CFO Bookshelf
Episodes
Gimme a Crisis With Howard Green
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
He helped to navigate a violent and catastrophic economic crisis in Argentina. He helped shape the playbook for a Dominican Republic bank bailout, whi...
The Bottomless Cup With Kevin Boehm
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past thirty years, Kevin Boehm has opened forty restaurants, been awarded the highest honor in his profession, and served everyone from Mick ...
Superperformance with George Pesansky
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you like the topics of organizational performance, personal and professional excellence, and thought-provoking mental models, then Superperformance...
The Business of Stock Exchange Memorabilia
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I am a customer of Bull Market Gifts, and when I spend time on their website, I'm hooked and have a difficult time leaving.Last year, I purchased...
A Case Study in Corporate Fear with Taras Wayner
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When I began studying the root causes of business failure early in my career, I believed that faulty cognitive limitations and weaknesses were the pri...
Revisiting a Good to Great CEO: Nucor's Ken Iverson
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I'm calling Ken Iverson the Alan Mulally of CEOs in the 1980s and 1990s. "Plain Talk" by Ken Iverson is one of my favorite business boo...
A Short Booklist of Personal Finance Fiction
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Can you name a work of fiction that centered around a stock picker? Alternatively, can you provide three fictional titles related to personal finance?...
The Art of Creating Glossy Annual Reports
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many in the magazine industry will tell you on the mountaintops that print is not dead. Try telling that to the writers who used to produce those beau...
Valuation 8.0
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every financial executive should either have the book Valuation or have it on their physical or digital copy in their antilibrary.CFO Bookshelf is thr...
Lead by Greatness
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In CFO Bookshelf's 250th episode, we feature a book that embodies the heart and soul of what this show stands for. The book is Lead by Greatness ...
You Are an IP Company
12 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why has Taylor Swift trademarked her and her cats' names? And how does she protect the approximately three hundred trademarks she owns?As Kary Ob...
It's Not About the Coffee
29 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We have read many stories about the magical growth of Starbucks. However, did you know that one of its first presidents had a background in furniture ...
What Are Visual Thinking Tools?
12 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As my consulting practice started taking off about twenty years ago, I started reading everything I could by Fred Nickols, who blogged regularly for t...
Beyond the Boxes and Lines with a Chief People Officer
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We live in a small business world where the Chief Fractional Officer is becoming indispensable.Before even considering hiring the Fractional Sales Man...
My Favorite John Wooden Coaching Basketball Story
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I'm betting that over half the CFO Bookshelf listenership participate in an NCAA tournament basketball pool at the office. Accordingly, I thought...
Warren Buffett's Early Investments
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before I start reading a book on Warren Buffett, and there are many, I want to know if this book has been written before—the ones where the narrativ...
A Pragmatic Approach to Sensemaking
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When I first experienced the Cynefin Framework in an HBR article many years ago, I never tried to adapt it to my work until I interviewed Bryce Hoffma...
The Rise and Fall of the Match King
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CFO Bookshelf had never heard of Ivar Kreuger until the former Managing Director of CFO.com suggested we discuss the book, The Match King.Andy Burt jo...
The World's First Stock Exchange
02 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I recently came across a book that's been out for over 10 years by an exceptional and tenacious researcher and an engaging writer, Lodewijk Petra...
The Making of Modern Corporate Finance
22 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When I think of the CFO's role, a few questions emerge: What will we invest in and reinvest in? How will we finance those investments? What about...
It's Time to Start Loving Mondays Again
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A financial executive no longer loved Mondays until a health scare changed his mindset a few years ago.Ron Monteiro is a financial expert who coaches ...
The Pig, The Lipstick & the Playbook of Champions
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When John Rossman is not busy delivering keynote addresses to large audiences or consulting with brands we recognize, he still finds time to write.Joh...
More Than a SoftBank Money Trap
01 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One book critic has asked readers of The Money Trap to imagine Michael Lewis as the President of a multinational investment holding company. Instead, ...
Practice Makes Profit
25 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
David is a dermatologist whose practice can't seemingly make the money it should be.David meets a great accountant named Graham. Graham is a TOC ...
Mythbusting Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman and Other Financial Gurus with David McKnight
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When I think of Dave Ramsey, the elimination of debt and whole life insurance policies quickly spring to mind. In addition to his demonization of univ...
The Bottleneck Detective
21 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would happen if a business-minded Encylopedia Brown entered the busy line of movie patrons waiting impatiently for soda and popcorn?This perspect...
Pause to Think
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you fan of Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, or Richard Thaler? Have you enjoyed books like Fooled by Randomness, Factfulness, or Thinking in Bets? If ...
AI Mastery Simplified for Finance Professionals
07 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Hopper's newest book is AI Mastery for Finance Professionals, but the content is also for CEOs, board members, and all other organizational...
The Three Domains of Leadership with Willie Pietersen
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the best books I've read on leadership in several years is by a former big-company CEO who is now a professor. Willie Pietersen's thi...
The HP Way
23 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When I think of HP, three things quickly emerge in my mind: Deskjet and laser printers, the 12C calculator, and David Packard's The HP Way.The HP...
Better Tech and Communication Strategies for Zoom Calls with Cat Mulvihill
09 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cat Mulvihill is becoming a rising YouTube star with her video content focused on communication and presentation skills, including technology, Zoom, a...
One Day I'll Work for Myself
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you work for yourself or would like to, have you ever thought about whose shoulders you are standing on, especially if you decide to have no employ...
Competing on Customer Personalization
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered how Amazon, Netflix, and Starbucks started their customer personalization programs? What was the starting point? What were the ...
The Private Equity Playbook Keeps Getting Better
05 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you were to ask me about my favorite book on private equity, I would say The Private Equity Playbook by Adam Coffey. The book is easy to read, the ...
Project Management Offices
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a financial leader, I want to know every aspect of business. While quarterbacking my share of ERP implementations, I had only once heard the term P...
A Deep Dive on Portfolio CFOs
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Numerous financial blog articles and LinkedIn posts highlight the benefits of a small business owner hiring a portfolio CFO. However, I do not recall ...
A Wonderful Career in Crime
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did Charles Cowlam resort to a lifelong career in crime during the Gilded Age?During this fascinating interview, the author of A Wonderful Career ...
Strategy for Real Estate Companies
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Strategic planning and real estate companies are not word pairings we are used to hearing. However, Charlie Hewlett is changing that mindset.Charlie i...
Who Was Jay Gould?
20 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do you know about Jay Gould's life, and how does he compare to the other robber barons of his day? More importantly, is his life worth exami...
5 Inspiring Books for Financial Leaders
13 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mark provides five titles in this special CFO Bookshelf episode that inspire and educate. Mark wraps up the show with some financial food for thought...
What is a Fractional CFO?
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is a Fractional CFO? That term has become a household name for financial experts who help small business owners in various industries.However, do...
What is Accounting Leadership?
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As I think about our next guest, Jody Grunden, he reminds me of the successful business leader who Mixergy's Andrew Warner should feature. Jody ...
Ramping Up Your Excel Skills
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When did you start using Excel, and how did you learn it?Jeff Lenning is the founder of Excel University, and he joins us to discuss the biggest mista...
Professional Mindset Reboots
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would you be willing to do to feel alive in your work every day? Jack Craven asks executives from all walks of life this question.Jack is the aut...
Thinking Like a Venture Capitalist
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I list the top business books I've read over the previous year each January. At the end of 2024, The Venture Mindset by Ilya Strebulaev and Alex ...
The Greatest But Most Obscure Banker of All Time
01 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I had never heard of Edmond Safra until I read Daniel Gross's informative and inspiring biography, A Banker's Journey.For those who knew him...
Lending Your Way Into Real Estate Investments
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our newest guest may not be a best-selling author on real estate yet, but we're already predicting this former World Cup soccer player will soon ...
The Effective Executive
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the best management books ever written is The Effective Executive, by Peter Drucker, published in 1966. Managing For Results and The Practice o...
The Usage Economy
11 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Consumers and anyone who studies business understand the subscription economy, but what about the usage economy? What is it? How does it differ from t...
The Myth of Private Equity
04 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever left a movie theater where a film left you speechless and made you feel like you needed to rewatch parts of it to figure out what you we...
YouTube's Top Dataviz and Tableau Influencer
27 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
My favorite go-to person on all matters, Tableau and Dataviz, is Andy Kriebel.Andy was the first person to create a YouTube channel on Tableau. His su...
The Best Book About Deming I've Ever Read
20 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I have my theories on why W. Edwards Deming is not a household name in 'all' business circles. Many view him as the 'quality' guy ...
The Red Team Forensic Accountant
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, technology activist, and journalist. He has written many books, most recently The Bezzle, a follow-up to Re...
The Harvey Firestone Story
06 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alfred Sloan's My Years with General Motors was an immediate success and is considered one of the best management books written by CEOs of his er...
The Trading Game
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Stevenson grew up in an impoverished area of East London where he could hold his life's belongings in two arms. About three years after grad...
Wiring the Winning Organization
23 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Agile, DevOps, TPS, TOC, Deming's System of Profound Knowledge. Is there a mental construct or latticework that connects these robust systems?In ...
A Novel Approach to In-house Lawyers
16 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Readers of Corporate Counsel do not need to be legal professionals to enjoy this short book writen as a business fable.Anna is leaving a prestigious...
The Greatest Warren Buffett Story Ever Told
09 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Of all the books written about Warren Buffett, I am unaware of any authors who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and went to school with his children.Todd Fi...
Big Bet Leadership
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
John Rossman is making his second appearance on CFO Bookshelf. We interviewed him two years ago for one of our top 10 books of 2022, The Amazon Way, A...
Built to Beat Chaos
27 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Harpst co-founded the ERP solution Solomon Software, which was ultimately sold to Great Plains. The CFO Bookshelf enjoys Gary's work and pas...
Beautiful Constraints
20 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A Beautiful Constraint by Morgan and Barden: is it a marketing, branding, psychology, or management book? Or is it all four?In this episode, Willy Don...
Our Favorite Books in 2023
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since starting the CFO Bookshelf podcast, I have released a ‘favorite books’ show each January. I’ve always been reluctant to do so because my r...
Pricing Strategy vs. Pricing Tactics
07 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many pricing books are heavy in ideas, abstractions, and behavioral science mind-shifting. Others are focused merely on simple tactics.Jean-Manual Iza...
The Wisdom of Finance
16 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
CFO Bookshelf considers The Wisdom of Finance one of its favorite 25 business books.Mihir Desai combines abstract and obtuse finance concepts with lit...
CEO Empire Builder
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the best books we've read on private equity is by Adam Coffey. The title is The Private Equity Playbook.Adam's newest book is based o...
The Growth Story of Dunkin' Donuts
02 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Since I am not a customer of Dunkin' Donuts, I know very little about their origin story. When Around the Corner, Around the World hit my reading...
The Entrepreneurship of Pirating
25 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I had never considered the business aspects of pirating until I read Katherine Howe's newest book, A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn A...
The Phoenix Project
18 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I'd recommend The Phoenix Project if I could only recommend one book to a CEO, CFO, or COO about the essentials or the heart of IT in a heartbeat...
Quick Value
04 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I cannot begin to count the number of times I've heard the following question or something similar, "Mark, I've heard my industry EBITD...
Throughput Accounting and Economics
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As much as I enjoy reading the Goldratt books and his theory of constraints (TOC), I never considered his early book, The Race, a solid and readable p...
The Psychology of Pricing
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you have read any books on pricing, the title that stands above the rest is Hermann Simon's Confessions of The Pricing Man.However, suppose yo...
100 Baggers
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of my favorite books in the value investing niche is 100 Baggers by Chris Mayer, a title that is also worth reading for CEOs, CFOs, and all other ...
The 2-Hour Cocktail Party
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When I finished Nick Gray's The 2-Hour Cocktail Party, I immediately thought that this was the perfect follow-up book to start applying all of th...
The Rise and Fall of the Anheuser-Busch Dynasty
30 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As a child growing up in rural Missouri who listened to countless baseball games on the radio of my favorite baseball team, I heard the names Budweise...
True Profit
23 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Confessions of a Pricing Man is easily the best book ever written on this topic.The author is Hermann Simon, the Chairman of Simon-Kucher. He's a...
The Stories Beyond FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I predict that Number Go Up will be considered the most fascinating and entertaining book in narrative non-fiction for 2023.Our guest is Zeke Faux, an...
The BI Cantos
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Murray is the author of Tableau Your Data, and he recently published a blog series called The BI Cantos. The 21-post series is about how to succes...
Farming, Food, and Finances With Joel Salatin
02 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Salatin is more than a gifted farm entrepreneur in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Joel is the author of twelve books and speaks around the gl...
What is The Halo Effect?
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of my favorite 25 business books is The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig.During this conversation, Phil explains the halo effect, along with several...
Rasputin for Hire
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As I search for books to highlight on the show, I'm looking for unique and interesting content and an author who has probably slipped under other...
Good to Great Boards
11 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I never knew there was a consulting niche for advising directors for public company boards of directors until I met Denise Kuprionis. She founded The ...
The Accidental Business Nomad
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After reading a book by a successful commercial developer who moved his family to France for two years, I wanted to learn more about setting up shop i...
Own Your Work Journey With Ed Hess
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of my favorite business authors has just released his 15th book. The title is Own Your Work Journey by Ed Hess.Fans of Ed Hess will be treated to ...
The Myth of Wall Street Growth
29 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The best book I've ever read on the topic of growth is by Ed Hess, and it's aptly named Smart Growth.It's not an anti-growth book, but ...
Experiential Intelligence
21 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
According to cognitive psychologist Gary Klien, people with a seemingly high sixth sense become experts at pattern recognition through years of experi...
Work With Minimal Rules
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most intriguing and thought-provoking management books I've ever read is the 1993 book, Maverick by Ricardo Semler.Ricardo took over h...
No-Code Development Tools with Gareth Pronovost
08 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gareth Pronovost is my go-to expert on his YouTube channel, GAP Consulting, where he teaches his subscribers about Airtable, SmartSuite, automation te...
The Playbook for Digital and AI Implementations
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Technology with the advancement of generative AI is seemingly moving at a pace we've never seen with other innovations.How does any organization ...
A Brief History of Accounting
24 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More Than a Numbers Game is rich in business and accounting history. We learn about the Merchants of Venice and why they had a strategic advantage. We...
Technology for the Next Generation of Retail and Beyond
16 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When I finished reading Next Generation Retail by Deborah Weinswig and Renee Hartmann, my first thought was that the great ideas in this book apply to...
The Entrepreneurs
10 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Derek Lidow is a former business founder of a major global semiconductor company that he ultimately sold. Today, he's a professor at Princeton, w...
The Birth of a Building
02 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Walter Chrysler built his New York skyscraper in the early 1930s, his critics stated the building was a monument created for himself. The same co...
The Little Book of Boards
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Curiosity drives much of the content on this podcast, and when Erik Hanberg's book, The Little Book of Boards, showed up in my email, I felt com...
The Indiana Jones of Business Archives
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Not only is Neil Dahlstrom the author of the business historical narrative Tractor Wars, but he's also the Branded Properties and Heritage Manage...
Tractor Wars
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
All of us have heard of the cola wars, the tennis shoe wars, and certainly the PC wars. But the tractor wars?Neil Dahlstrom is a historian and archivi...
Derek Sivers, The Reluctant Entrepreneur
13 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Derek Sivers was an accidental business founder. All he wanted to do was put his music online and sell it online before the dotcom bubble when PayPal ...
The Women Tech Freelancers of the 1960s
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the best books we've read in 2023 is the story of Dame Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley, who started a business of women freelance prog...
A Systems Thinking Mindset
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We learned many linear frameworks in business school to help us solve simple to complex problems. Yet, systems thinking was probably missing from that...
Management Mythbusting
21 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Axson is called a CFO whisperer, but I'm also calling him an expert on calling the flaws and weaknesses of some of the biggest name managem...
The Magical Tradecraft of Consulting
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Behind his back, I call him a Peter Drucker. He's the co-host of one of my favorite podcasts, 2Bobs. He's also the author of six business bo...