CFO Bookshelf

Adam Mead's new book, The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway was 5 years in the making and started out as a 5,000-page manuscript that was finally shaved to just under a thousand pages.Instead of this being a book about Warren Buffett, it's a complete history of every purchase made by Berkshire Hathaway since the beginning.

One of the best accounting books I've ever read about Lean from a CFO's perspective is Real Numbers by Jean Cunningham, one of the authors of that book.But the audience for that book is CEOs, operating managers, and anyone working on the plant floor. The book is also relevant for health care and other service industry professionals.Real Numbers was written a decade ago, but listening to Jean who is so kind and generous reminds us that the lean message is still relevant, impactful, and real.

Stacey Barr is the author of Practical Performance Measurement and Prove It!She is also the creator of the best performance measurement framework I've ever reviewed, and it's applicable to businesses and non-profits of all sizes. The thinking person's framework is called PuMP(R).In our interview with Stacey, we address why so many organizations fail at implementing performance measurements bringing sustainable change and improvement to the organization. We talk about tools, methodology, and the social side of measurement. 

Daniele Martins is the Head of Global FP&A at ThoughtWorks in Brazil.In this show, we talked about technology, processes, and people. We drilled into spreadsheets, budgeting, forecasting, and the 65% which makes for a great FP&A ideal team player.

Did you realize the first book written on OKRs was Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke? She's our guest along with Ben Lamorte who joins us for his second appearance on the show. We talk about when and when to never use OKRs.

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?Hunter Harrison did, and he's the subject of the book, Railroader: The Unfiltered Genius and Controversy of Four-Time CEO Hunter Harrison.Our guest is the author of this biography, Howard Green. We talk about the CEO's childhood, the relationship with his father, 3 keys to his emerging success as a railroader, and much more.

I'm a huge fan of the book, The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart.During our conversation, we talk about the business gurus, strategic planning, management consulting, philosophy, and what is a great manager.

Lora Cecere needs no introduction, but she's a global thought leader on supply chain.She is the founder of Supply Chain Thought Leader and also writes for Forbes. She also publishes content on her website Supply Chain Shaman as well as on LinkedIn.Lora is the author of Supply Chain Metrics that Matter which was published in 2015. She is followed by more than 320,000 on LinkedIn, and her organization's Supply Chains to Admire is must-reading each year.

There are only three books I recommend on the topic of performance measurement. By far, the best title is Transforming Performance Measurement by Dean Spitzer.While working for IBM, Dean realized that training was not the path to better and transformation performance. As he started learning the good and the bad of performance measurement, he learned what was needed for organizational transformation - something The Balanced Scorecard could never deliver.The Big IdeasTraining alone does not improve organizational performanceChanging the measurement system precedes organizational changeThe strongest quadrant in the balanced scorecardThe 4 Critical Success Factors of Transformational Performance MeasurementThe dark side of measurementThe 10-30-60 RuleThe Chief Measurement OfficerExploratory vs confirmatory measurementTransactional vs Experience measurementThe IPOO ModelProfit-Sharing Plans and Performance Measurement

Steve Cakebread's current CEO at Yext says he is the master of taking technology companies public. Steve published his first book in 2020 entitled The IPO Playbook, and we talk about what happens before, during, and after the IPO.