The CFO Posture

In 2002, Josh Menold was getting his MBA at Campbell University while working full-time as assistant director of food service. During a strategic planning project with the university's CFO, he had a realization: "I need to think like a CFO at the start of my career to be a good one." Not someday. Not when he got the title. NOW. As a food service director. That single decision — to adopt the CFO posture before having the CFO title — shaped every career move that followed. From analyst to controller to CFO to board member to interim CEO to CEO/owner of a $70M+ platform. The title came AFTER the posture. Not before.

Most people wait for permission. They wait for the title, the promotion, the official responsibility before they start thinking bigger. Josh's approach: "I did not let title or job description get in the way. I put in the extra time, built relationships, and asked lots of questions. I have not stopped this posture." This isn't about being a hero or working 80-hour weeks. It's about: • Asking questions above your pay grade (respectfully) • Building relationships with people 2-3 levels up • Volunteering for cross-functional projects • Bringing recommendations when you were only asked for data • Studying the business — not just your function The extra time isn't about hours. It's about intention. Spending 30 minutes reading the board deck is more valuable than 4 extra hours in spreadsheets.

"We worship athletes but don't learn from them. You should take the same approach from sports to your job." What elite athletes do that most finance professionals don't: • Train daily — not just on game day. Are you developing skills every day or just doing your job? • Study film — athletes review what happened and why. Do you do post-mortems on projects? Variance analysis on your own performance? • Have coaches — nobody gets great alone. Do you have mentors who push you beyond what you'd do on your own? • Measure everything — athletes know their stats cold. Do you know your KPIs? Your team's metrics? The business's leading indicators? • Don't let one bad game define them — one failed project doesn't end a career. Learn, adjust, perform. "Every part of your life will influence this. It will determine your ceiling — so don't create a false ceiling." Your ceiling isn't set by your degree, your company, or your industry. It's set by your daily habits. Athletes with less natural talent outperform more talented athletes all the time — because their habits are better.

"Knowing about things is sometimes more important than knowing how to do them. Lean on your experts. Know when to bring them in. Help them know clearly what the deliverable is, and they clearly tell you what the deliverable will be." This is a liberating insight for people who feel they need to master everything before they can lead. You don't need to: • Write code to evaluate a technology investment • Be a CPA to challenge the audit team • Build a Mermaid diagram to map a process • Run a marketing campaign to evaluate marketing ROI You DO need to: • Know what's possible • Know who can do it • Define the deliverable clearly • Hold experts to defining their deliverable back to you • Learn enough to know if the work is good The Operational CFO is a conductor, not every instrument. You need to know what each instrument sounds like, when to bring it in, and whether it's playing the right notes. You don't need to play them all.

"Don't assume anything. Always care first." This sounds soft. It's actually the hardest part of leadership and the most strategic. When you care first: • People tell you the truth (because they trust you won't weaponize it) • You see problems earlier (because people bring them to you instead of hiding them) • Your recommendations carry more weight (because people know you considered their reality) • Change management gets easier (because you've already built the social capital) "It's a bright world when you help others see the light, but you have to walk with them in their darkness sometimes. And when you do, you bring light — and that builds trust." The CFO who cares about the warehouse manager's daily frustrations will get better data, faster adoption, and more loyalty than the CFO who sends a perfectly formatted report from their office. "Knowing the framework is one thing. Walking in it with others is another." Every leadership book gives you frameworks. The posture — the walking-with-people part — is what makes frameworks work.

"AI will never replace people, and if it does it will be a dark world. We are valuable because of our Creator. Our Creator defines our value." This is the philosophical foundation that runs through everything on this platform. AI tools exist to handle the mechanical work: • Closing commentary • Variance analysis drafts • Cash flow forecasting calculations • Report formatting • Meeting summarization So you can spend MORE time on the human work: • Coaching your team through difficulty • Building relationships with operators • Walking with people through change • Making judgment calls under uncertainty • Communicating with clarity and care The Operational CFO of 2026 is not the person who uses the most AI. It's the person who uses AI to become MORE human in their leadership — more present, more strategic, more caring, more available for the work that only humans can do. "It's a posture, not a place you land." The posture includes how you use technology: as a tool to amplify your humanity, not as a replacement for it.