June 19, 2025 • 30 mins
2,600 CFOs. 100+ interviews. One framework every advisory-first firm should know.
Jack McCullough, founder of the CFO Leadership Council and host of the globally ranked Secrets of Rockstar CFOs podcast, shares what the best financial leaders do differently, and how to position your firm for where the industry is going.
This episode covers:
- The CREATE Framework: 6 traits great CFOs consistently show
- Why strategic thinking now matters more than technical skill
- How to build CEO-level trust as a financial advisor
- Lessons from interviewing 100+ top CFOs across industries
- The mindset shift separating the rising stars from the stuck
Whether you're building your firm or advising one, this is the playbook serious leaders are listening to.
Want to connect with Jack?
Text: 617-678-0957
Email: jack@cfolc.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Today's guest is on a mission to redefine what it
means to be a CFO.
Jack McCullough is the founderof the CFO Leadership Council
and host of the podcast Secretsof Rockstar CFOs.
He's worked with thousands offinance leaders, helping them
evolve from number crunchers tostrategic powerhouses.
In this episode, we explorewhat separates good CFOs from
(00:22):
great ones and how today'sfinancial leaders can prepare
for the future of the role.
Let's get into it.
We have an amazing guestjoining us today who actually
has one of the top 10% podcastsgoing on in the world right now,
which is super exciting, sohopefully I can learn a thing or
two from him.
Before diving into the episode,I do want to give a massive
shout out to the team over atUniversal Accounting.
(00:44):
Thank you so much forsponsoring the show.
Anyone who's looking to buildthe premier accounting firm,
make sure you check outUniversal Accounting and Roger
Connect.
They got a ton of greatresources.
They're awesome what they do.
We'll drop some information inthe show notes To our guest,
Jack McCullough.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show today.
I cannot wait to get into yourstory and learn a little bit
(01:05):
more about your podcast and whatyou're doing on your side.
Thanks for joining.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
No, glad to do it.
When you said you had anawesome guest and that I was in
the top descent of podcasters, Ithought you were confusing me
with somebody else, but it'sgreat to me.
You know that for a fact.
My podcast is within the top10% that's.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's what my my research shows online.
Yeah secrets.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I literally did not know that, so good for me
rockstar CFOs top 10% well,thanks, I'm glad to be here and
I appreciate your reaching outand, you know, allowing.
I've been looking forward tothe conversation for a few weeks
now awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, jack, tell me a little bit about you know
you've had a remarkable journey,you, you know.
Founder, author, you're hostinga podcast now I would love to
dive into in your, yourexperience, what makes a great
CFO.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It's.
You're perhaps familiar withthe expression horses for
courses.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And I haven't heard that before horses for courses.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I haven't heard that before.
Oh, the idea.
It's, in horse racing, likethere are some horses that you
know they're good at longdistance running.
There are other horses that arereally good at the sprint.
There are some that performwell on a muddy track.
There's some that need adifferent class.
So you know there's not a onesize fits all model for what's a
great CFO, but there arecertainly some qualities that
are consistent across companysizes and regions and whatnot.
(02:30):
But you know, if I were to focuson the most important thing, in
fact it's a presentation I giveand it's easy to remember for
your listeners it's uh, create,and it stands for collaboration,
resiliency, empathy, agility,transparency and empowerment.
(02:53):
And where that came from?
I reached out to a lot ofpeople who are not cfos and I
asked them what are you lookingfor in CFOs?
And it wasn't like goodfinancial skills, it wasn't good
technology skills, it was thoseleadership and personality
traits which surprised me.
And, by the way, it was anopen-ended question, so it's not
(03:16):
like a pull-down or multiplechoice type of thing.
They could write whatever theywanted and literally not one
person said financial aptitude.
And these were like good people.
They were venture capitalists,pe investors, people who are on
public company boards, ceos,other members of the C-suite and
they were really wanting theleadership and the communication
and the transparency more thananything else.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Did those answers surprise you?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Did those answers surprise you?
I was.
They didn't shock me.
Okay, right, because I wassurprised that not one person
said finance or an understandingof the digital realities facing
.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, that might be a better way to ask it.
I guess Were you surprised that, yeah, that that didn't come up
.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, like if I were to ask people what are the five
most, I would have known forsure that many of those would
come up.
But I asked people for you knowwhat's the most important?
And I mean, you know, somepeople did give two or three,
but yeah, it did surprise me alittle bit.
And then, you know, I had tomanipulate it because they
actually talked more about teambuilding, but that would be
creat, but that would be create.
(04:26):
So I was trying to come up witha word that that ended in that
started with e, that it meantteamwork, so hence empowerment.
I kind of crammed that one inthere to make the create
framework.
So, but it's an easy way toremember it.
You know, when you're thinkingabout what do I do create?
Okay, what do they stand for?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
boom yeah, that's great.
Um, and just for for everyone,for anyone who's not watching
and just listening, I need toaddress the Incredibles action
figure behind you on yourbookshelf.
That is just.
I mean no pun intended.
That is incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, you know, a free Jack McCullough bobblehead
doll for all of your listeners,right, that's perfect?
No, I feel like when peoplenotice it, you know two things.
First of all, for those whocan't see it, it is literally a
bobblehead doll of me.
I did not buy this for myself.
My ego is not quite that out ofcontrol.
In my last job, when I left,this was a going away gift.
(05:16):
And also, you know, the headdoes look quite a bit like me,
although I'm 10 years older, butlook at the abs.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, that must be spot on though.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh yeah, exactly.
I don't even know how they gota picture of my abs.
I didn't know that this was oneof the Incredibles, I think, so
I wasn't familiar with them.
I actually put that up duringCOVID when we all started using
Zoom.
I picked it up and peoplestarted commenting.
I said, wow, that's thegreatest conversation I could
(05:49):
ever have.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
No, that's great, that's really cool.
I would love to hear a littlebit more about the community you
built with the CFO LeadershipCouncil.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Sure, and a little about us.
I started the group.
I myself was the CFO and I justreally wanted a network of my
peers and I didn't have much ofa vision for it.
To be honest, I was thinking wecan get 25 CFOs to get together
, you know, four, six, eighttimes a year, whatever it is
just to, you know, commiserate alittle bit, maybe bring an
(06:21):
outside sponsor.
It wasn't that much more thanthat.
I just wanted to learn from mypeers and it was one of those
things.
I guess I touched a nervebecause, without really trying
the very first program we hadhad 60 CFOs come and then, you
know, it sort of accidentallygrew.
One of my members moved to NewYork and we launched a chapter
there and then we did it inPhiladelphia and they were all
(06:43):
pretty successful, and at thatpoint in my career I was
actually working at KPMG anddoing business development and
great company liked the job, youknow, good money, and so I had
to make the decision, thoughthis was something I was
becoming very passionate about,and so the classic decision of
love of money and idiot that Iam, I pick love.
(07:04):
So I've been doing it 10 yearsand we've grown to about 2,600
members.
We have members on everycontinent, not Antarctica, but
every continent that's inhabited.
And you know, it's just beenthe ride of my life.
You know, and I tell peoplelike a lot of times people join
for the content and we do havereally good content, but they
stay for the community.
(07:26):
You know the relationships thathave been formed over the years
between CFOs.
You know, I've actually looked.
I can't find anything like itamongst professionals like this.
It's like we have an annualconference and it's covered by
the you know CFO press, like CFOBrew, cfo Dive, et cetera.
And CFO brew had a great quoteabout our conference.
They said we set the worldrecord for hugs at a financial
(07:49):
conference.
But it's such a tight knitcommunity that people look out
for each other.
It's, it's just amazing what Isort of accidentally built here.
So, along with a lot of otherpeople, I don't want to take
credit here.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So yeah, that's.
That's incredible.
What gets you the most fired upabout what you have created or
getting together with yourcommunity?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I think what I like most is the opportunity to
really work with the nextgeneration of financial leaders.
I'm 102 years old myself, asyou could probably guess from
looking at me.
Actually I'm 61.
But my first CFO job cameduring the dot-com era and you
(08:31):
know I don't want to say Ididn't deserve the job, because
you know I think I wassuccessful in it.
But it was lucky that I wasborn, when I was, that a lot of
people were getting CFO jobs anda great experience and a great
run at a relatively early pointin their career.
And so right now I recognizeyep, me and a lot of people like
me.
We did a good job with it.
(08:52):
But let's keep this going alittle bit.
Let's make sure that the nextgeneration of leaders has the
opportunities and, moreimportantly, has the skills and
the contacts to take advantageof those opportunities when they
come, so that they can besuccessful.
And that's what really excitesme a lot, when I can reach out
to somebody who's, say, a VP offinance or controller and they
(09:14):
have everything to get that CFOrole and I can help them get the
role, whether it's positioningthemselves, just thinking about
a different way to solveproblems, how to build
relationships with CEOs, thatsort of thing thing.
That's what I love most aboutmy job the chance to impact.
Well, they're like your age,but, um, you know, younger
professionals.
I don't mean that patronizingly, but no, no, you know you're
(09:35):
good.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's really cool.
Um, you've interviewed dozensof of standout CFOs.
You get to engage with them inyour community all the time.
What are some of the key traitsof their mindset that set them
apart from others?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, and you know the roles change dramatically.
Like I, I often speculate, youknow, could I be a CFO today?
And you know I, I, perhaps Iwould, you know I'd have to
change how I approached it andwhatnot.
But the best CFOs, you know,they think like CEOs to a large
extent.
They talk about they've beentalking about for a while how
(10:13):
critical the strategicpartnership they have with the
CEO is.
But what's happened in the lastcouple of years is CEOs now are
reciprocating it.
That you know.
They used to say, well, maybethe VP of engineering or the VP
of sales was the most importantrelationship that they had.
Now they're saying no, the CFOis the most important strategic
partner that they have within acompany.
(10:35):
That's a big change.
And so I've coined the phrasethat CFOs are almost the deputy
CEO, that the CFO role is theclosest one to a CEO within the
company, except for those 10%that have like a COO type of
role.
It's an important position butit's largely vanishing because
CFOs are taking on a lot ofthose responsibilities.
(10:56):
So I think it's more theleadership and the partnership
with the CEO and across theentire C-suite that sort of
separates the one, the strategicleader, from the historian.
You know I got my first CFO jobpromoted from a controller
Still a great way to do it.
You know the controllership isa great farm system for the CFO
role.
But you know it's limiting.
(11:19):
If you approach the CFO role asa controller, you've got to
approach the CFO role as a CEOInteresting that's so valuable.
I came across as though I'mreally confident, don't I?
But I was kind of a mediocreCFO so maybe I should shut my
mouth and listen to other people.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You're probably being extremely, extremely humble
with this for everything thatyou've built.
I'm curious, curious, jack,your your podcast we spoke about
it earlier secrets of rockstarcfos.
It's doing amazing, one of thetop 10, or top 10 it's in the
top 10 of podcasts in the world,which is really cool.
What are some of the thelessons or conversations that
(11:58):
you've been the most surprisedby with with the guests of your
show?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
you know, um, not a lot has shocked me.
Um, okay, you know I'm probablya little bit difficult to shock
a little bit, but again, youknow the comments I made about
the strategic partnership.
Um, I'd say a main thing that'scomes up a lot is the great
cfos, for, for one thing, theythere's that humility gene.
(12:25):
I never had it.
But you know they can't seem totake credit for anything
they've done.
You know I praise them for theorganizations they've built and
you know they're thanking theircontrollers, they're thanking
the HR people, they're thankingthe board of directors.
You know I half expect some ofthem to thank their third grade
teachers or something like that.
Directors, you know I halfexpect some of them to thank
their third grade teachers orsomething like that.
So the humility is really good.
(12:46):
But the other thing is like onmine, I do tend to ask I don't
want to say personal questions,but you know I'll ask questions
about, you know, their earlylife and you know work, life
balance and you know justpersonal struggles they may have
gone through if they're willingto talk about it and it's.
I've been shocked a little bitabout how vulnerable the CFOs
are willing to make themselvesduring these conversations,
(13:07):
because you know that's it's nota gender thing, it's a CFO
thing.
You know they, it's not easyfor them to make themselves
vulnerable.
I don't think they're, you know, a tower of strength within
their professional lives and buta lot of them, you know, they
do make themselves vulnerable.
(13:27):
There have been, like there'vebeen a couple of instances.
You know I've actually had topause the recording because both
of us are like near tearstalking about our kids.
I'm the father of two autisticadult sons and we just went off
a little bit on, you know, thechallenges of being a special
needs parent.
So you know, it's um, eventhough I have a lot of friends
who are CFOs, I was a littlesurprised that people that I
didn't really know before theprocess were willing to be so
(13:50):
candid about their, theiremotional sides, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
That speaks volumes to to the conversations you're
having and the guests you'rebringing on the shows, that you
guys can get that vulnerable andopen up that much.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
That's really cool to hear it is a reflection on them
, not me, right?
So?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
take, it takes two, takes two to tango.
Um, I want to speak a littlebit about the, the tough
decisions that fall on cfos when, when the pressure is on and
data is limited, how, how do thebest CFOs lead decisively?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, you know it's interesting because you
mentioned data limited, becausethat I didn't really know it at
the time.
But that's kind of the world Igrew up in.
You know, I didn't appreciateit until we lived in the world
where there's, you know,seemingly unlimited data.
Live in the world where there's, you know, seemingly unlimited
data.
(14:47):
But you know, data and AI typetools they're not going to
replace human judgment.
Common sense, intuition theyenhance it.
Right.
When I see people that they'rejust data driven, that's great
in some roles, but you know,sometimes you sort of need that,
that human element in decisionmaking.
Never let go of that.
You know, at least right nowand I don't have a crystal ball
(15:08):
maybe in 10 years Gen AI willactually be able to replace
common sense with people andintuition with people.
But right now it's acombination of data analysis and
just common sense.
You know, listen to the man orwoman inside, whatever it might
be.
Intuition, taking advantage of,you know, if you're a CFO with
25 years experience, callingupon what you've learned during
(15:29):
those 25 years and support itwithin data.
They go hand in hand.
But yeah, they are, you know,faced with difficult decisions.
You know I don't want to say itwas easy to be a CFO, because
that's unfair.
But in the 10 years beforeCOVID you had basically a very
(15:50):
strong economy.
The cost of capital washistorically low.
You had the advantage of themost well-educated workforce in
the world.
Globalization was expanding, sothere were increasing
opportunities.
It was a glorious time to be acfo because there's so many
opportunities.
But with covid, and thenseemingly every few months, some
(16:10):
kind of crisis comes up.
You know whether it be supplychain shortfalls or you know,
talent shortages, uh, risinginterest rates.
You know the the worstrecession we yeah, it's probably
not the worst recession, butbad recession, um, and you know
now the worst recession yeah,it's probably not the worst
recession, but bad recession.
And you know, now learning todeal with tariffs.
You know there's always a newchallenge that's vexing to CFOs
(16:31):
and you know, with tariffs inthe United States at least, you
have to go back to Jimmy Carter,who was our president from 77
to 80, to you know to learnabout tariffs because we
basically have been eliminatingthem for four decades.
And you know I don't know verymany CFOs who are CFOs in the
late 1970s that I can call to asa resource, right, yeah.
(16:54):
So you know they've got tofigure it out on their own, and
these do impact people.
So you know it's great becauseit's always challenging and
changing.
I'm not sure if I'm remotelyanswering your question or just
babbling incoherently.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Sounds good to me.
Little above yeah, call him A,call him B.
No, it works, that's good.
You spoke a little bit about AIand how that's not replacing
common sense and that intuitionthat you have that gut feeling,
common sense and that, that thatintuition, that you have that
gut feeling how much AI are youeither?
(17:27):
Are you hearing in yourcommunity that other CFOs are
implementing?
How are people implementing it?
What should people try to be?
This is a loaded question.
What should, what should peoplebe, you know, using AI for
within their, their day-to-dayrole, and what should they just
really stick?
Shouldn't get AI anywhere nearit.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, you know it's a complex question and for CFOs
it's harder than for otherpeople, other executives.
Excuse me for a couple ofreasons, and partly it's
cybersecurity, data privacy typeissues, right, if you work in
marketing and I've worked inmarketing, so I'm not slamming
the profession but privacy isnot paramount, right, the way it
(18:15):
is for a financial person or anHR person.
And, in point of fact, somepeople would make the argument
that marketing people shouldintentionally leak their private
plans because it creates a buzztype of stuff.
And you might know, famouslyearly in Microsoft's history it
allowed people to pirate theirtechnology because it made it
(18:36):
ubiquitous.
There was a product that alittle before your time called
Lotus 1-2-3.
It was the first spreadsheetand for quite a bit of time it
was better than Microsoft Excel.
It had like a two or three yearhead start.
But Lotus protected itsspreadsheet, microsoft did not.
So all of a sudden everybodyhad Microsoft Excel on their
computer because they didn't tryto prevent anyone from stealing
(18:58):
it and sort of the ethicsaround it weren't like they are
today and it was a brilliantmove and marketing sort of has
that mindset.
Let's just get the informationout there.
They they're not flipping aboutit.
But they recognize.
Hey, you know, if we've got anew product feature coming out,
that's a real game changer.
Probably no harm in releasingit six months early.
Our competition can't steal itand beat us to the market.
(19:20):
So why not?
Right?
Cfos can't think that way.
Right, they've always got to bethinking about data privacy.
Hey, we have our company'scredit cards.
We have highly confidentialfinancial information that we
can't allow to leak before thenext year's earnings release,
next quarter's earnings release,et cetera, et cetera.
So that's slowing down theadoption, rightly so, and
(19:40):
whatnot.
But that said and I'm verypro-AI if I'm coming across as
otherwise, but somebody sharedwith me what I think is a
brilliant quote, because I askedwill AI ever be able to replace
CFOs ever?
And the person he runs StanfordCenter for Ethical AI, stanford
(20:08):
Center for Ethical AI and hesaid absolutely not.
However, cfos who embrace AIwill replace CFOs who do not
embrace AI.
It's a critical tool.
It's probably the mostimportant tool in the toolkit,
so embrace it.
It's not for analytics.
It's going to give yourorganization a genuine
competitive advantage and youneed to embrace that.
But as a CFO, you need to do itin a responsible way.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So that's so good.
Yeah, it's not going anywhere.
It's here to stay.
It's just how.
How are you going to implementit for your best use case?
But it's people who aren'tusing it.
They, yeah, like you said, theywill be left behind.
They, they're already gettingleft behind.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yeah, it's, I've seen it a little bit and I have a
friend.
He's a barber and you wouldthink that would be maybe the
least tech savvy operation buthe actually he, he owns I think
he might own like five barbershops now but he's using it, uh,
gen AI and his marketingstrategy and his staffing
strategy and you know he's, whenhe opens up a new shop he uses
(21:09):
it to explore, you know, thebest places to go and you know
he he noticed that there are,you know, a lot of mothers are
bringing their sons into theshop.
Does it make sense to make thisa fun experience for the mom,
not just waiting type of stuffyou know can?
Does it make sense to make thisa fun experience for the mom,
not just waiting type of stuffyou know?
Does it make sense to, you know, offer services that moms would
want, type of stuff?
So you know, barbershop simplejob, right, you know, once you
(21:35):
know how to cut hair pretty well, you can probably be a pretty
successful barber.
But he's embracing AI and he'sbuilding sort of a local dynasty
.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
It's really cool, yeah there's.
It moves so quick there.
There's so much to be to try tokeep up with it.
It's, it's, it almost is afull-time job, but there's a lot
of really exciting stuff thatcan be can be done with it.
We got a couple things in thepipeline that I'm excited about
that we're hopefully releasingpretty soon.
So I'm not gonna spill thebeans on on the the marketing
(22:05):
release just right now um jack.
Last question for you what'sthe best piece of advice you've
ever received?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
professionally or in general.
Let's go both, okay.
Um, I'd say geez.
Professionally, I would say thebest advice is sort of to be
true to yourself and because Ihave a little bit of a you've
(22:39):
probably sensed it just fromthis conversation For a finance
and accounting professional, Ihave a little bit of a oversized
personality.
You know I've got a uniquesense of humor, let me put it
that way and you know I was toldthat's a strength, it's not a
weakness.
Embrace it.
You know, work for companieswhere the culture is such that
(23:00):
they would actually value afunny chief financial officer, a
funny leader.
It's disarming, it makes peoplelike you.
Don't do it in a way thatyou're clownish, but, you know,
just embrace your true self.
Other thing is a boss of minetold me it was actually pretty
good advice and you know I wasworking for him.
So when he told me at first Iwas like what the why is he
telling me this?
But he told me to rewrite myresume every three months.
(23:23):
I'm like is he suggesting thatthere's going to be a layoff and
he wants me to be ahead of thecurve?
But his point was do it everythree months and if you can't
come up with something new.
That means you haven't learnedanything.
So use the next three months tolearn something.
And you know, maybe threemonths isn't the right thing,
but you know, I was like 26, 27,so I needed to be always
(23:46):
learning and growingprofessionally.
So you know, just, it's apretty simple exercise.
You know, look at your resumeevery three months, job hunting
or not.
What did I learn in the last 90days that that matters?
That's going to help me growand become a better professional
.
So those are the things.
And then, uh, the last one isjust, um, it's common sense.
You, you know, maybe learned itfrom your parents, but just be
(24:08):
nice to everybody.
And it does tie into yourcareer.
Um, and a friend of mine, she'sa, a CFO.
She shared this story with me.
She works I won't say who sheis because she'll kill me, but
she works in a state that doesnot have a lot of IPOs.
So you've eliminated Austin,texas, southern Silicon Valley
(24:28):
and Boston and New York, but sheworks in a good Midwest state.
She was the CFO for the onlycompany that went public the
year that her company wentpublic and it was a great
success story, a great source ofpride, for you know the state
that she lives in and it was herfirst CFO job and she took the
company public within a year andso she was.
(24:50):
She asked the boss after awhile because she realized every
CFO in the state by the way,she's pretty young at the time,
she's 34'm going to say I didn'tknow her at the time but she
eventually.
She asked the boss why did youpick me?
You know, when every CFO in thestate and a lot out of the
state wanted this job, you couldhave had your pick of CFOs.
And he said oh, is yourreference?
(25:11):
I said I know somebody you knowand I called and asked and they
gave you a good reference.
And she said oh, who was that?
And this isn't the real name,but mike downey.
And mike downey was a mentallychallenged person who worked
with her.
She worked at um, one of thebig eight accounting firms, the
big four accounting firms and hegrew up with the ceo of the
(25:35):
company, grew up next door tomike downey, saw that she worked
at the same company where heworked in the library and he
called his old friend and saidyou know, what can you tell me
about Maureen?
And said oh, she's great,everybody likes her.
She's one of the nicest peoplethat I've ever worked with.
That that put her over the top,so you know.
So be nice, because who doesn'twant to be nice?
(25:58):
Right?
And I don't believe in calm oranything like that, but when
you're nice to people, they'regoing to say nice things about
you and it's always going to paydividends.
It's going to help you buildthat world-class team because
people are going to want to workfor you.
Investors are going to want toput money into companies that
you work in Custom going to putmoney into companies that you
(26:22):
work in.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Customers are going to believe you.
So just be nice and decent topeople.
It pays dividends, much betterthan anything else I can share
with you.
That's incredible.
Thank you so much for sharingall of that, jack.
So much knowledge andespecially the advice at the end
Three amazing points.
I can't thank you enough forcoming on and sharing your time.
I hope you enjoyed it.
I hope the listeners enjoyedwhat's the best way for people
to get in touch with you ifthey're looking to join the
(26:43):
community?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Sure, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn.
It's Jack McCullough, cfo.
I'm the bald guy for those whoaren't watching the video of it,
and if you reach out to methere, you can certainly text me
.
My phone number is 617-678-0957.
You can email me too,jackatcfolccom.
(27:05):
I am, for whatever reason, I'mpretty quick to respond to a
text and reasonably quick torespond to email.
Well, you reached out to methrough LinkedIn.
I think I responded within fiveminutes.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, yeah, perfect, awesome Jack.
We'll make sure those links andnumbers and emails and all the
ways to get in touch there inthe show notes.
I strongly encourage thelisteners to get in touch with
Jack, check out his community.
You guys are doing some amazingthings and again, I can't thank
you enough for taking the timeto come on the show.
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
(27:36):
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
(27:57):
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
(28:19):
Until then, keep pushingforward your growth is just one
strategic move away.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract morehigh-paying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(28:48):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
Today's guest is on a mission to redefine what it
means to be a CFO.
Jack McCullough is the founderof the CFO Leadership Council
and host of the podcast Secretsof Rockstar CFOs.
He's worked with thousands offinance leaders, helping them
evolve from number crunchers tostrategic powerhouses.
In this episode, we explorewhat separates good CFOs from
(00:22):
great ones and how today'sfinancial leaders can prepare
for the future of the role.
Let's get into it.
We have an amazing guestjoining us today who actually
has one of the top 10% podcastsgoing on in the world right now,
which is super exciting, sohopefully I can learn a thing or
two from him.
Before diving into the episode,I do want to give a massive
shout out to the team over atUniversal Accounting.
(00:44):
Thank you so much forsponsoring the show.
Anyone who's looking to buildthe premier accounting firm,
make sure you check outUniversal Accounting and Roger
Connect.
They got a ton of greatresources.
They're awesome what they do.
We'll drop some information inthe show notes To our guest,
Jack McCullough.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show today.
I cannot wait to get into yourstory and learn a little bit
(01:05):
more about your podcast and whatyou're doing on your side.
Thanks for joining.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
No, glad to do it.
When you said you had anawesome guest and that I was in
the top descent of podcasters, Ithought you were confusing me
with somebody else, but it'sgreat to me.
You know that for a fact.
My podcast is within the top10% that's.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's what my my research shows online.
Yeah secrets.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I literally did not know that, so good for me
rockstar CFOs top 10% well,thanks, I'm glad to be here and
I appreciate your reaching outand, you know, allowing.
I've been looking forward tothe conversation for a few weeks
now awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, jack, tell me a little bit about you know
you've had a remarkable journey,you, you know.
Founder, author, you're hostinga podcast now I would love to
dive into in your, yourexperience, what makes a great
CFO.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It's.
You're perhaps familiar withthe expression horses for
courses.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And I haven't heard that before horses for courses.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I haven't heard that before.
Oh, the idea.
It's, in horse racing, likethere are some horses that you
know they're good at longdistance running.
There are other horses that arereally good at the sprint.
There are some that performwell on a muddy track.
There's some that need adifferent class.
So you know there's not a onesize fits all model for what's a
great CFO, but there arecertainly some qualities that
are consistent across companysizes and regions and whatnot.
(02:30):
But you know, if I were to focuson the most important thing, in
fact it's a presentation I giveand it's easy to remember for
your listeners it's uh, create,and it stands for collaboration,
resiliency, empathy, agility,transparency and empowerment.
(02:53):
And where that came from?
I reached out to a lot ofpeople who are not cfos and I
asked them what are you lookingfor in CFOs?
And it wasn't like goodfinancial skills, it wasn't good
technology skills, it was thoseleadership and personality
traits which surprised me.
And, by the way, it was anopen-ended question, so it's not
(03:16):
like a pull-down or multiplechoice type of thing.
They could write whatever theywanted and literally not one
person said financial aptitude.
And these were like good people.
They were venture capitalists,pe investors, people who are on
public company boards, ceos,other members of the C-suite and
they were really wanting theleadership and the communication
and the transparency more thananything else.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Did those answers surprise you?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Did those answers surprise you?
I was.
They didn't shock me.
Okay, right, because I wassurprised that not one person
said finance or an understandingof the digital realities facing
.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, that might be a better way to ask it.
I guess Were you surprised that, yeah, that that didn't come up
.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, like if I were to ask people what are the five
most, I would have known forsure that many of those would
come up.
But I asked people for you knowwhat's the most important?
And I mean, you know, somepeople did give two or three,
but yeah, it did surprise me alittle bit.
And then, you know, I had tomanipulate it because they
actually talked more about teambuilding, but that would be
creat, but that would be create.
(04:26):
So I was trying to come up witha word that that ended in that
started with e, that it meantteamwork, so hence empowerment.
I kind of crammed that one inthere to make the create
framework.
So, but it's an easy way toremember it.
You know, when you're thinkingabout what do I do create?
Okay, what do they stand for?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
boom yeah, that's great.
Um, and just for for everyone,for anyone who's not watching
and just listening, I need toaddress the Incredibles action
figure behind you on yourbookshelf.
That is just.
I mean no pun intended.
That is incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, you know, a free Jack McCullough bobblehead
doll for all of your listeners,right, that's perfect?
No, I feel like when peoplenotice it, you know two things.
First of all, for those whocan't see it, it is literally a
bobblehead doll of me.
I did not buy this for myself.
My ego is not quite that out ofcontrol.
In my last job, when I left,this was a going away gift.
(05:16):
And also, you know, the headdoes look quite a bit like me,
although I'm 10 years older, butlook at the abs.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, that must be spot on though.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh yeah, exactly.
I don't even know how they gota picture of my abs.
I didn't know that this was oneof the Incredibles, I think, so
I wasn't familiar with them.
I actually put that up duringCOVID when we all started using
Zoom.
I picked it up and peoplestarted commenting.
I said, wow, that's thegreatest conversation I could
(05:49):
ever have.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
No, that's great, that's really cool.
I would love to hear a littlebit more about the community you
built with the CFO LeadershipCouncil.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Sure, and a little about us.
I started the group.
I myself was the CFO and I justreally wanted a network of my
peers and I didn't have much ofa vision for it.
To be honest, I was thinking wecan get 25 CFOs to get together
, you know, four, six, eighttimes a year, whatever it is
just to, you know, commiserate alittle bit, maybe bring an
(06:21):
outside sponsor.
It wasn't that much more thanthat.
I just wanted to learn from mypeers and it was one of those
things.
I guess I touched a nervebecause, without really trying
the very first program we hadhad 60 CFOs come and then, you
know, it sort of accidentallygrew.
One of my members moved to NewYork and we launched a chapter
there and then we did it inPhiladelphia and they were all
(06:43):
pretty successful, and at thatpoint in my career I was
actually working at KPMG anddoing business development and
great company liked the job, youknow, good money, and so I had
to make the decision, thoughthis was something I was
becoming very passionate about,and so the classic decision of
love of money and idiot that Iam, I pick love.
(07:04):
So I've been doing it 10 yearsand we've grown to about 2,600
members.
We have members on everycontinent, not Antarctica, but
every continent that's inhabited.
And you know, it's just beenthe ride of my life.
You know, and I tell peoplelike a lot of times people join
for the content and we do havereally good content, but they
stay for the community.
(07:26):
You know the relationships thathave been formed over the years
between CFOs.
You know, I've actually looked.
I can't find anything like itamongst professionals like this.
It's like we have an annualconference and it's covered by
the you know CFO press, like CFOBrew, cfo Dive, et cetera.
And CFO brew had a great quoteabout our conference.
They said we set the worldrecord for hugs at a financial
(07:49):
conference.
But it's such a tight knitcommunity that people look out
for each other.
It's, it's just amazing what Isort of accidentally built here.
So, along with a lot of otherpeople, I don't want to take
credit here.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So yeah, that's.
That's incredible.
What gets you the most fired upabout what you have created or
getting together with yourcommunity?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I think what I like most is the opportunity to
really work with the nextgeneration of financial leaders.
I'm 102 years old myself, asyou could probably guess from
looking at me.
Actually I'm 61.
But my first CFO job cameduring the dot-com era and you
(08:31):
know I don't want to say Ididn't deserve the job, because
you know I think I wassuccessful in it.
But it was lucky that I wasborn, when I was, that a lot of
people were getting CFO jobs anda great experience and a great
run at a relatively early pointin their career.
And so right now I recognizeyep, me and a lot of people like
me.
We did a good job with it.
(08:52):
But let's keep this going alittle bit.
Let's make sure that the nextgeneration of leaders has the
opportunities and, moreimportantly, has the skills and
the contacts to take advantageof those opportunities when they
come, so that they can besuccessful.
And that's what really excitesme a lot, when I can reach out
to somebody who's, say, a VP offinance or controller and they
(09:14):
have everything to get that CFOrole and I can help them get the
role, whether it's positioningthemselves, just thinking about
a different way to solveproblems, how to build
relationships with CEOs, thatsort of thing thing.
That's what I love most aboutmy job the chance to impact.
Well, they're like your age,but, um, you know, younger
professionals.
I don't mean that patronizingly, but no, no, you know you're
(09:35):
good.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's really cool.
Um, you've interviewed dozensof of standout CFOs.
You get to engage with them inyour community all the time.
What are some of the key traitsof their mindset that set them
apart from others?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, and you know the roles change dramatically.
Like I, I often speculate, youknow, could I be a CFO today?
And you know I, I, perhaps Iwould, you know I'd have to
change how I approached it andwhatnot.
But the best CFOs, you know,they think like CEOs to a large
extent.
They talk about they've beentalking about for a while how
(10:13):
critical the strategicpartnership they have with the
CEO is.
But what's happened in the lastcouple of years is CEOs now are
reciprocating it.
That you know.
They used to say, well, maybethe VP of engineering or the VP
of sales was the most importantrelationship that they had.
Now they're saying no, the CFOis the most important strategic
partner that they have within acompany.
(10:35):
That's a big change.
And so I've coined the phrasethat CFOs are almost the deputy
CEO, that the CFO role is theclosest one to a CEO within the
company, except for those 10%that have like a COO type of
role.
It's an important position butit's largely vanishing because
CFOs are taking on a lot ofthose responsibilities.
(10:56):
So I think it's more theleadership and the partnership
with the CEO and across theentire C-suite that sort of
separates the one, the strategicleader, from the historian.
You know I got my first CFO jobpromoted from a controller
Still a great way to do it.
You know the controllership isa great farm system for the CFO
role.
But you know it's limiting.
(11:19):
If you approach the CFO role asa controller, you've got to
approach the CFO role as a CEOInteresting that's so valuable.
I came across as though I'mreally confident, don't I?
But I was kind of a mediocreCFO so maybe I should shut my
mouth and listen to other people.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You're probably being extremely, extremely humble
with this for everything thatyou've built.
I'm curious, curious, jack,your your podcast we spoke about
it earlier secrets of rockstarcfos.
It's doing amazing, one of thetop 10, or top 10 it's in the
top 10 of podcasts in the world,which is really cool.
What are some of the thelessons or conversations that
(11:58):
you've been the most surprisedby with with the guests of your
show?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
you know, um, not a lot has shocked me.
Um, okay, you know I'm probablya little bit difficult to shock
a little bit, but again, youknow the comments I made about
the strategic partnership.
Um, I'd say a main thing that'scomes up a lot is the great
cfos, for, for one thing, theythere's that humility gene.
(12:25):
I never had it.
But you know they can't seem totake credit for anything
they've done.
You know I praise them for theorganizations they've built and
you know they're thanking theircontrollers, they're thanking
the HR people, they're thankingthe board of directors.
You know I half expect some ofthem to thank their third grade
teachers or something like that.
Directors, you know I halfexpect some of them to thank
their third grade teachers orsomething like that.
So the humility is really good.
(12:46):
But the other thing is like onmine, I do tend to ask I don't
want to say personal questions,but you know I'll ask questions
about, you know, their earlylife and you know work, life
balance and you know justpersonal struggles they may have
gone through if they're willingto talk about it and it's.
I've been shocked a little bitabout how vulnerable the CFOs
are willing to make themselvesduring these conversations,
(13:07):
because you know that's it's nota gender thing, it's a CFO
thing.
You know they, it's not easyfor them to make themselves
vulnerable.
I don't think they're, you know, a tower of strength within
their professional lives and buta lot of them, you know, they
do make themselves vulnerable.
(13:27):
There have been, like there'vebeen a couple of instances.
You know I've actually had topause the recording because both
of us are like near tearstalking about our kids.
I'm the father of two autisticadult sons and we just went off
a little bit on, you know, thechallenges of being a special
needs parent.
So you know, it's um, eventhough I have a lot of friends
who are CFOs, I was a littlesurprised that people that I
didn't really know before theprocess were willing to be so
(13:50):
candid about their, theiremotional sides, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
That speaks volumes to to the conversations you're
having and the guests you'rebringing on the shows, that you
guys can get that vulnerable andopen up that much.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
That's really cool to hear it is a reflection on them
, not me, right?
So?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
take, it takes two, takes two to tango.
Um, I want to speak a littlebit about the, the tough
decisions that fall on cfos when, when the pressure is on and
data is limited, how, how do thebest CFOs lead decisively?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, you know it's interesting because you
mentioned data limited, becausethat I didn't really know it at
the time.
But that's kind of the world Igrew up in.
You know, I didn't appreciateit until we lived in the world
where there's, you know,seemingly unlimited data.
Live in the world where there's, you know, seemingly unlimited
data.
(14:47):
But you know, data and AI typetools they're not going to
replace human judgment.
Common sense, intuition theyenhance it.
Right.
When I see people that they'rejust data driven, that's great
in some roles, but you know,sometimes you sort of need that,
that human element in decisionmaking.
Never let go of that.
You know, at least right nowand I don't have a crystal ball
(15:08):
maybe in 10 years Gen AI willactually be able to replace
common sense with people andintuition with people.
But right now it's acombination of data analysis and
just common sense.
You know, listen to the man orwoman inside, whatever it might
be.
Intuition, taking advantage of,you know, if you're a CFO with
25 years experience, callingupon what you've learned during
(15:29):
those 25 years and support itwithin data.
They go hand in hand.
But yeah, they are, you know,faced with difficult decisions.
You know I don't want to say itwas easy to be a CFO, because
that's unfair.
But in the 10 years beforeCOVID you had basically a very
(15:50):
strong economy.
The cost of capital washistorically low.
You had the advantage of themost well-educated workforce in
the world.
Globalization was expanding, sothere were increasing
opportunities.
It was a glorious time to be acfo because there's so many
opportunities.
But with covid, and thenseemingly every few months, some
(16:10):
kind of crisis comes up.
You know whether it be supplychain shortfalls or you know,
talent shortages, uh, risinginterest rates.
You know the the worstrecession we yeah, it's probably
not the worst recession, butbad recession, um, and you know
now the worst recession yeah,it's probably not the worst
recession, but bad recession.
And you know, now learning todeal with tariffs.
You know there's always a newchallenge that's vexing to CFOs
(16:31):
and you know, with tariffs inthe United States at least, you
have to go back to Jimmy Carter,who was our president from 77
to 80, to you know to learnabout tariffs because we
basically have been eliminatingthem for four decades.
And you know I don't know verymany CFOs who are CFOs in the
late 1970s that I can call to asa resource, right, yeah.
(16:54):
So you know they've got tofigure it out on their own, and
these do impact people.
So you know it's great becauseit's always challenging and
changing.
I'm not sure if I'm remotelyanswering your question or just
babbling incoherently.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Sounds good to me.
Little above yeah, call him A,call him B.
No, it works, that's good.
You spoke a little bit about AIand how that's not replacing
common sense and that intuitionthat you have that gut feeling,
common sense and that, that thatintuition, that you have that
gut feeling how much AI are youeither?
(17:27):
Are you hearing in yourcommunity that other CFOs are
implementing?
How are people implementing it?
What should people try to be?
This is a loaded question.
What should, what should peoplebe, you know, using AI for
within their, their day-to-dayrole, and what should they just
really stick?
Shouldn't get AI anywhere nearit.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, you know it's a complex question and for CFOs
it's harder than for otherpeople, other executives.
Excuse me for a couple ofreasons, and partly it's
cybersecurity, data privacy typeissues, right, if you work in
marketing and I've worked inmarketing, so I'm not slamming
the profession but privacy isnot paramount, right, the way it
(18:15):
is for a financial person or anHR person.
And, in point of fact, somepeople would make the argument
that marketing people shouldintentionally leak their private
plans because it creates a buzztype of stuff.
And you might know, famouslyearly in Microsoft's history it
allowed people to pirate theirtechnology because it made it
(18:36):
ubiquitous.
There was a product that alittle before your time called
Lotus 1-2-3.
It was the first spreadsheetand for quite a bit of time it
was better than Microsoft Excel.
It had like a two or three yearhead start.
But Lotus protected itsspreadsheet, microsoft did not.
So all of a sudden everybodyhad Microsoft Excel on their
computer because they didn't tryto prevent anyone from stealing
(18:58):
it and sort of the ethicsaround it weren't like they are
today and it was a brilliantmove and marketing sort of has
that mindset.
Let's just get the informationout there.
They they're not flipping aboutit.
But they recognize.
Hey, you know, if we've got anew product feature coming out,
that's a real game changer.
Probably no harm in releasingit six months early.
Our competition can't steal itand beat us to the market.
(19:20):
So why not?
Right?
Cfos can't think that way.
Right, they've always got to bethinking about data privacy.
Hey, we have our company'scredit cards.
We have highly confidentialfinancial information that we
can't allow to leak before thenext year's earnings release,
next quarter's earnings release,et cetera, et cetera.
So that's slowing down theadoption, rightly so, and
(19:40):
whatnot.
But that said and I'm verypro-AI if I'm coming across as
otherwise, but somebody sharedwith me what I think is a
brilliant quote, because I askedwill AI ever be able to replace
CFOs ever?
And the person he runs StanfordCenter for Ethical AI, stanford
(20:08):
Center for Ethical AI and hesaid absolutely not.
However, cfos who embrace AIwill replace CFOs who do not
embrace AI.
It's a critical tool.
It's probably the mostimportant tool in the toolkit,
so embrace it.
It's not for analytics.
It's going to give yourorganization a genuine
competitive advantage and youneed to embrace that.
But as a CFO, you need to do itin a responsible way.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
So that's so good.
Yeah, it's not going anywhere.
It's here to stay.
It's just how.
How are you going to implementit for your best use case?
But it's people who aren'tusing it.
They, yeah, like you said, theywill be left behind.
They, they're already gettingleft behind.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yeah, it's, I've seen it a little bit and I have a
friend.
He's a barber and you wouldthink that would be maybe the
least tech savvy operation buthe actually he, he owns I think
he might own like five barbershops now but he's using it, uh,
gen AI and his marketingstrategy and his staffing
strategy and you know he's, whenhe opens up a new shop he uses
(21:09):
it to explore, you know, thebest places to go and you know
he he noticed that there are,you know, a lot of mothers are
bringing their sons into theshop.
Does it make sense to make thisa fun experience for the mom,
not just waiting type of stuffyou know can?
Does it make sense to make thisa fun experience for the mom,
not just waiting type of stuffyou know?
Does it make sense to, you know, offer services that moms would
want, type of stuff?
So you know, barbershop simplejob, right, you know, once you
(21:35):
know how to cut hair pretty well, you can probably be a pretty
successful barber.
But he's embracing AI and he'sbuilding sort of a local dynasty
.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
It's really cool, yeah there's.
It moves so quick there.
There's so much to be to try tokeep up with it.
It's, it's, it almost is afull-time job, but there's a lot
of really exciting stuff thatcan be can be done with it.
We got a couple things in thepipeline that I'm excited about
that we're hopefully releasingpretty soon.
So I'm not gonna spill thebeans on on the the marketing
(22:05):
release just right now um jack.
Last question for you what'sthe best piece of advice you've
ever received?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
professionally or in general.
Let's go both, okay.
Um, I'd say geez.
Professionally, I would say thebest advice is sort of to be
true to yourself and because Ihave a little bit of a you've
(22:39):
probably sensed it just fromthis conversation For a finance
and accounting professional, Ihave a little bit of a oversized
personality.
You know I've got a uniquesense of humor, let me put it
that way and you know I was toldthat's a strength, it's not a
weakness.
Embrace it.
You know, work for companieswhere the culture is such that
(23:00):
they would actually value afunny chief financial officer, a
funny leader.
It's disarming, it makes peoplelike you.
Don't do it in a way thatyou're clownish, but, you know,
just embrace your true self.
Other thing is a boss of minetold me it was actually pretty
good advice and you know I wasworking for him.
So when he told me at first Iwas like what the why is he
telling me this?
But he told me to rewrite myresume every three months.
(23:23):
I'm like is he suggesting thatthere's going to be a layoff and
he wants me to be ahead of thecurve?
But his point was do it everythree months and if you can't
come up with something new.
That means you haven't learnedanything.
So use the next three months tolearn something.
And you know, maybe threemonths isn't the right thing,
but you know, I was like 26, 27,so I needed to be always
(23:46):
learning and growingprofessionally.
So you know, just, it's apretty simple exercise.
You know, look at your resumeevery three months, job hunting
or not.
What did I learn in the last 90days that that matters?
That's going to help me growand become a better professional
.
So those are the things.
And then, uh, the last one isjust, um, it's common sense.
You, you know, maybe learned itfrom your parents, but just be
(24:08):
nice to everybody.
And it does tie into yourcareer.
Um, and a friend of mine, she'sa, a CFO.
She shared this story with me.
She works I won't say who sheis because she'll kill me, but
she works in a state that doesnot have a lot of IPOs.
So you've eliminated Austin,texas, southern Silicon Valley
(24:28):
and Boston and New York, but sheworks in a good Midwest state.
She was the CFO for the onlycompany that went public the
year that her company wentpublic and it was a great
success story, a great source ofpride, for you know the state
that she lives in and it was herfirst CFO job and she took the
company public within a year andso she was.
(24:50):
She asked the boss after awhile because she realized every
CFO in the state by the way,she's pretty young at the time,
she's 34'm going to say I didn'tknow her at the time but she
eventually.
She asked the boss why did youpick me?
You know, when every CFO in thestate and a lot out of the
state wanted this job, you couldhave had your pick of CFOs.
And he said oh, is yourreference?
(25:11):
I said I know somebody you knowand I called and asked and they
gave you a good reference.
And she said oh, who was that?
And this isn't the real name,but mike downey.
And mike downey was a mentallychallenged person who worked
with her.
She worked at um, one of thebig eight accounting firms, the
big four accounting firms and hegrew up with the ceo of the
(25:35):
company, grew up next door tomike downey, saw that she worked
at the same company where heworked in the library and he
called his old friend and saidyou know, what can you tell me
about Maureen?
And said oh, she's great,everybody likes her.
She's one of the nicest peoplethat I've ever worked with.
That that put her over the top,so you know.
So be nice, because who doesn'twant to be nice?
(25:58):
Right?
And I don't believe in calm oranything like that, but when
you're nice to people, they'regoing to say nice things about
you and it's always going to paydividends.
It's going to help you buildthat world-class team because
people are going to want to workfor you.
Investors are going to want toput money into companies that
you work in Custom going to putmoney into companies that you
(26:22):
work in.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Customers are going to believe you.
So just be nice and decent topeople.
It pays dividends, much betterthan anything else I can share
with you.
That's incredible.
Thank you so much for sharingall of that, jack.
So much knowledge andespecially the advice at the end
Three amazing points.
I can't thank you enough forcoming on and sharing your time.
I hope you enjoyed it.
I hope the listeners enjoyedwhat's the best way for people
to get in touch with you ifthey're looking to join the
(26:43):
community?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Sure, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn.
It's Jack McCullough, cfo.
I'm the bald guy for those whoaren't watching the video of it,
and if you reach out to methere, you can certainly text me
.
My phone number is 617-678-0957.
You can email me too,jackatcfolccom.
(27:05):
I am, for whatever reason, I'mpretty quick to respond to a
text and reasonably quick torespond to email.
Well, you reached out to methrough LinkedIn.
I think I responded within fiveminutes.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, yeah, perfect, awesome Jack.
We'll make sure those links andnumbers and emails and all the
ways to get in touch there inthe show notes.
I strongly encourage thelisteners to get in touch with
Jack, check out his community.
You guys are doing some amazingthings and again, I can't thank
you enough for taking the timeto come on the show.
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
(27:36):
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
(27:57):
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
(28:19):
Until then, keep pushingforward your growth is just one
strategic move away.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract morehigh-paying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(28:48):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
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