I’ve had the privilege of working with several exceptional chief financial officers during my career, and I owe a good portion of my success to the support and teaching they provided me. One of the CFOs I worked with, let’s call him Ron, not only had a stellar career across multiple industries but also left a lasting impact on everyone around him. What made Ron exceptional wasn’t just his sharp financial mind—it was, in my opinion, his deep desire to teach. I often wondered: was Ron a CFO who loved to teach, or a teacher who happened to be a CFO?
Ron truly understood that financial documents weren’t just a scorecard; they were powerful tools for predictability and control in an organization. And he knew that the more people who understood how to use these tools, the more control and success the business would have. He also believed that by giving people these tools, their work became more meaningful. They felt more engaged and had the opportunity to contribute in more impactful ways—and that made their work experience better.
In my early years, I sat through sessions as Ron walked frontline leaders through the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Together, we learned how every figure was interconnected, how the decisions we made today would shape tomorrow’s results, and what they taught us about the work to do the next day. He’d say things like, “These financials are like a story. They tell us if we’re winning or losing (revenues and profits), where the heroes are (positive variances), the villains (negative trends), and what we’re doing to ensure the story has a happy ending (investments).”
It may sound simple, but here’s what I learned from Ron, Ken, Nick, and Mark:
1. It’s a leader’s responsibility to create a healthy relationship between their team and the financial health of the company. We are all on the same team. Leaders must take the time to build this relationship and continue nurturing it through regular reports and reviews with their team.
2. Leaders use financial reports to control the work, not the worker. They learn from them, not judge with them. If financials are used to find problems and assign blame, they won’t be embraced. The goal is for team members to be excited about the reports, eager to know the story so they can influence the outcome.
3. Leaders create a connection—or line of sight—between each individual’s efforts and the financial outcomes. This turns financial reports into actionable insights. Leaders know that understanding the numbers is only part of the equation—the real value comes from learning what those numbers can tell us about the future and using that knowledge to make informed, strategic decisions.
Financial documents are tools for leadership, not just accounting. Every leader should understand the connection between the work of their team and financial outcomes. When Ron retired and became a college professor, it made perfect sense. He had always been a teacher at heart, even while serving as CFO. He taught me—and everyone around him—that financial literacy is one key to unlocking control over the business. And as he shapes the next generation of financial leaders, I’m certain he’ll continue passing on this lesson: the true power of financials lies not in what they tell us about the past, but in how they help us shape the future.