Diary of a CFO | Financial Strategies for Smart Business Growth

Diary Of A CFO is a global Top 2.5% business finance podcast hosted by Ademola Odewade, MBA, ACA. Elite CFOs, founders and business leaders share practical strategies for cash flow, profitability, financial planning, AI-powered finance, leadership and sustainable business growth.Built for founders, CFOs, fractional CFOs, finance leaders and consultants who want to make smarter decisions, scale with confidence and lead with data.Expect real-world insights, proven frameworks and executive lessons for building stronger, more profitable businesses.Follow: @k-demsconsultingltd

Diary of a CFO | Financial Strategies for Smart Business Growth is a business podcast hosted by Ademola Odewade, with 92 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Ademola Odewade hosts Diary of a CFO | Financial Strategies for Smart Business Growth, a business show with 92 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #89

  Why Great CFOs Sound Different: Pace, Pauses and Presence | David Pope

  Sep 24, 20261h 32m

  The voice you hear when you speak is not the one your team hears. Cop a copy of my new book NOW: https://ademolaodewade.com Turn communication expertise into paid advisory work — Ethos (paid link): https://agent.askethos.com/refer/nd01w7e2eelw AI labs pay highly-skilled experts — Mercor (paid link): https://t.mercor.com/neABb Build your next board deck in minutes — Gamma (paid link): https://try.gamma.app/f2d4kygskm1h Automate the admin and spend the time rehearsing — Make (paid link): https://www.make.com/en/register?pc=kingdemspodcast David Pope is an executive voice coach based in Hong Kong for 32 years. He started in 1980s London at a Soho production company making music videos for Wham!, Dire Straits and A-ha, then joined the BBC as an assistant film editor. He founded All Voice Talent in 2010, has spent more than 30,000 hours in recording studios and coaches leaders from law firms and financial institutions in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Australia, the Middle East and London. About 20 years ago he was told that growing his business meant leaving the studio for stages and workshops. He did, made mistakes in public and built the confidence he now teaches. In this episode: - The three most common executive presence faults: speaking too fast, a monotone delivery and filler words - Why a slightly slower pace reads as authority when you present results, and rapid delivery reads as nerves - The emphasis pause before a key figure, such as a 33% rise, so the number lands with the room - The rhetorical question pause before the answer - Chunking: mark a script with slash marks and stress one word per chunk, what Pope calls "audio punctuation" - Speakers who think they paused for five seconds usually paused for half a second - Gravitas is a balance of authority, energy and warmth, not a booming voice - In Center for Talent Innovation research, 5% of senior leaders named appearance and 28% communication as core to executive presence; the majority named gravitas - Pope's Voice Influence Framework: voice, presence and messaging - Pope says charisma can be developed; Ademola argues it is largely natural More from David Pope: https://www.allvoicetalent.com linkedin.com/in/popedavid Hosted by Ademola Odewade — chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich), and Founder of K-Dems Consulting. The King Dems Podcast. Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights. Ranked in the global top 2% of podcasts. Diary of a CFO. Finance leadership, unfiltered. Ranked in the global top 2.5% of podcasts. This description contains paid links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. #ExecutivePresence #FinanceLeadership #DiaryOfACFO #KingDemsPodcast

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  Episode #88

  She Left Audit at KPMG and RSM to Rebuild How Finance Works | Esther Adeogun | Diary Of A CFO

  Sep 14, 202658 min

  Most finance teams start closing the month before the month has even finished. Cop a copy of my new book NOW: https://ademolaodewade.com Turn audit and finance expertise into paid advisory work — Ethos (paid link): https://agent.askethos.com/refer/nd01w7e2eelw AI labs pay highly-skilled experts — Mercor (paid link): https://t.mercor.com/neABb Build the design partner deck in minutes — Gamma (paid link): https://try.gamma.app/f2d4kygskm1h Esther Adeogun spent over a decade in audit and assurance across KPMG Nigeria, WYZE, Sapro, PKF Littlejohn and RSM UK, working between Lagos and London. She audited multinationals with US, Canadian and Australian parent structures. She then left professional services to found Valdore Systems and Intelligence Limited (VSIL), a pre-product platform building what she calls an intelligent operating layer: financial intelligence, controls and real-time visibility embedded directly into business workflows rather than applied after the fact. The pattern that convinced her was not jurisdictional. Across Lagos, London and multinational engagements she kept meeting the same problem. Organisations had invested heavily in software, yet finance teams still ran on spreadsheets, manual reconciliations and judgement applied outside the system. Some of her design partners begin their July month-end work in the second or third week of July in order to report to management by 4 August. That is time taken away from professional judgement and scepticism, and Esther argues the gap between activity and visibility is the thing worth closing, not the accounting concepts underneath it. In this episode: The one sentence she would give a Fortune 500 CEO: an intelligent operating layer embedding financial intelligence, controls and real-time visibility into business workflows The exact shift from auditor to founder, moving from "what went wrong" to "why did the system allow this to happen in the first place" Why real-time reporting does not overturn the historical cost concept, and what she actually means by real-time What SAP, Oracle and Microsoft would say in response, and where the design philosophies genuinely diverge Where AI earns its place, and the deterministic, rules-based work that should stay conventional software "Consulting is largely constrained by people and time" and why that pushed her to SaaS instead of another consulting firm The four eras of accounting: paper, spreadsheets, ERP, and AI-assisted decision-making Whether the Big Four look the same in 2035, and why she thinks firms evolve rather than disappear Nigeria rewards technical skill, the UK rewards relationships, and what that cost her to learn Why she no longer believes progress is linear, and what experimentation replaced it with Rapid fire: the biggest misconception about AI, the biggest misconception about accounting, and the technology she is watching Her legacy test: not to be remembered for building software but for helping build better businesses More from Esther: LinkedIn (personal): linkedin.com/in/esther-adeogun-0b9118125 LinkedIn (company): linkedin.com/company/valdore-systems-intelligence-ltd Hosted by Ademola Odewade — chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich), and Founder of K-Dems Consulting. The King Dems Podcast. Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights. Ranked in the global top 2% of podcasts. Diary of a CFO. Finance leadership, unfiltered. Ranked in the global top 2.5% of podcasts. This description contains paid links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. #AIinAccounting #ContinuousAssurance #DiaryOfACFO #KingDemsPodcast

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  Episode #87

  Why Transformation Programmes Fail | Zhanna Zhuravleva | Diary of a CFO

  Sep 11, 20261h 14m

  Most transformation programmes fail because the organisation is quietly protecting the very thing you are trying to change. Cop a copy of my new book NOW: ⁠⁠ https://ademolaodewade.com⁠⁠ Turn transformation experience into paid advisory work — Ethos (paid link): ⁠⁠https://agent.askethos.com/refer/nd01w7e2eelw⁠⁠ AI labs pay highly-skilled experts — Mercor (paid link): ⁠⁠https://t.mercor.com/neABb⁠⁠ Build the culture diagnostic deck in minutes — Gamma (paid link): ⁠⁠https://try.gamma.app/f2d4kygskm1h⁠⁠ Zhanna Zhuravleva grew up in Georgia and lived through war as a child, then built her career across Russia, Israel and the UK. She completed two master's degrees — finance and human resources — followed by postgraduate study, and taught finance, management and philosophy at a university in St. Petersburg. She started in industry as a Kaizen team leader and went on to lead HR and cultural transformation across organisations of more than 1,000 people in 40 countries. She is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, has run over 3,000 sessions with leaders, and founded Awake Conscious Play, a school of conscious leadership and leadership transformation. Early in her career she ran a textbook transformation — designed framework, defined KPIs, strong governance. Six months later almost nothing had changed. The organisation was not governed by its processes; it was governed by informal power. Everything since has been built on that finding. The 30% improvement in employee satisfaction and 10% reduction in turnover she reports came from no single initiative — a culture hub that put interns and juniors into the improvement process, people partners trained in coaching, and one-to-ones where the feedback actually changed the next decision. In this episode: Change fluency — why transformation is not a project with a start date and an end dateThe "inner game": why a fintech's people-first programme stalls because the tension is giving leaders their identity Three signals that tell you inside a week whether a culture is healthy — quality of disagreement, speed of bad news, and the gap between the official story and the underground story Diagnosis before prescription: the first 30 days run across Ken Wilber's four quadrants, not a rush to launch programmes Three types of values — declarative, conscious, unconscious — and which layer actually decides Why Meta making AI token consumption a performance metric produced engineers burning tokens instead of better decisions WEF Future of Jobs: 170 million roles created against 92 million displaced — recalibration, not replacement"AI is electricity with intelligence" — why this is an electricity moment rather than an internet one The 4D Compass for building trust: self, soul, soft, spiritWhy engagement surveys measure compliance — a purple, tribal culture scores high on engagement and low on trust What she protects if the HR budget is halved: leader development, and a culture diagnosis every year The mistake founders make at 100 employees — still leading as though there are 20Zhanna's recommendation for every CEO is Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan. Her conscious leadership programmes — including Lila, the transformational game she has adapted for leaders and runs offline and online — are at: ⁠⁠https://awake-play.co.uk/⁠⁠ Upcoming cohorts: ⁠⁠https://awake-play.co.uk/upcoming⁠⁠ Connect with Zhanna on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhanna-zhuravleva-chartered-fcipd-03a0a622a/⁠⁠ Hosted by Ademola Odewade — chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich), and Founder of K-Dems Consulting. The King Dems Podcast. Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights. Ranked in the global top 2% of podcasts. Diary of a CFO. Finance leadership, unfiltered. Ranked in the global top 2.5% of podcasts. This description contains paid links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

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  Episode #87

  Why Transformation Programmes Fail | Zhanna Zhuravleva | Diary of a CFO

  Sep 5, 20261h 22m

  Why Transformation Programmes Fail | Zhanna Zhuravleva | Diary of a CFO Most transformation programmes fail because the organisation is quietly protecting the very thing you are trying to change. Cop a copy of my new book NOW: ⁠https://ademolaodewade.com⁠ Turn transformation experience into paid advisory work — Ethos (paid link): ⁠https://agent.askethos.com/refer/nd01w7e2eelw⁠ AI labs pay highly-skilled experts — Mercor (paid link): ⁠https://t.mercor.com/neABb⁠ Build the culture diagnostic deck in minutes — Gamma (paid link): ⁠https://try.gamma.app/f2d4kygskm1h⁠ Zhanna Zhuravleva grew up in Georgia and lived through war as a child, then built her career across Russia, Israel and the UK. She completed two master's degrees — finance and human resources — followed by postgraduate study, and taught finance, management and philosophy at a university in St. Petersburg. She started in industry as a Kaizen team leader and went on to lead HR and cultural transformation across organisations of more than 1,000 people in 40 countries. She is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, has run over 3,000 sessions with leaders, and founded Awake Conscious Play, a school of conscious leadership and leadership transformation. Early in her career she ran a textbook transformation — designed framework, defined KPIs, strong governance. Six months later almost nothing had changed. The organisation was not governed by its processes; it was governed by informal power. Everything since has been built on that finding. The 30% improvement in employee satisfaction and 10% reduction in turnover she reports came from no single initiative — a culture hub that put interns and juniors into the improvement process, people partners trained in coaching, and one-to-ones where the feedback actually changed the next decision. In this episode: Change fluency — why transformation is not a project with a start date and an end dateThe "inner game": why a fintech's people-first programme stalls because the tension is giving leaders their identity Three signals that tell you inside a week whether a culture is healthy — quality of disagreement, speed of bad news, and the gap between the official story and the underground story Diagnosis before prescription: the first 30 days run across Ken Wilber's four quadrants, not a rush to launch programmes Three types of values — declarative, conscious, unconscious — and which layer actually decides Why Meta making AI token consumption a performance metric produced engineers burning tokens instead of better decisions WEF Future of Jobs: 170 million roles created against 92 million displaced — recalibration, not replacement"AI is electricity with intelligence" — why this is an electricity moment rather than an internet one The 4D Compass for building trust: self, soul, soft, spiritWhy engagement surveys measure compliance — a purple, tribal culture scores high on engagement and low on trust What she protects if the HR budget is halved: leader development, and a culture diagnosis every year The mistake founders make at 100 employees — still leading as though there are 20Zhanna's recommendation for every CEO is Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan. Her conscious leadership programmes — including Lila, the transformational game she has adapted for leaders and runs offline and online — are at: ⁠https://awake-play.co.uk/⁠ Upcoming cohorts: ⁠https://awake-play.co.uk/upcoming⁠ Connect with Zhanna on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhanna-zhuravleva-chartered-fcipd-03a0a622a/⁠ Hosted by Ademola Odewade — chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich), and Founder of K-Dems Consulting. The King Dems Podcast. Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights. Ranked in the global top 2% of podcasts. Diary of a CFO. Finance leadership, unfiltered. Ranked in the global top 2.5% of podcasts. This description contains paid links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

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  Episode #86

  Business Valuation: Why Buyers Ignore Your EBITDA Multiple - Mark Mills, OBE

  Sep 2, 20261h 40m

  Business valuation isn't a multiple of EBITDA. Cop a copy of my new book NOW: ⁠https://ademolaodewade.com⁠ Turn expertise into paid advisory work — Ethos (paid link): ⁠https://agent.askethos.com/refer/nd01w7e2eelw⁠ AI labs pay highly-skilled experts — Mercor (paid link): ⁠https://t.mercor.com/neABb⁠ Build the buyer deck in minutes — Gamma (paid link): ⁠https://try.gamma.app/f2d4kygskm1h⁠ Mark Mills OBE started Cardpoint plc from scratch in 2000. Two years later it floated on AIM at a £7 million valuation. By 2006 it was turning over £100 million a year on £19.8 million of EBITDA, and he exited in 2007 at £175 million. He now sells other people's businesses. One owner was told his company was worth £3 million. Mark sold it for just over £10 million. Nothing changed in the accounts — what changed was who the business was presented to, and why they needed it. In this episode: - Why bids from strategic buyers don't resemble a multiple of EBITDA - The £3m-to-£10m sale, and the buyer maths that produced it - Rule one of any business model: recurring income — learned from a payphone business that died in the 1991 recession - How Mark and his CFO reverse-engineered £100m of revenue onto a sheet of paper, then landed within 2% - Why "in three years" is a useless target and "by 31 August 2029" is not - Solving a working capital problem by finding a bank with too much physical cash - The one metric he never ignores when assessing a company for sale - FARM — why people work for Fun, Achievement, Recognition, then Money, in that order - Selling to strangers, and why referrals cannot scale a business - What AI actually changes about client acquisition and KPI monitoring - Realistic exit timelines: 12 to 30 months, not six Mark's book is Making Your Mark: How I Built a Fortune From £1.50 — and You Can Too. He offered listeners a free signed copy — email him at ⁠mark@mark.co.uk⁠ with your address and he'll send one out. More from Mark: www.mark.co.uk · ⁠linkedin.com/in/markrichardmills⁠ Hosted by Ademola Odewade — chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich), and Founder of K-Dems Consulting. The King Dems Podcast. Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights. Ranked in the global top 2% of podcasts. Diary of a CFO. Finance leadership, unfiltered. Ranked in the global top 2.5% of podcasts.This description contains paid links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. #BusinessValuation #ExitStrategy #DiaryOfACFO #KingDemsPodcast

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