From Steward to Orchestrator: CFO Leadership Lessons with Xavier Castellana

Episode notes

What happens when a CFO stops acting as a financial steward and starts leading as an orchestrator - aligning rhythm, trust, and strategy across the entire business? In this episode of The Growth-Minded CFO , hosts Alex Louisy and Lauren Pearl speak with Xavier Castellana , former CFO of Typeform, TravelPerk, and Amenitiz, and now Managing Partner at LeaderNess. Xavi shares lessons from scaling some of Europe’s fastest-growing SaaS companies - and how today’s CFO must go beyond reporting to become the conductor of alignment, cadence, and culture. He explains why small misalignments at the top create chaos below, how the best CFOs find the right rhythm for leadership collaboration, and the four numbers every finance leader needs to turn strategy into execution. Together, Xavi and our hosts unpack what it means to lead finance as a human system - one that connects people, numbers, and purpose.