The Source for CFO Thought Leadership
Inside The Mentoring Round, Deanna Strable revisits some pivotal moments that reshaped Principal Financial Group’s strategic direction. A key decision was exiting certain underperforming businesses, a result of a comprehensive strategic review conducted in collaboration with the board. Strable emphasizes the importance of focusing on a combination of metrics rather than a singular financial figure, noting […]
Inside The Mentoring Round CFO CFO Kabir Ahmed Shakir highlights the importance of business intimacy, functional skills, and diversity within his finance team.Additionally, he emphasizes the company’s focus on driving profitable, sustainable growth through margin expansion, operational efficiency, and strategic reinvestment. This approach has enabled Tata to fund acquisitions, such as Switch and Kalera, using […]
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Shelagh Glaser discusses how AI is transforming Synopsys Inc. at multiple levels, from accelerating engineering solutions to enhancing internal operations and forecasting. CFO Glaser also shares insights for new CFOs on how to navigate organizational dynamics in a remote work environment and preparing for market shifts.
Inside the Mentoring Round, CFO Karen Williams of American Express Global Business Travel showcases a growth mindset, turning career hurdles into invaluable learning experiences. Her journey from networking struggles at Mars to recognizing its significance underscores the power of building essential professional relationships. Williams’s emphasis on “connecting the dots” to glean insights from past missteps […]
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Lawrence Herman reflects on his experience during the “Bitcoin winter” when he advised against the popular opinion to sell off assets. He advocated for buying more Bitcoin as a strategy to preserve and potentially increase the company’s financial health during a market downturn. At Dwolla, Herman’s priorities include optimizing cash […]
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Naresh Bansal emphasizes the importance of flexibility and readiness to adapt to unforeseen changes in the business environment, illustrating this with his own experiences of sudden shifts in company strategy and market conditions. He discusses how his role shifted towards more strategic capital allocation, particularly in response to changing economic […]
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Erin Sawyer tell us when she recognized the necessity of adopting a holistic approach to operational processes. Rather than viewing each department’s systems and procedures in isolation, she saw the value in examining how each part of the process impacted others, highlighting the need for an integrated approach to drive […]
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Matt Wolf highlights his broad perspective, gained from a background in data analytics and software, which enables him to understand and support various organizational functions beyond finance. By minimizing surprises through transparency and openness, Wolf believes this can be a strategic advantage, reducing the need to be reactive and allowing […]
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Jeff Woolard shares an example from Intel where finance’s broad view helped realign the product roadmap with market demands, enhancing margins. Woolard advocates a structured decision-making process to navigate uncertainties effectively. He stresses the importance of not just operational efficiency but also actively seeking opportunities to enhance the firm’s value.
What are your finance leader priorities over the next 12 months? Johanna: Over the next 12 months, would like to get my team to understand the different business operations in other areas of our organization to a larger extent. I also want to build APIs and dashboards that will help each area of the organization […]
