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Episode 68 - Jack McCullough: Rock Star CFOs and Psychopath CEOs

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Show Notes

“The male prison population in the United States is about 15% psychopaths. So if, if you’re a warden and you work all day with prisoners, and then at the end of the day you go to some award ceremony honoring local CEOs, you’re probably interacting with a similar number of psychopaths at each event." Jack McCullough – President of The CFO Leadership Council and 26-time CFO.

Jack MCcullough’s background gives him an unprecedented perspective on financial leadership. Having started his career at Big Four audit firm KPMG, he subsequently served as a CFO for 26 different companies, often in a part-time or interim roles, working with about 35 CEOs. In his words, “several geniuses, a handful of lunatics, and two or three who were both. But I learned from each person and became a more effective leader.”

In this episode, Jack McCullough reveals:

  • How to work with Psychopath CEOs

  • Mental health and finance and overcoming difficult leaders

  • The importance of personal brand-building for CFOs and FP&A analysts

  • How Jack invented the phrase “CF-No” in 1984

  • Why FP&A professionals and CFOs need to build their brand today

  • The things that CFOs most want from their FP&A leaders

  • His most strategic finance moment – or how COVID transformed his business

  • Mentoring in finance and the power of being mentored by Gen Z talent

  • Why he headlines his finance conferences with Guns n’ Roses and AC DC

  • Who would he most like to meet

  • His most manual processes ever

  • The surprising two traits that CFOs must achieve today to have any chance of success

  • How to become a CFO

Youtube video of the episode

Read the Transcript

Episode Links

Books by Jack McCullough

CFO Leadership Council

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