Podcast

Imagine trying to capture the family history starting from your grandfather’s grandfather through today. How would you construct the narrative over those six generations? Would you take a timeline approach by filling in important details over the course of those hundred-plus years? Or would you try a different approach the way Katherine Howe did with her co-author Anderson Cooper in their book, Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty?

[Read more…] about What Happened to the Vanderbilt Dynasty?

Rob Hart’s book, The Warehouse, is a speculative dystopian thriller. The central character is an online retailer called Cloud – think Amazon dominating its rivals in the distant future, which has devastating effects on small retailers across the country. There’s a dying founder – is he a hero or delusional? Why did Paxton and Zinnia take jobs at Cloud? Is it for the paycheck? Rob is the first fiction writer to be interviewed on CFO Bookshelf.

[Read more…] about The Warehouse

Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird states, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view … until you climb into their skin and walk around in it.” Elvis Pressley sang, “Before you abuse, criticize and accuse, walk a mile in my shoes.” In this conversation, we unpack the big ideas and linkages between business success and customer empathy with Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, the co-author of Empathy in Action.

[Read more…] about Is Customer Empathy All Talk or a Difference Maker?

Jeff Sands is the author of Corporate Turnaround Artistry. Before he started fixing and mending other companies’ broken income statements and balance sheets, he first had to fix his own where he learned how friendly banks could be. During this conversation, we also learn about debt stacks, a few myths about bankruptcies, the five stages of a turnaround, the three types of turnaround CEOs,  the role of luck, and what Jeff calls the salvation process.

[Read more…] about A Turnaround Expert Learned His Craft the Hard Way

If you think Netflix was the cause of Blockbuster’s failure, you’ll change your mind after you hear Alan Payne explain the reasons for this company’s demise. Alan was a longtime owner of a chain of successful Blockbuster stores. He was also featured in the Netflix 2020 documentary, The Last Blockbuster. His new book is Built to Fail, and we learn four reasons for Blockbuster’s eventual bankruptcy which started with poor leadership at the CEO level.

[Read more…] about A Blockbuster Failure

More than twenty-five years ago, I knew next to nothing about the concept of company culture. Treating others the way I wanted to be treated. That’s what I did and hoped others would do the same. I never worked for a CEO before 2004 whose primary focus was building and developing great teams. One of my favorite books on culture is Powerful by the first HR leader at Netflix. This is the book I would have enjoyed reading in the 1990s.

[Read more…] about A Financially Powerful Culture

Have you ever worked with a software vendor who said their solution would save you as much as $1 million annually? When you accept projects with these types of claims, have you gone back one year later to determine the actual cash savings you realized? Our topic on this show is the book, Project Profitability by our guest, Reginald Lee. We explore project salience, mental models for project prioritization, and informational and instructional-centric projects.

[Read more…] about How Profitable Is That New Project?

Glenn Hopper is the author of Deep Finance: Corporate Finance for the Information Age. Glenn is a likable expert who helps the rest of us better understand artificial intelligence, data science, and ERP solutions.  As a hands-on, self-taught digital expert, his writing is still easy to understand. In this conversation, we cover machine and deep learning, practical applications of data science in smaller businesses, and comparing comprehensive ERP solutions with best-of-breed tools that are stacked together.

[Read more…] about Finance Essentials in AI, Data Science and ERP

Looking back on my financial career, given the chance for a do-over, I would have focused on forensic accounting or corporate turnarounds. Turnarounds have the edge. Instead, I focused on intense scale-ups while studying and reading about those in turnaround management. One of those experts is Professor James Shein of the Kellogg School of Management. Reversing the Slide is one of the best books in the turnaround genre I’ve read, our topic on this episode.

[Read more…] about Reversing the Slide in Corporate Turnarounds

Periodically, I come across a short book with a simple message that gets its point across quickly and compellingly. For more years than I can count, I’ve been listening to How to Become a CEO by Jeffrey Fox at least once every year. Jeffrey’s book includes about a dozen recommendations for anyone seeking the top spot in a company. However, the advice applies to nonprofits, the military, and any other organization.

[Read more…] about Becoming a CEO or Even an Army Officer