financial value and integrates it with financial metrics. Arjan and Werner share examples of European institutions, such as Rabobank and Triodos, that have successfully adopted impact accounting to inform their decision-making and long-term investment strategies. Throughout the discussion, the speakers highlight the need for a harmonized, accessible language for impact reporting. This, they argue, is crucial for driving sustainable business practices and investment decisions across organizations of all sizes, as it enables a comprehensive understanding of the interconnected environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors that shape a company’s long-term viability and societal impact. Key topics covered include:
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #202 How Does Corporate Legal Finance Work with Jordan Licht, CFO, Burford Capital | 24 Sep 2024 | 00:29:42 | |
#202 How Does Corporate Legal Finance Work? with Jordan Licht
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7gxFduDodLzWwcUMKr0rpV?si=nKOiLbeOT1m-TXDZ1wf7Xw
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/202-how-does-corporate-legal-finance-work-with-jordan/id1529443371?i=1000670492929
In this episode of the Grow CFO Show, host Kevin Appleby sits down with Jordan Licht, the CFO of Burford Capital, to discuss the fascinating world of legal fundraising and litigation finance. Jordan Licht’s career journey to becoming the CFO at Burford Capital is an interesting one. He transitioned from a 15-year background in investment banking and consulting to eventually taking on the CFO role, reconnecting with a former boss who had also joined Burford. This highlights the importance of maintaining professional networks and how serendipitous career paths can be. The core focus of the discussion centers around Burford Capital and the unique world of litigation finance. Jordan provides an overview of how Burford invests in commercial litigation cases, sharing in the risk and reward. He explains Burford’s thorough underwriting process, the challenges of estimating case durations, and the benefits their capital and expertise can provide to clients. The conversation also touches on Burford’s global presence, their approach to building a non-law firm culture, and the complexities of funding and managing the company’s own capital requirements. Beyond just traditional finance responsibilities, Jordan emphasizes the value of having diverse experience across sales, strategy, and operations. This broader understanding of the business, rather than just the finance function, has been crucial in his current role as CFO. Jordan discusses how this experience has helped him appreciate the symbiotic relationship between business operations and finance, and the dependencies that exist between the two. Key topics covered include:
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #193 Navigating My First Fundraise as Group CFO with Vineta Bajaj, Group CFO, Rohlik Group (ex Ocado) | 23 Jul 2024 | 00:27:01 | |
#193 Navigating My First Fundraise as Group CFO with Vineta Bajaj
https://open.spotify.com/episode/11eo7ZWSRIHL77o1p1kWtX
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/193-navigating-my-first-fundraise-as-group-cfo-with/id1529443371?i=1000663060229
In this episode, we are honored to have Vineta Bajaj, the Group CFO of Rohlik Group and former executive at Ocado, as our guest. Vineta opens up about her personal and professional experiences across diverse environments, stressing the importance of owning one’s space and maintaining authenticity. Her insights are not only inspiring but also provide practical advice for navigating the complexities of leadership in today’s fast-paced business landscape. Kevin enriches the dialogue by addressing the unconscious biases and challenges that female founders often encounter in fundraising and business operations. Kevin underscores the significance of personal development mentors like Michael Hipple, who play a crucial role in helping leaders transform challenges into opportunities. This discussion sheds light on the unique obstacles faced by women in the entrepreneurial world and offers valuable perspectives on overcoming these barriers through self-awareness and strategic thinking. In the latter part of the episode, Vineta and Kevin pivot to the specific challenges associated with sustainable growth in the competitive online grocery market. They explore the demanding responsibilities of a CFO, particularly in formulating effective communication strategies with investors during fundraising efforts. Their combined expertise provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of balancing sustainable growth with the intricate demands of financial leadership. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to gain deeper insights into the multifaceted role of a CFO and the evolving dynamics of the online grocery industry. Key topics covered include:
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #103 The Current State of Investor Funding with Chris Roling, CFO at Coinme | 11 Oct 2022 | 00:30:30 | |
Chris Roling is the CFO at Coinme. He has 25 years of commercial and private equity experience having served in board, CEO, COO, and CFO positions with a number of global public and private companies. His previous experience is deeply rooted in venture capital, making him an expert on the current state of investor funding and how to acquire it in a bear market. Chris provides some great insights into the following:
Chris Roling has also been a partner at Ernst and Young. We know from GowCFO research into routes to CFO that it’s very unusual for a resume to contain both CFO and Big 4 partner roles. We find out from Chris how that came about. Links
00:12 Welcome and introduction to Chris Roling. 02:38 How Chris became a CFO at a very senior level. 04:40 What does it mean to be a direct admit partner? 06:54 What is the current state of investor funding? 11:15 If you do not have enough cash runway you can get yourself into a predicament. 14:00 What is the difference between B2B and B2C companies? 16:19 How to separate the wheat from the chaff in the fintech space. 20:24 The importance of having a shortlist of investors to approach. 22:14 What you need to do to become investor friendly. 24:48 The importance of having a cash flow forecast. | |||
| #102 How to Gain Control of Your Time with Laura Vanderkam | 04 Oct 2022 | 00:35:21 | |
They tell you never to meet your heroes. So did Kevin Appleby make a mistake inviting Laura Vanderkam on to the GrowCFO Show? You will have to listen to the episode and make up your own mind about that! Kevin recommends Laura’s book “168 Hours” every time he runs a module 3 workshop on GrowCFO’s Future CFO Programme. It’s essential reading if you need to find a few extra hours every week to sort out your own personal development and career progression. Laura tells us more about 168 hours in this week’s episode. Laura Vanderkam is a keynote speaker and author of multiple books. She is about to release her latest work “Tranquility By Tuesday” based on a time diary study of over 150 people. In the book, you’ll learn nine tried-and-true “rules” to easily build opportunities for joy, nourishment, and fulfilment into your schedule. These strategies will help you make what you want to happen, actually happen, instead of letting the minutiae of everyday life get in the way. Better still, listen to the podcast episode as Laura reveals to Kevin what all 9 rules are. These rules of course are of limited use to Kevin. He might get to have tranquillity next Tuesday, but his problem is he still can’t get the hang of Thursdays! Links
00:43 Why is Laura Vanderkam Kevin’s heroine? 01:35 Laura explains 168 Hours 03:40 How do you make time? 5:22 Doing a time audit 7:55 168 hours is a recommendation in Module 3 of the Future CFO Programme 09:15 The importance of a morning routine 12:31 Tranquility by Tuesday 14:10 The 9 different strategies or rules 15:20 Rule 1 – Give yourself a bedtime 15:50 Rule 2 – Plan on Fridays 18:44 Rule 3 – Move by 3pm 20:35 Rule 4 – Three times a week habit 23:00 Rule 5 – Create a backup slot 24:55 Rule 6 – One big adventure, one little adventure 27:27 Rule 7 – Take one night for you 29:37 Rule 8 – Batch the little things 31:20 Rule 9 – Effort full before effort less | |||
| #101 How to Become a Great Finance Business Partner with Oliver Deacon, Former FD at Microsoft | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:26:24 | |
Do you want to be a great finance business partner? If so, you’re in luck! In this episode, Oliver Deacon joins Kevin Appleby and gives us some great tips that will help improve your relationship with your colleagues in the rest of the business. Oliver Deacon is a member of the GrowCFO Mentoring team. He runs the GrowCFO Business Partnering Boot Camps and is a former FD at Microsoft.
One of the most important things to remember when trying to become a great finance business partner is that communication is key. You need to be able to effectively communicate with your colleagues in order to build strong relationships. Make sure you are always clear and concise when conveying information, and take the time to listen to what others have to say. It is also important to be responsive to questions and concerns that your colleagues may have. It is also essential that you are able to build trust with your colleagues. This can be done by being honest and transparent in your dealings with them. Make sure you keep your promises and always follow through on what you say you will do. If there are ever any issues, make sure you deal with them in a timely and professional manner. Remember that it is important to show your colleagues that you are invested in the success of the organisation. This can be done by offering help and support when needed and being proactive in finding solutions to problems. Your job is to sell ideas and provide options. If you can do these things, you will be well on your way to becoming a great finance business partner. Building a strong relationship between finance and the rest of the business is essential for the success of your organisation. Listen in for some great information on how to make things work well between you and your fellow business managers! Links
00:43 What is a finance business partner? 02:11 About Oliver Deacon 03:26 How to become a great business partner? Where do you start? 03:59 Relationships and selling ideas 05:38 How do you start forming great relationships? 06:15 Asking questions, showing people you are interested in them 09:43 Can you figure out what your business partners’ biggest problems are? 10:39 Stop; Start; Continue 12:16 Turning data into insights 15:40 What are we going to do differently as a business? 16:38 Finance business partnering boot camp 18:48 How is the boot camp structured? 21:17 What’s covered in each workshop? 23:32 How do you attend a bootcamp? 24:41 What surprises people most on the boot camp? | |||
| #100 After 100 Episodes of the GrowCFO Show, What’s Next for GrowCFO? | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:29:16 | |
100 Episodes of the GrowCFO Show, that’s 2 years’ worth of podcast episodes. Dan Wells, founder and CEO of GrowCFO joins regular podcast host Kevin Appleby to celebrate the milestone, reflect back on the last two years and talk about some new exciting developments in GrowCFO. Dan and Kevin both choose their favourite episodes of the GrowCFO Show. Dan decided on episode 95 where Catherine Clark, head of mentoring at GrowCFO, talked about making the best decision for both you and your business. Kevin selected episode 102, yes an episode that is yet to be published, where he managed to get a guest from his own bucket list on the show. We’ll leave you to wait another two weeks to find out who it is. The clue is Kevin talks about her book every time he delivers module 3 of the Future CFO Programme. Three significant milestones arrive all at the same time. As well as the 100th episode of the GrowCFO Show we’ve published two great new resources. The first is a 100-page book that describes the CFO Competency Framework. The second is a white paper examining the career paths of 500 CFOs and exploring the many different career routes available to get to the top job in finance. Both have just been made available to download on the GrowCFO website Links
01:40 Two years ago, what was the original vision for GrowCFO? 03:17 How did Dan and Kevin end up working together? 06:02 Working with interesting people who simply want to give something back 07:23 Our favourite episodes of the GrowCFO Show 11:38 Whats GrowCFO all about? 16:19 plans for the next 2 years 17:19 The CFO Competency Framework 21:57 New research: What’s the optimum size for your finance function 24:56 Virtual Boardroom and Fundraising Simulator 25:34 Boot Camps for both Strategy and Finance Business Partnering | |||
| #99 How to be a Changemaker with Alex Budak, Author, Social Entrepreneur and UC Berkley Haas Business School | 13 Sep 2022 | 00:34:06 | |
Alex Budak joins the GrowCFO show on the same day that his new book “Becoming a Changemaker” is published. Quite a coup for the podcast! The book is an excellent read for anyone wanting to become a changemaker, in particular for finance leaders wanting to enhance their ability to be a catalyst for change. As a faculty member at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Alex created and teaches the wildly popular course “Becoming a Changemaker,” which has quickly grown into one of the most highly-rated courses anywhere on campus. The course is regularly heralded by students as “transformative” and “life-changing” but has only been accessible to students attending UC Berkeley. That all changes from today as the course is condensed into a book accessible by anyone. The Becoming a Changemaker playbook is a guide for anyone looking to lead positive change. It covers the mindsets and leadership skills needed to navigate, shape, and lead change, as well as how to thrive in uncertain times. The book is tailored to millennials and Gen Zers who are leaving school and entering the workforce. It is based on the popular UC Berkeley course by the same name, which students have praised as transformative and life-changing. Links
00:51 Alex explains his background 02:26 Book being published on 13 September 2022 04:05 Change and the CFO 06:17 Technology and change 10:02 Can the changemaker skill be learned? 10:36 The Changemaker index 12:33 Dealing with resistance to change 15:06 Involving people in the change 18:28 Champions, fence-sitters and cynics 23:03 Impact = (mindset+leadership) x action 25:24 Who is the book aimed at? 28:06 How did you get involved in teaching “Changemaker”? | |||
| #98 The CFO Driving Business Strategy and Rapid Growth with Jeremy Foster, CFO at Talroo | 06 Sep 2022 | 00:28:42 | |
Jeremy Foster is an unusual CFO, he isn’t an accountant and doesn’t have a finance background. His origins are in sales and marketing. He changed course following an MBA at Notre Dame and has subsequently become a highly successful finance leader with strong strategic capabilities and significant M&A experience. Jeremy has been instrumental in multiple equity rounds, debt recaps, and a 9-digit platform sale to PE. Jeremy’s main interest is working with an organisation that wants to drive massive growth. He will typically be brought on board by a CEO who wants a co-pilot to go on that journey. In this episode, we talk about how Jeremy is currently doing that at Talroo and how that differs from his approach at previous companies Homeward and Kasasa. He explains how he operates as a strategic partner to the CEO and gives us some great insights to the thought process a CFO needs in helping build and drive strategy. We explore some of the key KPIs you need to understand when investing in customer acquisition, and we talk about the theory of constraints. Jeremy shows how the skills he learned as a marketing director are extremely valuable to a CFO too. Links
00:53 A background in marketing for a bank 01:29 Did you miss out by not having an accounting background? 02:13 What role do you play as a non-accounting CFO? 04:01 Blitz scaling 05:26 The three big KPIs you need to know 07:53 Profit per customer 10:25 Jeremy Foster’s experience growing the business at Kasasa 12:39 What issues do such rapid growth bring? 15:53 Thinking about communication channels 18:38 The theory of constraints 19:50 The importance of good relationships 21:50 The role of a finance business partner 23:03 What advice would you give to a CFO coming through a more traditional route than yourself? 24:55 What’s the role of the CFO in driving a high-growth business strategy? | |||
| #97 My Route to Finance Leader in a Fast Growth Fintech with Danielle Keeven VP Finance at Paddle | 30 Aug 2022 | 00:33:45 | |
Danielle Keeven has had quite a journey to get to her current role as VP of Finance at paddle.com. She has crossed the globe and changed industry sectors. She has gone from roles in large multinationals to working in high-growth startups. Danielle shares her experiences with Kevin Appleby on this week’s GrowCFO Show. Originally working in the Caribbean for large US multinationals such as Marriott and Hyatt, Danielle swapped to working in Europe for booking.com, then moved out of hospitality completely to work in fintech. This was a huge change and she tells us all about the challenges she faced in the episode. Danielle Keeven is currently VP of finance at paddle.com. Paddle offers SaaS companies a completely different way to sell. Instead of assembling and maintaining a complex stack of payments-related apps and services, Paddle provides an all-in-one solution. Danielle explains how her finance expertise is applied to the design of the product as well as to running the finance team. We discuss in detail the problems that products like Paddle solve for SaaS founders, and some of the mistakes Danielle has seen these companies make. Links
01:00 Born in the Netherlands, growing up in the Caribbean 01:42 The accidental accountant 02:59 Hospitality: Hyatt and Marriott 03:45 Move to Europe and the tech side of Hospitality 05:00 Accounts receivable in a SaaS business 06:41 moving from Booking.com to Messagebird 09:23 Why did you join paddle.com? 11:47 What does Paddle do? 13:18 The complexities of online business and global tax rules 16:13 Will you move on from VP Finance to a full CFO role? 17:19 Roald Dahl’s Matilda 19:13 What sort of mistakes do you see fast-growing SaaS companies making? 22:06 Building a strategy for internationalisation 23:15 Giving SaaS businesses the right data insights 25:26 What advice would you give other finance people looking to move to CFO roles 26:41 GrowCFO Competency framework 27:15 The art of delegation 30:33 The finance leader and fraud | |||
| #96 My Journey to Become a Business Transformation Specialist with Toni Betts, Group FD at The Travel Chapter | 23 Aug 2022 | 00:35:51 | |
The role of a finance transformation leader is a complex one. It requires someone with great technical skills, as well as strong people skills. A successful finance transformation leader must be able to manage and motivate their team, while also being able to communicate effectively with other members of the organization. Toni Betts, group finance director at The Travel Chapter is one of those successful transformation leaders and she shares her journey with Kevin Appleby on this episode of The GrowCFO Show. One of the most important qualities of a successful finance transformation leader is the ability to manage and motivate their team. A finance transformation is a complex undertaking that requires the efforts of many individuals. A great leader will be able to keep their team on track and focused on the goal. They will also be able to motivate their team when things get tough. In addition to being a great manager, a finance transformation leader must also be an effective communicator. This is important because they will need to communicate with other members of the organization, such as the CEO and CFO. They will also need to communicate with vendors and other outside parties. Effective communication is essential for ensuring that everyone is on the same page and that the transformation goes smoothly. Great people skills are essential for anyone looking to lead a finance transformation. A successful leader will be able to manage and motivate their team, while also being an effective communicator. If you have these qualities, then you may be well suited for this important role. Links
01:39 Toni’s new group FD role 02:04 When did you decide to become an accountant? 04:50 Qualifying in an audit practice 06:52 Toni’s first role outside practice and moving on to join American Express 08:10 Being part of a great leadership programme 09:46 Stepping out of your comfort zone: You need to get comfortable with leadership skills and push yourself to use them 11:32 Susan Jeffers – Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway 12:03 Moving on from American Express 15:09 Becoming a finance transformation expert 16:43 Learning from experience 20:24 Some of the practical challenges of transforming finance teams 24:14 Technology is forcing finance to change 25:03 What advice would you give other finance leaders? 27:42 Personal Awareness and feedback from others 29:01 The importance of how you present over what you are presenting 30:45 What does Toni Betts do to avoid stress and burnout? 32:37 What’s the biggest challenge in your new group FD role? | |||
| #95 How to Make the Best Decision for You and Your Organisation with Catherine Clark Head of Mentoring at GrowCFO | 16 Aug 2022 | 00:36:55 | |
Are you in control of your own life, or are the demands of all the other things around you taking over? Too much pressure at work to have a personal life? Perhaps you aren’t feeling fulfilled? If any of that describes you then it’s time to take control back and make decisions that benefit you and not just your organisation. In this episode, Catherine Clark joins us to talk about the importance of making the right decisions for your own wellbeing. She draws on both her own personal experience as a CFO and the situations she comes across every week when she is mentoring other finance leaders. If you aren’t happy with where you are right now it’s time to do something about it and take action. Catherine has some great advice to offer about how to find out what you really want and then take the right steps to get there. We talk about the importance of having the right mindset, and the importance of stepping forward even when there might be fear and uncertainty. This is the third episode in a mini-series looking at your well-being. In the previous two episodes, we’ve looked at resilience with Leanne Spencer and self-awareness with Susana Serrano-Davey. Links
01:50 Are you feeling dissatisfied? 03:14 Getting in touch with your feelings 04:00 Go with your gut and your subconscious mind 06:03 Having the right people around you to support you 08:40 Some examples of situations people find themselves in 10:17 The decision isn’t about moving on and changing job 12:01 The mindset shift that’s needed 14:52 The fear of change, doing things differently, making a mistake 15:50 What do you need to stop doing? start doing? continue doing? 16:15 What do you want? 17:16 Overwhelm 18:12 Feel the fear and do it anyway 20:33 Where do you want to be in 3 years’ time? 23:15 Do you stay? Do you move on? 24:50 You can’t lose, just make a decision! 27:06 What do you do after you make a decision? 29:32 Some practical exercises you can do right now | |||
| #94 Self-Awareness as a Cornerstone for Wellbeing with Susana Serrano-Davey CFO Mentor at GrowCFO | 09 Aug 2022 | 00:35:02 | |
Self-awareness is key for well-being. When you know yourself well, you can make better decisions and thrive in all areas of your life – including your career. As a finance leader, it’s important to be self-aware so that you can set realistic goals and healthily manage stress. In this episode, Susana Serrano-Davey, our very own Executive Coach & Mentor at GrowCFO joins Kevin Appleby once again to discuss the importance of self-awareness as a cornerstone for wellbeing. We discuss the importance of self-awareness and how it can help you achieve success both professionally and personally. Susana gives some great advice on some practical things you can do to be more self-aware Self-awareness is the ability to see yourself clearly and understand your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. It’s an important part of well-being because it allows you to make healthy choices, set realistic goals, and healthily manage stress. When you’re self-aware, you’re more likely to achieve your goals and be successful in all areas of your life. There are many benefits of self-awareness, but here are a few key ones:
Self-awareness is an important part of well-being, and it’s something that you can work on every day. Susana gives us some practical strategies:
Listen to the full episode to find out more. Links
00:41 The previous episode with Leanne Spencer about well-being and beating burnout 01:15 No point in achieving your goals and being unhappy 03:37 You really need to know more about yourself 05:22 How others perceive us 10:03 Getting feedback from others 13:45 Becoming aware of your personality type 16:47 Using personality profiling tests (we referenced DISC and Strengthsfinder tests covered in previous episodes with Merrick Rosenberg and Jim Brophy) 19:16 Connect with your feelings 21:43 The link between a crisis and becoming depressed 23:04 Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) 24:34 Understand your needs 28:04 Dealing with recurring issues and problems 30:33 Making time and space for yourself 34:01 Susana’s book | |||
| #192 Is Confidence Overrated? with Susana Serrano Davey GrowCFO Mentor | 16 Jul 2024 | 00:27:52 | |
#192 Is Confidence Overrated? with Susana Serrano Davey
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3AhymCRjlMx44VZFkFNdUu
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/192-is-confidence-overrated-with-susana-serrano-davey/id1529443371?i=1000662376069
In this latest episode, Kevin Appleby is joined by Susana Serrano-Davey, a renowned speaker and expert in personal development, to delve into the pervasive issue of confidence challenges that many individuals face in both personal and professional settings. This episode is particularly insightful as it addresses the unique hurdles that women often encounter regarding confidence. Susana brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table, offering practical strategies to combat symptoms of low confidence, such as self-doubt and negative self-talk. She emphasizes the critical role that body language, voice modulation, and choice of words play in projecting confidence and credibility, especially in virtual communication environments which are becoming increasingly prevalent. Throughout their discussion, Kevin and Susana share actionable tips for improving one’s virtual communication skills. They highlight the significance of maintaining eye contact, even through a camera, and using appropriate gestures to reinforce messages. Additionally, they discuss techniques for recomposing emails to ensure they convey confidence and professionalism. Key topics covered include:
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #93 How to Beat Burnout and Improve Wellbeing with Leanne Spencer | 02 Aug 2022 | 00:30:02 | |
CFOs and finance leaders are under more pressure than ever before. They are responsible for ensuring the financial stability of their company, and often have to make tough decisions that can impact the bottom line. This high level of responsibility can take a toll, and many CFOs and finance leaders find themselves struggling with burnout. In this episode, Leanne Spencer, an award-winning entrepreneur and a key-note wellbeing speaker and burnout prevention expert joins Kevin Appleby to discuss how to better manage stress, prioritize recovery and ultimately reduce the risk of burnout. Burnout can have a significant impact on CFOs and finance leaders. When individuals are burned out, they may feel exhausted, both physically and emotionally. They may also feel cynical or negative about their work and may have difficulty concentrating or making decisions. Burnout can lead to absenteeism, staff turnover, and a decrease in productivity. It can also adversely affect an individual’s health. But what action can you take to protect yourself? Leanne has plenty of answers! You need to increase your resilience. But what does that actually mean in practice? Lots of people talk about being more resilient, but few people have their own practical strategies to make it happen. Leanne talks about giving yourself slivers of recovery. Time for yourself every single day. A small part of your overall bandwidth. These slivers can have a very significant impact on your overall wellbeing Links
00:39 About Leanne Spencer and Bear Grylls 01:24 Remember what is first for you 02:34 How does this apply to finance leaders? 05:20 Slivers of recovery 07:20 Learning from elite athletes 10:28 How do you recover when there’s always something else to do? 11:30 The golden hour before sleep 16:30 Turn off notifications 18:41 Simple things done every day 23:00 Decompress at the end of the day 24:17 Alchohol, good or bad? 25:26 Cadence, the overall message in the book 27:44 A business book needs to be short and easily digestible 29:24 Cadence: the secret to beating burnout and performing in life and work | |||
| #92 Mentoring CFOs in Fast-Growing Businesses with Ian Simpkin, CFO Mentor at GrowCFO | 26 Jul 2022 | 00:14:09 | |
As a CFO in a fast-growing business, you have a lot on your plate. You are responsible for ensuring that the company is making money and growing at a healthy rate. But what if you could take your career to the next level by having a mentor? A mentor can help you learn new skills, make important connections, and give you guidance when it comes to difficult decisions. Ian Simpkin specialises in mentoring CFOs who find themselves in that exact situation. Ian Simpkin is one of GrowCFO’s experienced CFO mentors. In this episode, he joins Kevin Appleby to discuss how he mentors CFOs in fast-growing businesses. We talk about his career and experiences and how this impacts his approach to mentoring. Ian, a Chartered Accountant (FCA), qualified with KPMG and trained at Insead in their International Executive Program. He has over 25 years of finance director experience and was European CFO of a Nasdaq 100 multinational during rapid growth from $20 to $450m. Ian has a great practical understanding of driving business growth, fundraising, acquisitions and exit planning. Besides mentoring new CFOs, he advises SMEs on financial strategies to help grow their businesses. He is passionate about helping his mentees develop their skills and expertise to realise their potential and provide Board level strategic advice. Links
00:57 Introducing Ian Simpkin 02:00 Growing a company from $20m to $400m 03:11 Making acquisitions to grow 04:20 What challenges do you deal with day to day as a mentor and portfolio CFO? 05:28 How do you approach mentoring? 06:52 What are the biggest issues you find with CFOs in their first role? 07:57 The CFO competency framework 10:00 The CFO as a strategic business partner 11:48 Ian Simpkin outside the office 13:16 Why choose Ian as a mentor? | |||
| #91 Building Financial Models in Excel with Giles Male and Myles Arnott, Founders at Full Stack Modeller | 19 Jul 2022 | 00:31:52 | |
One of the biggest challenges of financial modelling is creating models that are accurate and realistic. Financial modellers need to have a good understanding of all of the different formulas and functions in order to create an accurate model. Many people, even experienced modellers, use less than 5% of the functions available. Excel models need to be properly structured too so that others can easily validate them, and they can be checked for errors. There are lots to learn about, and many tips and tricks that can make your life much easier. That’s why Myles Arnott and Giles Male set up Full Stack Modeller. In this episode, Kevin Appleby chats to Miles and Giles to discover more about the challenges of building great financial models in Excel and how the Full Stack Modeller training and community of members can help you. We teach financial modelling basics in GrowCFO’s finance team training, but if you want to develop really deep specialist modelling skills Full Stack is the place to go. If you want to join Full Stack Modeller’s next cohort this coupon code will give you 15% off: GROWCFO15AUG. Registration opens on 8th August. Full Stack Modeller will give you:
Listen to the full episode to find out more. Links
01:04 About Full Stack Modeller 03:37 What are financial models used for? 04:50 Don’t most people teach themselves how to use Excel? 07:30 Power Query 09:48 What about apps that replace Excel? 11:40 What bad habits do self-taught experienced modellers generally have? 13:12 The problem of too much data 15:05 Data visualisation 18:55 How do you teach modelling when there are so many different applications of models? 20:40 Trapping errors in models 26:34 What are the 5 or 6 key things we really need to know? 29:11 The danger of a single Excel guru in a company | |||
| #90 Introducing the Virtual Boardroom with Dan Wells, Founder and CEO at GrowCFO | 12 Jul 2022 | 00:19:43 | |
It’s no secret that boardroom experience is important for aspiring CFOs. But what happens when you don’t have access to boardrooms? How can you overcome this obstacle and get the experience you need? In this episode Dan Wells, founder and CEO of GrowCFO, joins Kevin Appleby to discuss the launch of GrowCFO’s Virtual Boardroom. Over 80% of aspiring and first-time finance leaders have little or no boardroom experience. Very few have conquered the most common challenges regularly faced by CFOs during board meetings. This lack of exposure can easily prevent you from landing your dream CFO role, or negatively affect your performance during difficult boardroom situations within your existing finance role. GrowCFO’s Virtual Boardroom provides you with essential first-hand experience of dealing with real-life boardroom challenges that most CFOs encounter early on in their finance leader career. If you’re serious about becoming a CFO, don’t let a lack of boardroom experience hold you back. There are plenty of ways to gain the experience you need, even if you don’t have direct access to boardrooms. The GrowCFO Virtual Boardroom can help you get the confidence you need in the boardroom. In addition you should seek out opportunities to present to boards. Get involved with organizations that focus on board governance, and network with experienced board members. With some effort and perseverance, you can overcome this obstacle and take your career to the next level. Links
00:52 What is the Virtual Boardroom? 03:20 The CFO wears 2 hats in the boardroom 04:49 How does the Virtual Boardroom work? 06:08 Does it involve a lot of prep like a real board meeting? 08:52 Dealing with the different perspectives of individual board members 11:56 What time commitment do you need in order to participate? 14:04 The Virtual Boardroom is supported by online learning 16:16 The role of professional mentors in the Virtual Boardroom 17:39 How to find out more | |||
| #89 Software to Drive Your Business Strategy with Tom Ricca-McCarthy, Co-Founder at Lucidity | 05 Jul 2022 | 00:47:12 | |
As finance leaders, we are always looking for ways to help our businesses grow. But in order to grow, we need to have a clear strategy in place. Without a strategy, it’s difficult to set goals and measure progress. And without communication, it’s impossible to get everyone on the same page. That’s where strategy software comes in. Strategy software helps you document your strategy and communicate it effectively to everyone involved. In this episode Tom Ricca-McCarthy, Co-Founder at Lucidity joins Kevin Appleby. We talk about how to build an effective strategy and how the Lucidity software app can support you in documenting and communicating the strategy. There are many benefits of using strategy software. Perhaps the most important benefit is that it helps you document your strategy. This is crucial because a documented strategy gives you a roadmap to follow as you execute your growth plans. It also allows you to track your progress and make changes as needed. Another important benefit of strategy software is that it helps you communicate your strategy effectively. This is essential because, without communication, it’s impossible to get everyone on the same page. Strategy software makes it easy to share your strategy with your team or stakeholders and get their feedback. This way, you can ensure that everyone is on board with your growth plans. Tom relates the story of needing to present the strategy for his own business and everything he needed was scattered across a whole collection of slide decks, spreadsheets and word documents. Lucidity was born out of the need to have a single place to document and then communicate everything to do with the strategic plan. GrowCFO is running quarterly strategy bootcamps. In a series of workshops over the course of a week we help you get to grips with building a strategy for your business and documenting it using Lucidity. There’s a link below if you want to find out more. Links
01:23 About Tom Ricca-McCarthy 02:50 Putting a turnaround strategy in place in one of his former companies 04:12 The idea for Lucidity 05:44 Strategy is a broad activity using lots of different tools 08:30 Why you need everything in one place 10:18 SWOT, PESTLE, 5 Forces scattered across multiple documents 14:07 Its not just the analysis, it’s about executing the plan too 14:31 Tracking the KPIs and milestones 16:30 Scenario planning 17:45 GrowCFO strategy bootcamp 23:17 The CFO strategy survey 25:30 The communication challenge 28:23 Stop Start Continue 30:06 A single source of the truth 34:21 What’s next for Tom and Lucidity? 38:30 A balanced set of objectives and OKRs 44:48 The strategy execution gap | |||
| #88 How Can CFOs Use the P = Potential – Interference Formula to Boost Team Performance? with Julian O’Neill, CFO at Ardent Hire Solutions | 28 Jun 2022 | 00:36:33 | |
How Can CFOs Use the P = Potential – Interference Formula to Boost Team Performance? CFO Julian O’Neill uses the principle of Performance = Potential – Interference (P = P – I) to unlock greater productivity and mindset shifts in his finance team. By identifying and reducing internal and external interference — from negative thoughts to environmental distractions — finance leaders can help teams perform at their highest potential. This episode explores how to apply the formula in real-world leadership and personal development. In order to achieve success, you must remove any interference that stands in the way of your potential. This is the principle of performance = potential – interference, or P=P-I for short. This equation is a simple but powerful way to think about success and how to achieve it. In this episode, Kevin Appleby is joined by Julian O’Neill and we look at how Julian uses P=P-I every day to get the best out of his finance team and others that work with him. We discuss the factors that contribute to interference and how you can eliminate them to reach your full potential. Interference can come from many sources. It can be external, such as the people and environment around you, or it can be internal, such as your own thoughts and emotions. Both types of interference can prevent you from reaching your potential and achieving success. External interference is often beyond your control. You may not be able to change the people or circumstances around you, but you can control how you react to them. Internal interference is entirely within your control. Your thoughts and emotions are yours to choose from, so make sure they are positive and supportive of your goals. Whenever you find yourself facing interference, remember the P=P-I equation. Performance = Potential – Interference. Eliminate the interference and reach your full potential. You are capable of great things. Go out and achieve them. Julian O’Neill is CFO of Ardent Hire Solutions and previously appeared on episode 81 of The GrowCFO Show where he described his career path to his current CFO role. Links
01:02 What is P=P-I 04:35 Examples of things that cause interference 08:45 Start Stop Continue 10:10 The importance of “Stop” and making space for new things 11:12 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam – Do an audit of how you use your time 11:40 Getting rid of unnecessary tasks and meetings 16:00 Long hours at work are counterproductive 19:11 The need to be flexible with time 22:12 Finding space to think 26:00 What defines potential? 28:41 Most people dont show up to do a poor job 30:30 Sensing when somebody isn’t quite right 32:28 The complication of working remotely | |||
| #87 Bridging the Strategy Execution Gap with Benjamin Wann, Author of Getting Shit Done | 21 Jun 2022 | 00:44:19 | |
Do you have a strategy? If so, congratulations – you’re ahead of the curve. Many businesses don’t take the time to develop a strategy, and as a result, they struggle to achieve their goals. But having a strategy is only half the battle; the other half is making sure that your strategy is executed properly. In this blog post, we’ll talk about how to close the strategy execution gap and turn your plans into results! Benjamin Wann is an expert at closing the strategy execution gap. He is a CPA and has written several books, including Getting Shit Done: The No-Nonsense Framework for Closing the Strategy Execution Gap which is the subject of this episode of The GrowCFO Show. The strategy execution gap is the difference between where a company wants to be and where it actually is. This gap can be caused by a number of factors, including unclear goals, inadequate resources, and poor communication. But regardless of the cause, the result is always the same: Your company isn’t achieving its full potential. So how can you close the strategy execution gap?Here are a few tips:
Closing the strategy execution gap can be a challenge, but it’s worth it. By taking the time to implement a solid strategy, you’ll ensure that your business is able to achieve its full potential. Listen to the full episode. We dive deep into these points and many more. Links
01:02 Introducing Benjamin Wann 02:46 Everything in life is a project! 03:15 Ben’s books 06:22 Getting Shit Done 08:15 You have designed the strategy. What comes next? 08:42 Many organisations don’t actually have a strategy 10:57 In its most basic form, what is a business strategy? 12:09 The strategy execution gap 13:57 Who does what and by when? 16:39 Time is limited. How do you prioritise? 17:16 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam 19:47 Mindset for achieving the milestones you need to reach 23:10 Napoleon’s army and empowerment 23:47 Strategy lessons from the US Civil War 24:54 The need for flexibility in the plan 26:48 What gets measured gets done 28:00 Rats in Hanoi: Why linking measurement to reward can be very dangerous 31:44 It’s all about communicating effectively 35:00 Use e-mail properly 36:19 Create the right culture 40:00 The role of the CFO in strategy execution | |||
| #86 How to Embed Strategy in Your Business with Susana Serrano-Davey, Mentor at GrowCFO | 14 Jun 2022 | 00:32:10 | |
Strategy is the backbone of any successful business. Without a strategy in place, it can be difficult to make decisions and achieve your goals. Many CEOs try to implement the strategy on their own, but this can be difficult if you don’t have the right tools and resources. In this episode, we will discuss how to embed strategy in your business and make sure that it is a part of everything that you do! The strategy should be embedded in every facet of your business, from the way you set goals to the way you communicate with customers. By embedding strategy into your business, you will be able to make better decisions, achieve your goals, and improve your overall performance. There are a few key steps that you can take to embed strategy in your business: Define what strategy means for your businessWithout a clear understanding of what strategy is, it can be difficult to implement it effectively. Take some time to sit down and define what strategy means for your company. What are your goals? What are the most important things that you want to achieve? Once you have a good understanding of what strategy is and what it means for your business, you will be able to start embedding it into your operations. Make strategy a part of your decision-making processOne of the most important ways to embed strategy in your business is to make it a part of your decision-making process. Whenever you are faced with a decision, big or small, take some time to think about how it will impact your strategy. What are the risks and opportunities associated with this decision? By taking the time to consider these things, you will be able to make better decisions that align with your strategy. Communicate your strategy to everyone in your companyIt is important that everyone in your company is aware of your strategy and knows how it affects their day-to-day work. Hold strategy meetings, send out regular emails or memos, and post your strategy on your company’s intranet. The more people that are aware of your strategy, the more likely they are to help you achieve it. These are just a few of the ways that you can embed strategy in your business. We talk about much more in the episode, so listen in and find out more. Susana Serrano-Davey is an experienced CFO and a member of the GrowCFO professional mentoring team. If you are interested in having Susana as a mentor then please get in touch using the link below. Kevin Appleby is GrowCFO’s business strategy mentor and runs the GrowCFO Strategy Programme. Links
01:30 What is strategy? 03:55 How do you go about building and deploying a strategy? 04:01 Three typical scenarios 05:28 What about the business that’s in trouble and needs a turnaround strategy? 08:04 What does the CFO need from the strategy? 08:59 The objectives are clear, but how do we achieve them? 09:50 The power of a simple SWOT analysis 12:32 Achieving a balance between growing revenue and cutting cost 13:42 The role of the Zero-Based Budget 17:24 The need to be constantly aware of new challenges and adapt the strategy 19:34 The danger of not implementing change in the good times 21:53 The difficulty of restructuring when the business is losing money 24:34 Strategy and the high growth business 26:38 The CFO as the challenger of strategy 28:07 Measuring the right things and understanding cause and effect 30:02 What are the 3 or 4 most useful tools to use? | |||
| #85 How Does a Big 4 Auditor Become a High-Growth CFO? with Jimmy Vassilas, CFO at SantéVet | 07 Jun 2022 | 00:29:45 | |
How Did Jimmy Vassilas Go from Big 4 Auditor to CFO of SantéVet?
Jimmy Vassilas’ journey from audit to CFO is anything but linear. In this episode of The GrowCFO Show, he shares how strategic horizontal moves, international assignments, and a deep focus on tech shaped his career. From qualifying as a Canadian Chartered Accountant at Deloitte to rising through Autodesk into CFO roles at Receipt Bank, Zappi, and now SantéVet — Jimmy’s story shows that agility, openness to change, and strong FP&A skills are essential ingredients for modern CFO leadership. Jimmy Vassilas started his career in Montreal, Canada. He qualified as a Canadian Chartered Accountant with Deloitte majoring in high tech and telecoms. High tech has remained the focus of his career ever since. Jimmy’s CFO roles include Receipt Bank; Zappi; and most recently SantéVet. Jimmy joined Autodesk and then moved to Europe temporarily to cover maternity leave. The person on maternity leave never returned to work and Jimmy never returned to Canada. In the episode, we reflect on how unexpected things like this often have the biggest impact on your career path. His journey takes him from external audit to internal audit. Subsequent job changes take him into FP&A and several senior management roles. Jimmy achieved many of these by moving horizontally rather than vertically within Autodesk, eventually becoming Autodesk’s finance director. Links
01:21 Jimmy’s early career in audit 05:35 Internal audit to FP&A and 17 years in Autodesk 07:35 Are horizontal moves worth taking? 08:49 The 9 competencies of a CFO 09:29 The number one complaint CEOs have about CFOs 11:26 Is 17 years too long in a single organisation? 14:00 So why leave after 17 years? 16:07 Becoming CFO in an organisation funded by venture capital. 19:04 SantéVet and a move to France 20:46 The challenges of being CFO in a high growth tech company 21:49 The importance of shared values within the business 23:11 The importance of being a business partner 25:00 What’s the best advice you would give somebody at the start of their journey? 29:00 The importance of networking and maintaining connections | |||
| #84 My Journey to CFO in the Entertainment Industry with Retired CFO, Richard Haywood | 31 May 2022 | 00:38:47 | |
Richard Haywood left school at 18 and started work as a trainee accountant in a manufacturing business. He studied for the ACCA qualification on day-release. His route to qualification took 5 years and he moved to become a financial controller in the record industry at a time of huge change from vinyl to CD. His challenge, keep his manufacturing unit viable and one of the last vinyl production facilities operating. Polydor Records gave way to the Mecca Organisation. Richard became responsible for the finances of nightclubs; bingo halls and restaurants. It introduced him to the world of mergers and acquisitions. A move to CFO soon followed. Richard took a job in the Bahamas at a leisure park and Zoo. Not many people can say they have been CFO of a Zoo. Richard Haywood can! Back in London, Richard continued his career as a divisional CFO in several business units in BT Global Services before moving on to become CFO in a much smaller communications company. In the episode, we talk about the skills you need to deal with people. Those people range from trade unions to investors and board members. We talk about managing change and the advice Richard would give to a mentee or to a younger version of himself. Links
00:57 Starting accountancy training at 18, straight from school 01:57 The first job change 05:18 Changing the business model to survive; learning to manage conflict and deal with trade unions 08:42 Richard’s goal to become a CFO 10:00 Bingo Halls, Nightclubs and Restaurants; learning about M&A 12:48 How to move from manufacturing to entertainment 14:52 What makes a good CFO? 16:49 The skills needed to deal with investors and board members 20:31 Richard’s first CFO role. A Zoo in the Bahamas 27:05 Moving back to a Telco in London 26:17 Cost review of a Zoo 29:36 What advice would you give a mentee about managing change? 34:05 What’s in it for me? 37:07 What advice would you give a younger version of yourself? | |||
| #191 Rebuilding value after an administration with Oliver Lee, CFO at Flash Pack | 09 Jul 2024 | 00:36:05 | |
#191 Rebuilding value after an administration with Oliver Lee
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4kj5iP83OcB12YfnrfDHqh
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/191-rebuilding-value-after-an-administration-with/id1529443371?i=1000661621544
Oliver Lee, the CFO at Flash Pack, sits down with Kevin Appleby to discuss his career journey and the challenges of leading a travel start-up through the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion begins with Oliver’s background in public accounting and a previous start-up role that did not unfold as planned. Oliver recounts Flash Pack’s impressive growth trajectory prior to the pandemic, scaling from inception to over $20 million in revenue within a few years. However, the onset of COVID-19 necessitated a shift to “survival mode,” entailing cost reductions and staff furloughs as bookings plummeted. The company ultimately entered administration in 2020, but the founders managed to repurchase the assets and relaunch the business in late 2021. The conversation highlights the strategies employed by Oliver and his team to rebuild Flash Pack, with an emphasis on maintaining strong supplier relationships through transparency and communication. This approach successfully re-engaged 95% of their suppliers post-administration. Oliver underscores the critical importance of securing funding, noting that an institutional investor’s capital injection was essential for the company’s relaunch and growth. The management team’s proven track record and reputation were pivotal in attracting this investment despite the challenges faced. As the business transitioned from “wartime CFO” to a growth-focused “peacetime” strategy, Oliver discusses overcoming excessive risk aversion and embracing calculated risks to propel the company forward. Looking ahead, the episode explores substantial expansion opportunities, particularly in the US market, while addressing the scaling challenges such as investing in talent and building the necessary organizational structure to support growth. Key topics covered include:
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes here. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #83 My Journey to CFO in a Single Organisation with Portfolio CFO, Tony Fossey | 24 May 2022 | 00:30:13 | |
Many people gain experience by changing jobs and moving between organisations. Tony Fossey took the opposite approach and forged his early career rising through the ranks in a single company. He joined Halliburton, part of civil engineering giant KBR when he left school in 1976 and remained in KBR for the next 29 years. Tony took advantage of the size of the organisation he joined to get a wide range of experience in both finance and commercial roles. He worked internationally in several different roles with increasing seniority. Tony is highly experienced and has operated at the CFO level for well over 20 years. He shares some great insights into what makes a good CFO and the type of experience a prospective CFO should seek out as their career progresses. Listen to the full episode to find out more Links
01:08 Leaving school and joining a finance team 03:02 Tony’s first commercial role 06:30 FD, CFO, and VP of Finance. Is there a difference? 07:56 The importance of a professional qualification 10:08 Length of time between qualifying and taking on a number one finance role 13:10 What makes a good CFO? 16:48 Working with the board and non-executive directors 19:30 Get away from your desk and out into the organisation 21:33 Developing a reliable number two 22:18 How often should you change jobs? 25:35 Where does Tony Fossey work these days? 28:54 The importance of having fun and enjoying what you do | |||
| #82 My Journey to CFO via Sales and Management Consultancy with Manu Gupta, CFO at GridDuck | 17 May 2022 | 00:33:31 | |
Manu Gupta has acted as CFO of several high growth businesses including MyDrive Solutions, GridDuck, and Brisk. He shares his unusual journey to his first CFO role and becoming a board advisor. Manu isn’t from a traditional accountancy background. He started his career in sales. A finance-based MBA then took Manu into a career in management consulting. He chose to leave consulting and move to a startup. The startup needed a finance team ahead of a Series A investment. Manu’s job was to create that team. Manu regards himself as a generalist and really enjoys the variety of challenges the CFO role offers him. We talk about how to become sufficiently rounded to do all the things a generalist CFO needs to do well. We also examine Manu’s skills as a management consultant and understand how he applied those to be a dynamic finance leader. Manu talks about the attitudes and skills a modern CFO needs to bring to the role. He has much to share. Listen to the full episode to find out more, including passions and lessons learned that come straight from the cricket field! Links
00:59 How did you become a CFO? 02:35 From sales to finance 03:35 Manu’s mantra: “I find myself in places I’ve not been before” 04:36 Becoming a well-rounded generalist 05:00 An MBA in finance leads to a career in consultancy 06:10 Opportunity to work in a startup and create a finance team ahead of a Series A fundraise 07:16 Advantages & disadvantages of an accountancy qualification and background 09:22 Leveraging skills learned as a consultant 11:06 What attitudes and skills do modern CFOs need? 11:45 Being a business partner and helping others make decisions 13:36 How to engage with others 16:04 Managing your energy 17:13 Managing situations with customers 20:40 Working with the SLT beyond just finance 22:21 Acting as a non-exec alongside being an operational CFO 25:27 Having an impact 25:51 Ben Stokes – lessons from the cricket field 28:45 What are you passionate about? 31:31 The Godfather and the CFO | |||
| #81 My Journey to CFO via IT Director and CEO with Julian O’Neill, CFO at Ardent Hire Solutions | 10 May 2022 | 00:42:35 | |
What Can You Learn from Julian O’Neill’s Journey from IT Director to CFO? Julian O’Neill’s unconventional route to CFO — via IT leadership and a brief stint as CEO — offers a powerful reminder that finance careers aren’t always linear. In this episode of The GrowCFO Show, Julian shares the pivotal decisions, career shifts, and lessons that shaped his path to CFO at Ardent Hire Solutions. His story shows how commercial experience outside of finance can set you apart and prepare you for executive leadership. It’s a very small world. As guest Julian O’Neill and host, Kevin Appleby discovered in the first few minutes of the episode. 20 years ago they both worked for PwC Consulting and were on the same client project in the Ministry of Defence. Before that, they were both accountants in manufacturing businesses. But since that brief spell working together their careers have been very different. Julian has operated at the board level for a number of big-name brands before taking up the role of CFO at a high growth start-up. Julian qualified as an accountant in industry. He then briefly worked as a management consultant. Next, his journey took him to IT Director and a number of CFO roles in divisions of large corporations. Julian joined Arcadia Group and ended up doing a commercial role. He stepped away from big brands and joined a startup as CFO, taking over as CEO when the original founder was forced to step down. After the sale of that business, he took on his current CFO role, preferring that to another challenge as CEO. Julian O’Neill reflects on his experience, sharing lessons he learned at each stage of his career. He adds that his time outside finance, in commercial roles has been invaluable. Listen to the full episode and hear Julian’s full, and extremely fascinating, story. Links
01:48 Accountancy and finance open a lot of doors 03:40 Early career in telecoms; qualifying as an accountant in Cable & Wireless 06:18 Spicing things up at General Motors 11:30 Doing an MBA at Warwick Business School 12:10 First role outside finance at Siemens 13:25 Joining PwC Consulting 15:42 The decision to leave the big 4 17:00 Pizza Hut 17:30 First director role 18:20 The challenge of being an IT director 26:25 Arcadia, as a divisional CFO 30:50 CFO of an airline 32:20 Moving from a big brand to CFO at a £2m turnover high growth business 34:50 Taking over from the CEO 37:30 Finding a new job while selling the business 38:28 Back to a CFO role in a small business 39:00 Small startup vs big corporate 40:54 The importance of getting experience in commercial roles outside the finance function | |||
| #80 How to Manage Conflict with Susana Serrano-Davey, Mentor at GrowCFO | 03 May 2022 | 00:33:30 | |
Conflict is a natural and unavoidable part of life. It can arise in our personal lives, with friends and family, or in our professional lives, with co-workers. No matter where it happens, it’s important to learn how to manage conflict effectively. If not handled properly, conflict can lead to hurt feelings, damaged relationships, and even lawsuits. In this podcast, Susana Serrano-Davey and Kevin Appleby discuss some tips for managing conflict in both your personal and professional life. One of the most important things to remember when managing conflict is to stay calm. This can be difficult, especially if you feel like you’re being attacked or accused of something. It’s important to remember that getting defensive will only make the situation worse. Take a deep breath and try to see the situation from the other person’s perspective. Only then can you start to find a resolution. Beyond this though, Susana has four great lessons for us, and she goes through each of these in turn. Listen to the podcast to find out more. Susana Serrano-Davey is an experienced CFO and a member of the GrowCFO professional mentoring team. If you are interested in having Susana as a mentor then please get in touch using the link below. Links
00:57 What is conflict? 03:15 The danger of unresolved conflict 05:34 Step 1: Take precautions, don’t respond in the heat of the moment 06:50 Write the reply email but delete it before sending 09:02 Don’t feel pressured into an immediate reply 12:16 Step 2: Some basic assumptions – nobody comes to work to intentionally create conflict 14:22 Don’t jump to conclusions 14:37 Step 3: Take some time to think 18:09 It’s rarely a case of one person is right and the other is wrong 18:30 Step 4: Listen to the other person 22:30 Choose a relaxing, neutral environment for a conversation 28:30 What do you do about a historic conflict that still gets in the way? 31:00 Make the other person feel it’s their solution, not yours | |||
| #79 Finance for Non-Finance Leaders with Asif Ahmed, Co-Founder, The Finance Department and Acclivity Advisors | 26 Apr 2022 | 00:44:33 | |
As a finance professional, you are often required to provide financial information to people who are not finance professionals. This can be a challenge. It is important to communicate the information in a way that is easy for non-finance leaders to understand. In this podcast, Asif Ahmed, author of The Finance Playbook for Entrepreneurs joins host Kevin Appleby. We discuss the issues involved in providing financial information to the entrepreneur and the rest of the business leadership team One of the challenges of providing financial information to non-finance leaders is that they may not have the same level of understanding of finance concepts as you do. This can make it difficult to communicate the information in a way that is easy for them to understand. One way to overcome this challenge is to use simple, clear language when explaining finance concepts. Another challenge is making sure the rest of the team understands what financial information is important and what isn’t. Asif and Kevin spend time talking about cash vs profit, and the need to understand some financial numbers that aren’t immediately obvious from the profit and loss account. This includes customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, and that often 20% of customers generate 80% of the profit. Asif Ahmed is the founder and managing director of Acclivity Advisors and co-founder of The Finance Department. He is also group CFO at Labrys Group and an advisory board member at HM Revenue & Customs. Links
00:43 What does The Finance Department do? 03:27 Communicating financial information to early-stage entrepreneurs 06:23 What information does an early-stage entrepreneur need? 08:47 Information needed for raising funds 10:08 Covid-19: Bootcamp for learning the financial basics 12:15 You can’t manage the business using historic data 13:47 Financial vs non-financial data 16:56 Understanding lead generation and the cost of customer acquisition 21:13 Customer lifetime value 24:00 What else do entrepreneurs need to understand? 27:53 Cost of retaining an existing customer vs cost of acquiring a new customer 29:21 Understanding product costs and the tendency to over cost the simple and under cost the complex. 31:40 What’s the right time for a startup business to employ its first CFO? 37:05 The importance of instilling the right financial culture and practices 41:06 If 20% of your customers produce 80% of the profit, do you know which customers make up this 20%? | |||
| #78 CFOs Supporting Each Other with Chris Fry, Group CFO at SISTER | 19 Apr 2022 | 00:22:32 | |
Chris Fry has the best CFO job in the world. He’s group CFO at SISTER. SISTER is the organisation behind recent TV blockbusters “The Split”; “This Is Going To Hurt”; and “Chernobyl”. So why is the CFO of a TV production company the best job in the world? First of all, it’s a very demanding position that comes with a lot of responsibility. But if you’re up for the challenge, it can be extremely rewarding. You’ll have a hand in the creative process and you’ll be able to help shape the future of the company. Chris has certainly been up for that challenge. He’s an accomplished CFO but he also recognises that there’s always something new to learn. Chris was one of the founder members of the CFO Programme within GrowCFO, having previously been involved in something similar during his time working in Australia. He talks about the programme in the podcast and why it has been so useful for him. He tells us why he has found the support from Catherine Clark, the programme leader, and from his fellow CFO participants, invaluable. Links
00:42 Who is SISTER? 02:18 What exactly is your role as Group CFO of SISTER? 03:22 What are your biggest challenges? 05:50 What was your career path before SISTER? 08:50 How did you get the experience to break through to the CFO level? 10:10 Using your influence 11:12 Why did you join the CFO programme at GrowCFO? 13:39 The role of mentors in the CFO programme 15:22 Why do you want to extend the CFO programme beyond the initial 6 months? 16:41 Where does Chris Fry aspire to be in 10 years’ time? 19:07 The importance of enjoying what you do 20:16 Advice to a new CFO coming to grips with the first CFO role 21:34 Would you advise a CFO to have a mentor? | |||
| #77 Balancing the Relationship With Your Boss with Susana Serrano-Davey | 12 Apr 2022 | 00:42:27 | |
Who is your boss? Do you have more than one boss? Perhaps you are number 2 to the CFO and you report indirectly to other people too. Maybe you are the CFO and you need to be mindful of the needs of both CEO and investors in the business. Getting the relationship right with all those people is important. Finding the right balance between your needs from the relationship and their needs is key. It’s no secret that the relationship between you and your bosses, whoever they might be, can be a tricky one. It’s often difficult to find the right balance between being respectful and assertive, humble and ambitious, compliant and determined. When you report to more than one person you get the added complication of competing needs and being pulled in several different directions at the same time. In this podcast, Susana Serrano-Davey and Kevin Appleby explore some of the challenges that come with trying to maintain a healthy relationship with your boss. We’ll offer some tips on how to handle common situations, as well as how to stay sane while working under someone else’s control! Susana breaks the problem down into 4 areas:
We explore each of these in turn and provide some practical examples to illustrate the key points. Links
01:04 Everyone has a boss unless you are the CEO 03:18 Building or balancing relationships 04:48 Susana’s personal experiences 06:08 Introducing the 4 areas for balancing relationships 06:49 Mutual responsibilities 13:37 Separating the job from the person 15:10 The four agreements book 21:55 DISC and the 4 personality types 25:02 GrowCFO for Finance Teams – communications course 25:42 Finding your voice 30:37 Tackling conflict 35:44 Professional to professional relationships | |||
| #76 What’s Happening in FP&A with Paul Barnhurst, The FP&A Guy | 05 Apr 2022 | 00:25:16 | |
As a finance leader, you are constantly juggling responsibilities between financial and non-financial analysis. On one hand, you need to make sure the company is meeting its financial goals and obligations. On the other hand, you may be called upon to provide insights into non-financial areas such as operations, marketing, or human resources. This can be a daunting task, but with the right tools and strategies in place, you can successfully balance both worlds. Paul Barnhurst, The FP&A guy specialises in planning and reporting. In this episode of the GrowCFO Show Paul provides Kevin Appleby with a great overview of business planning and analytics; how to integrate financial and non-financial data; and the tools that are available to help you. Links
00:52 Day one of a brand new business 02:10 What exactly is FP&A? 03:26 Which areas will Paul be working in? 04:31 Excel: are spreadsheets the best way of doing things? 05:14 What are the planning tools available? 09:51 Selecting the tool that’s right for you 12:59 Should non-financial measurement sit in finance? 15:52 The importance of a single version of the truth 20:16 What does day 100 look like for the FP&A guy? 21:13 What are the biggest things on the horizon for FP&A in general 22:47 The problem of too much data | |||
| #75 How to Manage Your Workload with Helene Brichet Herbinet | 29 Mar 2022 | 00:39:21 | |
As a finance leader or CFO, you have a lot of responsibilities on your plate. From ensuring that the company is making money to managing the budget, there are a lot of tasks you must complete on a daily basis. On top of this you will be involved in change projects. Then there is your role as a trusted advisor to the rest of the management team. You need to manage your workload. You need to make sure that the important tasks are given sufficient emphasis while making sure the urgent and routine things don’t swallow up your whole agenda. Managing your workload doesn’t have to be difficult. With a little bit of planning and organization, you can stay on top of everything. Helene Brichet Herbinet, part of the GrowCFO mentoring team joins Kevin Appleby on this episode of the GrowCFO show. Together they give some great tips for both increasing your personal efficiency and maximising your personal effectiveness. By following these tips, you can make the workload more manageable and get back on track. If you’re finding that your workload is unmanageable, it may be time to seek out professional help. There are many CFOs who specialize in helping others manage their workloads effectively. By hiring someone to help manage your workload, you can free up your time to focus on more important tasks. If you’re not sure where to start, there are plenty of resources available online. With a little bit of research, you can find the help you need to get your workload under control. Within GrowCFO we have a team of professional mentors ready to help. Premium and corporate members have an entire course on personal effectiveness they can access in the GrowCFO training library. Links
00:40 Personal effectiveness or personal efficiency? 01:51 How do you manage your workload? 02:43 Being intentional about how you allocate your time 05:46 Keeping your to do list under control 07:20 Separating work life and personal life 11:59 When other people take over your agenda 14:20 Setting expectations 16:51 Reviewing the quality of your own work 20:27 The art of challenging plans budgets and forecasts 23:53 What should you do yourself and what should you delegate 25:53 Developing your finance team 27:19 The RACI model 30:28 Multitasking 33:29 Social networks and the danger of always being switched on 36:08 Managing deadlines What tips do you have for managing your workload? Why not share the things that work for you in the forum? | |||
| #74 Communicating With Different Personality Types with Merrick Rosenberg, CEO of Take Flight Learning | 22 Mar 2022 | 00:43:49 | |
It’s no secret that communication is hard. We’ve all been in a situation where we just can’t seem to get our point across. And it’s even harder when the person on the other end of the conversation has a different personality type than us. When you’re trying to communicate with someone who has a different personality type than you, it can be easy to get wrapped up in your own perspective. It’s important to remember that everyone experiences the world differently, and what makes sense to you might not make sense to them. You must try to see things from their point of view and adjust your communication accordingly. But adapting your style isn’t easy. In this podcast, we take a look at the common problems with communicating with different personality types. DISC is a personality assessment tool that can help you understand yourself and others better, and Merrick Rosenberg, CEO of Take Flight Learning, has adapted the DISC model into 4 birds: eagles, parrots, doves, and owls. The behaviour of each bird is easy to grasp and remember. Merrick has found the majority of finance people are owls. The owl needs to adapt to work with the other three birds. He shares some great strategies that will really help you understand how to do this, so make sure to check this episode out! Links
00:46 Why use birds instead of the DISC letters? 01:20 The eagle 02:05 The parrot 02:20 The dove 02:35 The owl 02:45 Which style are you? 04:15 Finance are predominantly owls 05:23 Finance working with sales; owls and parrots 06:47 How does an owl get the parrots and eagles to provide the detail that’s needed? 08:50 Owls dealing with doves 10:15 The history of DISC 11:25 75% of your organisation has a different style to you, you need to communicate in all 4 styles 13:12 How each style manages change 15:20 Owls need detail so can be perceived as barriers to change until they have the information 15:40 Owls can actually be incredible champions of change 16:50 How do you communicate change? 20:09 Adapting your style as your career progresses 21:17 “What got you here wont get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith 22:43 How easy is it to develop the other 3 styles? 24:15 Bill Gates the owl 26:17 Working with organisations 30:19 Alternatives to DISC 35:31 Relationship building 38:09 What about children? When do the 4 birds start to emerge? 40:23 The danger of imposing your own style on someone else | |||
| #190 Developing the next generation of leaders with Dan Silberberg, CEO and Founder at ENTELECHY.Al | 02 Jul 2024 | 00:34:13 | |
#190 Developing the next generation of leaders with Dan Silberberg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ja9iPmnDeQpkhwe4YHNXD?si=GfH_5NNjRSmJFa3cBzQ_4Q
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/190-developing-the-next-generation-of-leaders/id1529443371?i=1000660880034
Leadership development is crucial in today’s rapidly changing business landscape. Guest speaker Dan Silberberg, CEO and Founder of ENTELECHY.Al, a premier provider of customized leadership development programs, joined host Kevin Appleby for the discussion. Silberberg, a highly experienced executive with a proven track record of transforming operations across multiple industries, outlined the evolving demands placed on leadership. They noted the shift from the hierarchical structures prevalent in the 20th century workplace to today’s emphasis on adaptability and holistic strategic thinking. They stressed the importance for executives to thoroughly understand their strengths, leadership style, and potential areas for growth through self-reflection. This allows individuals to maximize performance and overcome challenges. Innovative approaches to stimulate organizational development were also presented. They explored how entering new product categories can drive growth in consumer industries. Artificial intelligence was framed as a competitive differentiator when integrated into core functions like decision-making, productivity enhancement, and risk management. Younger, growth-oriented companies were advised by Silberberg to experiment through prudent risk-taking to sustain innovation momentum. With technological change accelerating rapidly, they emphasized the value executives place on questioning assumptions with an open mindset. The role of the CFO in prioritizing AI initiatives and collaborating across organizations for staff training was also a prominent topic. Key topics covered include:
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes here. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #73 What’s Wrong with the P&L Account with Susana Serrano-Davey | 15 Mar 2022 | 00:35:48 | |
As the finance lead, you probably present the business profit and loss account at many of the business meetings you attend. You place huge value on the financial results of the business each month or each quarter. But is that correct? Does the P&L account tell you what you need to know? Does it paint an accurate picture of business performance? Sometimes it does, but quite often it doesn’t accurately reflect the economics within the business. The P&L account tells you what you spent money on, your cost centre structure likely tells you who spent it, but neither tell you why you spent it. Is an adverse variance really bad? Is a positive variance good? The answer is not always. Unless you know the why, and also understand the economic engine of the business you don’t know. You probably grappled with the two fundamental accounting concepts of prudence and accruals when you passed your accountancy exams. Accruals are all about matching costs with revenues, while prudence is about taking account of liabilities as soon as they arise. But we are in strange times where we seem to like capitalising our empty office blocks and hardly used company cars while we write off our investment in digital sales-generating assets as soon as we spend the money. In the podcast, Kevin Appleby and Susana Serrano-Davey discuss these and other issues and conclude you need many more metrics than those in the P&L account and a much deeper understanding of your business through an economic rather than an accounting model. We didn’t mention it in the show, but Doug Hicks has written an excellent book about what’s wrong with the P&L account and why you need an economic model of the business. It makes excellent further reading on this topic. Links
00:59 The P&L account is a key tool 01:53 A history lesson; one set of accounts for investors and for the taxman 03:53 Modern systems and the ability to cut the data in different ways 04:28 Accounting standards and the 4 core accounting concepts 06:23 Are your fixed assets really the assets that drive business performance or are they just hidden future costs? 07:40 Evergreen digital assets 10:46 Depreciation 11:38 The pressure to report a better picture in the P&L 15:51 Unrealistic budgets 20:39 No surprises; don’t hide the truth 23:30 The P&L account doesn’t tell you why you spent the money 26:21 An economic rather than an accounting model of your business 29:41 Assigning costs to activities gives you a better understanding of customer and product costs 31:07 The tendency to over cost the simple and under cost the complex 31:39 An activity-based costing example | |||
| #72 Are you Ready to be a CFO? with Dan Wells Founder of GrowCFO | 08 Mar 2022 | 00:28:04 | |
Are you ready to be a CFO? To step into your first CFO role. How do you know if you are ready to make the transition to that number one role in finance? That’s the question Kevin Appleby posed to Dan Wells on this episode of the GrowCFO Show. Kevin asked Dan if there is any such thing as a CFO readiness indicator or CFO readiness index. Dan doesn’t believe there is one single measure of CFO readiness. He goes on to explain the various skills and levels of experience you need to be a successful CFO. These vary according to the type of CFO you want to become and the nature of the organisation you plan to work for. Are you ready to be a CFO? Some questions to ask yourselfIf you feel you are ready to be a CFO then as a minimum you should be saying yes to the following five questions:
But feeling ready is just a start. Listen to the show and hear Dan explain the other dimensions of CFO readiness, why one size doesn’t fit all, and why there is no easy way to measure CFO readiness or have a CFO readiness index. Links
00:41 How do you know you are ready to be a CFO? 03:06 The skills every CFO needs 04:00 The three types of CFO 04:10 The financier CFO 05:37 The strategist CFO 06:52 The operator CFO 08:02 The GrowCFO competency framework 09:13 Which competencies are most relevant to you as an individual; Module 3 of the Future CFO Programme 11:29 Which type of CFO do you want to be? 13:30 3 Different scenarios for your first CFO role 17:56 The relationship with the CEO, and the cultural fit 19:54 A proper action plan, not a CFO readiness index 22:18 The things we cover in the future CFO programme 25:30 What are your next steps? | |||
| #71 Mentoring with Strengthsfinder with Jim Brophy | 01 Mar 2022 | 00:50:35 | |
Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Chances are, you don’t. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. We devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. So, Do you play to your strengths? Do you even know what your strengths are? Or how to best use them? The good news is that Strengthsfinder 2.0 from Gallup can give you a real insight and help you leverage the talents you have. Jim Brophy has worked as a CFO and is both a mentor and a Strengthsfinder 2.0 (or CliftonStrengths) accredited coach. He joins us on the GrowCFO Show to explain how he uses Strengthsfinder as an integral part of his mentoring. On the podcast Jim tells us about his career as a CFO, how he discovered Strengthsfinder and gives us an overview of what it is and how you can use it to best advantage in your day to day. Links
00:46 Jim Brophy’s career as a CFO 03:49 FD & CFO roles in Asia 05:26 Becoming a portfolio CFO 07:24 Becoming accredited by Gallup 09:31 Mentoring 11:30 The stresses of a new CFO role in a new organisation 15:25 Where does Strengthsfinder fit in? 16:55 Linking values and strengths 20:02 What exactly is Strengthsfinder 22:22 Myers Briggs and DISC 24:47 How do you take the test? 25:49 The 34 talents 28:00 Our top 5 talents 32:24 Your top 10 talents, and the extended assessment 34:27 Developing talents instead of fixing weaknesses 35:31 The “Analytical” talent in more depth 40:59 Matching your talents to the immediate situation 41:30 Talents vs skills and experience 46:11 Maximising talents across teams | |||
| #70 How to Run an Event for Your Finance Team with Paul Maltby Author of The Fearless Facilitator | 22 Feb 2022 | 00:36:29 | |
When did you last get your whole finance team together in person outside the office for a team event? Probably a long while ago. Your team has been working remotely for extended periods in the last two years. They may have started coming back to the office, but are rarely all together on the same day. Training and team development are some of the things that have suffered. You have struggled to invest the right amount of time and energy into your people’s future. 2022 is the year you have to do something about it. How about a special event for your finance team? Maybe now is time for a team away day? But where do you start? What do you cover? What exactly is the purpose? Moreover, how do you make it enjoyable, memorable and get a great outcome? On this week’s podcast, Kevin Appleby poses that question to a professional trainer and facilitator, Paul Maltby. Paul is the professional development leader for IBM Global Business Services in Europe and is responsible for running development programmes for many of the most senior people in IBM. He is also branching out with his own independent business that specialises in designing and delivering personal and team development activities. Paul has taken his many years of experience in facilitating events and put them into a book, “The Fearless Facilitator: A proven plan for leading successful meetings, dynamic workshops, and effective training events”. He gives you some great advice about what to think about as you plan your finance team event. Paul talks about what to do and what not to do when you want to create a memorable experience. We also talk about handling a number of tricky situations. Links
00:39 What does Paul Maltby do? 01:40 The Fearless Facilitator 03:32 The three sections of “The Fearless Facilitator” book 06:54 Facilitating in challenging situations 10:38 The deficit in finance team development 12:04 The importance of purpose 14:36 The “So What?” question 15:50 How do you create energy? 19:50 The answer is always 42 23:15 Forget the PowerPoint slides 24:42 Handling difficult questions 27:27 The finance leader developing facilitation skills 31:01 How much time does it take to plan a great event? 34:38 How GrowCFO and Paul Maltby can help you deliver your next event | |||
| #69 The Future of Finance Functions with Chris Tredwell | 15 Feb 2022 | 00:33:53 | |
Things are changing fast in finance. You are more than likely struggling to keep pace with the latest technology. You might be in a fast growing business and your team is struggling to keep pace. There’s pressure to get better management information sooner. These are all challenges for the finance team leader. In GrowCFO, the Future of Finance Functions regular events are designed to help you with all these challenges. Future of Finance Functions is a live Zoom webinar that takes place to discuss all things concerning the modern finance function. These range from systems to processes to people issues. Automation, integration, faster close, and the latest cloud accounting are all subjects we cover. Chris Tredwell is the regular host of the events and he joins Kevin Appleby on the GrowCFO show to tell us what to expect in the 2022 series. Meetings taking place on the second Tuesday of each month and the 10 topics we will cover in 2022 are:
The series of events looking at change management will continue on the last Tuesday of each month. Links
Timestamps 00:56 The reason we started Future of Finance Functions 04:13 The topics we’ve covered in the last 2 years 09:35 The 10 themes for 2022 12:08 Is it the right time to make the change? 12:30 Cloud accounting 13:00 Scaling the team in line with business growth 14:34 The difference between automation and integration 17:02 Reporting and KPIs 17:42 The do’s and dont’s: learning from others experience 20:01 Selecting and procuring software 21:35 How to book your place at any of the future of finance functions events 22:00 The change management series of future of finance functions events 26:25 Accessing recordings of past events 28:19 What else does GrowCFO do? | |||
| #68 Business Writing for Finance Leaders with Martin Booth from LeBoo Media | 08 Feb 2022 | 00:33:22 | |
Do you struggle to write compelling reports that get the right response from the rest of your business team? Business Writing doesn’t come naturally to many finance leaders. You are probably much more comfortable with an excel spreadsheet than drafting a report that needs to be persuasive and encourages others to back your arguments or take the right actions. When you produce a finance report you aren’t just articulating the numbers, you need to tell a story. You need to make the numbers come alive and turn them into something meaningful that your audience will understand. It’s often not an easy task. Martin Booth is an experienced copywriter and is the ideal person to help you improve your business writing. Martin is featured in the communications course within GrowCFO’s new finance team training package. The course examines all forms of communication including sections on both powerful presentations and writing persuasive reports. Martin spent more than 20 years on the sports desks of various national newspaper titles including The Times, the Sunday Mirror and the Daily Express. More recently, he worked in the betting industry. Martin’s focus now is on creating, refining and delivering written content of the highest quality for business owners and leaders. In the podcast, Martin tells you about the things you should avoid when you draft your next finance report. He goes on to explain to you how to create better business reports that are properly targeted to the audience that will read them. He explains that even in finance it’s all about telling engaging stories to real people. Links
00:43 Martin’s background in sports journalism 02:18 The biggest challenge in moving from sports journalism to business copywriting 03:01 What do finance folk tend to get wrong when they write reports? 07:12 The importance of creating a persona or an avatar from your intended audience 09:38 Getting behind the numbers and saying what they really mean 10:39 Storytelling brings things to life 14:01 The importance of a good headline and first paragraph 16:23 The power of the executive summary 18:27 People don’t read reports start to finish they dip in and out 19:44 Have a call to action, tell people what to do next 20:20 The importance of a good structure 22:18 Audience research 27:11 Remember that while the report is about the business you are talking to people think about “what’s in it for me?” 30:15 Paul Gascoigne…..If you want to know what Gazza has to do with writing better finance reports you have to listen to the audio! | |||
| #67 First 100 Days in Your New Finance Role with Dan Wells | 01 Feb 2022 | 00:25:28 | |
You have just landed your dream job. Now your challenge is how to make an impact in that new finance role. You need to hit the ground running. What you do in your first hundred days in your new role is critical. If you get the first 100 days right then you will get the first year right. Get the first year right and you will set yourself up well to excel in years two and three. The first 100 days are vitally important. There are multiple challenges you will need to address. You have a new team, you need to get to know them as individuals, assess their abilities, and understand their strengths and weaknesses. You also have new business colleagues, you need to get to know them, understand their issues and begin to build a successful working relationship. On top of all this, you will need to find out how the business actually works, and understand its processes and systems. Particularly those you own or are directly responsible for. Where are the issues? what do you need to fix? You will need a clear plan for those first 100 days, and you will need to execute the plan effectively. In this episode, Kevin Appleby and Dan Wells go deeper into all of these issues and discuss how to approach the first 100 days in your new finance role; how to plan for those 100 days; what you can do even before your first day; and some of the things you can do to help execute your plan effectively. Links
01:16 People move roles on average every 3 years 01:57 Franklin D. Roosevelt and the origin of the first 100 days 04:15 The different challenges of an external appointment and an internal promotion 05:46 Think carefully about your No.2 08:00 Why were you appointed to the role? What are you expected to fix? 09:49 Getting up to speed with business as usual 10:34 The first 10 days in your new finance role. The settling in period 11:33 How to plan the next 90 days 14:40 The first 30 days: Fix 17:03 The middle 30 days: Blueprint 18:00 The final 30 days: Transform 19:05 Involve your team. Build a heatmap for change 22:00 The importance of mentoring | |||
| #66 Finance Team Training with Dan Wells, Founder at GrowCFO | 25 Jan 2022 | 00:22:31 | |
Many finance leaders have approached GrowCFO asking for help with training their finance teams: what sort of training and development does my team need? What should it cover? And how should it be delivered? In this episode, Dan Wells and Kevin Appleby discuss the requirements and options for effective finance team training and development. We draw valuable insights from our 2021 survey of over 200 finance leaders. There is a clear need for a broad range of skills training, ranging from financial topics such as cost control to soft skills such as communications. Self-paced online finance team training is popular, but many leaders still favour in-person training and where possible, have this bespoke to their organisation’s requirements. We talk you through GrowCFO’s team training online courses, mentoring and coaching, workshops, and team-building events and their benefits. Our team training resources are designed to cover the topics that will have the most impact on your team and organisation, free up your own time by delegating more, and improve your ability to retain your best staff. Links
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| #65 The CFO’s Role in Scaling a Business with Felix Velarde, Author of Scale at Speed | 18 Jan 2022 | 00:50:50 | |
In this episode, Kevin Appleby interviews Felix Velarde, author of best selling business book Scale at Speed: How to Triple the Size of Your Business and Build a Superstar Team. Felix is also the founder of 2y3x.com, a growth acceleration program. Felix has distilled some of the best strategies he’s learnt over twenty-five years of leading businesses of varying sizes into an easy-to-read framework. He expertly lays out the journey a business needs to undertake to scale. He breaks it down into digestible steps, allowing you to achieve your goals through well-structured frameworks and engaging stories along the way. It’s a great guide to achieving 3x growth in 2 years (2Y3X). We use this framework to examine the role of the CFO. The CFO’s role within the team charged with setting strategy and delivering growth is vital. The CFO is key to the entire process. We also consider businesses that are in trouble and need to transform quickly in order to survive. Felix strongly believes that the same framework that allows you to scale at speed works just as well in a short-term crisis. He backs this up with evidence from his own clients who lost significant revenue at the start of the pandemic. Links
Timestamps
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| #64 30 Years in Private Equity with Mike Henebery | 11 Jan 2022 | 00:33:04 | |
Mike Henebery has been involved in private equity transactions for most of his career. He’s recently co-founded Titan Partners. Titan has just completed its first 8 figure fundraising deal helping fast-growing technology business Wise secure minority funding from Inflexion. Mike’s Career in Fundraising and Private EquityMike is a qualified accountant, starting his career in Arthur Andersen. He quickly moved away from audit and into the world of deals and fundraising transactions. His 30-year career in deals started in Montagu Private Equity and then Gresham LLC. He moved on to found several businesses of which Titan is the latest. You can find out more about Mike in his Linkedin profile. What does Titan Partners do?In 2019 Mike launched a new consultancy: Titan Partners. The mission was about accelerating success for SME owners. Titan Partners offers DISRUPTIVE start-ups and scale-ups access to a diverse range of EQUITY and CREDIT CAPITAL solutions ranging from high net worth to institutional investors leveraging our own startup/scale-up fundraising. Titan Partners facilitates fast growth, disruptive and profitable SMEs with unfulfilled Big Hairy Audacious Goals and executes a clear exit strategy. The steps:
Mike explains to us how leveraging Dr Dave Richards experience is key to step 3. These steps help owners fulfil their ambitions faster while still maximising value The GrowCFO Fundraising SimulatorWhile Mike has a wealth of experience in fundraising, this isn’t something that is common for accountants and CFOs. Over two-thirds of aspiring and first-time finance leaders have little or no fundraising experience. This can easily derail your career progression and leave you feeling unprepared when leading your first ever fundraise. If that’s you then GrowCFO can help. GrowCFO’s Fundraising Virtual Simulator provides you with essential first-hand CFO experience of leading and delivering an entire fundraising process from initial brainstorming through to deal completion. Our simulator is based on a real-life $12 million fundraise comprising equity and convertible debt for a high growth company with a pre-money valuation of $60 million. We have designed our simulator to help prepare you to confidently lead a range of fundraising deals so that you can thrive throughout the process. You will feel empowered to obtain the best available deal for your company. Find out more about GrowCFOIf you enjoyed this podcast you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google podcasts and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #189 CFO and CHRO Working Together with Rachel Anevski, CEO at Matters of Management LLC | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:30:19 | |
Kevin Appleby and Rachel Anevski discuss the importance of collaboration between the CFO and HR departments for organizational development and infrastructure. Rachel emphasizes the crucial role of HR in providing fractional human resource executives to support business growth. They also cover the roles of CFOs and CHROs in managing people and payroll, emphasizing the need for a separate role to handle these aspects of the business. They also discuss the urgent need for finance teams to adapt to digital transformation, AI, and an aging workforce, highlighting the importance of reskilling and upskilling the finance team to remain competitive. Key topics covered include:
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes here. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #63 How to Build Consensus with Susana Serrano-Davey | 21 Dec 2021 | 00:29:16 | |
On this episode of the GrowCFO Show Susana Serrano-Davey and Kevin Appleby discuss how to Build Consensus so that your proposal is accepted without challenge. Have you ever wondered why some people can turn up to a meeting, present their proposals, and have them accepted without question? Yet at the same time, you bring your proposal forward and you get a hard time and no decision. Why? What are you doing wrong? The answer is you probably aren’t doing enough outside the meeting room to build consensus. If you put in the hard work before the meeting, it’s likely you will have a far easier ride in the meeting itself. There are three steps to build consensusSusana defines three steps to building consensus: Identify who you need to persuade. Who are the key stakeholders? These might not just be the meeting attendees. Some board members may take advice in some instances from their no.2 or other members of their own function. If that’s the case, you need the advisor on your side and saying the right things when they advise their boss. Engage with each of your stakeholders in an appropriate way. Find out what their issues are and talk about them before the meeting. It might require a formal meeting. It might just be a chat at the coffee machine. Adapt your proposal to take account of their feedback. The consultation process is bound to give you some new information that will make the proposal better. Make sure you recognise this information and make the updates to your initial proposal. Listen to the whole episode to find out more. Find out more about GrowCFOIf you enjoyed this podcast you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google podcasts and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #62 Creating a Resilient Finance Team with Pinky Jangra | 14 Dec 2021 | 00:48:40 | |
Pinky Jangra teaches resilience to individuals and teams. She joins Kevin Appleby on the GrowCFO Show to explain how to create a resilient finance team. About Pinky JangraPinky has delved into many branches of human development and behaviour, enabling her to build a rich understanding of the human experience – mind, emotions, body, behaviour and soul. Pinky has been teaching her own courses since 2015. She delivers her proprietary Resilience Training to a variety of audiences online, in person, in business and personal environments. She combines her human development knowledge with 10+ years of corporate and consulting experience to help organisations with other people related areas including wellbeing, culture, change management and leadership development. Following this path enables Pinky to do what she loves – “leading people towards their greatness, growth and transformation. I love seeing people blossom. I love seeing them step into their own power and unlock their inner genius. We are not here to play small, to be bystanders, to be at the whim of our circumstances, beliefs and other people’s expectations. We are powerful creators, each bearing gifts and talents, we are able to overcome even the toughest challenges. We’re here to make our lives, our teams, our companies and our world better together.” How to create a resilient finance teamPinky says it depends on what your focus is for the training. If you’re doing resilience training for individuals, or for the team as a whole. Whichever it is, the first thing she starts with in all her training is self awareness skills. The first thing you have to understand is what’s going on in any person’s mind, emotions, body behaviour, any given time. So that’s really what you do to set the foundation. And then if you are doing something for a team you can start looking at a vision of what you actually want to create, collectively, or you can do it for an individual. Visioning is only the start. Pinky teaches five or six different elements of resilience. Some people just say, oh, to build your resilience, you need to just work on your mindset, or you need to do some exercise. But you are a holistic being, everything about you is a system, everything is working together. Pinky does look at mental resilience, looking at your own mindset. But theres much more. She then considers emotional resilience, what do you do when you’re stressed? And how are you handling difficult emotions and anxiety? And so on? Are you processing them? Are you regulating them? Pinky has a whole toolkit to help you. Then there’s also behavioural resilience. So what are you doing? Are you one of those people who just says yes to everybody? And then you wonder why you’re so overwhelmed as a simple example. Using these techniques together, you end up creating a resilient finance team Listen in to the full recording as Pinky tells us much much more about each element of resilience. Find out more about GrowCFOIf you enjoyed this podcast you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google podcasts and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||
| #61 5 Types of Mentor with Helene Brichet Herbinet | 07 Dec 2021 | 00:23:32 | |
Helene Brichet Herbinet is the newest member of GrowCFO’s mentoring team. She joins Kevin Appleby on the GrowCFO show to talk about her background and what she believes makes a good mentor. Helene tells us about 5 types of mentor and the situations in which each type works best. About HeleneHelene describes herself as “an inclusive and dependable leader and team player with cultural sensitivity, openness and integrity”. Her focus is on delivering value to organisations, their people, customers and stakeholders. She leads change with a clear vision and close stakeholders engagement. Helene is passionate about building and leading high-performing teams. She says “I invest in supporting individuals’ growth and development. Bringing commercial acumen, critical and strategic thinking in diagnosis, problem-solving and decision making”. Helene’s background is in financial services. Her experience includes Barclays, Visa, and Capital One. She describes her career as non-linear, meaning she has changed roles often, and not necessarily for promotion to broaden her experience. Helene tells us more about the benefits of a non-linear career path in the audio recording. Besides GrowCFO, Helene also mentors for the ICAEW. You can find out more in her LinkedIn profile The 5 Types of MentorHelene believes everyone needs five types of mentors. The first type is the Jedi Master. They have the experience and the Wisdom. They can provide insight into the industry, the function, or the role you work in. The second type of mentor will champion your cause, they will have your back. They will be connecting you to people, influencing how people see you, and introducing you to the key people. The third type of mentor is the co-pilot, the peers, committed to your success as much as you commit to this in collaboration. The fourth one is your confident or your anchor. They don’t need to be in a professional environment, or at least they don’t need to be in your industry or functional role. They are a coaching type of mentor, a sounding board for you. This mentor knows that you’re going to hit speed bumps and that you’re going to go through challenges as you develop as a leader. They can give you a lift, a psychological lift, and help you see light at the end of the tunnel. And the fifth one is the reverse mentor. That’s someone you learn from. Because they bring a new perspective, because they, they have a skill that you don’t have. And generally, this is more intergenerational. You can learn more about each of the 5 types of mentor by listening to the show. Find out more about GrowCFOIf you enjoyed this podcast you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google podcasts and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes. You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net | |||