The CFO Playbook – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Strategic leader, collaborator, innovator, and communicator – the role of a modern CFO encompasses all of these and more.

CFOs today are tasked with balancing financial expertise with creativity, guiding businesses through uncertainty, and building trust across their organisations.

But what does all of that look like in practice?

For this special episode of The CFO Playbook, we're joined by CFO of Soldo, Sacha Herrmann to discuss 6 lessons we have learned from world-class CFOs, finance leaders, and founders from some of the fastest-growing companies.

Hear highlights of interviews with -

Baron Anyngwe, Finance Director at We Are Fulfillmeant, shares his experience balancing risk and reward.

Giles Andrews OBE, co-founder of the world's first peer-to-peer lending business, Zopa, who invested heavily in machine learning.

Richard Dana, CEO of Tembo Money, shares the story of his first business venture in the volatile travel industry. The experience was harsh but valuable.

Huiming Chen, CFO at American biotechnology company Illumina, describes the ideal CFO as someone who operates seamlessly between strategy and operations, acting as a co-pilot to the CEO.

Helen Ashton, Former CFO of ASOS and now Founder of Shape Beyond, has a refreshing take on decision-making.

Mehjabeen Patrick, Finance Director at Arts University Bournemouth, emphasises the importance of being a transparent and inspiring communicator.

About Soldo:

Soldo is the proactive spend management solution that frees up businesses to accomplish more.

We champion the notion of Progressive Finance, because we believe in a decentralised approach to financial decision-making and greater spending autonomy for everyone. Over 25,000 organisations across 31 countries use Soldo to bring order, efficiency and agility to their decentralised spending, and empower the whole company to spend safely and responsibly.

By combining pre-programmed cards, a user-friendly app and a powerful spend management platform, Soldo enables decentralised spend decisions and frees everyone from tedious admin, while ensuring compliance.

Everyone gains back time to focus on the things that matter. For Finance teams, that means more time for the rewarding parts of your role, such as in-depth data analysis, defining overall business strategy, and implementing process improvements that empower everyone to achieving business goals.

Liberate Finance. Accomplish More.

In this episode, Christopher Striano, Chief Operating Officer of Global Finance at Blackstone, joins David McClelland to discuss the impact of corporate culture on business success, from the perspective of the world’s largest alternative asset manager.

With over $1 trillion in assets under management, Blackstone invests in businesses across industries and geographies, including private equity, real estate, credit, and hedge funds. In this revealing discussion, we hear how global entities need to balance culture and strategy to attract and retain great talent.

Chris shares highlights from his 25-years at Blackstone; how the company has evolved from a small entity to a global powerhouse, while maintaining a cohesive and inclusive culture; and how it stayed true to its core values by embracing regional influences in its 26 offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Highlighting a trinity of healthy competition, teamwork, and philanthropy in creating an engaged and unified Finance team, Chris puts his long-term career growth and job satisfaction down to nurturing relationships and great communication.

We also explore how integrating technologies and AI might be changing strategy for Finance teams, through strategic alignment, it doesn’t have to change culture.

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With growth at the heart of the recent Spring Budget, how can companies fuel productivity and accomplish more? On March 13th, 2024, business and economics experts met at the London Stock Exchange to decode the Chancellor’s Spring Budget at an event hosted by Soldo.

This live episode of The CFO Playbook is hosted by David McClelland and features an expert panel -

David Owen, Chief Economist, Saltmarsh Economics 

Liz Earle MBE of Liz Earle Wellbeing

Emma Heal, MD at Lucky Saint

Carlo Gualandri, CEO of Soldo

Chapters -

(00:00) - Productivity and Growth Challenges in the UK

(11:54) - Economic Growth and Productivity Opportunities

(21:58) - CFO-CEO Partnership for Business Success

(30:33) - Impacts of AI on Business Operations

(39:40) - AI Technology and Future Industry Trends

(53:41) - Summary of Support in the Spring Budget

Entries for the Global CFO 100 Awards in partnership with HotTopics are now open - https://hottopics.ht/global-cfo-100-awards-nominations. Entries close 31st August 2024.

About Soldo:

Soldo provides company cards connected to a powerful management platform. Employees use Soldo cards to buy what they need for work without being out of pocket or going over budget. Finance teams use Soldo to distribute money instantly, while staying in control of who spends, how much, where, and on what.

Thousands of businesses, from small to large corporations including Mercedes-Benz, Sony, and Get Your Guide use Soldo to make their business spending simple and efficient.

To find out more or to book a demo, visit Soldo.

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Welcome to a new series of The CFO Playbook, brought to you by Soldo.

In this episode, our new host, technology reporter, presenter and consumer champion, David McClelland talks to Baron Anyangwe, a finance leader, about his journey and insights into leadership.

They discuss the importance of flexibility and passion in career choices, the impact of volunteering, and Baron’s own holistic leadership framework. The framework includes principles such as widening perspectives, finding meaningful work, focusing on strengths, and setting milestones for progress.

Baron emphasises the importance of markers and milestones in guiding progress and decision-making, including the 6 Ps of success: Purpose, Principles, Priorities, Progress, Play, and People Skills. The episode also explores the value of playfulness in fostering creativity and innovation, whilst retaining the need for experimentation and adaptability in finance leadership.

This episode also delves into the rise of B Corp businesses and the challenges and opportunities they present for sustainability, reflecting on the concept of liberating finance and the role of finance leaders in driving positive change.

Chapters -

(0:00:01) - Leadership Framework

(0:11:12) - Protect the Magic, Ditch the Rest

(0:18:29) - Play, People Skills in Finance

(0:27:31) - Balancing Long-Term Sustainability in Business

(0:39:13) - Evolving Finance for Sustainable Business

Entries for the Global CFO 100 Awards in partnership with HotTopics are now open - https://hottopics.ht/global-cfo-100-awards-nominations. Entries close 31st August 2024.

About Soldo:

Soldo provides company cards connected to a powerful management platform. Employees use Soldo cards to buy what they need for work without being out of pocket or going over budget. Finance teams use Soldo to distribute money instantly, while staying in control of who spends, how much, where, and on what.

Thousands of businesses, from small to large corporations including Mercedes-Benz, Sony, and Get Your Guide use Soldo to make their business spending simple and efficient.

To find out more or to book a demo, visit Soldo.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Ed Lu, Chief Financial Officer at Fandom, a San Francisco-based gaming and entertainment community platform.

Ed is a gaming and media tech executive with deep finance, strategy and operational experiences focused on VC and PE-backed Gaming and B2C companies. He holds a Master’s in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from UC Berkeley.

In this episode, Ed talks about the explosive growth of the gaming industry over the course of the pandemic, the impact that generative AI will have on game development, and the ups and downs of the financial investment side of the sector.

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Guest Quotes:

“A lot of these [gaming] companies have had to somewhat bootstrap themselves, right? Or like, on a shoestring budget, get something out, show the metrics that the VCs will understand, ‘Oh, okay, I get it. Here's the D1, here's the D3, D7, D28, here's the monetization, here's the ARPU, whatnot. I can now project it out further.’ But they're not getting funding prior, right? And so they've been coming into the game a little later, like sort of post traction.” - Ed Lu

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Topics:

01:34 Ed’s background

06:53 The evolution of monetization in online gaming 

15:44 Trials and tribulations of game development

20:21 Investment in the gaming sector

30:03 Downsides of VC investing

40:12 Managing employee retention as a CFO

49:24 Reflecting on his career

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Sponsor:

This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com

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Links:

Connect with Ed on LinkedIn

Connect with Fran on LinkedIn

The CFO Playbook Listener Survey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Bill Fahrbach, Chief Financial Officer at Facet, offering impartial and invaluable financial advice and services at an affordable membership fee.

Bill is a strategic Financial Executive and Entrepreneurial CFO/COO with an extensive investment banking background and rounded technology operational experience. With a track record of significant growth, capital raises, and exits, he’s a leader in finance, operations, systems, and legal capacities.

In this episode, Bill talks about the changing dynamics between CFO and CEO, the importance of a healthy work-life balance, and how a primarily remote-first culture affects the pathway to becoming a CFO.

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Guest Quotes:

“I think what has changed is, if you think about the CFO role, it's really critically important that you get the right information out to the organization. So, the organization wants to understand how we are doing as a business, and it's not as simple as sort of just saying like, look, here are the numbers, right? There's a lot of color, there's a lot of context. So I would say as CFO, it's been challenging. It's actually pushed probably the limits in terms of like how do you communicate effectively with the employee base, whereas when you're in the office in a physical office, it's more natural, I guess you could say, and more seamless to sort of be having routine discussions with, employees across the board and articulating, you know, the good, the bad, and everything in between and getting that message across. In a virtual environment, what I've found is that the struggle is always finding that balance of how do I get the right message out in the right forums. And not create, let's say, like a drain of unnecessary meetings that people get bored in, right? So, it's finding that balance, you know, articulating the right information, but also giving the right context in a way that employees will be engaged. I'd say that was, that's been the biggest challenge.” - Bill Fahrbach

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Topics:

00:38 Bill’s role and adjusting to remote work

03:49 How a remote first culture affects the pathway to CFO

07:51 Educational background

13:19 Dynamics between CFO and CEO

17:53 Facilitating company acquisitions

21:47 Work life balance

24:23 About Facet and IPO

29:18 Best decision he’s ever made

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Sponsor:

This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com

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Links:

Connect with Bill on LinkedIn

Connect with Fran on LinkedIn

The CFO Playbook Listener Survey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Andy Dean, Chief Financial Officer at Eden Futures, providing high quality, person-centered care, supported living and enablement for people with disabilities and support needs.

At Eden Futures, Andy leads the Finance, Service Development and IT teams. Prior, he started his career training with KPMG as a Chartered Accountant, gaining experience within both Audit and Transaction Services. He has since worked for a variety of care providers in social care starting with Craegmoor as Group Financial Accountant. From there he gained broader experience at GKN plc before joining what became Embrace Group in 2012 as Group Financial Controller. Andy helped to manage the recovery and subsequent sale of that business before joining Eden Futures.

In this episode, Andy talks about the current state of social care in the UK, his work as a leader for teams in finance, service development, and IT, and how policies, politics, and technology affect the space.

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Guest Quotes:

“ Part of your role, as CFO, is that wide base of stakeholders. You can be talking to your shareholder one day. You can be talking to your lender another day. You can be talking to your insurer. You know, CFOs like me are often responsible for the IT, so get involved in the IT discussions, talking to our customers. So, in our case, our commissioning partners around whatever issue it might be, say fee rates, occupancy. Get involved with the lawyers that are on the contractual side. So yes, it is a varied role. You know, the old adage that 'no day is ever the same' is absolutely right from a CFO perspective.” - Andy Dean

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Topics:

01:37 Andy’s background and role as CFO

07:22 Current state of social care in the UK

13:14 Technology in social care

17:43 Employee retention and politics

21:00 Dealing with uncertainties

25:45 Mentorship

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Sponsor:

This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com

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Links:

Connect with Andy on LinkedIn

Eden Futures Website

Connect with Fran on LinkedIn

The CFO Playbook Listener Survey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chris Voss, Founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group. Previously, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group. 

Chris used his many years of experience in international crises and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program that applies globally proven techniques to the business world. Through the Black Swan Group, he provides training for a variety of businesses and individuals on negotiation skills. He’s also the author of Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It.

In this episode, Chris and I talk about how he became an FBI hostage negotiator, what a CFO can learn from negotiation, and the three biggest mistakes to avoid when negotiating.

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Guest Quotes:

“Really counterintuitive stuff, this thing that we call empathy, you know, we call tactical empathy. It's ability to influence, if you can wrap your mind around what it really is, it works under all circumstances. Doesn't matter, as long as human beings are involved, whether it's a colleague, whether it's a client, whether it's an employee, whether it's somebody you work for, it seems mystical because it really operates on neuroscience and the feelings of being understood. But human beings are wired to be completely emotional. You know, every decision, you make up your mind based on what you care about, which makes decision making an emotional process because your fundamental basis is what you care about. And so then it's just applied emotional intelligence. And you know you can succeed in the boardroom or work with what I learned dealing with a drug dealer or a terrorist.” - Chris Voss

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Topics:

03:02 How to become an FBI hostage negotiator

03:41 What a CFO can learn from negotiation

12:52 Three biggest mistakes in negotiation

18:45 Achieving outcomes

22:28 In-person versus digital communication

27:38 Real life stories

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Sponsor:

This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com

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Links:

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn

The Black Swan Group LTD

Connect with Fran on LinkedIn

The CFO Playbook Listener Survey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at University of Oxford and Co-author of The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups.

Professor Dunbar is British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist and a specialist in primate behavior. He is best known for formulating Dunbar’s number, a measurement of the “cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships.” His research is concerned with trying to understand the behavioral and cognitive mechanisms that underpin social bonding in primates and humans.

In this episode, Professor Dunbar talks about how evolution affects the dynamics of organizations, the seven pillars of friendship, the impact of work on personal relationships, and the observable changes in a sense of community overtime.

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Guest Quotes:

“In a C-suite level, you have to find ways of sharing your time and not micromanaging everything, that's where the disaster comes, I think, because you destroy everything. You try and micromanage the whole of a big organization, not only do you make a hash of that because it's too big, but you also don't have any time left over for your family relationships and so on, and they fall apart. So, you’ve got to trust the people you work with, as it were, below you, in the layers below you to do their job, and that has to be the culture. And, there are places where that happens, you have this sense of trust and obligation and people work willingly, as it were, and overwork, maybe,  willingly, not for the money they're paid but out of a sense of pride and obligation to the job they do. If you encourage that kind of attitude again, which used to be much more common, then you don't have to worry about what's going on down below because that's being taken care of in the layers below you. You can sit back and deal with strategy, which is what C-suite folks should be really concerned with because, and sparing yourself enough time at the corners of the day to invest in your own kind of family and social environments.” - Robin Dunbar

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Topics:

02:51 Introducing Robin’s book: The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups

06:35 How evolution affects the dynamics of organizations

11:36 The seven pillars of friendship

18:21 Difference in application for group sizes in a workplace setting

30:32 Generational changes in the sense of community

38:47 The impact of work on personal relationships

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Sponsor:

This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com

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Links:

Connect with Robin on LinkedIn

The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups

Connect with Fran on LinkedIn

The CFO Playbook Listener Survey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Tom Herbert, Tech Editor at AccountingWEB, the largest independent online community for accounting and finance professionals in the UK.

Tom is a journalist, editor and broadcaster with experience across digital and print publications. For the past seven years, he’s specialized in business, accountancy and technology journalism. He writes and edits news, features, interviews and opinion pieces and also features on a variety of podcasts, videos and webinars as both a host and guest.

In this episode, Tom talks about ChatGPT and the future of AI, the recent Silicon Valley Bank situation, The Tyranny of Expense Reclaim, and his opinions on accountancy stereotypes.

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Guest Quotes:

“I think that accountants, the stereotype is, Nigel in the corner office with his spreadsheet, and they're incredibly boring people, like Monty Python and various others have spread this around. But, I actually find accountants incredibly entertaining. I think they're generally very quirky, quite eccentric, and often quite blunt. But, when I pitched up in 2015, after, as you said, a series of events, writing, travel, writing, sports, journalism, like my wife's, yeah, ‘accounting journalism, are you sure?’ But, yeah, I've loved every minute of it, genuinely. It's been great fun.” - Tom Herbert

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Topics:

03:54 Chat GPT and AI

10:21 Silicon Valley Bank

14:14 Resumes and trust

18:44 The Tyranny of Expense Reclaim

24:44 Opinions on accountancy stereotypes

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Sponsor:

This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com

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Links:

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn

Connect with Fran on LinkedIn

The CFO Playbook Listener Survey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices