CFO Bookshelf

Gary Harpst co-founded the ERP solution Solomon Software, which was ultimately sold to Great Plains. The CFO Bookshelf enjoys Gary's work and past books, including Six Disciplines for Excellence and Six Disciplines Revolution.

Gary's newest book has been 40 years in the making. The title is Built to Beat Chaos: Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others. A few of the themes we cover in this conversation include:

• addressing the elephant in the room, the integration of faith in the workplace
• the Great Plains story
• A leader's first and second responsibility
• the reason Monet destroyed some paintings
• the reason a specific management system doesn't matter based on 1200 businesses studied
• how to get the 85% involved and the impact on one-to-one time
• the 100-point exercise
• the Harold Morgan story
• wisdom and tips for learning to mentor others
• the purpose and mission of LeadFirst.ai

A Beautiful Constraint by Morgan and Barden: is it a marketing, branding, psychology, or management book? Or is it all four?

In this episode, Willy Donaldson (Simple_Complexity and Estimated Time of Departure) and I discuss five of the biggest ideas in the thought-provoking book A Beautiful Constraint. The authors state the goal is not to eliminate a constraint but to leverage it. Their book explains how.

Below are some of the topics we addressed:

• the definition of a constraint
• Goldratt's definition
• reasons you may not need to read the book
• the relationship between ambition and constraints
• the three-part continuum of thought: victim, neutralizer, transformer
• path dependence and an impactful poem
• can-if thinking
• the problem with too many resources
• thumbs up or thumbs down

During the conversation, we mentioned this book would be a great master class where a one-hour conversation could provide all of the ideas and tools created by the authors. If you are not ready to read the book yet, this YouTube video by one of the authors is a great starting point.

Since starting the CFO Bookshelf podcast, I have released a ‘favorite books’ show each January. I’ve always been reluctant to do so because my reading tastes may differ from yours. However, these episodes are some of the most downloaded in our podcast catalog.

In this discussion, I list my Top 10 books, honorable mentions, fiction, and even books that I did not like. Other insights include what and how much to read and if fiction matters.

Access the List

Many pricing books are heavy in ideas, abstractions, and behavioral science mind-shifting. Others are focused merely on simple tactics.

Jean-Manual Izaret's (JMI) book, Game Changer, fills a void by showing readers and pricing practitioners how to approach pricing strategically through cleverly designed frameworks and thought-provoking questions.

This conversation starts with who should read this book and why a cover-to-cover reading is unnecessary. Other topics include:

• Ford's greatest insight
• The cupcake pricing dilemma
• The three pricing tools: elasticity, differentiation, game theory
• The reason why pricing methods and pricing strategy are not the same thing
• JMI's framework grid
• JMI's seven games
• Buyers, sellers, and offers
• A definition of pricing governance
• A deeper dive into the uniform game
• Microsoft vs. Intuit
• Next steps for owners and pricing teams
• JMI's favorite books

Important Links

• JMI's bio page at The Boston Consulting Group
• TED Talk - A New Netflix-style Pricing Model

CFO Bookshelf considers The Wisdom of Finance one of its favorite 25 business books.

Mihir Desai combines abstract and obtuse finance concepts with literature, history, movies, and poems in his book, which was released in 2017.

In this bookclub-style episode, we cover several of the themes Mihir highlighted in his educational and entertaining book:

• Bankruptcy (the history of Robert Morris)
• Options and Diversification (Pride and Prejudice)
• Value Creation (The Parable of the Talents)
• Corporate Governance (The Producers)
• Mergers (marriages)
• The Demonization of Finance (O Pioneers!)

One of the best books we've read on private equity is by Adam Coffey. The title is The Private Equity Playbook.

Adam's newest book is based on a two-day presentation he gave on how to roll up an industry purposely and effectively. He turned his 300-plus page slide deck into the book Empire Builder: The Road to a Billion.

Some of the topics we cover include:

• investing in what you know
• a simple example using a mowing company and its unit economics
• the industry traits for empire building
• the 30:1 rule for managers
• the rule of 130
• price escalation clauses
• Sandy Ogg
• Financial diligence and proctology exams
• the best way to read this five-hour book

Important Links:

• Adam's website
• LinkedIn profile
• Adam's Forbes articles
• Show Notes page at CFO Bookshelf

Since I am not a customer of Dunkin' Donuts, I know very little about their origin story. When Around the Corner, Around the World hit my reading radar, I was intrigued and was compelled to read it. I was pleasantly surprised because the book was a mini MBA on how to grow a small business into an international brand.

Bruce Reed joins the host to uncover some of the big ideas in this book, including:

• working for a father after graduation
• knowing when and how to turn down a $7.5 million offer
• ideas for quarterly board meetings
• the author's four management pillars
• learning the art of exploitation and experimentation
• Drucker's advice on succession
• the author's reading list

I had never considered the business aspects of pirating until I read Katherine Howe's newest book, A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself.

Every ship's captain had a vision, as did the crew. A mission steered each voyage. The crew was kept in line with its bylaws or code of conduct. Loot was allocated based on a profit-sharing plan.

In this conversation, Katherine reveals why moviegoers romanticize the golden era of pirating. Not only do we get a sneak preview of the characters and the plot in Katherine's new book, but we are also reminded of our country's history of public hangings and gibbeting.

About Katherine Howe
Katherine Howe is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning historian and novelist. She is the author of several novels for adults and young adults, has edited two volumes of primary sources for Penguin Classics, and is the co-author with Anderson Cooper of the #1 New York Times bestselling books VANDERBILT and ASTOR. You can follow her on the following social media links:

• Katherine's website
• Amazon author page
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Our show notes for this episode are on the CFO Bookshelf website.

I'd recommend The Phoenix Project if I could only recommend one book to a CEO, CFO, or COO about the essentials or the heart of IT in a heartbeat.

The Phoenix Project is the IT version of The Goal, as both are written as a novel with a protagonist with doubts, worries, and fears. Like The Goal, the main character in The Phoenix project encounters a sage who helps him glean insights from the manufacturing plant floor and apply them in a DevOps environment.

Gene Kim is one of the co-authors of this special book. In this conversation with Gene, we address The Three Ways, the four types of work, internal audit, security, and why this novel has universal appeal for all industries and all professions.

Important Links:

• IT Revolution
• The Idealcast with Gene Kim
• The DevOps bookshelf
• The COSO Cube (there are book spoilers)
• Wiring the Winning Organization
• Detailed show notes

I cannot begin to count the number of times I've heard the following question or something similar, "Mark, I've heard my industry EBITDA multiple is 5x. What do you think?"

As much as I want to scream at that question, this type of thinking on business value is prevalent amongst many CEOs of both big and small companies.

When the book Quick Value by Reed Phillips hit my radar, I bought it immediately and couldn't put it down as I started reading it.

Reed's process for valuing a private company is a simple but powerful method that should be completed annually by an internal leadership team. The process is easy to learn and can even replace annual strategic planning sessions.

In this conversation, we learn the Quick Value process, who should use it, and some other nifty nuggets for leaders wanting to grow the value of their business, even when they do not want to sell it.

Important Links

• The book's website
• Oaklins Valuation Index (sign-up is free)
• Reed's LinkedIn profile