Mark Gandy

When you think of iconic and successful CEOs, names like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Howard Schultz, Jack Welch, and Sam Walton probably spring to mind. Can you name a 4-time CEO who orchestrated overwhelming turnarounds at each of his stopping points? I can, and his name is Hunter Harrison. He’s the subject of the book, Railroader: The Unfiltered Genius and Controversy of Four-Time CEO Hunter Harrison.

[Read more…] about Howard Green Tells the Story of One of the Greatest CEOs Ever

I read some 100-120 books annually, I skim probably a hundred others. I read dozens of whitepapers and journals just to keep my mind sharp during any 12-month period. While FP&A bleeds every beautiful color in my veins, books on the topic generally range from being dull to lifeless. That’s why our team started scoping out FP&A Directors to interview for our podcast. Our first selection included some luck and did not disappoint.

[Read more…] about A Global FP&A Director Talks Technology, Methods, and People

One of the best books I’ve ever read on LEAN from a CFO’s perspective is Real Numbers by Jean Cunningham, one of the co-authors of that book. I was deeply thankful we could pull Jean out of retirement for this insightful and informative discussion about the mindset and methodology of LEAN, which is about continuous improvement with respect for people. We discuss the goals of lean, plain-language financial reporting, the one-day close, kaizen, unit costs, her other books, and much more.

[Read more…] about Jean Cunningham, a Former CFO’s Perspective on Lean

Stacey Barr is the author of Practical Performance Measurement and Prove It!. She’s also the creator of the PuMP® framework which I believe is by far the best mental construct for learning and implementing performance measurements successfully in any organization large or small. This Australian-based teacher and consultant did not set out to be a performance measurement specialist. While she had a strong penchant for math and statistics, she first had her sites set on the medical profession.

[Read more…] about Practical Performance Measurement with Stacey Barr

What is your and? That is, what do you do outside work? That’s the topic of this episode of CFO Bookshelf. Our guest is a former PwC internal auditor turned stand-up comedian. John Garrett is now preaching a message of better corporate cultures through speaking and consulting, and he is the author of What’s Your And?

[Read more…] about What’s Your And?

Once upon a time, I was all business. I was overly analytical and a bit too direct on every project I worked on. I was never mean-spirited, at least I didn’t think I was. I just thought everyone should be like me when working on critical projects. Four years into my career, some people who cared about me said, “Mark, you’re smart, but you need to go to charm school.” That was a transformational experience.

[Read more…] about People Skills for Analytical Thinkers

From serving a term as a Missouri Senator, he went on to serve one year and a day at a federal correctional institution in Clay County, Kentucky, a county once named the unhealthiest in the country. I first heard Jeff Smith in a radio interview with Mark Reardon on KMOX in 2015. The book they were talking about was Mr. Smith Goes to Prison. I wound up purchasing the book and read it in nearly one sitting. In this conversation, we talk about this book, and the docuseries, College Behind Bars.

[Read more…] about Mr. Smith Goes to Prison

I have read many investment books over the past 30 years, and one of the titles easily in my Top 5 is The Education of a Value Investor by Guy Spier. In the world of value investing, Guy needs no introduction. He’s been interviewed hundreds of times and he’s also been a Talks at Google presenter. With thanks to another author, Guy gladly said he’d join the show, and he certainly delivered.

[Read more…] about The Education of a Value Investor

As my consulting practice started taking off about twenty years ago, I started reading everything I could by Fred Nickols, who blogged regularly for the software vendor, SmartDraw. Fred’s articles were concise, to the point, and consistently included a straightforward visual framework that was easy to understand. Fred is a long-time consultant who refers to himself as a solutions engineer. In this conversation, we talk about his favorite frameworks and the origins of those mental models.

[Read more…] about Visual Thinking Tools