Joe Custer’s strategic moment came when he stopped treating strategy as a project and learned the Hoshin Kanri planning process at Stanley. By starting with “breakthrough performance” and building a quarterly execution rhythm, he transformed planning into an operating system—driving alignment, accountability, and growth “two to three times faster than competitors.”
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Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Joe Custer of Intrado
Intrado’s finance chief pairs mission-critical reliability with growth discipline. He traces Intrado’s roots to public-safety innovation and a footprint touching 90% of 911 requests, insisting on public-safety-grade uptime. Post carve-out, he’s led network hardening, ERP replacement, and CRM-enabled deal-desk governance to standardize pricing and manage 7,500 contracts, sharpening renewals, upsell, and ARR bookings while protecting NRR. His strategy ethos: make transformation an operating model, not a project. Using Hoshin Kanri, teams start with breakthrough outcomes, cascade three to five priorities, and run quarterly cadences aligning people, product, and plans. He’s harmonizing data to embed AI across operations without compromising resilience.
| CFO’s Strategy Playbook |
|---|
| • Start with breakthrough, back-solve priorities and cadence. |
| • Make transformation a standing operating system. |
| • Govern growth via contracts, pricing, and deal desk. |