Change Is Not Just Inevitable—It's Your Competitive Edge

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Bonus Episode #94: Change isn't just knocking at your door—it's already in your house, rearranging the furniture. As finance leaders, our ability to navigate and drive transformation determines whether our organizations thrive or merely survive in today's dynamic business landscape.

The most dangerous position for any finance professional is complacency. That comfortable position you've worked so hard to reach? It could disappear tomorrow if you're not constantly evolving your skills and mindset. Your competition isn't resting, and neither should you. As Amelia Earhart wisely noted, "The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity." This wisdom applies perfectly to how we must approach change—with decisive action and unwavering persistence.

Leading change requires addressing two critical fronts simultaneously: your personal career development and your organization's adaptability. On the personal side, continuous learning is non-negotiable as our profession transforms through technological advancements like AI and regulatory shifts. For your organization, proactive change leadership means conducting regular team-based SWOT analyses, challenging assumptions, updating processes, and ensuring your technology remains current. The CFO plays a pivotal role by allocating resources that signal commitment to transformation initiatives while maintaining transparency with teams to build trust during periods of change.

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Episode Transcript

Stephen McLain (00:00):
Hi. This is Stephen McLain of the finance
leader podcast. This is bonusepisode number 94 welcome
finance leaders to the podcast.
Last week, I finished up mysummer series on auditing. If
you are interested in becomingan auditor or want to take on a
role in auditing as part of yourcareer journey, please check out
the series. My last episode wasabout forensic accounting, which

(00:21):
is a very specialized branch ofaccounting tasked with
investigating suspectedfinancial wrongdoing. It seems
like such a fun job, especiallyif you like to dig into data and
connect the dots on financialrelationships. I want to share
with you this week a replay ofepisode number 130 embracing

(00:42):
change and driving success forfinance leaders, the business
environment and the globaleconomy are in constant change.
So that means that we as leadersmust also be leading change
every single day, when youbecome static in your thinking
and in your leadership is whenyou fall behind. My next full

(01:03):
season will begin in a fewweeks. I'm excited to share some
interesting episodes gearedtowards helping you at work and
in leading your team. Pleaseenjoy this encore episode and
have a great rest of your week.
Thank you.

(01:25):
The business environment and theglobal economy are in constant
change. So that means that we asleaders must also be leading for
change, not be ready for change,but to be proactive in change,
to stay ahead of ourcompetition, we must add the
leading change to our list ofessential duties, so that our

(01:46):
organization and our team doesnot become static when we don't
actively change, we becomeunable to adapt to the market
and our industry specifics, thenour organization is at risk of
becoming obsolete. This meansthat finance leaders must build
change into our culture, anddon't forget about your own

(02:06):
career. You need to be ready byupdating your skills and
abilities. Don't get complacent.
Please enjoy the episode.
Welcome to the finance leaderpodcast where leadership is
bigger than the numbers. I'myour host. Stephen McLain, this
is the podcast for developingleaders in finance and
accounting. Please considerfollowing me on Twitter,

(02:26):
Facebook, Instagram andLinkedIn. My usernames and the
links are in this episode's shownotes. You can also follow
finance leader Academy onLinkedIn. Thank you. This is
episode number 130 and I'll betalking about leading change,
and I will highlight thefollowing topics. Number one,
why leading proactive change iscrucial. Number two, to be

(02:49):
competitive, you mustcontinually be adapting,
innovating and inventing. Andnumber three, how the CFO can
inspire and lead change.
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhartsaid, The most difficult thing
is the decision to act. The restis merely tenacity. The fears
are paper tigers. You can doanything you decide to do, be

(03:11):
ready for change in 2025 here inthe United States, we have a new
presidential administrationwhich will be starkly different
from the previous one. Policieswill be different, which will
permeate every facet of life andbusiness. If you have not done
the analysis on your businessoperations, you need to start

(03:32):
today. We have always heard thatchange is inevitable, but what
do we do about it? We love to bein our comfort zone. We love to
believe that once we reach acertain level in our career and
in our business, we will remainthere without much effort. And
that assumption is wrong. Weneed to stay ahead of change,

(03:52):
because you can never assumethat you will have a job
tomorrow, and that includes yourbusiness if you don't update
your skills and knowledge, don'tstop learning and don't get too
comfortable in any one role.
Fight for your position everyday, because your competition is
not letting up. Your competitionwill be coming for you. Bet on

(04:14):
it. Last week in Episode 129empower your career by building
more confidence. I talked aboutmoving beyond your comfort zone
by developing confidence. Whenyou have more confidence in your
abilities, you are more likelyto take more risk in your
career, which can translate intomore opportunities and
promotions. If you do not listento that episode, please do so,

(04:37):
because I think it could reallyhelp you. We need to address the
two areas of remainingcompetitive. The first is your
own career advancement, and thenthe second is your organization.
You have to grow careerpotential, and then as a leader,
you must ensure your companydoes not get stagnant in the
market. Your skills and mindsetmust continually evolve to
maximize your potential forcareer progression. If. Remain

(05:00):
static in your skills andmindset, you will be left
behind. I do not likecomplacency on any level. Even
if you are the CEO, you need tore look your skills, because one
significant change can make youobsolete. Are you staying ahead
of change, particularly intechnology, and are you able to
take the right level of riskbecoming too risk averse brings

(05:22):
stagnation and complacency. Toomany senior professionals who
trailblazed Because they werewilling to take on more risk
suddenly get scared once theyreach the pinnacle of their
career, you must embrace thechanges that will shape our
profession, which includes theuse of artificial intelligence.
And another example is therecent decision to no longer

(05:43):
require 150 credit hours foraccounting students. We have to
adapt and move on to ready ourorganizations for change and
ready our teams for when changehappens. Our profession is ever
changing. So the skills requiredto lead in a complex environment
are also changing. You lead yourteam and organization to change,

(06:03):
unless you create a product thathas no competition, your
organization must continuallyadapt, innovate and invent.
Leading Change is a constantendeavor, so leaders need to be
evaluating markets, volatility,relevant political changes,
technology changes, and anythingrelated to their market do your
SWOT analysis often and withoutbias, so you can be ready. And

(06:26):
when you do a SWOT analysis,make it a team exercise, so you
can see different perspectiveswhen evaluating change is not
the time to squelch dissent. Youwant to hear the bad news too,
and hear it early. When you havemarket intelligence early, you
can make a better decision andmake it without duress. Change
can be intimidating. So often wewant stability, but once you

(06:49):
settle for stability, you mayget left behind. Progressing
means growing, and it means younever accept the status quo.
Well, can I catch my breath?
Sure you can. You need to have aself care plan and take a
vacation to rest. In fact, it isessential so you stay strong and
ready for change. The mostsuccessful people take care of
their health needs, whichincludes physical, mental and

(07:12):
spiritual needs. I want youstrong in every facet, so you
are ready to lead necessarychange in an often chaotic and
unpredictable world. Now let'stalk about why leading change is
so important. Number one, whyleading proactive change is
crucial. Leaders are responsiblefor steering their organization
to success, and this requiresthem to understand and make

(07:35):
timely decisions around change.
What is changing an industry andin the global economy that will
impact what you are doing. Thosefactors include access to
resources, access to labor,access to financing, access to
markets, access totransportation, routes and many
others. My point is that we arealways in a constant state of

(07:58):
change, so strategic leadersmust be looking steps ahead of
everybody else to staycompetitive and sometimes to
even stay in business. Thepolitical climate can change
just as quickly, which canaffect how your business
interacts in the market. I loveproactive leaders who start to
analyze through possible issuesthat could affect the business.

(08:20):
I recommend building contingencyplans, especially if your
business is unique. For example,if you need a limited resource
and having access to thatresource is a delicate issue.
What will you do if access tothat resource becomes very
restrictive? How do you pivot?
Is there a substitute? Now, whenleading change employee
engagement becomes critical. Youbuild more trust when you become

(08:42):
more transparent. Number two, tobe competitive, you must
continually be adapting,innovating and inventing. First,
ask yourself if your customer ischanging the most risk taking.
Entrepreneurs like Steve Jobsdeveloped products the customer
didn't even know they wantedthey created new markets. They

(09:03):
know how to assess the risk indeveloping something to be so
desired that they trailblazeinnovation, which then makes
them the market leader in a newmarket. Next is to monitor how
and if your competitors arechanging. Are they emerging into
new markets? Are they releasingnew products? Do they have new
partnerships? How are yourcompetitors changing the

(09:25):
industry? What actions do youneed to take to counter that,
what marketing actions andresource decisions do you need
to be considering, what doesyour product service mix look
like? Are you willing to accepttruths about how you fit into
the market? Are you relying on acash cow, type of product which
may eventually become obsolete.
Or are you inventing newproducts? Are you updating your

(09:46):
offers to meet the needs of yourcustomer, to help with better
decision making? How quickly areyou getting data and information
from your team? Sometimes youneed data fast to make better
decisions. How. Long does ittake to have critical data in
your hands? Number three, howthe CFO can inspire and lead
change. The CFO has asignificant responsibility when

(10:09):
it comes to leading change. Theallocation of resources signals
commitment the CFO as a partnerto the CEO, the executive team
and the board should be bringingto the table important changes
that they see, and also the CFOshould be advocating for the
commitment of resources forrelevant changes that they all

(10:29):
agree on. In turn, the CFOreadies their team through
transparency so they can dotheir duties to update the tools
they use and what new data needsto be analyzed or even recorded.
Your budget should reflectfuture changes as well. Always
be planning for change. When youallocate resources, you signal a
commitment to the change you areplanning for. This indicates to

(10:52):
the team to do their planning.
In general, the CFO shouldchallenge their team and their
peers on assumptions and anyfactors built into projections
and Future Planning, everythingat some point should be
challenged this. Safeguardsagainst complacency. Are the
team's processes still relevant.
Are they streamlined? Do theymake sense? Or is time wasted?

(11:15):
Are the right people getting theinformation they need at the
right time, continue tochallenge processes and the
norms, because processes shouldevolve as technology evolves and
as the company steers in adifferent direction after
processes, the next questionwould be, is your technology up
to date? I believe that youshould have a regular meeting

(11:37):
schedule specifically suited forevaluating your current systems
and any new needs requirements.
Most companies have some type ofprocess for this, but it should
have an important emphasis. Youdon't want to suddenly realize
your technology is outdated.
Studying and implementing changerequires leadership and wisdom.
You want to focus on the changethat is most important and

(11:58):
critical to your organization,doing too much waste your team's
time and also wastes otherprecious resources. Focus your
team on what is important, alignyour team and also align with
the CEO and your other strategicpeers. Now I have a quick story.
As most of you know, I served inthe US Army well over 20 years
the US, military leadership isno stranger to leading change,

(12:22):
because the nature of globalpolitics and threats is ever
evolving, the military plansdecades in advance, so they
commit the right resources nowto develop the systems and
platforms to meet the needs inthe future. Now, sometimes
military planners are right andsometimes they are wrong, but
they never stop planning andassessing risk to be ready.

(12:43):
These plans often come with aculture shift due to new weapon
systems and platforms now foraction today. How do you feel
about change? Do you hide awayfrom it, or do you make it an
active part, or your leadershipduties? Is it a priority? Are
you actively engaged inunderstanding what is happening
and how you can adapt better?

(13:07):
Now I recommend the followingthree actions. The first, adapt
your mindset to be ready forchange now. The next, develop
the skill to better see what ishappening in the future of your
industry, and finally, commitresources to the change that
makes sense for you, your teamand your organization. It comes
down to this, keep doing thethings that can advance your

(13:30):
career and your organization.
You owe it to yourself and toyour team. Now, I mentioned this
again last week. In the lastcouple of weeks, I have been
asked to speak in an upcomingLeadership Development Program.
It's a three week virtualtraining event to help you
unlock critical skills so youcan reach for higher roles in
finance and accounting. It iscalled the Office of the CFO
boot camp. Topics include theCFO mindset, strategic

(13:54):
influence, change leadership andexecutive presence and
communication. You can find moreinformation and how to sign up
at finance leader academy.comselect boot camp in the top
menu. I will also drop a link inthis episode show notes. If you
are listening to this episodelater, there is a plan for
additional workshops. So keepchecking that link. Today, I

(14:17):
talked about the importance ofleading change, and I
highlighted the followingpoints. Number one, why leading
proactive change is crucial.
Number two, to be competitive,you must continually be
adapting, innovating andinventing. And three, how the
CFO can inspire and lead change.
The cliche that change isinevitable is true. We are in a

(14:39):
constant era of change. Thegreat leaders know this, and
they plan for it, and they setup their teams to plan for that
change, not every possiblechange, but the change that is
most likely to happen. The greatleaders then commit resources to
ensure their team and theirorganization are ready so. This
is how you stay competitive inthe long term. Additionally

(15:01):
regarding your career potential,you need to update your skills
and abilities so you are readyfor the next higher role. Never
stop learning and never stopreadying yourself for a
promotion. Assess your skillsgap and take action to develop
the skills you lack. Be readyfor the next great career
opportunity always. I said thisearlier in the episode, the new

(15:23):
American administration willbring new changes to how
business is conducted globally.
So do your analysis be ready. Ihope you enjoyed the finance
leader podcast. You can findthis episode wherever you listen
to podcasts. If this episodehelps you today, please share
with a colleague until nexttime, you can check out more

(15:43):
resources at finance leaderacademy.com and sign up for my
weekly updates. You don't missan episode of the podcast, and
now go lead your team and I'llsee you next time. Thank you.
You.