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The brutal truth about Intention and Impact
Nearly twenty years ago, I had my first conversation with a mentor who helped me shape who I am today.
I was running supermarket operations at that time, working for a CEO who, in my eyes, was not meant to be CEO.
He was a former CFO who never transitioned from being a CFO to become a CEO. There are few good examples of successful CFOs who also became successful CEOs.
Primarily seen through my lens because they struggle to shift from numbers to strategy, culture, and people.
Am I biased? Absolutely.
Show me the new CFO in a company where the previous CFO has become CEO, and I will tell you whether the transition was done well.
If the new CFO acts as the water carrier (servant) of the CFO turned CEO, I know enough. We’re now dealing with two instead of one Excel freaks.
Fair? Absolutely not.
But still closer to the truth than not.
As a younger, slightly immature new executive, I struggled to work with my CFO CEO.
