CFO THOUGHT LEADER · 2026-06-21 · 41 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
38 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Stacey Jenkins, CFO of Aerotek since 2020, reflects on nearly three decades at the staffing and workforce solutions company, offering insights into how curiosity and operational exposure shape effective leadership. Her career trajectory - moving through financial operations, strategy, operations leadership of 300+ people, and back to the CFO office - demonstrates how leaders compound their effectiveness not through rigid career plans but by staying open to unexpected challenges and maintaining genuine interest in how work actually gets done across the organization. Jenkins emphasizes that modern CFOs balance strategic partnership with core financial execution, using data throughput as leading indicators rather than lagging financial results. She addresses AI adoption at Aerotek as augmentation rather than replacement, arguing that hiring decisions - deeply personal human experiences - require human involvement. Her approach to resource allocation prioritizes curiosity-driven questioning, long-term value creation over pure cost-cutting, and follow-through on investment hypotheses. Key themes include abandoning fixed leadership styles for adaptive people-first approaches, failing fast without fear, and recognizing that efficiency and growth must happen together rather than as trade-offs. The conversation explores how workforce solutions companies can evolve from staffing providers to strategic partners while maintaining their core belief that human judgment remains irreplaceable in talent matching.
Jenkins credits being exposed to different challenges and experiences beyond her job description, combined with mentors who pushed her to understand field operations, client needs, and how business decisions actually played out - rather than simply raising her hand or waiting to be tapped on the shoulder for opportunities.
Aerotek uses operational data throughputs - including the number of job applicants, candidate contacts, and day-to-day business metrics - as leading indicators rather than relying on lagging financial results to anticipate quarterly performance and future trends.
Jenkins is known for asking curious questions about the hypothesis behind each investment request, requiring data on expected results, and critically following up after decisions are made to verify whether projected outcomes materialized - making adjustments if they don't.
Jenkins argues that job-seeking and hiring are deeply personal human experiences where AI should complement rather than replace humans; the company uses AI to augment forecasting, planning, and efficiency while maintaining human involvement in the actual candidate-to-client matching process.
After surviving multiple economic downturns between 2011-2012 and seeing how she helped the organization persevere while supporting the people around her, Jenkins realized she wanted to stay because 'we're doing something special here.'
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode is dominated by career retrospective, motivational advice, and high-level leadership philosophy. There are a handful of actionable ideas - reframing risk decisions from downside to upside, using throughput data as leading indicators - but they are underdeveloped and surrounded by considerable filler and platitudes about curiosity, failing fast, and work-life harmony.
finance isn't just here to protect the business, it's here to also enable the business. And that's something I've long strove for in my career. Um, and a lot of times the most important role we play is helping the organization to say yes in a really smart, structured way.
How do we structure this in a way that allows us to capture the upside and we can still manage the risk
Almost everything surfaced here - 'fail fast,' 'curiosity,' 'raise your hand,' 'meet people where they are' - is well-worn B2B leadership orthodoxy. The 'skinny branch' metaphor is a minor stylistic flourish, and the 'work-life harmony' reframe has been circulating for years. No contrarian or first-principles thinking appears.
I call it work, uh, life harmony. And I've heard that I started calling it work life harmony, probably 2012.
You're a leader first. No matter what your job is, no matter what your job description says you are, you are a leader first.
Jenkins is a genuine 27-year practitioner who held multiple operational and financial roles before becoming CFO - not a career speaker - and her cross-functional experience lends authenticity. However, the company is private and mid-market, and the conversation never unlocks the depth of expertise her tenure suggests, leaving caliber partially unrealized.
I led a team of uh, I think probably close to 300 people in a variety of different capacities across the enterprise in building our alternative delivery solutions
I found myself in a situation where I was, uh, in a role leading the financial operations for the support function to our national customer portfolio, which required an incredible amount of, uh, creativity, curiosity, dealing with very large, complex clients
Concrete numbers are nearly absent throughout: no revenue figures, no client names, no AI ROI data, no specific staffing metrics. The few figures offered - '27 years,' 'close to 300 people,' '2020' as CFO start - are biographical rather than operational or financial evidence.
I led a team of uh, I think probably close to 300 people in a variety of different capacities
in the, um, AR accounts receivable space, a little bit more advanced there
The host shows genuine preparation by surfacing Jenkins's LinkedIn anniversary post and turning its quotes into questions, which is a nice technique. However, questions remain broad and no claim is challenged; the AI section especially produces only surface-level answers that go unprobed, and the format leans heavily toward affirmation over interrogation.
two years ago, when you were at 25, your 25th anniversary there at Aerotech, you posted some of the advice you would give yourself at the start of your career
What about, uh, an initiative or a project you were involved in that didn't go so well?
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Each day, Stacey Jenkins watches a different set of indicators than the quarterly financial results that eventually appear on a report. Candidate applications, recruiter activity, and other throughput measures help tell the story of where Aerotek’s business may be headed. Financial results are “the lagging indicator,” Jenkins tells us. That perspective reflects how she views both finance and leadership. While Aerotek remains focused on helping clients solve talent challenges and build flexible, specialized workforces, the company has steadily expanded its approach. Today, it is helping clients rethink how work gets done through workforce solutions, data insights, and new delivery models. Aerotek is also building capabilities in fully outsourced industrial services, Jenkins tells us. The common thread is a willingness to look beyond traditional definitions of the business. Jenkins says she remains proud of the organization’s ability to help clients grow while helping people build their careers. The same mindset appears in her approach to capital allocation. Rather than viewing investment decisions primarily through the lens of cost, she begins with curiosity.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Jack: CFO Thought Leader is made possible by Sage High Performance Finance Software and Intuit QuickBooks. Bill Pay. Say goodbye to manual bill entry.
Kevin Ettrick: Hello, this is Kevin Ettrick, CFO of Quantumscape, and you are listening to the CFO Thought Leader podcast.
Jack: This is episode 1194.
Stacey Jenkins: I mentioned earlier the time when I stepped into the operations role. I, um, called my parents when I got that job and said, I have no idea what these people do for their day jobs. I've never done any one of their day jobs and I could go to do Undercover Boss and they probably wouldn't know who I was. And, um, my, the advice that my parents gave to me was, and this was what that was about almost 20 years into my career. And the advice was, you're a leader first. No matter what your job is, no matter what your job description says you are, you are a leader first. And so everyone needs leadership regardless of the technical skills. You're smart enough, you're capable enough to pick that stuff up. And it's also okay to say, I don't know what you do, but I'm here to help you.
Jack: Hi, uh, it's Jack. On, uh, today's show, we speak with Stacy Jenkins, CFO of Aerotech. One of the more interesting leadership questions today is whether experience still compounds the way it once did. Organizations are moving faster. Technology is reshaping workflows. AI is changing how decisions get made. Entire business models are evolving in real time. Yet amid all this change, some leaders seem to become more effective. Not because they have all the answers, but because they've learned how to ask better questions. That's what caught my attention in this discussion. What does a leader learn after decades of seeing different economic cycles, different management teams, different operating models, and different strategic priorities? More importantly, how do those lessons help an organization navigate its next chapter? The conversation ahead explores the value of curiosity, the importance of staying close to operations, and why long term leadership development may have less to do with following a plan and more to do with remaining open to opportunities you never expected to find. Our talk with CFO Stacy Jenkins begins after this. Foreign.
Kevin Ettrick: Leaders.
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Stacey Jenkins: Hello.
Kevin Ettrick: CFO Stacy Jenkins is with us. Few finance leaders can point to a nearly three decade journey inside a single organization. But Stacy has spent more than 27 years growing with Aerotech, advancing from financial operation roles to leading strategic delivery Solutions before becoming CFO in 2020. Today she helps guide a, uh, business operating at the center of North America's workforce. Challenges where talent, availability, economics, uncertainty and client demand all intersect. We'll explore the experiences that shaped her leadership and finance perspective. Stacy, welcome.
Stacey Jenkins: Thank you, Jack. It's great to be here.
Kevin Ettrick: So, you know, take us back. When did you first realize Aerotech could be a long term career?
Stacey Jenkins: You know, that's an interesting question and something interesting for me to reflect on. And I think that sometimes, uh, it just happens naturally and it happens as a result of being put into different, uh, in front of different challenges, different experiences, rather consistency over the course of time that just keep you growing and learning and feeling like that challenge is worth the next day and the next day after that and the next year after that and you suddenly look up and you're 27 years in, um, and you've at that point held numbers, numerous roles within the company in different capacity strategy to financial operations. And so you just look up and you go, it's been 27 years. And I don't, so I don't know that I could identify a marker moment as opposed to the circumstances that Aerotek and Allegiance Group, our parent company has allowed me to be in over that 27 years. That really helped that to become a reality.
Kevin Ettrick: Were you raising your hand all along the way? I mean, is that Stacy's secret? You know, I'm interested, maybe I can help. Did these opportunities just come your way?
Stacey Jenkins: Absolutely. Um, they did not just come my way by way of me just raising my hand and saying, I'm in for the next challenge. It came as a result of having leaders around me and mentors around me who didn't let me stay in the swim lane or in my job description, if you will. Um, and so what the bullets on the job description, they expected me to understand things far greater than what was on the job description, what was happening out in the field, how we were serving our clients, what our recruiters and salespeople were experiencing, and how the decisions in the business actually played out. M. And those things kept the growth coming for me. And so then people saw in me that, hey, we could probably give this challenge to Stacy or have her think about this a different way. Um, and that really helped with all those opportunities along the way. And there were certainly. Chuck, don't get me wrong, there were times where I had to say, hey, I'm here. You know, I really would love that challenge. And I did. Um, but I think far too often we wait. We do wait. And I did. As I reflect on my career, I did wait to be sort of tapped on the shoulder or told, you're ready for this. And I encourage people to not do that so much and not wait so long to do that.
Kevin Ettrick: What about, uh, an initiative or a project you were involved in that didn't go so well? Or I wouldn't use the word a mistake, but let's say mistakes were made. I mean, what was the. Do you think under those circumstances, you knew how to respond, you knew how to alert people, how to communicate people? How do you respond in that type of situation? Because that happened too, didn't it?
Stacey Jenkins: Um, it's happened many times, certainly, where, um, something hasn't gone as I expected it, or I had launched a department that I thought was going to be a kind of a game changer for us, uh, from the corporate operations side of the house. And things just didn't materialize the way that I had expected them to. And how do I handle that? I think it's first and foremost about focusing on the people who may be impacted by the decision, and then secondly about what is that we need to do to course correct and, or make changes and that it is okay to fail. Right. Uh, we talk. I know a lot of people talk about failing fast. It's okay to fail. And so the fear of failure is something that I think has held us back. Um, has held me back at times in my career. And I try to not let that hold me back at this stage of my career. Um, really with most things that we do, be thoughtful, but also be courageous and be bold in our efforts and be okay with saying that was a mistake.
Kevin Ettrick: Ten years in to, uh, Aerotech, did you think, I'm going to stay, I'll be here in another 10 years?
Stacey Jenkins: Well, 10 years in, we were in the midst of a massive financial, uh, crisis. Right. So uh, certainly I don't think that's what we were. We were headed right into it. So I don't think that was on my mind, um, necessarily day in and day out, uh, as much as it was that I just, I wanted to make sure that at that point in that stage of the game, the role that I was in, that I was doing everything that I possibly could to help the organization kind of persevere and succeed through. I think on the other side of that, so 2011ish 2012 is probably when I realized, having been here since I started in 1998, and having been here through the multiple downturns in the economy and how I had helped the organization to persevere and to get through, and helped the people around me get through was really when I said, you know, we're doing something special here, um, I love what we do and, um, I want to be here.
Kevin Ettrick: What belief about leadership has perhaps changed for you over time?
Stacey Jenkins: First and foremost is that in leadership, you can't have a style. People talk about leadership style, my leadership style, and you can't have a style. You need to be able to meet people where they are. And with that, it takes really a ton of time and investment in the people. And so it's not just, you know, it's the balance between doing the role and being in the job that you're in during the day and then making sure that we're intentional and thoughtful about the people who are doing the work and, and really who are helping us to move forward.
Kevin Ettrick: Could you tell us a little bit about, um, your operational experience along the way? I think you got hefty helpings of finance as well as operations along the way? You can correct me, but tell us something about that. I mean, did you ever drift into operations and you were like, wait a minute, I think I'm a finance, you know, person, or vice versa?
Stacey Jenkins: Yeah, certainly, um, both ways. Uh, I did spend the first 15 years of my career really working through the ladder, if you will, the corporate ladder on the financial operations side of the house, um, here at Aerotech and worked and found myself in a situation where I was, uh, in a role leading the financial operations for the support function to our national customer portfolio, which required an incredible amount of, uh, creativity, curiosity, dealing with very large, complex clients who have a variety of different needs that we're trying to. Workforce needs that we're trying to solve for. And in that time that I spent in that role, finance, if you will, I was able to, as I mentioned earlier, I was Able to start touching things outside of the job description, meaning the strategy and how we were supporting the strategy of the organization. What did we need to do, uh, to shift our national sales, our large accounts account sales strategy. And I became a part of that team, I was a leader of that team in those areas and not just how we price the deal, how we assess the risk of the deal, so on and so forth. And so that began the drift that I felt and really I would say a drift and uh, where I was pulled into and I pushed into the operations side of our business where I led a team of uh, I think probably close to 300 people in a variety of different capacities across the enterprise in building our alternative delivery solutions so solutions that are outside of the norm of the organization and then again also supporting some of the functions of these large accounts and customers that I'd grown to know and really to love through the work that I'd done in finance. Um, and then I sort of found my way back in 2020, lucky for me to come back in on January 1st of 2020, right before March ish timeframe, uh, as the CFO. And that was really because the time was right for both the organization and for me. And I really believe that when I saw the CFO function in the organization it was, and I think we see this across the board. It's such a nice balance today between the strategy and the core job of being a CFO and being able to work with all of the different corporate, the organizational development, the change management teams, the HR teams, uh, the legal teams and work across the gamut to bring our people together, bring our teams together, be a part of the strategy, but then also make sure that we're achieving the results that we need to achieve to achieve and investing uh, the way that we need to invest in the business.
Kevin Ettrick: Well that's a great place for us to segue to Aerotech. We will have a few more career related questions for you. But tell us, how would you describe this business today? Aerotech's business today?
Stacey Jenkins: At our core we still are the Aerotech that everyone has come to know, where we help companies and our clients solve one of the biggest challenges we all have and that's access to amazing talent. Um, we have clients and we help our clients building and scaling their workforce in a way that's flexible for them, specialized, um, and aligned to the business needs of the client. Where we've evolved to is not just about filling the open job, but helping our clients to think differently about how the work gets done. Whether it's through more strategic workforce solutions, data insights that we can bring to the customer these new delivery models that I talked about helping to build, we're moving from having been a, uh, traditional staffing provider to more of a strategic workforce partner that has the ability to offer fully outsourced industrial services as well. Uh, so we're really looking forward to the journey ahead in the industrial services space, where it's more of an outsourced function as opposed to the staffing kind of flexible model. Um, and, you know, today, what I'm still proud of is what's been consistent for all of my years here and even predates me, and that's the role that we play in our industry and both sides of the market, helping both our clients and our people, helping our clients to grow and helping our people build their careers.
Kevin Ettrick: Uh, as you try to anticipate the results for the quarter or what have
Jack: you, what are you looking at?
Kevin Ettrick: And again, these aren't the numbers at the end of the quarter. These are your gauges as to trying to keep a finger on the pulse.
Stacey Jenkins: Yeah, we're always looking at our data and throughputs, essentially the throughputs in the business. We use that so that our financial results are not the lagging, they are the lagging indicator. Um, but about putting the data points together in terms of what's happening day in and day out and, uh, the things that we look at in the industry as far as the number of candidates that we have applying, uh, to our jobs and the number of candidates who we're contacting and so on and so forth. So data has become, in every industry, data has become such a big thing. And certainly in our space, that is no different in terms of the data being able to tell us a really good story of what the future is to come.
Kevin Ettrick: So, as a cfo, uh, just to touch on resource allocation with you, there are department heads that are perhaps eager to have you invest in new projects or initiatives. Can you just tell us a little bit about your mindset when it comes to allocating resources?
Stacey Jenkins: Um, when you ask resources, um, like what type of resources, you know, certain
Kevin Ettrick: department head is lobbying for, a fairly sizable investment, perhaps, and, uh, you have to balance it with other departments and other, you know, investments already on the table. What is Stacy known for?
Stacey Jenkins: Uh, Stacy is known for being incredibly curious when each of those department heads are having the conversation using. I think Stacy's also known for that strategic experience, that operations experience, guiding me in my thought process as a cfo. So having been on that other side I can appreciate very, um, kind of intimately and personally what it feels like to feel like you have a compelling story as to why you should get more investment and to not actually realize that or get that. So um, I listen intently. I'm very balanced with regard to like what can we do? And I ask for data and I ask for the, what would be the hypothesis. So if we do this, what can we expect? You know, what are the results that we can expect? And then the follow through to that which I think is just mission critical is when we have made the decision to invest, do we actually see what we thought we were going to see? And if we don't, that's when we have to have follow up conversations and we make different decisions. Stacy's also not known for uh, it being always about cost. It's not, it's about what makes the best sense for the business, for our people, for our clients and ultimately for the path forward. And that's not just the path forward that is next week. That's the path forward that is in three years, five years, seven years and 10 years. And we've got to be thinking that far out.
Kevin Ettrick: We always like to talk about trade offs that finance leaders have to make. And uh, recently we've been speaking to them about efficiency versus growth. When you think of trade offs about this business, what are some of the tougher trade offs that you make?
Stacey Jenkins: I don't know that I necessarily would see them as trade off. But you mentioned efficiency versus growth and I believe that both should happen together. And if you're driving your efficiency through the business and through the people and the investments you've made, then ultimately we're going to grow, the company is going to grow, our people will be more successful. Um, and so we drive the efficiency and the effectiveness which ultimately drives the individual growth and then drives the company growth. On top of that, um, I know companies are talking about using uh, AI and the elimination of jobs. And we very much believe that AI should be a complement to, to the human, uh, the human behavior, the human, the role of the human in the business in order for us to grow faster, more efficiently and more effectively.
Kevin Ettrick: Well let's, let's ask you about AI at uh, Aerotech. Where is AI Perhaps already creating value inside Aerotech?
Stacey Jenkins: Uh, AI is creating, I would say like on the, the financial side of the business. We're seeing opportunities with regard to like forecasting, planning, using the machine to help us to look at the data points to help with regard to planning for the future. Instead of just, you know, us going back through Excel spreadsheets and looking at historical trends. We're starting to incorporate more dynamic, uh, tools and inputs, um, and modeling to help us improve the accuracy and responsiveness, uh, of our models. So, and I would say that we're still fairly early in the journey, um, the focus is practical for us to, like I said, augment our people and not replace them, to make them better, uh, and able to make decisions faster all the way across the business.
Kevin Ettrick: As someone who grew up with this organization and has played so many different roles within, you must be aware of how AI, the types of ways AI could, uh, support and uh, you know, make certain roles perhaps less necessary. Don't know. But having had that experience over the last 27 years, I'm wondering if there's an AI task force that the CFO is part of or involved with or as you examine the possibilities.
Stacey Jenkins: We do. We have several different task force across the business that are looking at different areas and really just encouraging the teams on their own, uh, to get comfortable with the idea of AI and that again, the goal not to be to eliminate all of the jobs, but to create efficiency. And so long as the organization is growing, then we will have more need for more people. So I'm actually encouraging my teams to look at ways that they can replace functions that they do today with AI to make them more impactful in the business. As an advisor, as a business partner, um, to our field leaders.
Kevin Ettrick: Your finance team, uh, the people, the professionals who populate your finance team, are they, uh, AI champions? How would you describe them? Are they, uh, versus the rest of the organization? Is finance helping lead AI initiatives?
Stacey Jenkins: I don't, uh, in some aspects, yeah. So I mentioned, you know, forecasting and planning in those areas. So the different, you know, segments and silos of finance are different areas. I would say in the, um, AR accounts receivable space, a little bit more advanced there. Um, but, uh, as I mentioned, we're still early on the journey in terms of the different areas.
Jack: When we think of Aerotech, when we
Kevin Ettrick: think of Aerotech space, this staffing, this
Jack: hiring, this talent base, uh, many m
Kevin Ettrick: of us will quickly say, now this
Jack: is a space that will be disrupted.
Kevin Ettrick: How does your, how does the management team sort of push back on that?
Jack: What do they say?
Kevin Ettrick: Are you up for the disruption?
Stacey Jenkins: Looking for a job, getting a job, keeping a job, are some of the most, you know, those are the most important personal, uh, experiences that any human being has. Um, and so to just solely rely on AI to do that Um, I think is a mistake. Uh, so that I would say is the predominant pushback is that there's always, to enhance that experience, there's always going to need to be a human involved in some capacity, in some way, shape or form to make sure that that's as meaningful and as right, uh, for the job seeker and also for ultimately, you know, in our sense, in our case, the client who, who is hiring that individual.
Kevin Ettrick: Okay, is there something, here's my last AI related question. Is there something you're still trying to figure out about AI?
Stacey Jenkins: Oh, there's plenty that we're trying to figure out about AI. Um, I think that that's, that's not unique to Aerotech. Uh, there's, you know, where, where is it going to prove to be most effective and impactful to us? Where to your earlier question, is it not going to work for us? So there's plenty, and I think we're early on in the journey and we're in for the journey. Um, but it's going to be, you know, I would say months and if not years of learning, just as the AI journey that we've been on, that AI has really been around for as long as it has been. Right. So it's kind of been a. It's just we happen to be in probably the biggest boom of it right now.
Kevin Ettrick: So, uh, we always like to ask for what we refer to as a finance strategic moment. Uh, and again, this could be anything during the course of your career. But what comes to mind for you when we ask for a finance strategic moment?
Stacey Jenkins: We hit on this a little bit earlier with the outsourced services when you started to ask that question. And I will reflect on that just a bit. Um, you know, but finance strategic moments, you know, they can be anything from when we're evaluating an acquisition. Go, no, go and evaluate. Evaluating acquisition obviously takes months and months and months in some cases to do and you feel like you're getting close and then you're not. But I would say for me it has been in the moments where we've had an opportunity to stand up a new business model, a new service, a new function in the company. Um, and in the particular case of outsourced services, clear growth potential for us, but a new level of risk that perhaps we weren't used to. And the conversation can be really very, uh, binary. You move or you don't. And, um, initially from maybe a finance perspective, we maybe are a little bit like, we don't, um, we can be at least out of the gates, uh, and to focus on the downside risk as opposed to focus on what the upside potential is of that business. And so for me, just kind of stepping back and reframing that question to be, rather than is it too risky for us? How do we structure this in a way that allows us to capture the upside and we can still manage the risk and what do we need to do and does that make sense? Which leads to a very different conversation where we were able to work through how to put the right guardrails in place, what contracts need to look like, the pricing structure, the operational controls that we want to put around it that gave us the ultimate confidence to move forward. Um, so you know, ultimately we were able to pursue and we now are, you know, actively engaged with customers with, you know, fully outsourced industrial services, um, which is an opportunity that we would have walked away from previously. And now it's become a model for how we approach, you know, decisions today. I would say so, you know, finance strategic moments are where I think we realize that finance isn't just here to protect the business, it's here to also enable the business. And that's something I've long strove for in my career. Um, and a lot of times the most important role we play is helping the organization to say yes in a really smart, structured way.
Jack: And so it's been said, growth in business comes from data driven forward momentum. And without time, clarity and control, it can be impossible to move when and
Kevin Ettrick: how you need to.
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Kevin Ettrick: I have to at this moment, uh, reveal to the listening audience that two years ago, when you were at 25, your 25th anniversary there at Aerotech, you posted some of the advice you would give yourself at the start of your career, given the fact that you had advanced 25 years into the CFO role and into the CFO role at Aerotech. Um, I thought I'd share just some of those with you and maybe we can talk about them. Uh, one of the ones that Stacy and M. You might have your favorites. I just took out a, ah, few of my favorites. You wrote, don't let fear hold you back from anything, especially putting yourself on the skinny branch. I have to say, I like that wording there. What were you. You're speaking of, uh, from experience here. Can. Can you elaborate on that?
Stacey Jenkins: I sure can, yes. Um, so I refer to the skinny branch as the, you know, I. I talk about it, that when you think of a tree, the skinny branch is where. When the wind. When the wind blows, that. That anything that's sitting on that branch is at risk, you know, for falling. And so put yourself on the skinny branch. That in the situation that if you fall or you fail, you have people around you who are there to support you. Um, and so don't let that fear. Make sure you have those people around you, those champions, those coaches, those mentors who are going to pick you up when you do fall and, um, give you that feedback that you need to hear when you've made a mistake or you've shown up in. In a way that you really shouldn't have. And, um, that's what I refer to as the skinny branch, is that we're going to, um, we're going to fail. And that's going to be. That's okay.
Kevin Ettrick: My next favorite or one I just had, uh, to take a pause with. You are never too young or inexperienced. And my question bouncing off this was, I'm wondering if you can tell us about a time when you had to
Jack: lead before you felt fully ready.
Stacey Jenkins: Yeah. So I mentioned earlier the time when I stepped into the operations role. Um, I actually called my parents when I got that job and said, I have no idea what these people do for their day jobs. I've never done any one of their day jobs, and I could go to do Undercover Boss, and they probably wouldn't know who I was. And, um, my. The advice that my parents gave to me was. And this was what that was about almost 20 years into my career. And the advice was, you're a leader first, no matter what your job is, no matter what your job description. Says you are. You are a leader first. And so everyone needs leadership, regardless of the technical skills. You're smart enough, you're capable enough to pick that stuff up. And it's also okay to say, I don't know what you do, but I'm here to help you.
Kevin Ettrick: Great.
Jack: Um.
Kevin Ettrick: Um, the third one I plucked out. There is not just one path to success. The path can be a windy road. My thought there was. I was wondering what the biggest, uh, the biggest unexpected turn in your path to the CFO role might have been on your way there anyway, if there was a big unexpected turn. Don't know.
Stacey Jenkins: Um, it was probably that, too, the operations role, because I wasn't necessarily. You know, a lot of people will ask you along the course of your career, um, what's next for you? In fact, I was speaking this morning to a group of people who are here in town for training, and they said, what's next for you? And I said, I don't really know the answer to that question. Um, Right. And so the windy road that I speak of is the road that is. Again, not that I was the first person to raise my hand, but I was open and curious about enough things that while I could look up and say, that's the job I want to be in, I never really did that. I found my way there through being open to opportunity and moving side to side in the organization, moving through different departments in the organization, supporting different departments in the company, um, and just genuinely being curious about what's out there.
Kevin Ettrick: And I, uh, have two more. Second to last one. Sometimes all the answers are not there. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. What were you after there? What are you trying to explain?
Stacey Jenkins: Um, I would reflect on being a cfo. Uh, the job to me is less about having the right answer in every single situation and more about asking the right questions and, you know, not necessarily feeling like you have to be the deepest expert in every topic in the room, but know that you need to connect the dots and challenge thinking and do those things. Um, even if you don't exactly. You're not the expert. You know, you have to be. You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable in the sense that I trust my instinct and I trust my, you know, my observations of a particular topic. And if I'm uncomfortable saying it, that's okay. Um, no one's going to jump down my throat and, um, you know, tell me I'm a horrible person for doing that.
Kevin Ettrick: Nice. And finally, it isn't work. Life, balance. Find a way to weave work and life together.
Stacey Jenkins: Um, I love. I. I actually love talking about this. I call it work, uh, life harmony. And I've heard that I started calling it work life harmony, probably 2012. And I. I do hear work, life, harmony more and more today. And the definition of harmony, as we all know, is that, you know, one thing doesn't do irreparable damage to the other. And, um, you know what? I. When my oldest, uh, who just graduated from high school two weeks ago, uh, when he was much younger, you know, and. And my. And then I had my. My second son, it was. I was really trying to be present at all the different places. And I realized to myself, I can't be present in all the different places. And so if I'm traveling and I need to be somewhere for work or I'm speaking or I'm at a meeting, then I need to be the best Stacy of Aerotech that I can, um, and be amazing if I can, in that moment, hopefully. Um, but I need to give myself the grace that I may not be the best mom in that very moment, but I'm the best mom that Stacy can be in that moment. And so the vice versa is when, hopefully, I'm home, I can do the things that I want to do, and I'm very active with, and I always have been in the boys schools, and I do that to kind of help me have a reason, if you will, to be very present with them. And now they're in high school, and so I have to do things like volunteer for the boosters and things like that. But, um, that really is where that was born from, is just giving myself the grace that it's okay. Um, and that work life harmony or work life balance, whichever you choose, whichever you choose to use, um, it's hard work, and it requires hard work.
Kevin Ettrick: All right, well, um, thank you, uh, for reflecting a little on the personal side there for us. We like to always, uh, ask a question about, you know, what is something perhaps your colleagues don't know about you. But after 27 years, I'm not sure they might know all of it, but, uh, anything. Maybe that back in high school, uh, you were going to be an art major. I don't know what.
Stacey Jenkins: Uh, back in college, I actually believed that I was going to, uh, end up as an FBI agent or an agent with one of the federal agencies here. Having grown up in the D.C. baltimore area, very familiar to me. And, uh, three months after college, I found myself at Aerotech. Um, actually, it was one of Aerotech's, uh, sister companies. And here I am. And now, you know, I'll be here for the rest of my career. So, um, I think that's it. That I could have been an FBI agent or that's what I thought I was going to be. I think my family likes me better as a cfo. Yeah.
Kevin Ettrick: Well, some nice takeaways for us, so thank you so much for that. We are up to our final question, and this is where we ask you to look forward for us. And we'd like to know what your priorities are for the coming 12 months as CFO of Aerotech. What would those be?
Stacey Jenkins: Um, we talked a little bit about one already which is just kind of coming to better understand AI and the capabilities that it'll be able to offer us in the business. Um, continuing to drive even better visibility, how we use the data to give clear, you know, real time insights into the business, obviously supporting the growth and ensuring that we're investing in the right areas, uh, in those different service, uh, models that we can build while we continue to maintain the strong financial discipline that we've always m maintained. And then, um, within the finance organization and then also the greater corporate organization that I help to lead, um, doing that the same for them and not forgetting that we have this entire company to serve through the investments that we're making, uh, the improvements that we can make and the data that we can provide them. So positioning finance, particularly not just as a function, but continuing to position it as a strategic partner to the business.
Kevin Ettrick: Stacy Jenkins, thank you for joining us, uh, on CFO Thought Leader.
Stacey Jenkins: Thanks so much. Jack.
Jack: Foreign. Hello. We're benchmarking the CFO path. Join 500 finance leaders helping define how today's CFOs rise and lead. If you're a CFO or senior finance executive, contribute your experience. It takes just a few minutes and you'll receive early access to the findings. Visit cfothoughtleader.combenchmarking.
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