Latest / The Diary of a CFO / How Finance Teams Should Be Using AI Right Now, with Chad Gold, CFO of Fullstory

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How Finance Teams Should Be Using AI Right Now, with Chad Gold, CFO of Fullstory · The Diary of a CFO

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We are live in Atlanta and this is a diary of
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a CFO podcast. I'm your host Wassia Kamon and
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I've called thIS city home for over two decades.
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More than two trillion in payments flow through
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Atlanta every year. Yet, most of the business
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conversation is still centered on places like
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New York and San Francisco. This is a limited
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series where I'm sitting down in person with
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CFOs and senior finance leaders right here in
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Atlanta. How they build their careers, what's
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working, what's different about doing it here
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so we can get a better understanding of the humans
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behind the big titles. I'm so happy today I have
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with me Chad Gold. Chad is a CFO of Full Story
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and was named the 2022 CFO of the Year by the
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Atlanta Business Chronicle. A veteran finance
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leader with over 20 years of experience, he previously
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served as CFO at Sales Loft, where he drove 10x
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growth in enterprise value to over $2 .3 billion.
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And he was the first CFO at G2. With a background
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on SAP Ariba, the Home Depot, and Ernst & Young,
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Chad combines big systems expertise with high
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growth startup agility. It currently leads Full
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Story's global strategy, focusing on AI and behavioral
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data, and how we can turn operational efficiency
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into measurable business outcome. So glad to
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have you here, Chad. Thank you for having me.
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Oh, yeah. I'm so glad we finally getting to do
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this in person. That's right. I told you, right?
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My very first podcast in person, which I think
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I like this better. Oh, sweet. I won't turn red.
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So first, wanted to hear what brought you to
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Atlanta. So I actually grew up in Florida, in
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Gainesville, Florida, and graduated from the
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University of Florida, go Gators, which is not
1:39
a welcome thing in Atlanta, but hey. And then,
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you know, when you graduate from Florida, I majored
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in finance, and the reality was there's only
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a few cities you're gonna go to. You're gonna
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either stay in Florida and go to Tampa, Orlando,
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Miami, but honestly, the best place to go is
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Atlanta. And for me, it was getting a job at
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Ernst & Young that brought me up here over 20
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years ago. And what excited me about the opportunity
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was with Ernst & Young, it was about working
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in a job in corporate finance. So it wasn't on
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the accounting side. And I knew that it was going
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to help me build a great foundation for my career.
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And then I met my wife up here. I've had both
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of my children here. And this is the longest
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I've lived any place. So it definitely is my
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home now. Oh, wow. I mean. I'm planning a trip
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to Florida. So I'm always curious to hear when
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you have to leave like the ocean and coming back
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to the humidity of Georgia. What was that transition
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like? Well, I grew up in Gainesville, Florida,
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which if you look on the map is north central
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Florida. Yeah. So the humidity is worse there
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than it is here. Yeah. I mean, I was an hour
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and a half from the ocean. I do miss it, but
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we go to the beach. I think Atlanta, the benefits
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of Atlanta far outweigh the fact that the beach
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isn't close by. Tell me more. Like, what's your
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favorite thing to do here? You know, the fall
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and the spring in Atlanta are my favorite, you
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know, hiking, being outside, just absolutely
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incredible. I mean, there's so many great places
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to go. The other thing I've seen over the last
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20 plus years, the food scene, right, has gotten
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so good. And I think, you know, you were mentioning
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you live in Johns Creek, right? I live in Sandy
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Springs. Even in the local cities, I think the
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food scene has really picked up. And so it's
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a fun place. I know we're both talking about
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raising families. It's a great place to raise
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a family, too. Oh, yeah. What about um career
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wise like what do you think has helped you because
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it looked like you build most of your career
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Here like right after college. Yeah, I think
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it's a combination of You know, I I started at
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u ursonian like you said now call it ey Love
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the job. It was awesome because I built You know
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really that foundational how to build financial
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models You know how to dig into the numbers in
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the business, but I quickly found that after
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a couple years Wasn't actually learning about
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the operations of the business and it was luck
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that I got recruited to go to Home Depot And
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when I got recruited originally it was recruited
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for what they called their audit leadership program
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which was it was built just like GE's corporate
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audit staff, okay and even more lucky for me
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was that Carol Tomei was the CFO at Home Depot
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and She's now the CEO at UPS. And so I had a
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front -row seat to see what an operational CFO
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really looked like. And Home Depot gave me exposure
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to M &A, international business, financial planning
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and analysis. So I got to really round out my
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career over eight years. And then it's been a
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combination of, I think, you know, where I've
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worked, but also I have this belief in this this
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term I use called lines, not dots. You know,
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you meet people across your career and if you
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only talk to them when you need something. That's
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what the dot means. It's like, oh, it's very
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transactional in nature. And I have this belief
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that relationships that you build over time is
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what actually shapes your career. For me, there
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was a guy that I worked with at Ernst & Young
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out of college that eventually recruited me to
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Ariba 10 years later. Wow. And we had maintained
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a relationship that whole time. He had moved
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to California. He'd moved back to Atlanta. There
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are people now that I work with at Full Story
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that I worked with at Ariba and then also that
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I've recruited that I work with at sales loft
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and so those relationships that lines not dots
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principle has helped to shape I think the progression
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through Atlanta I love that I'm definitely gonna
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use that because So much of how you move at some
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point of your career is based on relationships
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and not just your skills That's right I totally
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agree and and if I if I look it really wasn't
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until I went to sales loft Where I started to
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recruit people that had worked with me at other
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places and now I've done it I did it at G2. I've
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now done it at Full Story. And it's just awesome
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because, you know, look, there's a reality which
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is you spend 80 % of your time at work if you
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don't work with people that you enjoy and that
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you love and care about. It's not as fun as it
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can be. No, it's actually draining. That's right.
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It makes such a difference, because the work
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will be the work, but the people you work with,
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it can drain you. 100%. I'm curious to hear,
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because you worked at the Home Depot, EY, what
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people will see as very stable large companies,
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and then you shifted to startups. What was that
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transition like? Were you scared in the process?
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No, you know, it was interesting. I think first
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of all, I was lucky that I did that early in
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my career. And so that built that foundation
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of strong process, solid foundation and understanding
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data and how numbers work and how to work with
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a business. And I think for me, what drove me
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down to startup, it was two things. One is my
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wife will say that. You know, being a CFO in
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a high growth startup company is probably the
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riskiest thing a finance person would do. And
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so it does give me a chance to dabble in that
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that kind of risk reward. But I think more importantly,
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the thing that I didn't love about the bigger
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companies was decision velocity. I found when
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I wanted to change something that it could be
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stifling. It could take me quarters or even years
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sometimes to change what I would argue were very
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simple things. And so when I moved into the sales
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lofts of the world, the G2s, the full stories,
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part of it was betting on myself. I said, I would
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rather see the impact of my work and take that
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risk that I'm going to do the right things. And
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when I don't, it's OK to acknowledge you make
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a mistake and change it. And I think in companies
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like that, you can see the impact. You can look
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back on a week and see what you've done. You
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can change more in a month than you did in a
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quarter or a year at a big company. And for me,
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I find that very energizing. I would rather be
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in a position to the phrase I use is make the
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news not report it. And I think that high growth
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companies really put you in a position to do
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that. Yes, that's true. I really I will say I
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to move between company sizes and definitely
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being in a small organization, you do feel the
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impact of your decision. But that also comes
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with a lot of pressure because you probably were
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walking to companies and you were there was no
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finance and accounting function and you had to
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build it from the ground up. So Tell us about
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what could be the right playbook when you're
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in those situations and what helps you stay grounded.
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Luckily for me, at SalesLoft G2 and Full Story,
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there at least had been a finance function. So
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there was something there. You know, what I always
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say to any CFO that's starting a new job, you
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come in and the first thing, there are literally
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50 different things coming at you or people say,
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this is broken. You need to fix this. Finance
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doesn't do this right. This system doesn't work.
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My first thing that I've done every single place
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I've worked is you have to spend the first month,
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the first 30 days just listening, really gathering
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facts, both from your own team, like learning,
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why did we do things the way we did? And then
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also from the business, like where are the gaps?
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What's going on? And the reason I say that is
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because if you don't gather that in the first
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30 days, you will make recommendations that are
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misinformed. And I think that you have an opportunity
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to lose the room really fast. So that's the first
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one. Then what I always say is after you spend
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those 30 days come out with something that you
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want to accomplish in your first 60 to 90 days
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and generally pick three or four really big topics
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and Share them with your CEO share them with
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your leadership team. And what I say is tell
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them look I'm gonna do these things first It's
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not that the other 45 things you've sent me aren't
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important. But if I don't get these things, right
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I won't get things moving forward and It becomes
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this idea for your own team where they start
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to see progress And there's this concept called
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the progress principle. You start racking up
9:30
small wins and the momentum, the energy, the
9:35
morale in your team starts to elevate really
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fast. And that puts you in a position to tackle
9:40
bigger things later. And so I say, look, pick
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those three or four big things, commit to them,
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make sure you get them done, and then get into
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everything else. Where leaders make a mistake,
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I think, is they try to tackle everything at
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once. and it's like quicksand. You move things
9:55
a little bit each way, but no one's feeling the
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progress. But then how do you manage change fatigue,
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right? Because like you said, you walk in, because
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I rarely walk into any job, not just as a CFO,
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and there was nothing to change, right? And you
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have those 45 things. So you pick three, there's
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like 42 left and probably 10 more that got added.
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So how do you lead change in those circumstances
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when people kind of get tired? Yeah, I think
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it comes down to I mean communication becomes
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huge I Have a coffee cup somebody gave me because
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I guess I quoted this all the time or someone
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would bring me something and I would always say
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What's the context? Why is this on my plate?
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What what's important? Why is why are we bringing
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this up? And I think that also is important when
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you're making changes Bringing people along the
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journey. Here's why we're doing it. Here's the
10:47
context here's why it's important to the business.
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And I find that if you're willing to invest in
10:54
communication, people will come along for the
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journey. And actually acknowledging and having
10:59
empathy that, hey, I know this is difficult for
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you to change this thing. One of the big ones
11:05
when you come in as a finance leader is you're
11:08
probably putting in more control than there was
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before. And a lot of business folks are like,
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well, wait a minute, I used to be able to approve
11:15
anything I wanted to or spend this or. And if
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you give them the context on why it's important
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and give them some autonomy and agency to do
11:24
certain things, they'll tend to partner with
11:27
you and come along for the ride. OK, OK. So you've
11:31
led organizations that grew very fast, like very,
11:35
very fast on a short period of time, because
11:38
that's really how success is in those kind of
11:40
startups. What do you think typically breaks
11:42
first for finance? Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
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I think people's perception is it's the billing
11:48
system or your data quality or your models that
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break first. And I think that's all true. But
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at its core, I mentioned before decision velocity.
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You know, one of the things as you're moving
11:59
really fast and growing a business is the ability
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to give feedback to the business fast, to put
12:05
data in front of them, to make decisions, to
12:07
give them advice and kind of steward the business
12:10
along. And I think where finance leaders can
12:11
make a mistake is you have to invest in some
12:14
level of data quality and infrastructure so that
12:19
you can stay ahead of the business and be able
12:21
to make decisions with them. What happens is
12:23
if you don't do that, you start to drown in what
12:25
I would argue is maybe lower value reporting,
12:28
lower value analysis, and the business stops
12:30
asking for help eventually. They're like, I got
12:32
to figure this thing out on my own. And so you
12:34
want to stay ahead of them so that they're always
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coming to you and saying, before I do this, I
12:38
want to make sure Chad and his team are on board
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and that they're calling out any gaps, anything
12:44
that maybe I hadn't thought of. And I think the
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other thing that becomes important in a high
12:48
-growth company is, in addition to decision velocity,
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I have this thing I look for in people, which
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is, it's okay to tell the business no, but it
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should always be a no -but. And what I mean by
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that is, it's okay to say no, but you need to
13:03
give them another route to achieve what they
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want to achieve, unless, I mean, some things
13:06
are just dumb and they shouldn't do it. But most
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of the time, there's a good idea behind it. And
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you want to be their partner to helping them
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figure it out. And so saying, no, but you can't
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do that. But here's what you can do. The business
13:18
feels more empowered. Or sometimes you say, yes,
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yes, I'm OK if you do that. And I need you to
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do these other things. So no, but or yes, and
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I think helps as you are scaling a high growth
13:29
business as well. And I like the idea you said
13:32
about business partnering, right? Because they
13:34
thinking about how can I bring finance in ahead
13:38
of time and not after? an afterthought because
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I did a survey not too long ago and about 200
13:45
finance leaders, most of them were CFOs talking
13:48
about how finance is brought in after the fact.
13:51
and not like once we already made a decision,
13:54
we all going it out, you know, you guys make
13:56
it happen. What are some of the things that have
13:58
helped you partner better with the business to
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the point where they say what you just said?
14:04
What is your team on board with what we're about
14:06
to do? I mean, I think it comes down to three
14:09
things. And it's, you know, the first one is
14:13
you got to build the processes so you could stay
14:15
ahead of the business. Those are things like,
14:18
I always say that in finance, you have to answer
14:20
three questions in order. What happened? Why
14:24
did it happen? So now what? And if you can't
14:27
answer them, you go all the way back to the beginning
14:29
and start with what happened and move through
14:31
that. And that's a very foundational thing. You
14:33
have that process so you can get to the, so now
14:36
what? How do I guide the business? Finance, I
14:39
have this... Saying which is you know finance
14:41
is just the expression of everything that happens
14:43
in the business and numbers And so if you build
14:45
those processes you have visibility into the
14:47
operations of the business You heard me talk
14:50
about systems and data data quality becomes really
14:52
important Often you hear the stories all the
14:55
time about high -growth companies and a very
14:58
simple metric might have ten different definitions
15:00
Your chief revenue officer says my bookings this
15:03
quarter was one number and then the CFO comes
15:05
in and says no It's not it's this my team gave
15:07
me this number. Well Now you're in this reconciliation
15:11
back and forth, which isn't valuable at all.
15:14
So agreeing on aligned definitions for metrics
15:16
and getting a central way to report them becomes
15:18
important. And then I think the last one is it's
15:20
a talent management thing. You have to hire people
15:23
that don't just want to be behind the scenes.
15:27
I think you talked about the finance functions
15:29
that I saw both at SalesLoft and really G2 and
15:33
even Full Story to a degree. There were elements
15:35
of those teams that had this hunger to be involved
15:38
in the business, but in some ways had just been
15:41
seen as a reporting arm. And, you know, what
15:45
we really wanted to do over time was to transform
15:47
that into again, making the news and really driving
15:50
the business forward. And how do you bring your
15:52
team along? Because that's a good point that
15:54
you you sometimes inherit a team and that reputation
15:57
is already there in people's mind that you I
16:00
can't go to them for anything or They're only
16:03
doing reporting. I don't see them already as
16:05
a business partner. I should bring in early in
16:07
my conversation. So when you inherit a team,
16:11
how do you go about getting them to the level
16:14
of efficiency you want them to be when it comes
16:17
to business partnering? I think one of the first
16:20
things you have to do is empower them. One of
16:22
the biggest challenges is I think finance teams
16:25
often don't feel like they can push back. They
16:27
don't feel like they can ask for help. And so
16:29
I think that's the first one as a leader coming
16:31
in saying, hey, I'm here to help you. My job
16:32
is to make you successful. It's amazing just
16:35
even saying those words and really then, of course,
16:37
proving that you're going to do that. It really
16:39
changes the calculus of a lot of people. And
16:43
I think a lot of folks say it's like, hey, let's
16:45
let's go to some of these conversations together.
16:47
Why don't you see how how I engage with the business?
16:51
And, you know, more times than not, they're able
16:55
to come along, and sometimes they're not, and
16:56
they ultimately decide that maybe that phase
16:58
of the company, because there's people that are
17:00
good for certain phases, they may decide that's
17:02
not the right phase for them. And then also,
17:05
at least at SalesLoft, G2, and now Full Story,
17:09
I've been lucky enough to bring in leaders who
17:10
I've worked with before, who have the same mindset
17:13
that I do, and so they help me to drive that
17:16
across the team. And back to the relationships
17:19
again and how you are able to bring people along.
17:22
So I'm curious though, on the personal side,
17:24
what's difficult about leading in those periods
17:27
of change, right? Because you come in, there's
17:29
not necessarily everything you wanted. Things
17:32
are not how you would want them to be. And you
17:34
have to be patient with yourself and you have
17:37
to work and wear all these hats that now CFOs
17:40
have to wear. So how do you... Keep up with that.
17:45
I mean, I think it's a couple things. One is
17:47
I tell people all the time when I'm mentoring
17:49
other CFOs, you have to stay calm. There's this
17:54
view that if the CFO is nervous or frazzled,
17:57
that everybody's frazzled, right? It's just a
17:59
part of the job. And so I think that's the first
18:01
one is like being calm, being patient, as you
18:04
say, but more importantly, that incremental progress
18:06
that I told you about. I do think it's important
18:10
for you to be patient, but to get to start. Stacking
18:13
up small wins and you know This is more of I
18:16
say this all the time that I've made enough mistakes
18:18
across my career that I know how to do Maybe
18:20
do things the right way now the first time and
18:22
so they're just areas that you generally see
18:24
that are easier to tackle when you come in and
18:27
When your team your team sees that you can make
18:29
a small change that might be a change like a
18:34
definition of metrics where you just grab the
18:36
business and align on something and you all get
18:38
to the same place. And now you've eliminated
18:40
all of the back and forth. Or it's an analysis
18:44
where there's a big decision like what segment
18:47
should we be in? Who is our ideal customer profile?
18:49
And you raise your hand and say, my team's gonna
18:51
lead this analysis and you have your team do
18:52
it. And they start to see it and they start to
18:54
get excited. And so part of your job is being
18:57
a bit of a cheerleader and building up the morale
18:59
of your team. And then I do think you made a
19:01
comment, which is wearing all these hats. Look,
19:04
the CFO role generally now isn't just owning
19:07
finance. So at at Full Story, I own finance.
19:14
I have our legal and corporate development team.
19:16
I have our enterprise systems and data team.
19:20
And I love that because I've got awesome leaders
19:23
underneath me. And I actually see a lot of power
19:25
in having all those functions work together because
19:28
they're all working. on very similar things and
19:30
they can multiply each other's work. But as a
19:34
CFO, you have to be okay that, you know what,
19:36
I'm not the domain expert in legal. I'm not the
19:39
domain expert. I'm definitely not the domain
19:40
expert in IT and systems. But if I get the right
19:44
leaders and we partner together and I share a
19:46
vision and then I support them along the way,
19:50
it's pretty powerful. It is. And because at ACE,
19:54
I have HR like... They want to give me other
19:58
stuff, and I'm like, no English. Don't even try.
20:04
So what's your go -to approach to hire those
20:07
leaders that are not in your primary function?
20:10
Because you have to... coach, for example, the
20:13
person in IT, or go and hire somebody to help
20:16
you with legal. And that was not, for example,
20:18
your expertise. I realize a lot of people don't
20:21
feel comfortable necessarily with that or don't
20:23
know how to go about it. Just like you have CFOs
20:25
that come from an FPNA background and now they
20:27
have to lead a controller who comes from a very
20:30
technical accounting background. Like what are
20:32
your go -to moves when you come to that? What
20:33
are you looking for in that candidate? How do
20:35
you coach and manage them once they're on board?
20:38
You have to be intellectually honest that you
20:40
don't know all that. Like I'm not an accountant
20:42
by nature. So I have to have, I've got an awesome
20:44
controller at Full Story. I've been lucky to
20:46
have really strong controllers at all of my companies.
20:48
Either I've hired them or they've been there.
20:51
And I think that applies to all the functions.
20:53
Even just acknowledging first, hey, I'm not the
20:55
expert here, but here's what I want to, here's
20:57
my vision and bringing them along the journey
20:59
back to the context. It's pretty powerful. And
21:02
I think that, you know, if you Hiring in those
21:06
functions. It's not about getting into the really
21:09
super technical details You and I know enough
21:12
to be dangerous in all of the different areas
21:14
just to know what's important But it's about
21:17
finding people. I think all of those functions
21:19
can have an element of this make the news not
21:22
report it Yeah, so you want to find leaders that
21:24
feel empowered that That don't just let things
21:28
happen to them. They want to come in and they
21:30
want to drive the business and they want a partner
21:32
And they also view the business as their customer
21:35
And I think if you get like -minded people, not
21:38
necessarily that all have the same personality,
21:39
you don't have to have that, but I think people
21:40
that at least view their functions as ways to
21:43
supercharge the business, you can move things
21:46
forward. Yeah. And I like what you said here
21:49
is that mindset, right? Because you can only
21:51
train people on technical skills so much. Right.
21:55
And now you are working at Full Story. You guys
21:58
are at the forefront of AI. Curious to hear what
22:02
do you think are some trends that finance and
22:04
accounting professionals should think about,
22:06
you know, as we approach our career? Because,
22:09
you know, like you said, you're hiring your leaders
22:11
not based on do you know how to code, right?
22:13
Because that's low level. At your level, you're
22:16
looking for do you have the vision? Do you have
22:17
the drive? Yeah. What about finance and accounting
22:20
professionals in general? And what AI is bringing
22:23
to the scene? So I think the CFO role is evolving
22:26
because of that. And if you really think about
22:28
it, as the CFO, you're one of the primary drivers
22:32
of AI in the company. And I think there's two
22:35
ways you're doing that, right? One is you are
22:38
responsible for creating the environment, the
22:41
data infrastructure, the governance, making sure
22:44
that you're putting the right tools in place
22:46
so that people can start using AI. I think that's
22:48
one of the things. And I think that's where a
22:50
lot of things fail. The second one which becomes
22:53
important is and where a lot of AI fails is talent
22:57
You want to bring in people either that have
22:59
a vision or have worked with some of these tools
23:01
before and I think there's an element of In all
23:05
of our functions whether that's finance or legal
23:08
or HR or wherever where if you want to bring
23:10
in people that Can really supercharge your your
23:14
function your company you might have to find
23:16
people that are really good with data and systems
23:19
more of an engineering mindset. And maybe they
23:22
don't know the function as well, and you have
23:24
to teach it. And that's where I think a lot of
23:27
people are making a mistake now. They're looking
23:28
for the finance AI transformation person. I mean,
23:32
that would be great. There just aren't that many
23:34
of them yet. This is so new. And so I think the
23:38
CFO's job is to... Try to bring in the talent
23:42
both of who has you have to have some functional
23:43
expertise, of course But marrying that up with
23:46
the people that understand the tools and systems
23:48
and together they can teach each other And that
23:51
becomes I think part of the flywheel But I think
23:55
you know a lot of people make the mistake now
23:57
of just assuming well if I just buy an AI system
23:59
it's gonna work and You know if you don't have
24:01
the data if you don't have the the environment.
24:03
It's really hard to get it off the ground Yeah,
24:06
but I what you said about how the the CFO should
24:09
be leading AI. For most people, they think the
24:13
CTO, somebody in technology, somebody else is
24:16
responsible for AI. What would you say needs
24:19
to shift in that approach? How should CFOs, how
24:23
should leadership team view how to bring AI as
24:27
a group project into an organization? Well, I
24:30
think your CTO comment, if you really think about
24:33
it, that's for what you're bringing to market
24:36
for your customers. Look, at the end of the day,
24:39
that's the most important thing. Are you positioning
24:42
your company to be critical infrastructure for
24:44
AI in the future? And that's really what we're
24:46
focused on at Full Story. And so our chief product
24:48
and technology officer is laser focused on how
24:52
we continue to unlock behavioral data for AI
24:54
for our customers, full stop. Internal operations,
24:58
when it comes to how you apply AI to drive efficiency,
25:02
decision velocity in a company. That's squarely
25:04
in the CFO office. Generally, more times than
25:08
not, the CFO is owning IT, at least in smaller
25:10
companies. So you already have the functions.
25:13
But even in bigger companies, you're in this
25:15
unique seat where you're seeing every function
25:17
of the business. And so it's your job to say,
25:21
well, team, how are we applying AI here? What
25:23
are we doing? And don't just do what you're doing
25:26
today with an AI tool next to you. How are you
25:30
rethinking how you work? What do you need to
25:33
rethink how you work? And I think the CFO is
25:35
in a unique position to ask those questions And
25:39
so I view that as part of the responsibility
25:40
for sure and I think that's part of our mandate
25:42
pretty much forever going forward Yeah, it's
25:45
just that thing that you know, whatever doesn't
25:48
really belong anywhere ends up on the CFO lap
25:50
What is it the phrase is like if if no one owns
25:53
it finance owns it, right? It's just that's the
25:55
reality But I think with AI I think there are
25:57
a lot of people that want to raise their hand,
25:59
but they don't know where to start The CFO can
26:02
and you can invite yourself to any party in the
26:04
company Yes, and if you've now earned the right
26:08
if you've done the work to say hey I want to
26:10
be involved in the operations of the business
26:12
And you've really shown that you can people will
26:15
bring you in and I'll say hey, you know and and
26:18
I think the other thing I would say One of the
26:20
things I love and appreciate about the CFO network
26:23
is we're really good at talking to each other.
26:25
Mm -hmm. And so I talked to I've got a network
26:28
of a bunch of CFOs that I can bounce ideas off
26:31
of. And so when I'm having those business conversations
26:34
in engineering, yeah, I don't know engineering,
26:37
of course I don't code, but I have talked to
26:39
10 CFOs who are all thinking about how do I help
26:43
enable engineering to leverage AI? And I think
26:47
that's part of your role is to help find that
26:49
network effect of, look, we all are learning
26:51
at the same time, the more we can knowledge share,
26:54
the faster we can move. Yes, and I like your
26:58
idea of having that network of CFOs. That really
27:01
helped me. I remember when I was VP of Finance
27:04
and Accounting, I started working with an executive
27:06
coach and she was asking me about my goal. I
27:08
said, oh, I want to become a CFO one day. And
27:11
she said, how many CFO friends do you have? And
27:13
I was like, none. But it does make a difference
27:18
in how we stretch your thinking and when you
27:21
in those moments, how you able to bounce off
27:25
ideas and get that feedback. So what prompted
27:28
you to actually be more intentional about having
27:30
CFO friends? I think some of it some of its luck,
27:33
honestly. So if I go back to Ariba and I look
27:36
at the team I worked on there, there's like eight
27:39
of us who are all CFOs of software companies
27:41
now. And so just the fact that we and we were
27:43
all on the same finance team at one point. And
27:46
so we've all stayed in touch over the years.
27:49
I've also been lucky enough to, if I look at
27:51
my team at SalesLoft, three of my four direct
27:53
reports are now CFOs of other companies. And
27:56
I don't think it has anything to do with me,
27:58
but it just has to do with the environment that
28:01
we created there that they then could grow into
28:03
that next role. And so I think it's luck, but
28:07
then it's also being intentional about staying
28:09
in touch. We all get busy. I have, I try to do
28:12
at least two or three of those a week where I
28:14
have a conversation. It doesn't have to be a
28:16
scheduled meeting, but it's a phone call when
28:18
I'm in the car. It's a meetup for dinner or drinks
28:22
or something where we can just talk about business
28:25
problems. We could talk about life and that's
28:26
important too. These are friends. But also you
28:29
get a chance to really talk about what are you
28:32
seeing about a certain like one of the big topics
28:34
right now? I think that's everybody is trying
28:36
to figure out is There is this ongoing move from
28:39
subscription pricing to consumption. Yes. I mean,
28:42
it's every other LinkedIn post is about this
28:45
There are very few finance leaders that truly
28:48
understand how to do it And so the more you can
28:51
talk to CFOs who are dealing with that right
28:53
now the more you can get ideas And the best ones,
28:57
at least the ones I'm lucky, the ones that I
28:58
get to talk to often are willing to say, hey,
29:01
here's something I messed up. Here's something
29:03
I would recommend not doing. That's just as powerful
29:06
as here's what you should do. Yes. Oh, gosh.
29:08
Yes. And then I would say, you have to be willing
29:11
to also commit your own time. So you're going
29:14
to get a lot of people that reach out to you
29:15
and want to pick your brain. You have to be open
29:18
to that as well. And it can't just be a one way
29:19
street. Yeah, I like I like what you just said
29:23
about you see it in your feeding on LinkedIn
29:25
But it doesn't mean that it comes from people
29:28
who are actually doing it, right? Because that's
29:30
the thing with AI too I mean anybody can be an
29:33
expert in something and that's why I value like
29:35
this the kind of conversation we having so curious
29:38
to hear from what you learned already about moving
29:41
from that Subscription business with consumption
29:44
because to me is like scary. Yeah, because it's
29:47
like I with a subscription I can control My cost
29:51
because I know that every month if I do xyz or
29:54
or have this of this option My cost will be x
29:58
when you move to consumption is different. So
30:01
curious to hear what you you heard on that topic
30:04
You know, it's interesting. First of all, no
30:06
one's quite figured it out yet the companies
30:08
that are on the cutting edge the Anthropics the
30:12
open ai's and all these companies that are working
30:14
around them that are true consumption businesses
30:16
They're moving so fast that they too are trying
30:19
to figure it out But there's an underlying motion
30:21
that has to be created with that. And it's this
30:24
idea that most of these companies start as PLG,
30:27
so product -led growth. You can't send salespeople,
30:30
it's very hard to send salespeople to go sell
30:32
a consumption product off the bat. But having
30:35
a setup where customers can start using it and
30:38
it's very low friction, it may be for free or
30:41
maybe for a very low cost, you have to have that
30:43
motion where you can get the customers hooked.
30:45
And you start to see the usage go up and up and
30:48
up. and there needs to be a play that you run
30:51
and there's no tried and true method but I think
30:54
companies have proven this works where at some
30:56
point as their consumption is going up you can
30:58
introduce a salesperson that can say hey why
31:01
don't you commit to a certain level and I can
31:03
save you money on the cost and so you start to
31:06
see that there is a reality which is even though
31:08
they're consumption businesses underlying the
31:11
business is still a substantial portion of committed
31:13
revenue and committed revenue and subscription
31:15
revenue are the same thing true and so But it's
31:19
that fear that people say, well, it's all going
31:20
to be variable and it's going to be all over
31:22
the place. And like, there is some of that for
31:24
sure. But it's understanding that life cycle
31:26
from initial sale, low friction, maybe probably
31:31
low value upfront, but then having the monitoring
31:34
and the mechanisms on the back end to say, hey,
31:36
these are good customers who are really using
31:38
our product and are growing with us fast. These
31:41
would be people who would be primed for a commitment.
31:44
You know if you look at some of the biggest companies
31:47
like that that was the model that snowflake Employed
31:50
and it works. Yeah, I mean we all I'm hooked
31:54
on like three or four tools Yeah, waiting to
31:57
see what changes as it moves to a consumption
32:00
model But then internally like when you think
32:02
about the resources your team may be using when
32:05
you bring on a AI empowered tool like how do
32:09
you measure success? It's a great question and
32:13
I don't I can't say I have the best answer for
32:16
you right now. I think it depends on what it
32:17
is. If you look at AI today, there's really a
32:22
continuum. On one end, there are purpose -built
32:24
solutions that are already built in the market.
32:27
Like we just bought an AI clothes tool so we
32:31
can agenify clothes. I have this mandate from
32:33
my team. They've been amazing. They've moved
32:35
our clothes process down by 50 % in a year. And
32:39
I asked them to do another stock after the show
32:41
And I've asked them to do another 50 % this year
32:45
Wow, you know and you're starting to get down
32:47
to just a handful of days And they're embracing
32:51
it And so they went and found an AI closed tool
32:53
that could help them to do that That's purpose
32:54
-built and and you're not gonna get a competitive
32:57
advantage by building that on your own Yes There
32:59
are a lot of tools like that where you should
33:00
be looking at what are what are good AI tools
33:02
that make sense? To plug into the business And
33:05
then there are the things that are more internal
33:08
to your company, how you democratize data, how
33:12
you implement your customers, how you research
33:14
and go to market. A lot of those tools you have
33:17
to build. And the beauty is with tools like Anthropic
33:22
and OpenAI, everybody can be builders now. Back
33:26
to you have to create the environment for that
33:28
to be safe, I think is important. And so I think
33:30
your job as a CFO is to challenge the team on
33:33
when does it make sense to buy something? When
33:35
is it good to build it? And there's not a great
33:39
answer right now in each, but you can start to
33:41
say, OK, well, for each thing that I'm investing
33:44
in, what outcome do I want? If it's processing
33:48
of transactions, zero touch, right? How many
33:51
of my transactions are not being touched? You
33:53
can measure that. If it's reporting, you almost
33:56
have to set a baseline. Hey, team, let's try
33:58
to figure out how much time we're spending on
34:00
X task. And then once we can try to measure it
34:03
as best we can, it's not a science project, but
34:05
just trying to come up with something. You then
34:07
can say, OK, well, now that we have a baseline
34:09
of measurement, what do we think can happen when
34:11
we put an AI? And you start to measure against
34:13
that baseline. I think the real problem is a
34:14
lot of times people don't set the baseline first,
34:16
so they don't know. And I do think it's your
34:19
job as a CFO to challenge. your team, the business,
34:22
to say, hey, I'm okay. I want to invest in AI
34:24
tools and I want to free up money to do that.
34:26
But if you're not careful, you now have just
34:28
another cost without people signing up for incremental
34:31
benefits. Yes. And so your job is to constantly
34:34
push on, okay, well, what's the return on that?
34:37
And it's probably also, they're probably not
34:39
going to use it, right? Because if they're detached
34:42
from it, it's like, eh. True, for sure. And then
34:44
the other challenge is that, you know, some people
34:46
today are saying, well, I'm going to measure
34:47
what's called token usage. So with the big LLMs
34:51
like Anthropic, you can see how much people are
34:55
spending using the tool. Well, just because somebody
34:58
spent $1 ,000 in tokens this much this month,
35:01
is that a good thing? I mean, they're using it.
35:03
That's great. So it's greater than zero, thumbs
35:06
up. But what do they use that $1 ,000 for? And
35:09
so I think, again, you've just got to be having
35:11
ongoing conversations and measurements say, OK,
35:14
well, we know who's using the tools. What are
35:15
they using it for? And then what are we getting
35:18
as a business? And it doesn't have to be perfect
35:20
because right now the world is changing so fast.
35:22
If you try to measure too much, you slow down
35:25
the business too. And so there's a tension that
35:26
you've got to manage. Yeah. And I'm curious to
35:28
hear before you give me more tips on that about
35:32
your team and how they were able to use AI to
35:35
cut down clothes by 50%. Like what are some of
35:38
the things they did or systems or tools they
35:41
used? And so I would even argue the first 50%.
35:44
was them just rethinking processes. And using
35:47
AI, and I'll give you some examples of what I
35:49
would call like early wins on AI, that was number
35:51
one. The tool that I mentioned to you, we just
35:54
bought. And so that's the next 50%. But things
35:58
that they've done that I just find very powerful,
36:00
and it's more about freeing up time to move faster.
36:04
So one example is we built this tool called,
36:07
we call it the SEC agent. And so you think about
36:11
when you own revenue accounting in a software
36:13
company, Everybody's bringing deals to you and
36:15
saying, you know, is there a revenue impact of
36:19
this? Is this okay? Is it not? Well, the accounting
36:22
pronouncements are hundreds of pages long, right?
36:25
And it's painful. It is painful. So what our
36:27
team did, and again, this is back to getting
36:30
the opportunity to own functions that can work
36:32
together, our enterprise system and data team
36:34
built them an agent called SEC agent, where we
36:37
uploaded all of the accounting guidance, all
36:40
of this detail and train this agent. So now we
36:42
can just upload a contract and say, hey, what
36:45
are the implications of this? And you're talking
36:48
about hours of work from each contract now just
36:51
being removed immediately. That's one example.
36:54
The other one, which is one that's brand new
36:56
is as a CFO, one of the things I've always asked
36:58
for in the 10 plus years I've been standalone
37:01
CFO is I want daily cash reporting. And people
37:06
would say, gosh, that feels like overkill, but
37:07
I always say, if you can't get anything right,
37:09
get cash right. Yes, please pay me, pay people,
37:12
pay vendors. You see inflows, outflows. And when
37:15
I first came on board at Full Story, the team
37:18
was like, oh, that's going to take us some time.
37:19
And they built it. And it was great. And it took
37:21
somebody maybe an hour a day to build or something.
37:24
My controller, who is very AI forward, went and
37:28
built an agent on his own. Back to everybody
37:30
can be builders. that we can just download the
37:33
data from the bank, send it through Claude, and
37:35
we have enterprise Claude, so safe data, again,
37:37
back to creating an environment where you're
37:38
okay to share it. Claude automatically updates
37:41
a report and sends a Slack message to a group
37:44
of us with the daily cash update. You've now
37:47
taken an hour to two hours of work a day and
37:51
turned it into like five minutes. And that's
37:54
just an example of ways you can leverage AI in
37:58
your day to day to free up your time to do other
37:59
things. And part of it is you must have to free
38:01
up your time to then think about what you're
38:03
going to do next because the technology is moving
38:05
so fast. Yes. Thank you so much for sharing this
38:08
great example and how you said is rethinking
38:12
work, right? Because I feel like sometimes Our
38:15
teams, ourselves, could be so much in the weed,
38:17
we don't have time to rethink. So we go, go,
38:20
go, go, go. But there is never that time to truly
38:23
pause and even say, yes, that's the way it's
38:26
always been done. Now what? Like, how do you
38:31
get people to pause? Because I know we do, like,
38:36
leadership retreat, all that stuff. But how do
38:39
we make sure that we are able to have teams that
38:41
take time to just think? There's no perfect answer.
38:46
I think some of it is is you have to invest in
38:49
a base level of training And so the beauty is
38:51
with a lot of these tools. There's online training
38:53
they can take You also have to create an environment
38:57
where knowledge sharing is embraced So, you know,
39:00
we've got a slack channel across all my teams
39:02
where I said to them Hey every time you have
39:05
an AI win, you need to put it in the slack channel
39:07
Because that just unlocks people's thinking and
39:10
I think it's not that people don't Want to do
39:12
it. I believe everybody has well intentions,
39:14
but it's more about like they just don't know
39:16
where to start and a lot of times They'll hear
39:19
an example of something that somebody did like
39:21
wait a minute I have this other thing that looks
39:23
just like that. I can use AI for that And then
39:26
I think the the the main thing you start with
39:28
is it's like what are the things that you do?
39:30
The the more rote manual tasks that you just
39:34
know are ripe for automation And automation used
39:37
to sound like stitching systems together and
39:39
things like that, but that was before AI. Now
39:42
it's like, hey, how do I build an agent to take
39:44
a process that I do all the time and just have
39:46
it do it over and over again? And do it in a
39:48
way where I can audit the results because you
39:50
can't just, we're in finance, right? Accuracy
39:52
is paramount. How do you create an environment
39:55
with AI where it can do the automation, but you
39:57
have the audit trail on the back end to be able
40:00
to make sure it's doing things right? That audit
40:02
trail, because I feel like if you're trying to
40:05
go too fast in AI and don't have that governance
40:08
in place, AI can make something very bad look
40:11
very good. Yeah, I think what people don't realize,
40:14
and if you use a lot of these tools, AI can give
40:17
you a very wrong answer with 100 % confidence.
40:20
Here is the answer to your question. And I think
40:24
the trust but verify still is very important.
40:27
If it doesn't sound right, it probably isn't.
40:29
And so you have to, you know, we always say it's
40:34
like human in the loop. Even if you're having
40:36
AI do something, there are ways to create audit
40:38
trails, whether it's you're having AI analyze
40:41
something and you say, okay, walk me step by
40:43
step through your process. Create me. Now with
40:47
it integrating into spreadsheets, you can say
40:50
to AI, create multiple spreadsheets that walk
40:53
me through the formulas of what you've calculated.
40:57
Or if AI is coding things for you. which it can
41:00
do. You can say to it, hey, I need you to walk
41:03
me through step by step what this code is telling
41:04
me and recognize I don't understand Python or
41:07
SQL or whatever it is. It will do that for you.
41:10
You have to ask. And I think that's where you
41:13
have to be willing to take that next step to
41:15
say, OK, I'm not sure I understand where you
41:17
got that answer from. walk me through your thought
41:19
process. It'll converse with you that way. And
41:22
I think that's where a lot of the work is going
41:25
in right now, is that there are a lot of leaders
41:27
that are sharing tips and tricks on how to create
41:30
that audit trail. But you can't just ask it a
41:34
question and just assume it's right. The other
41:37
thing I find really important, and I think this
41:39
is again back to the CFO mandate, is data quality.
41:42
If you just unleash AI on source systems, like
41:46
you connect AI to your CRM Salesforce instance
41:49
or to slack or to something. AI won't necessarily
41:52
give you back a great answer. It can be garbled.
41:55
You have to create a data layer. A lot of people
41:57
will refer to this as a semantic layer, but a
41:59
layer that sits in between your source systems
42:01
and AI, where you define business definitions.
42:05
You and your chief revenue officer hopefully
42:07
likely have the same definition for bookings
42:10
or ARR, annual recurring revenue. Well, let's
42:14
embed that definition in a layer that sits between
42:16
AI and your source system. And you do that so
42:19
that when everybody is using AI to ask a question,
42:22
they're getting back the same answer. I think
42:24
that's the thing people don't realize is that
42:26
AI, the term is probabilistic, but it's not great
42:30
at math. And so you have to create that safety
42:33
mechanism where you can ask it questions all
42:35
day long and you know it's going to go to the
42:37
right source to get the right data. And I think
42:40
that's where a lot of companies are learning
42:41
the hard way now. It's like I have to invest
42:43
in those layers of data first in order to then
42:46
unlock AI for my company. Yes. And where do you
42:50
think, because you mentioned that a lot, people
42:51
don't know where to start. So if I was a CFO
42:54
today and I want to start bringing AI in my function
42:57
to make it more efficient, to reduce my month
43:00
-end closed process, to improve my board reporting,
43:03
where should I start? I think you start with,
43:06
you have to start with the easiest tasks, honestly.
43:09
What are the things that your team is spending
43:11
a lot of time on today that are manual in nature,
43:14
that are repetitive? Start with those things.
43:17
And you're not doing it, I think there's this
43:20
view that you're doing it to eliminate headcount
43:23
or cut down finance jobs. One day that might
43:25
be the result, that's not the goal. The goal
43:27
is to free up people's time to then work on more
43:30
value added things. So you have to start there.
43:32
You have to ask people like, let's all go assess
43:34
what we're working on today and raise our hands
43:36
and say, here's where I think AI could help me.
43:38
And you start. That's one place. And then I think
43:40
the other place is partner, whether you own IT
43:43
or you partner with your IT and data team, how
43:46
are we creating that data infrastructure so that
43:48
we can put information closer to the business?
43:52
And, you know, back to my comment about benchmarking
43:55
with other CFOs. I had a call with another CFO
43:58
where I shared with him one tool we were using,
44:00
which he got excited about, and he shared with
44:02
me that they had created chatbots for every function
44:05
of their business. You know, there was a legal
44:07
chatbot, an HR chatbot, a go -to -market chatbot.
44:11
And you and I immediately would say, oh my gosh,
44:13
how do we know those are right? Yeah, HR, chat
44:15
bots, giving people salary. Right. And of course,
44:19
you have to have governance and controls around
44:21
that. But that's back to working with the business
44:23
and creating a day later that sits in between
44:25
so that it's secure. It's got the right control
44:29
over who can see what. But it's also got the
44:31
same definitions across all. And you know your
44:34
job most companies tend to at least be thoughtful
44:37
about who can access what you can embed that
44:39
into your layers of data But you have to take
44:42
a step back and invest in that first before you
44:45
just go create the chatbot Because then what
44:47
happens is you create the chatbot Either it gives
44:50
back bad information, scary, or even worse, maybe
44:53
it gives back good information, but it gives
44:54
it to the wrong person. Yes. And I think the
44:56
mistake that a lot of CFOs make today is they
44:59
start with probably the more complicated tasks.
45:01
Like you see on LinkedIn, we talked about LinkedIn
45:03
before. Every other post is, oh, let me tell
45:06
you how I used AI to automate all my board reporting.
45:08
That's great. And that should be a great goal
45:11
to have. First of all, you're probably not doing
45:12
that much board reporting. And second of all,
45:15
that could be more complicated. And if you haven't
45:17
nailed the data piece on the front end, trying
45:19
to do all your board reporting is going to be
45:20
pretty tough. And so I think investing in the,
45:23
you know, back to what are the easiest tasks
45:26
I can tackle first, and then how am I investing
45:29
in that data infrastructure to make AI successful?
45:32
I think if you do those two things, you can build
45:34
upon that from there. Okay. I love what you're
45:37
sharing now, and I'm curious to hear since you're
45:39
a CFO at an AI company, like how has it changed
45:43
your view of the world? Right? Because you see
45:46
it so much, like AI became popular for, you know,
45:50
most people when Chad GPT, you know, came out.
45:53
You've seen AI prior to that. So how did it change
45:56
your view of the world or how you operate now
45:58
as a leader? Well, I'll tell you first how it's
46:01
changed and it's exciting for Full Story. So
46:03
if you look at us as a company, one of the pieces
46:06
of our proprietary technology is what we call
46:08
Full Capture. If you think about any web -based
46:10
interaction, whether that's on your phone and
46:13
a website, like an e -commerce site and a software
46:16
application, we always prided ourselves on capturing
46:19
the deepest digital record of that interaction.
46:22
And it's done in a way which is easier than if
46:24
you had to instrument and measure certain things.
46:27
Well, in the human world, where human beings
46:29
have to interpret all that data, they see a lot
46:31
of value in it. But maybe they can't unlock all
46:33
the things that we can already capture. But what
46:36
we're already seeing at Full Story is because
46:38
we capture so much data, AI can do so much more
46:42
with that. And still, it's going to give a human
46:44
being a recommendation to make things better.
46:47
And we want that. AI can actually unlock a lot
46:50
of the data that we've already been capturing.
46:52
So we're well positioned, I think, on the outside,
46:54
which I get excited about. You know, internally,
46:56
how it's changed my view is, I would even say
46:59
for me, a year ago, I was probably using AI as
47:02
like a chatbot, just to ask questions. And I
47:05
still do, right? It's a great thought partner.
47:08
But what it's changed for me is now I'm like,
47:11
I realized, and it really was when the anthropic
47:14
announcements happened early this year, and you
47:16
saw things like co -work, the ability to automate
47:19
tasks. It's really unlocked my view of to say,
47:22
well, why can't AI do that? And not just for
47:24
my own team, for the company, back to like, we
47:26
are the ones who are driving that. We should
47:29
be asking every team in the company, not how
47:31
are you using AI to make your thought process
47:34
better or you're writing better. You hope at
47:37
this point they're already doing that, but it's
47:39
what are you doing to transform your business
47:41
processes with AI? And I was not having that
47:43
conversation a year ago and I have it every day
47:45
now. Wow. And that makes such a difference, right?
47:48
Because I see a lot of words saying AI CFO, AI
47:52
native CFOs. But I think it's just a shift in
47:55
how we think about business processes or how
47:58
we do our everyday life. Do you feel like at
48:01
some point it will dramatically change what we
48:03
define as entry -level jobs in finance? I do.
48:06
I think what I don't believe, one of the misnumbers
48:09
is there's this view that all entry -level jobs
48:12
are going to go away. And that's just simply
48:13
not possible. I agree. Every CFO needs to be
48:17
thinking about how are we creating a training
48:19
ground to make sure that we're growing talent
48:21
in our works. But I do think the shape changes.
48:25
If you think about the typical finance org structure,
48:27
it was a triangle, right? A CFO sitting at the
48:30
top with middle managers and then a lot of analysts
48:33
and accountants. I think the new world, it's
48:35
going to be more of a diamond where you're going
48:37
to have the CFO at the top and you're going to
48:39
have a layer of middle managers. who are not
48:42
just managing individual contributors, but they're
48:44
also managing agents. And you'll still have some
48:48
of the entry -level folks on the flip side. So
48:50
I think what's gonna change is the people that
48:52
you're looking for now that come in as entry
48:55
-level need to have used AI in some way. If you
48:58
hire an accountant, I still think that's important
49:00
to have functional expertise, but hey, tell me
49:02
how you're using AI in your job today. Because
49:05
you wanna bring those people in who are gonna
49:06
be willing to look at all your processes and
49:08
say, hey, there's a better way to do this. And
49:11
I like the idea of a diamond shape, right? Because
49:15
I can definitely see how, to me with AI, I don't
49:19
think entry level, like you said, are gonna go
49:21
away. I think they're gonna be redefined. Right,
49:24
because it's not going to be make copies because
49:26
entry level when I came through after college
49:29
was ordering lunches and making copies and stapling.
49:34
But I think it's just going to change. But I'm
49:37
also curious to hear, like, what do you think
49:39
our universities probably need to start doing
49:42
different now to prepare those new entry level
49:45
folks? Well, I don't believe they're doing enough
49:47
right now. I think about my own. oldest daughter
49:50
who's in high school right now. And I still worry
49:52
that the schools are treating AI like the boogeyman
49:56
a little bit, like it's a way to get around doing
49:59
the work. I think the universities, the high
50:01
schools need to be training students on how to
50:04
responsibly use AI, how to engage with it, how
50:07
to exponentially improve how they think. How
50:10
to get more things done. What are the practical
50:12
applications in your daily life that you can
50:14
use AI for? Because there's a lot of it if you
50:17
really think about it. We are doing our students,
50:20
high school, college, a disservice if we're not
50:22
teaching them that. And my hope is it's not just
50:25
taking an AI class. That's great. And you need
50:28
that. But I think it's about every single discipline
50:31
needs to be thinking about. Here are the applications
50:33
of AI in medicine. Here are the applications
50:37
of AI in finance. Here are the applications of
50:40
AI in engineering. All of those things need to
50:44
be taught so that when students graduate, they
50:46
come out with a set of skills where it's not
50:48
so scary to them anymore. I haven't done a lot
50:50
of research on this, but at least from what I
50:52
can see what's in front of me, I don't think
50:54
we're doing enough of that yet. Yeah, I agree.
50:56
I know 20 something years ago when I graduated
50:59
from college, I didn't feel ready for the workforce,
51:02
but then I don't feel like the university system
51:05
has improved much. especially when we look at
51:08
AI today. So it's always fascinating to me to
51:11
understand more about what are we doing for that
51:14
next generation of finance and accounting professionals.
51:17
That's right. Yeah. I mean, everybody said on
51:19
the job learning. And look, there's always going
51:21
to be some of that. Yeah. And I think that now
51:24
you go back to when you and I were in university,
51:26
there was a class on Microsoft Office. Yes. And
51:30
that was important. You couldn't even start your
51:32
job if you didn't know how to use Microsoft Office.
51:34
AI needs to be viewed the same way. You can't
51:36
start your job until you know how to use AI responsibly
51:39
to engage in your base level of work. It should
51:42
be one of the first systems you're setting up
51:44
when you start your new job. So cool. So I'm
51:46
curious to hear my last question for you. When
51:48
you look down on your career, what advice would
51:51
you give your 20 year old self? So I think I
51:55
learned a lesson the hard way. It was during
51:57
my time at Home Depot that I've carried with
51:59
me to this day. So I was really fortunate. Right
52:03
out of school, EY got some promotions, went to
52:06
Home Depot. I was in the right position and saw
52:09
some promotions pretty early in my career. And
52:11
then I hit a level and I stayed at that level
52:13
for a while. I don't remember, four or five years,
52:14
whatever it was. And I started to define my success
52:18
by my titles almost. And I remember it started
52:23
to then get into how I was operating as a finance
52:25
leader. And I remember I was working on this
52:27
really important project and I had made a mistake.
52:30
This was still at Home Depot. And I remember
52:33
that late that night, my boss sat me down and
52:36
he drew something on the board that I still use
52:38
today. He drew a set of stairs. And then he drew
52:43
a line from the bottom step to the top step.
52:46
And he said, you know, you are so focused on
52:48
defining your success and your growth by the
52:51
bottom step to the top, titles and growth. You're
52:54
missing all of these incremental things you're
52:56
learning at each step along the way. He's like,
52:58
if you would reframe your success around all
53:01
the incremental knowledge and experiences you're
53:04
getting, the big steps will happen. And yeah,
53:08
I mean that was, I think I was almost 10 years
53:11
into my career when I learned that lesson. I
53:14
wish I knew that coming out. So that is advice
53:16
I give people now all day long. Focus on the
53:19
incremental learning and growth that you can
53:21
get. Raise your hand for those challenging opportunities.
53:24
The bigger growth, the titles and all those things,
53:27
like they'll happen. It can't happen at the expense
53:31
of investing in those steps along the way. Wow.
53:35
Very true. Well, thank you so, so much, Chad,
53:37
for being on the show. I learned so much. Definitely
53:40
want to chat more about your closed process because
53:43
mine needs AI agents and more in prayer. Well,
53:47
look, I love what you're doing for the CFO community
53:50
in Atlanta and just honored to be here. Thank
53:53
you. Thank you.