FPA Professional Skills

CEO: Our margins are getting tighter. FP&A: Let’s cut costs. CEO: We’re missing revenue targets. FP&A: Let’s reforecast. CEO: Our cash flow is unpredictable. FP&A: Let’s track it closer. CEO: We’re losing market share. FP&A: Let’s adjust assumptions. This is how finance becomes a back-office function. And it’s why most FP&A teams get ignored in strategy meetings. Instead, try this: 1. Turn data into decisions, not just reports CEOs don’t need more charts. They need answers. If your reports don’t drive action, they’re just noise. FP&A teams that translate numbers into clear next steps get a seat at the table. 2. Make forecasting dynamic, not static Annual budgets are already outdated by Q2. Winning teams run rolling forecasts that adapt in real-time, using leading indicators to predict what’s next, before the business feels the impact. 3. Use capital as a competitive advantage The best companies don’t just cut costs, they allocate capital better. Instead of reacting to margin pressure with blanket cuts, double down on high-ROI opportunities and phase out low-value spending. 4. Speak the language of business Finance gets ignored when it talks in numbers, not outcomes. Saying, “Gross margin fell by 2%” misses the mark. Saying, “Optimizing pricing can recover $5M in profit next quarter” gets action. 5. Don’t wait for leadership to ask The best FP&A teams don’t wait. They anticipate challenges, model different scenarios, and push strategic moves before the company is forced to react. Influence happens when finance drives the conversation, not follows it. The FP&A teams winning in 2025 aren’t managing costs. They’re out-executing their competitors. FP&A sees what’s coming first. Follow Erik Lidman for FP&A insights.

Linear careers are breaking. Here's how to build something stronger: By 2027, AI automation will erode the value of more than 60% of specialized skills. Specialization used to mean security. Now, it’s a significant risk. In an increasingly complex world, intentionally broadening your skill base is the only defense. Starting as an entrepreneur, I was forced into discomfort: → Sales felt awkward → Design felt foreign → Management felt forced → Writing felt painful → Investing felt risky I wasn't an expert at any. In this credibility valley, most quit - because being average feels terrible. But, like compound interest, the longer you persist and intentionally add skills, something powerful emerges: Each new skill multiplies the others’ value. Eventually, these skills took me from starting a single business to running multiple companies and operating a fund. Here's the deeper truth I've learned: Specialists master depth. But risk tunnel vision. Generalists see patterns. But risk superficial understanding. The timing paradox: → Generalists thrive in chaos → Specialists dominate stability Linear paths may feel safer, but today they're more vulnerable than ever. The best defense isn't just adding skills, it's adding them intentionally. A simple compound skill advantage playbook: → Select adjacent skills before they’re obviously valuable → View discomfort as critical feedback, not as failure → Prioritize skill integration over isolated mastery → Constantly practice unlearning to adapt faster The uncomfortable truth: you'll never be the best at any single skill. You'll become irreplaceable through their combination. Your choice: Stay specialized and fragile, or become multidisciplinary and antifragile. What skill combination are you building? Share in the comments below.

🔋 High-Agency Generalists Are The Future As a CEO, I spend a lot of time thinking about what kind of talent truly drives an organization forward — especially now, as AI accelerates everything around us. Lately, I keep coming back to a phrase from Daniel Priestley: ‘High Agency Generalist’. These are key people of influence in any group getting stuff DONE. The ones who can move between rooms, connect the dots, unblock teams, and turn vague ideas into actual momentum. In the past, these people were sometimes underestimated — too broad, too horizontal, too undefined. But in this new era, where AI is starting to handle a lot of the doing, I’ve found myself placing more and more value on the deciding. The orchestrating. The energizing. Enter the high-agency generalist. Not a jack-of-all-trades — but someone who: • Thrives in ambiguity • Translates strategy into execution across disciplines • Sees 3 steps ahead — and moves the room to act • Has the range to talk product, people, brand, and finance — all before lunch • Becomes the glue that holds momentum together They don’t just manage complexity. They accelerate through it. AI is changing a lot. But it isn’t (yet) changing our need for judgment, creativity, and energy. And those things don’t live in job descriptions — they live in people. If you’re a high-energy generalist: this is your time. And if you’re building a team for the future: make sure you’ve got one at the table.

When I was hired as a CFO, I was probably the least qualified candidate. No CFO experience. No Big 4 pedigree. Never built a finance team from scratch. Honestly, I loved being the underdog. Because it taught me something important: Most finance leaders don’t fail from lack of qualifications; they fail from lack of clarity. They think finance is about reporting what already happened. But I saw finance as a team that shapes what happens next. So, three years ago, I had a clear vision that shaped my mission: Finance wouldn't just be a cost center. It would become the intelligence hub of our company. If you're a finance leader, here’s exactly how you can do the same: 1️⃣ Hire people smarter than you...fast. Stop hiring mini-versions of yourself. Identify your blind spots and fill them immediately. Great teams are built from diverse strengths; not comfortable copies. 2️⃣ Fix your data foundation first. Your finance function is only as strong as your data clarity. We upgraded our ERP, revamped our chart of accounts, and built dashboards that gave us insight. 3️⃣ Become an internal business partner, not the finance police. Your job isn’t just budgets and controls. Your role is enabling Sales, Marketing, and Ops to clearly see exactly how their daily decisions create shareholder value. That’s when finance stops reviewing results and starts driving them. Our mantra became crystal clear: “We are the compass of the company. We put the business back on the rails. And we guide it toward value.” So if you’re an FP&A lead, a VP Finance, or a CFO-in-the-making: Don’t wait for permission to lead. Design your finance function to drive strategy. It starts with mindset. Then systems. Then trust. #CFOInsight #FPandA #StrategicFinance

We've all heard the old saying "Jack of all trades, master of none." But have you heard the full quote? "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." I've found that being a generalist with wide-ranging interests is a real asset and incredibly valuable, especially in our rapidly changing world. The greatest generalists were the Renaissance polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci. They made groundbreaking contributions precisely because of their curiosity about multiple disciplines. Yet, the idea that being a "generalist" is somehow anti-specialization has taken root, especially in corporate settings. The reality is that our professional journeys are rarely linear. In machine learning, there's a concept of exploration vs. exploitation that's relevant here. Exploration means trying out new solutions, and gathering more information about something unknown. Exploitation means using the knowledge you've already gained to maximize your current rewards or performance. The most effective approach cycles between the two modes. This concept applies to why being multi-passionate and deliberately cultivating a generalist mindset can enhance leadership: * Adaptable: Diverse interests make you an adaptable, shape-shifting leader, deftly navigating challenges. * Innovative: Engaging in multiple disciplines fosters cross-pollination of ideas and sparks creativity. * Visionary: A wide range of experiences sharpens strategic perspectives & foresight, and improves decision-making. Take Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM, whose diverse career within IBM spanned engineering, sales, marketing, and strategy. This versatility allowed her to drive major transformation initiatives by combining technical expertise with insights from non-technical roles. Specializations have a shockingly short half-life these days, especially in technology and AI fields where knowledge can become obsolete within 1-2 years. Continuously expanding your cognitive toolkit through exploration becomes crucial for long-term relevance. To be clear, this is not about being a wandering generalist but integrating varied skills while building core competencies. This versatility is a powerful asset in leadership. Embrace your inner generalist, and say yes to exploration! This mindset fuels lifelong, multi-modal learning and innovative problem-solving. Oftentimes, you'll outshine the masters of one. #creativity #innovation #mindset #leadership #skills #culture

Last year in the heat of the economic downturn, I interviewed three CFOs. Each ran a billion dollar business. I asked them, "How can we as sellers get access to CFOs?" Their answer: "You don't." Here's what they said to do instead: First, they all agreed that unless they are buying a finance product (Netsuite), they don't want to talk to salespeople. Why? IT'S NOT THEIR JOB. It's your champion's job. It's the 'CXO's' job to advocate for the technology they need. The CFO isn't going to evaluate the product themselves. That's step 1: Champion development. "Ok," I said, ready to challenge them. "But there's a lot of reports of sellers working full sales cycles, only to get their proposal shot down at the end by the CFO," I told them. "So how we do prevent that from happening if we can't get access to you?" Here's what they (all three of them) said: "Every CFO has an FP&A team (financial planning and analysis)." "Their job is to partner with your champion and the CFO to analyze the spend, the ROI, and to keep everyone in the loop," they went on. "They are the CFO's deputized force." Sellers: I don't know if you missed it, but there is gold in that answer. It means this: Your job is to align with both your champion, AND their FP&A partner. Get them involved in the POC alignment. Get them involved in creating success criteria. Get them involved in having budget, funding, and timeline conversations. And explicitly ask that they keep the CFO in the loop: "I've done this a bunch of times. My guess is your CFO is not going to want to talk to me directly. But most CFOs have FP&A people that partner with line leaders like you. in an effort to not surprise your CFO at the end and to make sure we're all aligned from a finance perspective, is it fair to ask your FP&A to attend the POC prep call?" Summary: You don't sell directly to the CFO. You sell through to them via your champion. And via FP&A. That is a new skill none of us needed a few years ago. Those that learn it today will separate from the pack.

FP&A and finance teams often talk about “telling a better financial story.” But nobody talks about frameworks to make it a repeatable, fast, and CFO-ready story. Here’s the truth: Most FP&A teams don’t have a storytelling problem. They have a structure problem. Below is a toolkit with 6 frameworks that top FP&A teams use to turn raw data into executive-grade narratives. Transparent, mechanical, repeatable. 1. AIR Framework (Actuals–Insights–Recommendations) Deliver a KPI story by stating what happened, why it happened, and what should happen next. 2. The 3×3 Variance Story Explain any variance with three facts, three drivers, and three actions. 3, FP&A Pyramid (What–So What–Now What) Move from data to impact to required decisions in a tight narrative. 4. Driver–Bridge Framework Break financial movement into quantified drivers from start value to end value. 5. CFO Decision Sheet Present a decision, the options, the financial impacts, and the associated risks. 6. The One-Slide Forecast Story Summarize forecast direction, key drivers, planned actions, and confidence level on a single slide. Hope this helps and let me know in the comments which one you like the most! Also if you want the Excel with the datasets for the visuals in the examples just let me know!

Think of FP&A as the center of a wheel. Spokes point to each part of the business. To do the job well, you have to understand how the machine connects. FP&A gets to touch so many different business groups and so many different domains: Accounting: You need to know where the numbers come from and if they are true. You need to work closely with the accounting team to understand their processes, coding/mapping, and reporting methodologies. If the starting data is wrong, future plans will be wrong too. Operations: FP&A isn't just finance. You must understand how the company actually makes its products or serves its customers. How these activities impact the financials is the core of what FP&A does. Strategy: These are the long-term goals for the company. You help the leaders decide where the company should go in the future. And you get to turn those goals and decisions into tangible plans with real numbers attached to them. Data: Most companies have no shortage of data. But they sometimes struggle to make sense of it. FP&A gets to take raw information and turn it into defensible answers. Technology: Some teams see technology as the answer to their problems. It's usually not. If FP&A has broken processes or subpar talent, I often say technology is often just an expensive investment that hides that dysfunction. Software and tools help good processes and great people work faster and smarter. Risk Management: Every business faces hidden dangers and risks. Maybe there's economic, legal, competitive, or governmental pressures that the company can't control. But FP&A can help the company spot those dangers, mitigate risks, and help the company avoid big mistakes. Economics: FP&A gets to watch what is happening in the outside world and speculate how it affects business. Economics can be directly or indirectly connected to risk management. As inflation, unemployment, consumer confidence and other factors change, FP&A gets to weigh what it means. Business Partnering: Just as FP&A is involved in non-financial parts of the business like operations, FP&A gets to act like a helpful friend and advisor to other teams. I sometimes share that analogy that FP&A is like the financial heartbeat of the organization. Information and intelligence flows from the financial heart to the other organs, just as information and intelligence flows from the organs back to the financial heart. --------------- 📚 Foundational-to-advanced insights, techniques, and stories about FP&A, business modeling, Excel, and career development every day. To learn more, watch Excel for FP&A: https://lnkd.in/ebT9GbZm

I need an HR, finance, or Facilities head with experience in X industry. Is that a valid requirement? The argument for industry-specific experience often hinges on the belief that familiarity with sector-specific nuances and challenges allows leaders to hit the ground running. Proponents argue that such leaders require less ramp-up time and bring a deeper understanding of industry trends and networks. This perspective overlooks two critical points: >>Over-Reliance on Familiarity: Leaders who have spent their entire careers in one industry may inadvertently develop tunnel vision. They might prioritize established norms over innovative solutions, limiting their ability to challenge the status quo or adopt fresh perspectives. >>Universal Frameworks: Many leadership roles, particularly in functional areas like Finance and HR, rely on frameworks, regulations, and principles that transcend industries. For example, financial compliance standards, talent management strategies, and workplace safety protocols are often governed by universal best practices rather than sector-specific requirements. Generalists bring unique strengths to leadership roles, often from their ability to adapt and thrive across diverse environments. Here’s why generalist skills should be valued more: >>Cross-Pollination of Ideas: Leaders who have worked across multiple industries bring fresh ideas and innovative approaches. They can draw from a broad spectrum of experiences to implement strategies that might not have been considered within the confines of a single industry. >>Emphasis on Core Competencies: Whether managing people or money, the core competencies—strategic thinking, effective communication, stakeholder engagement, and risk management—remain constant. A skilled generalist excels in these areas, regardless of the industry. >>Adaptability in Dynamic Environments: In an era where industries are increasingly disrupted by technology and global trends, adaptability is a critical leadership trait. Generalists, accustomed to learning and pivoting across sectors, are often better equipped to navigate uncertainty and drive change. >>Focus on People and Processes: At their core, leadership roles in HR, Finance, and Facilities Management revolve around people and processes—both of which are industry-agnostic. A leader who fosters collaborative teams and implements efficient systems can succeed in any sector. Organizations must recognize that while industry-specific experience has merits, it is not the sole determinant of success in leadership roles. #bestpractices #waysofworking #leadership

For years, I thought being “good at FP&A” meant being the fastest with spreadsheets. I could build a 20-tab model in a weekend. I could reconcile variances down to the last cent. I could out-pivot-table anyone on my team. But one board meeting changed everything. We had worked nights and weekends to produce the “perfect” pack. The numbers tied. The formatting was flawless. I handed it over to the CFO with quiet pride. And then, halfway through the meeting, one board member asked a simple question: "So what does this actually mean for next quarter’s decisions?" Silence. We had nothing. All the precision, all the hours, all the clever formulas… and we couldn’t answer the only question that mattered. That was my turning point. I realised: 👉  Being fast in Excel doesn’t make you strategic. 👉  Being accurate doesn’t make you influential. 👉  Being perfect on paper doesn’t move the business forward. What does? ✔️ Framing decisions clearly. Not just reporting variances. ✔️ Connecting numbers to trade-offs. Growth vs. margin, cash vs. investment. ✔️ Telling the story behind the data. So leaders actually act on it. That day, I stopped seeing myself as “the model builder.” And started building something bigger: influence. Because the truth is—finance doesn’t lead by producing numbers. It leads by turning those numbers into clarity, confidence, and action. That was my turning point. What was yours?