Latest / The Diary of a CFO / How to Get on High-Impact Projects and Lead Major Change, with Sindy Wilson

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How to Get on High-Impact Projects and Lead Major Change, with Sindy Wilson · The Diary of a CFO

0:02
The path to the C -suite is rarely linear, and
0:05
the challenges don't stop once you get there.
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I'm Wassia Kamon, and I'm taking you with me
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on my journey as a newly appointed CFO, sharing
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the hidden challenges and spoken rules and lessons
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I wish I had known. So whether you're in finance,
0:19
work in finance, or just trying to get your budget
0:22
approved faster, there's something here for you.
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The purpose of this podcast is to make better
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leaders and help leaders be better at life. Welcome
0:31
to the Diary of a CFO. Welcome back to the Diary
0:34
of a CFO podcast. Today, I'm so delighted to
0:37
have with me Sindy Wilson. She is a former chief
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financial officer of Kickstarter, the go -to
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crowdfunding platform for Creative Project. Cindy
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is a strategic and transformational finance executive
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with over 20 years of experience. Most recently,
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Sindy was the VP of Finance Transformation and
0:54
Analytics at Lyft. Prior to joining Lyft, she
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led finance for AutoTrader and Kelly Blue Book,
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led business transformation and accounting operations
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for Old Castle Infrastructure, and was in strategic
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finance management consulting at EY. Cindy was
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the recipient of the Emory Alumni Association's
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40 Under 40 Awards. She serves on the Emory University
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Board of Visitors, where she is a past chair
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and executive committee member. Welcome to the
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show, rock star Sindy. Thank you so much. I'm
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so excited to talk to you, Wassia. You are, I'm
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telling you, you're a powerhouse woman. Thank
1:30
you. Trying to grow up to be like you because
1:33
what I just said was a lot. So why don't you
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tell us about your journey, the story behind
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all these great things that you did and any unexpected
1:41
twists along the way. Absolutely. So, you know,
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I'm African, right? So I was going to be a doctor.
1:49
Okay. I went to a pre -med as a, to, to, to be
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a pediatrician. Oh, wow. And after dissecting
1:57
a rat. I and a cat, I realized this is not going
2:03
to be my path. Well, at the same time, I was
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working for a telecom and customer service and
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was tapped to a special project with finance
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and my love of numbers and what the stories are
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behind the numbers and how it shapes the business
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and where it goes. I knew right then I went back,
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I changed my major so quickly. And then from
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there just skyrocketed my career of curiosity
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of understanding and learning how numbers tell
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the story of stories around the business. And
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I went from the customer service role to being
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an analyst to a really. having that be what my
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path was, right? So from there, I have a traditional,
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a very traditional background. I went to business
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school with Emory. Okay. Then I went into consulting
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with EY. And if I were to give my career a motto,
3:03
it would be, I am a thrill seeker. I love to
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understand how things work. And I like to work
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with other people to build things. So when I
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leave a role, I live a company, I leave a project.
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I like to see something that I've built in the
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network. So I went from EY to work for Cox. In
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Cox, I had several roles in finance, which ended
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with me serving as the brand CFO of Autotrader
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at Kelly Blue Book. I went from there to work
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for CRH. And CRH is a really large, vertically
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integrated building product company I manufacture.
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And I went there to do business transformation.
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And I think the transformation is a plot twist
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for me. If people ask me, what's the thing that
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you've done in your career that you wouldn't
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have expected? So we know as CFOs, CFOs a lot
4:01
of times will be addressing an issue for a company,
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right? So, you know, Cindy, the performance looks
4:06
low in sales, Cindy operations, the service levels
4:10
don't look great in operations manufacturing.
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efficiency is necessary, whatever those things
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are, even for our own finance function, oh, our
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controls in space A or B don't meet the auditor's
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expectations per se. And when you go in there,
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typically you go in, you work with the leader,
4:28
you put together a plan. In some cases, I've
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been asked to be the transformation leader in
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partnership or in some places like to lead a
4:37
function through its change. And I say like,
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It's a gift. Initially, when I was younger, I
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was like, whoa, wait a second. I don't know if
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I could do this. But over time, I've learned
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it's a real gift. Because what it does is it
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teaches you what it actually takes to build,
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shift, and change a people, a process, systems,
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a culture, all of the components of what it takes
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to build a really good and thriving function,
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even sometimes out of the finance space. That's
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been the tell of my career, right? So from now,
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even now, whether it's going from CRH to Lyft
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to help them with transformation or going to
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Kickstarter to really do the same thing, which
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was help them build up their strategy for growth
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and how Kickstarter will grow into the future.
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It's all around how do we identify what are the
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challenges to achieving the financial sustainability
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that we're looking for, achieving the growth.
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uh that we're looking for and how do we how do
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we you know set a plan forth for that so that's
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what i've been doing uh in my career ever since
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that is awesome and i like how you said i look
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back at my younger self and i didn't think i
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would be able to do it but it was a gift How
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many times would you say leading a project is
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really what will make you visible? Because you
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worked at very large companies where sometimes
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you may feel small, or how do people realize
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that it even exists to grow in your career? Can
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you speak a little bit about what helped you
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stand out for you to even be the leader in those
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cases? I'll say a few things. One is, first of
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all, how you treat and work with others matters.
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And in finance, we don't always own what it is
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that we're trying to shape and influence. First
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things first, the way that you handle and work
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with others is important because before you can
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be put on a big cross -functional project, I
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would say really hone your partnering skills.
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The second piece is understanding what your talents
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are. For me, I am a creative, I like to build
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creative solutions to things in partnership with
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others. And being able to articulate that to
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your leader is really important. And then lastly,
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I've made some mistakes, some missteps. What
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are the missteps that you've made? One of the
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missteps that I've made is when I'm not focused
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on what I've been given and I want to move on
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to the next sexy thing. I'm a thrill seeker.
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I'm a creative. I like challenge. And so it's
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so easy to go, all right, I want to go work on
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the next biggest project that we have. But doing
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your job well in the role that you've been given
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really creates a followership and trust. And
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from there, that has been how I've got on all
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of the sexiest projects. So I've over -delivered
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in my role. I have really focused a lot on how
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I handle people. And then from there, I've been
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really clear about where I want to develop. And
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that's what's gotten me there. So I've been on
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so many really amazing projects where you can
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add value. And because I've added value in my
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roles, it's been definitely easier for me to
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make a case. to be on those high -profile projects.
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Nice. Now, tell us about how we can do the same.
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So you mentioned earlier how you lead change,
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right? Because it has culture, people, systems,
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and all this at the same time, especially at
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large organizations. So let's say you are now
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given a new challenge, a new digital transformation.
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What is your go -to approach, your go -to framework
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to get that done? Oh, this is a really great
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question. We're entering into, let's say we're
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going to do a transformation and we want to change
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how we do inventory management. We're looking
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and we're saying, I don't know what the right
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inventory levels are. So when I go into a transformation,
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the very first thing that I want to do is first
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of all, build a team. And in finance, because
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I typically do this from the role of finance,
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we understand the function. But we're not always
9:08
the expert in every single step along the way.
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So the very first thing I want to do is build
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a good team of folk that are from across the
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business that can help us come up with the approach
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to the problem and also help as culture champions
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to champion the change. The last thing someone
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wants is someone in the corporate office to come
9:39
down to a manufacturing location or go into engineering
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or another function and tell them what to do
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without being a counterpart in that function.
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So first thing I'm gonna do is really build a
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team that can help. Okay. Then from there, I'd
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like to be able to truly break down the problem.
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So first thing that I typically end up doing
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is taking that team, to go out and spend time
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across all the parts of the business. So whether
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it is, let's say we're doing inventory management
10:12
and you do inventory management across five different
10:16
product lines in 10 countries. And we really
10:19
need to understand the variation of what we're
10:22
trying to change. And that is giving your transformation
10:27
so much more credibility. So that's the second
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thing is really understanding, getting an understanding
10:33
for what the problem is. And then from there,
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it's coming up with the plan for like, how do
10:39
we put in incremental change? Big bang solutions
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don't typically work, right? So you go in, you're
10:46
making too much change at one time, but it's
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how do we go in and make incremental change?
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And that incremental change creates wins that
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shift the culture. an example of this and I would
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like to give examples because when you talk about
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this in theory like no one understands so you're
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gonna do the inventory management so incremental
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change would be hey we're gonna first start with
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what you min max levels you're gonna go in and
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we're gonna put in metrics and we're gonna say
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here's the metric we're gonna look at here's
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the data that a standardized way of looking at
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data first incremental step and from there what
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it does is it creates this inertia and Natural
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culture change so that you can attack bigger
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problems like maybe we need a different inventory
11:31
management system But now everybody looking at
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information the same way We're putting information
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in the system the same way We may be putting
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in a new process so that we're doing the steps
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the same way now we can go in and we can put
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a system in place and so incremental changes
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are necessary just like I said to create the
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momentum in the culture for the bigger steps
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of change I love it. I love it because often
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when we think transformation, we think about
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a better system, but that's not transformation.
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I love your approach to really shift things like
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being more intentional about all the steps that
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are in it. Now I hear you and I'm like, yes,
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I want to be on that team with Cindy because
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I know I will get that visibility. How do you
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pick the people in that committee? What are the
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typical traits, habits, or background you're
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looking for besides them being in different functions?
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Is that a specific mindset, a specific vibe?
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Like what do you look into? Because I want to
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be on that team with you. So the first is, remember
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I mentioned about myself, like how do I get on
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all these projects over the years to make myself
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physical? It's like number one is how you work
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with others. I am first looking for who are those
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people that other people call when they have
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a challenge. And these are folks that are, if
12:50
you put them on the team, they're going to have
12:52
already the credibility so that when you send
12:54
them out there to start working with others on
12:57
understanding their problem, they naturally have
13:01
the relationships. The other thing that I'm looking
13:04
for is learning agility. Right? So with learning
13:10
agility, people have heard this term. It's really
13:13
your level of curiosity in how quickly You can
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learn, but not only just learn it, but shift
13:21
your personal habits, right? So I'll give you
13:24
an example. You may learn that you're trying
13:27
to improve your nutrition. And this is a great
13:30
one. And you're like, okay, vegetables. That
13:35
really resonate with me right here. Improve your
13:38
nutrition. Yes, go ahead. You need more leafy
13:41
greens in your diet. Your doctor is like, we
13:42
need more leafy greens for you to improve iron.
13:45
So now you've learned something. You go like,
13:47
all right, I have a goal. I'm learning that I
13:49
need to eat more leafy greens is what I need
13:52
to do to improve. But it's also like, can you
13:55
do it? Do you actually have the discipline where
13:59
you're going in, you're learning, and you can
14:01
deploy that? So next time you go for lunch, you
14:03
should get a side salad. And so you can take
14:06
that and apply that to the corporate environment.
14:09
Have you seen this person that they can learn
14:12
something, they can grasp it? And then they have
14:15
the discipline to put it in place. The second
14:17
thing that I'm looking for, so we talked about
14:19
people, how they get the work done, do they have
14:21
learning agility? And then I'm looking for them
14:24
to be really great and good in their discipline.
14:26
So if you do industrial engineering, if you do
14:30
sales, if you are marketing whatever that product,
14:34
and I've worked on projects, in the finance realm,
14:38
you talk about like a strategic leader, right?
14:40
What is a strategic leader? What does that mean?
14:42
is really someone that understands and can look
14:44
at the company as a holistic system of functions
14:47
in people, in culture. And understand where you
14:52
need to go next to help the company move forward.
14:55
And so this means that you work across the business
14:58
often, right? You may be working with a marketer,
15:00
you may be working with a product person. And
15:02
so I need that person to be strong in their discipline
15:05
as well. And so those to me are typically the
15:09
skill sets that I'm looking for. Nice. And it's
15:12
quite fascinating that you have such a framework,
15:15
like a clear idea of how you're going to lead
15:18
the project, how you're going to select people.
15:21
And coming from your background, not the pre
15:23
-med, from accounting and finance, what are some
15:25
of the things that shaped your approach to leadership
15:28
and strategic thinking? Oh, this is great. I
15:31
would tell you good mentorship. Good mentorship.
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I think that I had a mentor. And over the years,
15:40
he taught me some different things. The first
15:42
one is that he taught me was, one, Cindy, you
15:47
don't have to prove yourself. We already selected
15:49
you. You're already here. You're back away from
15:52
this proving of self. Well, why did he mention
15:56
this to me, right? Because when you're proving
15:58
yourself, you got sharp elbows, right? Because
16:00
you're like, I got to get in there. I got to.
16:02
I got to prove myself and instead what he said
16:05
is you're really working with others to get things
16:08
done and you want to take away this desire to
16:12
prove because then from there you're only looking
16:14
at your contribution opposed to the contribution
16:19
of others and you know what you need to do to
16:22
help them along the way and so that's been first
16:25
one of the leadership lessons that I think has
16:28
been like transformational for me. So when you
16:31
do a new thing like a podcast, it's easy to get
16:34
back into this notion of like, oh, I gotta prove
16:36
myself. No, we're having a conversation with
16:39
some people, person to person, and hopefully
16:42
other people can find that useful. Oh, that's
16:45
so good. Because I realized, so I started working
16:48
with a coach a couple years ago, and she asked
16:52
me, Wasia, why do you always try to prove yourself?
16:54
So we actually went back and I realized it was
16:57
because of a bad boss I had earlier in my career.
17:01
So almost everything I was doing was proving
17:04
that I was worthy because of some things he said.
17:08
And over a decade later, those things were still
17:10
affecting me in my work. So Thank you so much
17:14
for sharing it, because I think we don't realize
17:17
enough how maybe some of the things in the past,
17:21
past trauma at work or even in life can affect
17:24
your life now. So what's your experience? So
17:27
besides, I learned it through trauma, you learned
17:29
it through mentorship, but what are other things
17:32
that helped you move on in your career and grow
17:35
from whether it's mistakes or something bad happening
17:39
to you at work or in life? Absolutely. I think
17:42
First, I just have a personal philosophy. Like,
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we're all human beings doing our best. And that's
17:49
at the root of decor. I would tell you, and I'm
17:53
gonna give a shout out to Everett Taylor, so
17:54
if he hears this, he'll know that I gave him
17:57
this credit. But he always said, he was like,
18:00
assume good intentions. And so that's another
18:04
way of saying that same thing, which is, and
18:07
then from there, because we're all human, like
18:10
I study myself. I spend a lot of time with myself.
18:14
I do long walks. I meditate. Because if I can't
18:19
shift and change and know what my habits are,
18:24
then really it's hard to lead others. And so
18:28
I think along the years, that's what I've spent
18:31
most of my time on, which is knowing and learning
18:36
myself so that I can show up to be the best.
18:41
version of myself for others. And I believe that
18:44
creates a more empathetic human being. Knowing
18:47
yourself, what you're good at, what you're not
18:49
good at, what your triggers are, it just creates
18:53
a level of empathy for others because you know
18:55
what work it is. You know, you're a work in progress,
18:57
right? I'm a work in progress. Yes. So yeah,
19:01
I think that's really my biggest, the biggest
19:04
arc to my career. Spending time with yourself.
19:07
Wow. Thank you, because I need that. And I remember
19:10
when we had lunch, you were talking about going
19:13
to the university of you and studying you. And
19:17
it just stuck with me. And I've been spending
19:19
more time with myself away from the not leafy
19:23
vegetables. It really helped. But it's amazing
19:29
because people don't realize what being a CFO
19:33
involves. Right. So what would you say? part
19:36
of your work as a CFO might surprise people because
19:39
we tend to think we on our spreadsheet, calculating
19:42
numbers, and it's so much more than that. Oh,
19:45
wow. It is so much more than that. And I want
19:48
to talk about two two ways. I think being a CFO
19:51
is our surprise someone. So the first is I'm
19:54
going to make it all human. As a CFO, you work
19:58
across all functions. Right. And so you are building
20:03
relationships. with so many different people
20:07
that you become a bit of a go -to on how to work
20:14
with that person, right? So think about CFOs
20:17
role. So I work with you and we're working on
20:22
how to resource you. We're working on how do
20:25
we move the company forward together? We're working
20:27
on decisions that are being made. And so I've
20:30
learned a lot about how you like to work, how
20:33
you get work done, and how to put your recommendation
20:36
to you, how to advise you. And so when you do
20:40
that across so many people, you then become a
20:44
person that advises others on how to get work
20:47
done with others. It's just a natural thing.
20:50
And over the years, I've had bosses say like,
20:52
are you serving as an intermediary between function
20:56
A and function B? I was like, well, You know,
20:58
guys, I have all the information. So I know function,
21:01
the sales team and the product team have a gap.
21:04
And I'm going to bring them together in a really
21:07
positive way so that product doesn't over commit
21:09
sales. Right. And so that is really one of those
21:13
things that is a very concrete way that people
21:17
probably didn't realize that they were going
21:18
to be a connector of folks and an advisor of
21:22
folks. so that you can get to the right outcomes
21:24
as a business. Wow, and a therapist sometimes
21:27
too, I feel like. You sound like a CFO. A bit
21:32
of a therapist as well. It is. The other thing
21:36
that I would say that really surprised me about
21:39
the CFO role is how much of this role is not
21:44
about the numbers at all. It's more about where
21:48
the industry is going. what the business needs
21:52
to do to meet it there. So an example could be,
21:58
you know, Hey, we have, you know, AI, AI is a
22:03
disruptor and working across the business to
22:06
understand what AI could mean for us and understand,
22:11
you know, not only from an investment perspective,
22:13
but from a strategic perspective, what do we
22:16
want AI to mean for us? And, and, and then from
22:20
there, you could talk about what the investment
22:22
should be in it. But there's a lot of times where
22:25
you're spending more of your time talking about
22:27
these disruptors to the business. How do you
22:30
handle those? Yes, because you have to mitigate
22:32
risk. And sometimes you feel like risk management,
22:36
like just stay on the shoulder of the CFO of,
22:39
okay, guys, yeah, no, we cannot do this, but
22:42
how can we do it better? So what are some things
22:45
like in your career you think helped you get
22:49
to that thinking and operating beyond the numbers?
22:52
Because yes, the CFO role is so much more than
22:54
that. But what kind of things prepared you? I
22:57
know you mentioned digital transformation, but
23:00
what other things? Oh, wow. A lot of times when
23:03
you are growing up in the CFO track, you're growing
23:07
up in the finance world. You hold these FP &A
23:11
jobs and they almost embed you with a leader.
23:17
So whether it's as part of the business, like
23:20
a division, or even sometimes it's just a function,
23:23
like you're partnered with product or sales.
23:26
And I would say, study the work, not only the
23:30
finance part of that, like whether it's, hey,
23:32
we're gonna have a new product and, you know,
23:35
can you build out a model that tells me what
23:36
we think this new product is gonna make? Study
23:39
how the product function works, how they get
23:43
their work done, how they partner, and I think
23:47
the more you can understand each... function
23:51
of the business, how that function works, and
23:54
then take that back to what we do. It really
23:59
prepares you to be an advisor and understand
24:03
what it takes to do whatever it is you think
24:06
is necessary to move the business forward. Wow.
24:09
So looking deeper than just the surface, just
24:11
the spreadsheet, but really diving deeper into
24:14
the business. So that makes me wonder, what is
24:17
your day look like? If I was to shadow you, uh
24:20
on the monday or tuesday what will i what will
24:23
i learn what will i see oh wow wow this is a
24:27
good question i don't see but we're in we're
24:30
in february so typically at this part of my day
24:34
i start every day with a bit of a a stand -up
24:39
so i've started a new role i have a team of people
24:42
that i'm getting to learn and typically when
24:45
you come in and you've taken over a new cfo role
24:47
there's a bit of some fires that need to be put
24:50
out. And so I like to work, like I said, I like
24:53
to work collaboratively with others. And I like
24:57
to be very, I have to be very organized. So typically
25:01
in the morning, I'll bring folks together to
25:05
be really clear about anything that is like very,
25:10
very high priority. do a quick 10 -15 minute
25:15
marine meeting where I put my team together and
25:16
go, hey guys, we have these, the auditors are
25:20
coming in from X time to Y time. How do we prepare?
25:26
Are we prepared for that meeting? And what should
25:30
I know? Because I like to be prepared. So I typically
25:33
start my day with understanding what the highest
25:36
priorities are. From there, it's a bit of a mix
25:42
of working with a leader to solve a problem,
25:46
reviewing where we are against our performance,
25:50
and then reaching out to folks to better understand
25:55
what I'm seeing and what we need to do next.
25:59
And that's just kind of the mixture of what my
26:01
day looks like. Sometimes it's a fire drill,
26:03
sometimes it's an urgent call from the CEO. You
26:06
know, those gotta get handled. But typically,
26:09
I start off the day, I try to be real organized.
26:11
be really clear about where my time is needed
26:14
and how they want me to be input into that. And
26:18
then from there, like I said, it's a mix of decisions
26:21
that need to be made and then driving the business
26:24
forward through what I'm seeing happening with
26:26
the numbers. And how do you keep yourself sane,
26:31
like outside of work, like, because there's life,
26:34
right? And then there is this intense day you
26:36
just mapped out because yes, February, this first
26:39
quarter of the year, especially for companies
26:41
that are calendar based reporting is a tough
26:44
quarter. So it is a lot, a lot going on. So what
26:48
helps you stay balanced, stay on top of your
26:52
game outside of work? Oh, wow, this is a good
26:55
one. So earlier in my career, I was horrible
26:58
at this. I spent, I probably spent all day and
27:03
night working. I don't know if I slept more than
27:05
five hours a day for the first 10 years of my
27:09
career. But over time, I realized that, you know,
27:12
I got married, I have kids, and I want to make
27:16
sure that my work day, that more days than not,
27:21
I'm managing the work day in a way where it does
27:23
not bleed. into my personal life too much. Sometimes
27:27
it does in month -end clothes or whatever else.
27:30
If you need to report out results, you got a
27:32
board meeting, sometimes it does. So first of
27:35
all is, I set boundaries. I set boundaries at
27:39
work. And so I do try to not let my work lead
27:44
too much into my personal life, that's why. From
27:46
there, all things fitness, all things family.
27:51
Fitness, family, that's it. So whether it's going
27:55
out for a run and it definitely is not just physical,
27:58
but it's also mental, like I said, meditation.
28:01
And then I'm at a kid's baseball game and I'm
28:07
at a kid's baseball game, uh, quite, quite often.
28:11
And so just spending time with my kids and watching
28:14
them grow reminds me why I do like why I do what
28:19
I do. to be able to provide a stable life for
28:24
my children matters a lot for me. I am a first
28:29
generation born here in America. My family I
28:33
said before is from Nigeria. So for me to continue
28:39
to build on while my family moved here and provide
28:44
that for my children, I'm telling you, it is
28:48
It gives me so much purpose to my life. Awesome.
28:51
Wow. That's such inspiring. And I like how you
28:55
said fitness and family. And I could say for
28:57
me, it's food and family. But I think we're on
29:00
the same page on the family side. So that's good.
29:05
We're aligned. but that's so inspiring because
29:09
yes you always have to remind yourself why you're
29:11
doing those things as you're going through it
29:13
because it can be a lot it can be overwhelming
29:16
at times but having that anchor always help yeah
29:20
I had a mentor help me with this as well actually
29:23
the same one that told me about like don't you're
29:25
trying to prove yourself you don't need to do
29:26
that he said said Cindy you got three balls that
29:31
you're juggling at all times Two are made of
29:34
glass, and one is made of rubber. Said, your
29:39
health is one, and your family is one, and your
29:43
work is one. So there's three balls. Which ones
29:47
are glass and which one is rubber? And I was
29:52
like, touche, touche. Yeah, touche right there.
29:57
Like, which one will you not drop? Which one?
30:00
He's like, you can never drop them. that health
30:03
ball, you can never drop that family ball. He
30:06
says, but you can always come back and pick up
30:08
your career. And she said, so just make sure
30:11
that you're thinking about that and you're balancing
30:13
those things as you grow. That is so true. Cause
30:17
life be life -ing sometimes. Sometimes you just,
30:22
it's just a lot going on in life and you have
30:25
to be able to take a break. you have to be able
30:28
to take a break to come back stronger, for sure.
30:31
Absolutely. My last living period, my father
30:34
passed away in November of last year. Sorry.
30:39
Thank you. And it was one of those times in life
30:43
where you go, the world stopped for me, my whole
30:46
world stopped. And a lot of times you decide,
30:50
I'm going to push forward, you know, you have
30:53
something going on personally, people push forward,
30:54
you go like, that's the professional thing to
30:56
do. For me, I realized I needed to take a big
31:02
step back because for the first time I wasn't
31:04
okay. I think grief in life, we see on LinkedIn
31:12
and Instagram and all of the social media folks
31:14
talking about this concept of life, life -lifing,
31:20
and being honest with yourself around which challenges
31:24
you could... you could still balance everything
31:26
with in which challenge challenges require you
31:29
to take a break. And so for me, when my dad passed
31:33
away, I knew then my life had been rocked and
31:37
I needed some time to care for myself and making
31:42
all of his arrangements, all those things, hardest
31:44
thing I've ever done in my life. And I'm so proud
31:48
of myself for taking the time that I needed to,
31:52
you know, I took I took quite a bit of time off.
31:57
And I'm proud of myself for taking a step back
32:00
and going, hey, hey, guys, at this time in my
32:03
life, I need to focus on me and me being whole
32:07
so that I can be there for others. Leadership
32:11
is a lifestyle. Yes. And when you, the lens in
32:17
which you are living your life will show up at
32:22
work. And so if you are grieving and you are
32:26
hurt, you will show up with work with your heart
32:28
hurt. If you are having a sick parent, you're
32:34
going to show up with that caregiver's mentality.
32:39
If you have a healthy marriage, you're going
32:42
to show up with a healthy relationship. If your
32:45
marriage is not healthy, then maybe you're going
32:47
to have trust issues with people at work, right?
32:49
So relationship is a lifestyle. That's the reason
32:54
why I said that arc I talked about, know yourself,
32:57
work on yourself. You have to as a leader because
33:00
you really do need to be whole and healthy in
33:03
a good, especially in a really healthy mental
33:06
place so that you can show up with the energy
33:10
that accompanies, the energy that your team needs
33:14
and with the soundness that a company needs for
33:18
you because they bestowed their trust in you.
33:20
Yes. Yes. Oh my God. You're bringing back memories,
33:24
because unlike you, I didn't take a break, unfortunately,
33:27
when my dad passed away. And I thought I could
33:30
push through. I thought that the world had to
33:32
keep going. I could do it, only to break down
33:35
months later. So I didn't fully recover. And
33:40
it's something we don't always make space for
33:43
in our organizations, right? We give a three
33:46
-day bereavement. Hope you make it. See you next
33:49
week. And it's just not easy because like you
33:54
said, as leadership is a lifestyle, if you're
33:56
not okay internally, you're going to be a bad
33:58
boss. Even if you were great, you're going to
34:00
make somebody pay for it. That's right. You know,
34:03
the stage you're in. That's right. It's so true.
34:06
We're human beings and that's why it's full circle.
34:10
We are human beings first and I always say we
34:15
bring our whole self to work and that's what
34:17
makes work awesome, right? like your whole self
34:21
to work and you get to see people's passion and
34:24
talents and we all come together to do amazing
34:26
things and in the company to the company's benefit
34:29
wow thank you so much oh my god i have one last
34:34
question before i forget because Yes. What you
34:38
say resonates so much with me. What would you
34:40
say are some of the things that the next generation
34:43
of finance leaders should be mindful of or should
34:45
be intentional about working more, especially
34:48
in today's fast changing technology, AI. I mean,
34:53
it's a lot going on. How do you think they can
34:55
better prepare themselves for roles like CFO,
34:58
just being a business executive? Oh, wow. A couple
35:02
of things. I'll take it from like a very literal.
35:05
in a very literal way, we need to train our finance
35:09
teams on how to integrate with the ever -changing
35:14
world of technology. And that's just from our
35:17
perspective, performing the finance work. So
35:20
that's first. CFOs, work with your team, get
35:24
them training for AI. I gotta tell you, I was
35:27
in the most awesome meeting with one of my lead
35:32
accountants. And we were looking at, I mean,
35:37
I'm new to my new role, right? So I'm going deep,
35:39
right? I'm looking at a prepaid account. Are
35:42
we making sure the financials are sound? And
35:45
we used AI to build a whole schedule that we
35:49
can use to prepare all of these journal entries.
35:53
And to watch her do it, I was like. I was like,
35:57
I am no longer needed in this meeting. I was
36:01
so proud of her. So when I say teach, making
36:04
sure that we're enabling our teams to work with
36:09
the latest technology is so important. They won't
36:12
get left behind, but so that our functions are
36:15
not getting left behind how technology is evolving.
36:20
And then the other space that I would say is
36:23
get comfortable with industry disruptors. If
36:29
you looked, you could look 100 years ago, if
36:32
you look at like the cycle of economic turmoil,
36:35
there's going to always be like, kind of a some
36:37
recessionary conditions that occur. And it used
36:41
to be like 20 years. Then it went to 10 years.
36:46
Now it's like every five to seven years, you're
36:49
seeing some economic turmoil happening. What
36:52
was driving that? It's disruptors. It's the pace
36:55
of innovation. And so if I were talking to a
36:59
group of CFOs, which I do all the time, I say,
37:02
what are your industry's disruptors? And how
37:06
do you stay with your ear to the ground so that
37:08
you know what those are, so that you can prepare
37:11
companies for the inevitable disruption that
37:14
will occur? Love it. Love it. Well, thank you
37:17
so much, Sindy, for being on the show. I really,
37:19
really, I can't even say how much I appreciate
37:22
your time, your insight, your wisdom that you
37:25
shared with me. Thank you. Thank you. Pleasure
37:28
is mine. And that's it for today's episode of
37:31
the Diary of a CFO. Thank you so much for tuning
37:34
in. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to
37:37
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