At this level, you cannot show uncertainty to your team, your board, or your family. The situations that keep you up at night stay with you. This is a private engagement for senior finance leaders who need someone who has actually sat in that chair.
You are a senior finance leader. You are good at your job. You have been doing it long enough to know that the hardest decisions are not about the numbers. They are about the politics, the timing, the relationships, and what you are willing to risk.
You do not need someone to tell you what to do. You need someone to think it through with. Someone who has been in that chair and has no stake in what you decide.
This is an anonymised account of a real engagement. The details have been changed to protect confidentiality, but the arc is real.
Most clients come with a situation they have been sitting on for a long time. The work is never just about tactics. It is about getting clear on what you actually want and then building the conditions to go get it.
That is what we did here.
He had been doing the CFO job for four years. The title had never been raised not because it had been refused, but because he had never asked. A mix of hesitation and a quiet sense that it might not be on offer anyway.
We worked on two tracks simultaneously. The first was internal: building the clarity and the language to have the conversation with his CEO: what he wanted, why it was the right time, and how to frame it without it feeling like an ultimatum. The second was external: starting to build his presence on LinkedIn so that the market knew who he was, not just the company he worked for.
Within weeks of showing up consistently on LinkedIn, two unsolicited opportunities came his way. Headhunters started reaching out. The external validation changed something internally too. He stopped waiting for permission.
25 years. Dentsu, WPP, Publicis. I have sat in the same chair you are sitting in right now.
I know what it feels like when your boss is the problem and you cannot say it out loud. I know what it feels like to be running the full finance function and not have the title. I know what it feels like to be thinking about leaving but not being sure if you should.
I have been through all of it. So when we talk, I am not going to give you a framework or ask you to fill in a worksheet. I am just going to tell you what I would do if I were in your situation. Because that is probably what you actually came here for.
I do not work with everyone. I work with finance leaders who are serious about where they are going next, and are ready to do something about it. If you are looking for someone to tell you what you want to hear, this is not the right fit.
A short call to understand your situation and whether this engagement makes sense. I do not take every enquiry. If it is not the right fit I will tell you directly.