Why Operational CFOs Win: Strategy, Speed, and Leading Through Change with SmartRecruiters' Tom DiDesidero

Speaker A: Hello, and welcome back to the CFO Playbook podcast with me, David McClelland. And here on the CFO Playbook, we get under the skin of how world class finance leaders leverage technology, set goals, make plans, manage teams, and much, much more. And in today's episode, we're talking to a finance leader in the hr, um, and recruitment tech space about creating a niche in a crowded market and leading an organization through an acquisition.

Speaker B: When you come in as, uh, the new cfo, you get that moment of time to tell the truth in ways that needed. Then you're the new voice.

Speaker A: So when it comes to preparing a company's financials to be acquisition ready, what does getting your house in order look like for you?

Speaker B: One of the first things for me is getting the data right and clean up any anomalies or things that people aren't comfortable with. Here's what the next three months are going to look like. It's going to be hell. Get your babysitter, tell your parents they got to pick up the kids after school because you have your day job and you have the diligence.

Speaker A: Now, CFO Playbook is here every month with exclusive finance leadership insights. So make sure you subscribe, browse through our back catalog, and get in touch as many of you do. Your suggestions really do help to shape our show. Right, let's meet today's guest.

Speaker C: This episode of the CFO Playbook is brought to you by Soldo. Trusted by over 25,000 organizations across 31 countries, Soldo combines programmable cards, an intuitive app, uh, and a powerful management platform to replace manual processes with efficiency and control. To find out more or to book a demo, visit soldo.com.

Speaker A: Tom Didzidero, CFO at Smart Recruiters. Thanks for joining us on CFO Playbook.

Speaker B: Thank you, David. Pleasure to be with you.

Speaker A: Thanks. So where are you joining us from today, Tom, and what's been on your plate at work this week?

Speaker B: Yeah, I'm joining you from beautiful New York City. We're wrapping up a tough winter, uh, but spring's on the way and we're at the end of our quarter. Two weeks to go. Those of us in the profession know what those last two weeks were like each quarter. And to top it off, we're doing performance reviews.

Speaker A: It's that time of year. But yeah, spring, despite all of the difficult stuff that sometimes brings, uh, when the sun comes out and, well, I don't know what, what flowers you get in New York City, but here I've got some daffodils outside and they make me very happy indeed. Uh, our plan, Tom, for today. I want to chat about Smart Recruiters and that HR recruitment tech space that you guys operate in. Uh, I want to chat about being a CFO who is preparing an organization and leading it through an acquisition. And then we got a few quick fire questions that we put to uh, each of our CFO playbook guests too. Is that all right for you?

Speaker B: That sounds great.

Speaker A: Great. Right, let's start briefly with Smart Recruiters. What does it do? Where does it come from? And then perhaps a bit about what your remit as CFO there has, has been and what it is right now.

Speaker B: Smart Recruiters has been around since 2010. Uh, our mission is to make hiring easier and we are what is referred to as an ATS program primarily or an applicant tracking system platform. There are several, uh, players in the space. Um, we uh, made it a mission to figure out how to differentiate ourselves and what had become commoditized. Frankly my Riemann as CFO was uh, one to come in and pair up with our new CEO who came up through the product ranks at the company for about 10 years. Very, very strong product industry expert. Uh, myself I came through more from the E commerce and payments background.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And that uh, pairing was interesting in that uh, I did not come from this space, but I did come from IPO environments pre post multiple build scale exits. And then our CEO Rebecca is a brilliant product strategist, an expert in the space. And uh, it was one of those things where I'm strong, uh, she's weak and vice versa. Right. Where she's strong, I was weak. So the combination is what made it great.

Speaker A: You mentioned it there in your space. There are a few other companies, some of them m quite well known as well, uh, in that HR tech recruitment tech space. So what has Smart recruiters done to differentiate itself and to stand out in this competitive sort of area?

Speaker B: Yeah, so you know, when you come in as uh, the new cfo, you get that, that moment of time to tell the truth in ways that needed to be needed to be told. And you're the new voice, right. So people actually listen to you, at least initially. Uh, because you're an outside perspective, you've

Speaker A: got that honeymoon period, haven't you, when you, when your voice, it can work for you or against you. But um, I like the glass half full approach.

Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah. I think that, you know, when I, when I looked at the business initially, you know, you look at it the spreadsheet level and you see, okay, around 100 million of Rev approaching profitability. Uh, but that's all fine and good. It's about the growth story and what do we need to do to actually, to your point, differentiate our platform and our product. And we made some really hard decisions and, and got everyone aligned strategically starting with our board and into the management team around, hey, we want to go bold, right? We want to break away from the pack. And it really entailed narrowing that product, that product list from like 12 discrete things to about three but at the center of it. And the primary focus was to be the market leader and move the fastest around. A true AI power platform. What we now call Winston is our agent and our operating system. Uh, that decision was right now you're looking at hindsight, the right one. Um, we were identified by Gartner as being the visionary with the ability to execute. And when you think about the competing side to that, when you're a smallish to mid sized company, your advantage is to be able to move fast. There were the work days in the Oracles and even the saps of the world, much bigger, much deeper pockets, but we could go faster, we could be more agile and that was something that actually borne itself out. And we are now truly the market leader in which what SAP saw as the opportunity, uh, to take a close look at us and pick up the best in breed, to really combine powers.

Speaker A: Once you've made that decision to say, right, we're going to rationalize our offerings, we're going to wrap our services around this core vision. Was it always obvious that it was the right decision once you had done that, or were there those moments of doubt or minor course correction or no, we've made this decision, we're going to commit to it for 12 months, 18 months, whatever horizon you'd set.

Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I think that it started with identifying the need and there was that uh, that situation where no one was going first. And we said, you know, we have the chance to be bold and actually do this. And I remember we were at an executive uh, off site in Rome in June of 24 talking about this AI decision. We were sitting on a campfire late at night and picture that environment. I was the new guy, remember, I only been here a few months. So I got to ask the question, okay, we all believe this is the right move, but there was a vibe of can we actually do it? Can we execute? And we had an honest conversation amongst us. It's okay, well, why did other things we did in the past maybe not meet the execution expectation that we wanted what did we learn from that? And it turned into these things that worked well, these things didn't and how can we honestly correct those things that didn't and focus on the ones that worked well so that we could execute around this AI motion. So you think about you have 200 engineers roughly and to distill this vision into tactics and developing a product meant okay, we're going to build these, this things in this timeline and we believe we can really do it if we do these things in a certain sequence in a certain timeline. And it meant saying no to a lot of things as well. So once you clear out the noise of the no and you got people to focus on the what and in the timeline then you saw belief, okay, we can do this. And then we set milestones to measure obviously along the way. But you had to get that belief that maybe things didn't work so well in the past. We're going to put that aside, we're going to learn from it and admit it, but then focus on what works well. And then you saw the buy in, uh, by the end of that conversation and then some that followed the week after people came back and they said, okay, we're ready, we're ready. I talked to my readers and we're going to do this.

Speaker A: And on that buy in, you know, you mentioned there the what and the how the buy in. Another way of expressing that I guess is the why, having everyone aligned behind that. Simon Sinek why, why we're doing this in order to be the market leader, in order to ensure sustainable growth and market leadership position in a competitive market and embrace this two letter thing called artificial intelligence which is disrupting every single industry. And Winston, your AI hiring companion came out the back of that. I guess you also need to listen to what your customers are saying at that point because you having this great vision, this strategy and executing on it is one thing, but if it's, you need to make sure it is responding to and answering the need from your customers as well in order for you to I guess execute and to make the most of that leadership position.

Speaker B: We were very in tune to what customers were asking for, but there was also an element of they didn't know exactly what they wanted to. Right. It's a little bit of the Amazon prime, you know, kind of kind of example that we all know about. There's some baseline things that we know we can do that they need and you got to get them in a get to them m away. That's digestible as well. Right. And it's okay, show me that you can do these few things. I'm interested. You know, I'll buy a small package initially. We know you have bigger visions to do, but let me get a little sample. So you start small. So we're going to prove it this way. Then we're going to add additional capabilities as we go so that, that kind of honesty with our customers, I think bode well. We had a very good reputation with them. They talk about CSAT and other ways you measure that. But ultimately, you know, when you're an enterprise software company, you have big customers with big dollar decisions and you have to make them believe. We started out in a pretty good place, but we sold that future vision around. Hey, here's the first tranche of this. Okay. Does this make sense to you? Yeah, actually it does. Then you had your beta partners and such and you use those relationships to, to start off that way.

Speaker A: And then as a cfo, in the midst of all of this, sitting around the campfire, as you painted the picture of a few moments ago, only a few months into the job there, kind of at the beginning of this big transformation, uh, what was your role? You mentioned your close collaboration with CEO Rebecca there. Was it purely the finance side? Was it purely the spreadsheets, uh, and the projections and the numbers, or were you able to play more of that co pilot role that we talk about, leading a broader strategy, bringing different insights to create this vision to execute on?

Speaker B: Yeah, it's been my experience that the most successful companies have highly operational CFOs, and it's something that I pride myself in. The numbers are the byproduct of the effective strategy. Uh, in many ways the spreadsheet work is the way you track things and it's the easier part, the harder part is making the tough decisions around the structure of the teams that you need, the types of people that you need to actually execute. And that's where I think when you think about the CFO's role, who's done this for 25 years, 30 years, you bring with you, hey, this is what worked in other places. Can we do something similar here or something similar with a variation? And you bring that experience to your management team and they say, yeah, I think that does work or that doesn't. And getting people, I was very lucky. They were open minded to those challenges and those questionings and because they wanted to do better. And I think one thing that's interesting here is the average tenure of employee at Smart Workers when I got here was six years. That's A pretty long time in a tech company. There are people here, 8, 10, 12, 15 years even, and they put so much into this and they wanted to see it continue to grow and be a part of something bigger. And they know they needed a little extra nudge and a push and a change to get there. So I think from my perspective, bringing that energy and that, hey, here's what I've done previously to get other IPOs going and other exits done. What do you guys think? So there's always a little bit of you believe it from somebody who's done it, but it only works if they're open to listening.

Speaker A: There are lots of headlines at the moment about layoffs, not particularly, but not exclusively in the tech sector that are attributed to AI based automation of roles. Some of that might be correction for over hiring in earlier cycles, but anyway. But I'd love to get your take on, um, the skills gap in the finance sector and this concept of AI coming for jobs and perhaps what you're hearing from your customers as well.

Speaker B: Yeah, the skills gap's a real thing. I mean, I think that when you, in the US at least there is a fifth year requirement that was instituted about a dozen years ago. So your pipeline of talent coming out of the universities, at least in America, had become very small because kids don't want to pay for a fifth year. So the talent coming into the industry, there's a, there's a, there's a gap there around the early career people who are now supposed to be your managers. So I think it's been hard to find that, that early to middle level of talent that's not unique to us, uh, where everyone's dealing with that. Uh, I mean, I could tell you we, we launched an initiative this year, uh, SAP calls it all in for AI and it's effectively each area of the business understanding how it can embed AI solutions into its use cases. I had a meeting this morning on what I think are about a dozen use cases that are applicable to my domain. And we're working our way across the company in that way. Uh, admittedly some of us have just dabbled in it. Right. With Claude and Gemini, for example. In our situation, um, we're trying to get the buy in of the general uses for people as well as the very specialized uses. So there's the capability part of it and then there's also the human part. Do people want to participate in this? Are they afraid of it? And you know, obviously there's a lot more unknown than known, at least from my Perspective, Uh, but it starts with open mindedness and trying to do things better and find more free time to do the value added work. That's how I approach it. Right.

Speaker A: And I think while the technology is still finding its applications, its use cases, its sweet spots as well, the human side of this, as you put it, that will also take a while to find how it fits, how we work alongside it as well. Do we work less, do we work more? High value? Does it all mean that the intensity of our work ramps up by 50% as a result of having to work harder to keep up with the AI? You know, um, interesting times for sure. I'm curious as to what it was that SAP saw in smart recruiters. Was it this AI angle that goes all the way back to that campfire in particular, or was smart recruiters actively courting suitors like SAP?

Speaker B: Yeah, so, so we weren't for sale, we weren't courting anyone. Uh, but the reality is when you approach that 100 million sort of profile and you're profitable, people pay attention. Uh, they're particularly interested in the fact that we were the largest independent best in breed ATS company. So in terms of the core of what we did, they viewed us to be the best. They told us they looked at a bunch of other players. Uh, well, I think the, the real sell was they saw the growth potential around us being first around actually our AI product. We already took it to market, we were already well ahead of where they were, where Workday was, where Oracle was, and you know, and then obviously the price had to be right. So all things being equal, your, your investors sentiments and where they are with their exit profiles has to kind of line up with what the acquirer is looking for as well. And all things came together pretty quickly actually.

Speaker A: All right, we'll come back to the SAP smart recruiters journey, uh, in a few moments. But first of all, uh, your career journey to this point because you've worked in some varied sectors. Tom, you mentioned a couple earlier on, from controller and interim CFO at New York Racing association at what looks like a very interesting time there, uh, to seeing explosive growth in retail and wholesale tech with Duor as CFO and then coo, a very common journey, as you know. Um, how do you summarize your career and any defining moments or directions that you are appreciating now in your current role.

Speaker B: Amen. Uh, I've always been a follow the money person, so, you know, money follows innovation. Right. Uh, so when I was coming out of school, email was just coming out in 95. Remember when email came out, David?

Speaker A: I remember I was coming outta school about the same time, and then, and

Speaker B: then they added E Commerce. Right. So I started out in software and that's where opportunity and innovation and creative and the best thinkers I found have always been in the innovation spaces and just so enjoy being around them and learning from them. Um, I took a little bit of a pivot into New York racing, which the opportunity there was to bring new, uh, York City's first casino online. Uh, there was no gambling in New York other than horse racing lottery. But, uh, the real sell for me was the board of Naira were all captains of industry. So what do our super wealthy people do once they buy their businesses and they bought their 15th home and their 10th boat? They get kind of tired so they actually buy racehorses and it becomes their new competitive thing. But I got to learn from really smart people. Dennis Dahmerman, which is Jack Welch's vice chair, uh, Warren Buffett's one of his top people, guy named Rich Stantooli, uh, some of the most brilliant people you could ever be around at 31 years old at the time, to be able to spend hours in boardrooms and investment committees with them and learning the tricks of the trade, really learning how the world works, uh, that was interesting. And then really getting back into software, where I joined an E commerce company, Border Free, that was first mover, first mover Advantage around cross border, E Commerce and payments. Intralinks was another first mover that went IPO, uh, as well. Those were the two IPOs, so really centered around innovation. And then when it came to smart recruiters, same thing, you know, clear, best in breed, great balance sheet, uh, had the vision to actually differentiate and I believe we could execute. And so all those kind of commonalities are around creative, um, people, enough money behind it to make it happen. And then just you have to have the willpower to be a part of it because it's really hard to do these things. Right. But as much as it is hard, it's fun because you like to win and do new things. Sometimes you have to reorganize to move forward.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah, right. But as a cfo, that's an incredibly important learning, uh, experience journey to go on. I'm hoping that you don't have to use that in your current employee, but the IPO journey that you've been on, uh, it certainly has been very useful. And that brings us to where you are with smart recruiters, which recently, uh, six months ago or something like that. At the time we're chatting right now, completed on its acquisition, uh, by SAP. Congratulations. I've been on that journey myself. I appreciate the milestone. Uh, and I'd like to explore your experiences of financial leadership during an acquisition. Again, smart recruiters or your experiences elsewhere. Elsewhere. But perhaps breaking it down into, before, during and after is a way of looking at it. So when it comes to preparing a company's financials to be acquisition ready, what does getting your house in order look like for you?

Speaker B: Yeah, good. Great question. When you step into a business, you have to take a quick inventory. You get about, I don't know, 30 days to just make an assessment. Uh, one of the first things for me is getting the data right. So in really all these, these tech companies, you have to identify your source of truth of your data and clean up any anomalies or things that people aren't comfortable with, both in terms of getting it right to lean on going forward, but also to eliminate the excuses. And, and uh, so get your data right so that you can then inform your, your actuals and your KPIs. So then it's deciding on what you're going to measure that's really important. Right? What do we have to really track and monitor that matters? There is an element of, uh, making sure you have the right team in place. Do the people that we have fit what we're trying to accomplish over the next year to whatever your timeline is. So you have to make some tough calls around that, uh, and do it quickly. Um, I think those are the kind of the before the process readiness things that I would highlight.

Speaker A: And then when those first conversations begin with a potential suitor with an SAP, for example, but feel free to broaden it out, what does that. I guess a change of gear. You know, you are potentially going from, I know we might sell our house in the next couple of years. We'll get it sort of tidied. You know, we'll paint, we'll decorate the spare room and all of that sort of stuff to our house is now on the market. The sign is up outside the door. We're going to have people coming around and looking at our house. What does that slightly more states a, uh, more imminent state of preparedness look like.

Speaker B: The storytelling has to be tight. And that really starts from the CEO primarily. But I'm side by side as a cfo. So where you have someone kind of selling the vision and the story, you as a cfo, chime in on the why it should be believed, and you use your numbers to Inform that conversation and have it tight. And you really work hard on making sure that you're both telling the same story in the same way. M Then you establish credibility. Right? And then with credibility becomes a little bit more trust. And then you're going to get challenged, you're going to get asked really tough questions. But if you come with the baseline of credibility, I found that you can overcome those challenges pretty well.

Speaker A: What's your advice on managing confidentiality during the process, particularly when you might need support from your teams? The due diligence process, for example. But you can't be too candid for obvious reasons about what it's all for. Again, I've been through that before and maybe there's rumors happening elsewhere within the company that something might be happening, but you can't say what's actually going on yet. You still need to be able to act decisively and confidently.

Speaker B: Yeah, my experience has been to break it into pieces. So, you know, your initial period, when you're in the diligence process, you keep it very narrow. And generally speaking, I follow a need to know sort of approach because, look, the more people that know, the more, more opportunities for leaks and slippage and even accidentally saying something. So my, my approach is to keep it very tight. So initially between three or four people, very, very narrow. You get to the point now where you're entering really into really loi discussions and you're saying, okay, now I got to bring my head of sales and now I got to bring my, my EVP of engineering and so on. And, uh, then you really bring them into the tent. So I'm very cautious and intentional about the need to know and who gets included in, when, in that process. Just because stuff happens, not even intentionally, it's just unintentional things that you might slip up on. And it only takes one leak, right, to put it out in the market in a way that now you're having to do damage control. And I've seen it happen before in one of the public companies I was at. Um, it's messy if not done right.

Speaker A: And then what's your take on communication to stakeholders and teams about the announcement? You know, when you are able to share the news, first impressions really count, don't they? Uh, I can imagine that the way in which you communicate that news about an acquisition is super important, uh, in setting the tone, the direction, uh, and the mood for what happens next. Because change is difficult for people sometimes. And even if maybe they were expecting something, they're seeing change ahead of them, which can Be unsettling.

Speaker B: Sure. You know, our CEO and I really believe in running a transparent business, probably as much as any I've ever been in. Um, that transparency, I think, brings credibility. So when you do tell your employees things, they are inclined to believe you. Right. And, you know, we were very purposeful in gathering as much information as we could from the acquirer around. What can you tell us before we close so that we can tell our people the moment we do close? Here's what you can expect. And there are certain things that are very clear. X, Y and Z. And there are certain things like, hey, we all know, um, ultimately, what do people care about? Am I going to have a job for how long? How much money am I going to make?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I have a family to take care of, et cetera. And we put a lot of thought into gathering that information and saying, here's what we know. 1, 2, 3. Right. Working through that many questions, and the questions turned, turned towards things we didn't know. And, you know, ultimately it was, look, we have a window here where there's about two years that we believe we're going to run independently and your job is safe. But the truth is, beyond that, we don't know. I'm not going to lie to you. And I said many times to people, and they'd asked me both privately and publicly at an all employee meeting, um, we didn't get laid off. And I answer them as honestly as I can. Right. You're here, you're doing a good job, you're getting value out from your work, um, you're providing for your family. And this is what I can tell you, what I know. But there's never any promises. People respect that. I found that they respect the honesty.

Speaker A: It's setting the mood, setting the tone for what follows. And, uh, even joy. You know, we started off our conversation today talking about smart recruiters transformation and that pivot around AI and creating Winston and rationalizing the product offerings and so on. Again, if people understand the why and they're on board and they trust you, then they're more likely to go with you. And it sounds like that's the tone that you'll looking to continue there.

Speaker B: I have to look at the mirror, David. This is one of the things I wake up and look in the mirror. I have to like what I see. Be that person that, you know, you do the try to do the right

Speaker A: thing and then the during phase, which, who knows how long that lasts? It's as long as a piece of string. But there's Due diligence and valuation and negotiation. And during the course of all of that, you're in the thick of that. But you also need to make sure that things don't begin to slip on the core business side as well. It feels like there's a lot of plate spinning while you're working to get the deal over the line, but not taking your foot off the gas to mix my metaphors to make sure that the business also continues to move forward as well. What's been your experience of spinning those two plates at once and not letting either of them drop?

Speaker B: So it's funny you asked that one because this was one of the situations. Having been through this a few times already, you know what to expect. And, uh, in terms of our leadership team, some had and some hadn't. So I remember I wrote an email when we entered into the diligence process to the executive team. I said, okay, here's what the next three months are going to look like. It's going to be hell. Get your babysitter, tell your parents they got to pick up the kids after school, get someone to feed the dog. You know, all those things that are, this is going to be all consuming because you have your day job and you have the diligence now. But if we do it right, we're going to come out the other side of it and, and, and fulfill what you've all been working so hard for, to find an exit that allows us to continue growing and tell the story and also reap the reward of your isos.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: Uh, you worked really hard for them.

Speaker A: I guess finally that brings us on to the after phase and that's sort of where you are. Ah, now you're a few months into that with smart recruiters broadly now. What's your focus at, uh, this stage? And I guess specifically what are the biggest challenges post acquisition around things like prioritization and alignment with the new ownership? A lot of those directions that you had as a team, smart recruiters, obviously you're now having to align those around the parent company, the owning company, SAP's, um, directions and strategies as well. As to your point earlier, you've still got a team there who are still getting on board, uh, with how a new, larger organization works. How do you look at this phase that you're at at the moment?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think it initially starts out with the prioritization of things in the various parts of the business. You know, have they changed? Some things have, some things haven't. I think the thing that we all initially, the first Kind of six months or living is, hey, we were successful. We were on our own. And in part because we were able to make quick decisions, to be nimble and agile in all the ways I described around speed. That changes when you're part of a 110,000 employee company that is hugely matrixed. So where you used to go to one person for an answer, now you're going to seven. And it's understanding, okay, how do I continue to be successful in this new, very different environment? And, uh, you ask people, here's how I used to do it, how does it work here? Who do I talk to here? And there's no sort of playbook for that. It's the human interaction part. It's trying to find understanding mutually of each other. And each day gets easier and easier as you go. Um, and that's, uh, the uniqueness of when small goes into very big.

Speaker A: And then, uh, I don't know how much you can talk about this, but then as a cfo, as a finance leader, obviously with responsibility for financial reporting, analysis and so on, uh, how does your role change in a larger organization? How has your role changed?

Speaker B: Yeah, I'd say that, um, about a third of the job goes away in terms of you no longer have VCs and investor relation parts to, to, to what you used to do. Uh, it gets replaced with trying to be successful in finding how to do things in a much more committee environment, a much more layered environment where you need different approvals. Um, I spent a lot of time trying to move, move the ball forward. And what I used to be able to do in a matter of hours can take days now because there's that more touch points and it's, it's connecting those decisions and those people to where we can gradually get from three days down to, you know, three hours again. And it's knowing the players, knowing the process, and just adapting to the new environment. As the cfo, believe it or not, I talk about being operational. It's that, that becomes, you know, those skills are really critical to help the integration actually happen successfully.

Speaker A: And then, Tom, um, reflecting on the overall acquisition journey, finally, what would you say is the most challenging part for a finance leader? Uh, we've spoken before during, after some of the friction points and some of the communication imperatives during that. But what was the most challenging part for you?

Speaker B: When I first got here, I know I talked to the investors around what their timeline was. When do you guys want to see an exit? Some of, some have been in 12 years, 10 years, but that's kind of long in the tooth for the VCs. So once you understand the timeline you're working under, then it's okay. How does that fit our strategy? And that's kind of the first motion that you have to assess as the cfo and then you implement your tactics according to that timeline. So it's the product roadmap, it's the people and the structure with which you had to execute those tactics. How do you act quickly? That was really hard because it was a bit of a culture shock to the company too. You get this new guy coming in and telling us we had to do things differently. We have to combine those different departments. We have to move, uh, this, you know, over here and move this over there and, and you have to get through that shock. And I believe you do it as quickly as you can. You know, the whole rip the band aid off theory, get the pain out of the way and move forward. I've learned kind of the hard way too. I've seen it done stretched over time and it's just as painful, just as long as, but tends to not be as successful. So it's that those learnings from the past that move quick, be decisive, um, and communicate effectively and keep saying it until people understand that's a bit of it too. Do you know why we're doing this? Do you know what your role is in this? And that goes back to how you set your KPI. So everyone's going in the same direction.

Speaker A: Tom, thank you for sharing your experience of the, uh, acquisition process, uh, both the painful bits and the more enjoyable bits. Uh, uh, you've led smart recruiters through, uh, quite a journey there and I hope that that continues successfully for you guys. And of course ticks whatever boxes SAP, uh, hoped that it would during uh, the acquisition as well. So thank you very much for sharing. Before we let you go, there are some quick fire questions that CFO playbook guests have to answer. Are you ready for those?

Speaker B: Let's go.

Speaker A: All right then. So if there is one thing in finance or procurement today that you would like to leave behind, what is it and why?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's something that's maybe has some legs, you know, from a public company environment, the quarterly reporting cycle. You're constantly in earnings hell and it takes you out of the business. So if we're going to move from quarterly to semiannually, which is, I think is what is in play right now, I think that's actually a good thing. There's enough information and transparency in a six Month, cycle, uh, almost as much as you'll get in a quarter, but it allows the business to stay in the business and not focused on compliance and reporting matters every 90 days.

Speaker A: If you could automate one part of your role tomorrow, what would that be?

Speaker B: Google says I spend 40% of my time in meetings. There's some AI tools around not attending meetings, and they give you your synopsis and it does save some time. But, uh, I don't know if we can automate our way from 40 to 20, but this would be nice.

Speaker A: Well, I'm pleased that I don't have an automated Tom, uh, in this call today. Uh, and if you could nominate any company's cfo, I'm going to add in the words past or present to appear as a guest on CFO Playbook. Who might that be and why?

Speaker B: I might give you a name privately once I talk to the person. But I think that somebody who, uh, I think will be interesting is the defense industry and how it's relating to AI. Right. We all see in the news of late. I will love to know what that job is like right now being the CFO and a defense environment company, uh, that is subject to AI, both from a commercial side as well as internal.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: Ah, really interesting. And finally, Tom, here on CFO Playbook, we are building an actual playbook, a collection of top advice from finance leaders like yourself that we plan on turning into a resource and sharing with the community. So what is your top piece of advice for a fellow CFO or an aspirational CFO that you'd like me to enter in to our, uh, CFO Playbook?

Speaker B: I think in a high performance environment where you have companies that are growing and scaling and looking to exit, um, you, as I said, mentioning the key people, the employees that are here, you need to identify who they are and challenge them as to why they're here and do they believe in that they have it in them to see it through. And if they don't, let's figure out a way to mutually make it as graceful flow as we can, but get your people right, get them on board, make sure they buy in, and that's how I think you can be as successful as you can, with as least friction as possible.

Speaker A: It has been great to speak to you today, Tom. Thank you for joining us on the CFO Playbook.

Speaker B: My pleasure. Thank you, David.

Speaker A: And, um, thank you all for joining us too. Don't forget to join us every month here on the CFO Playbook for more insights from finance leaders. But for now from me, David McClelland, uh, and all the team here. Bye.

Speaker C: Bye.