CFO Bookshelf

When I think of HP, three things quickly emerge in my mind: Deskjet and laser printers, the 12C calculator, and David Packard's The HP Way.

The HP Way is one of my top 25 books written by CEOs. In this conversation, we're rolling with a book club format with a special guest who writes book summaries on his blog. Dan Lebrero is a software engineer based in Spain, and he'll help us unpack concepts such as MBO, management by walking around, profit-sharing plans, corporate offsites, growth frameworks, and philosophies on debt management. 

Cat Mulvihill is becoming a rising YouTube star with her video content focused on communication and presentation skills, including technology, Zoom, and personal knowledge management systems.

This conversation teaches us what sets the best professionals apart from the rest on their Zoom calls. We gain insights on the best mics, videocams, and other technologies to use. We also wrap up the visit with simple ways to kill our filler words.

If you work for yourself or would like to, have you ever thought about whose shoulders you are standing on, especially if you decide to have no employees?

Ben Waterhouse is a professor and faculty director at the University of North Carolina. His research interests include deciphering how self-employment became a key to personal fulfillment, a central topic in his newest book, One Day I'll Work for Myself.

In this conversation, we explore some of history's most pivotal stories that led to the plateau of big business starting in the late 1800s and reaching its peak in the 1970s. We learn why the move to self-employment became a potential remedy to professional and personal relevance in Ben's engaging style. 

Have you ever wondered how Amazon, Netflix, and Starbucks started their customer personalization programs? What was the starting point? What were the costs? Who was involved?

The co-authors answer these questions in the very readable Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI.

Mark Abraham and David Edelman explain that personalization is not email or glorified loyalty rewards programs. Instead, this cross-functional activity starts with a few simple questions in their 5 Promises framework, a launching pad for creating a customer personalization journey. 

If you were to ask me about my favorite book on private equity, I would say The Private Equity Playbook by Adam Coffey. The book is easy to read, the math is simple and impactful, and the stories are based on a former CEO who understands the intricacies behind private equity.

Adam has released the second edition of this book, which is about 20 percent longer with new material. This conversation addresses the continued growth of private equity, committed capital, Adam's 70-30 rule, and a funny locksmith story.

As a financial leader, I want to know every aspect of business. While quarterbacking my share of ERP implementations, I had only once heard the term PMO (short for Project Management Office). Accordingly, I wanted to learn more.

After reading Laura Barnard's new book on PMOs, I quickly realized she is probably the global thought leader on this subject.

Laura's new book is The IMPACT Engine: Accelerating Strategy Delivery for PMO and Transformation Leaders. We spend most of our time unpacking her IMPACT Engine System, which has a 100% success rate. In the lightning round, we cover MVPs vs. prototypes, perfectionism, lovers and haters, outcomes vs. outputs, and 30-90s. 

Numerous financial blog articles and LinkedIn posts highlight the benefits of a small business owner hiring a portfolio CFO. However, I do not recall these writers commenting on why financial professionals step away from the W-2 world to serve multiple owners as clients instead of sticking to a steady paycheck.

Sara Daw may be the first author to articulate why CFOs jump into the gig economy through her comprehensive research, which we can read about in Strategy and Leadership as Service. In this conversation, we hit on access vs. ownership, psychological ownership, career future-proofing, and liquid vs. solid consumption.

How did Charles Cowlam resort to a lifelong career in crime during the Gilded Age?

During this fascinating interview, the author of A Wonderful Career Crime accidentally uncovers several fascinating nuggets of U.S. history that would otherwise remain undetected by well-known historians.

Frank Garmon shares his favorite stories of Cowlam's life as a fraudster, bigamist, and swindler. He takes us to the origin of how this micro-history came to be in book form. We also learn how the wisdom of crowds revealed Cowlan's true identity in a world without LinkedIn and Facebook.

Strategic planning and real estate companies are not word pairings we are used to hearing. However, Charlie Hewlett is changing that mindset.

Charlie is the managing director at RCLCO, a company based in the Washington, D.C., metro area. He co-authored Strategy for Real Estate Companies.

Our topics include the definition of a real estate company, a short definition of strategic planning, what strategic planning is not, SWOT, POVs, plan lengths, and who should work on the strategy process.

What do you know about Jay Gould's life, and how does he compare to the other robber barons of his day? More importantly, is his life worth examining?

Mark discusses Gould's upbringing in this book review, which influenced his desire to be rich. Learn about one of the most significant market corners on Wall Street and the man who helped to create America's economic expansion during the internet era of his day.