Podcast

I’ve always been intrigued about the roles of business psychologists and certified coaches and their ability to elevate the performances of the people and organizations they work with. In this show, I visited with Dr. Russell Thackeray, a business psychologist, certified coach, trainer, and renowned speaker. We addressed topics such as resistance, when to hire a business coach, the intentions and execution of tough love, psychological capacity, and much more.

[Read more…] about What is a Business Psychologist?

More than twenty years ago, I first heard Captain Charlie Plumb’s story of six years of captivity in a Vietnam prison camp. I still get chills and goosebumps when I listen to his story of resilience, hope, and faith. If you have heard him speak, you still might find his nuggets on Admiral Stockdale, Louis Zamperini, and PTSD insightful and intriguing. His book is, I’m No Hero. Yet, I consider him one.

[Read more…] about Captain Charlie Plumb on Grit, Honor, and Gratitude

Sometimes, I perceive that KPIs are a religion. Everyone has a view of what they are and how they should be designed and presented. Definitions are hard to pin down because five business leaders might give you five different answers depending on their perspectives. What if we had a framework that eliminated KPI brainstorming while offering a template for including targets and incentives for these key numbers? That framework exists thanks to Bernie Smith.

[Read more…] about Why Do KPIs Have to Be So Hard?

Many years ago, my first accounting professor stated that accounting was the language of business. As a young student, who was I to disagree? About seven years later after working on several M&A projects, I formed my own opinion about the language of business. The financial model is the language of business. And there is no one better to articulate this idea than Ian Schnoor of the Financial Modeling Institute.

[Read more…] about Financial Modeling Insights with FMI’s Ian Schnoor

Only four people quickly come to mind when I think about performance improvement and measurement the right way: Donald Wheeler, Stacey Barr, Dean Spitzer, and Mark Graban. I view Mark’s book as the very best companion to Wheeler’s, Understanding Variation. His three core questions strike at the heart of any conversation around a transformational change in the organization.

[Read more…] about Measures of Success with Mark Graban

When Jack McCullough asked me to write advanced praise for the front matter of his newest book, The Psychopathic CEO, I was thrilled at the chance to participate. Little did I know how much of an impact this attention-grabbing title would have on me. It’s the book I wish I could have read nearly thirty years ago. The question isn’t if you’ll ever work for a psychopathic leader, it’s when?

[Read more…] about The Psychopathic CEO

I’m a self-professed business cynic when it comes to reading management books. From my point of view, they can be extremely long in the tooth on detail, require heavy, up-front design work for the implementation stage, and can be incredibly difficult to execute for messy, fast-growing businesses. Accordingly, I limit myself to about three such titles annually. One of those was the audio of The Amazon Way by John Rossman. Home run! Then I read it. Grand Slam!

[Read more…] about What Is The Amazon Way?

CFO Bookshelf’s primary aim is to provide you with great content as a financial or business leader to inspire and support your lifelong learning and growth process so that you can be better prepared to make an impact on those you serve. CFO Bookshelf delivered on its primary aim by bringing you 51 interviews with best-selling authors and business thought leaders whose voices are generally known around the world. Here are a handful of those outstanding episodes.

[Read more…] about The Top Podcast Episodes of 2021

CFO Bookshelf loves The Soul of Enterprise Podcast hosted by Ed Kless and Ron Baker. In this episode, we take a look behind the scenes of this highly-popular radio show that airs live each Friday through the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network. While the audience has a strong following from those working in accounting and other professional services firms, our visit with Ed Kless is geared for business leaders in any industry.

[Read more…] about A Great Business Podcast Behind the Scenes

One of my favorite times of the year is skimming my booklist from top to bottom several times and trying to pick my favorite ten books. The task was so hard that I cheated a bit by selecting honorable mentions and creating two other categories. In this show, my friend Shaefer Schuetz leads the discussion. If you need some book ideas for 2022, numerous business genres are covered in this conversation.

[Read more…] about Our Favorite 10 Books of 2021