Listen here: The Philosophical CFO Career Path w/ Ed Bush (substack.com)
👋Hey there,
We sat down with Cube Software’s CFO Ed Bush in this episode.
Ed’s path to CFO has been more philosophical than most.
Here are some things he’s done so far:
- Started as a philosophy major
- Sang in John Legend’s acapella group
- Finance hire #3 at WeWork
- Became CFO of an FP&A software tool called Cube
He’s also a husband, dad, and avid marathon runner🏃➡️
Where does he find the time to do all this?
Tune in and listen to a voice that even John Legend appreciates.
Listen on
Takeaways from Ed’s Interview
- Having a philosophy background is SUPER helpful as your career progresses, especially as a people manager and business leader.
- Most of the ideas people have aren’t their own, rather they are a repackaging of other people’s ideas that they came across at some point in their career.
- What makes you successful as an FP&A analyst differs from what makes you successful as an FP&A manager—the same goes for every level up to CFO.
🔥TIP: Here’s a guide to navigating the FP&A career levels from Analyst to CFO.
- Grit, fortitude, and the willingness to take on projects you have no experience with will help you accelerate your career more than any degree or certificate.
- Balance looking ahead at predictable skill growth without being too rigid—be open to completely different experiences that will widen your skillset.
- Every twist and turn of your career can serve you well, no matter how scary—it’s all about having the right mindset.
- Carving out time when you are actively not trying to be productive is a great productivity hack—running is one way to do this.
- Be active in communities and ask silly questions—you’ll be surprised at how willing people are to share their own experiences.
- If you want to rise in your career you need to do things outside of your comfort zone.
- Book recommendation, How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell.
- When presenting to a large audience DO NOT convey too much information—people will remember 1, maybe 2 things that you say max.
🔥TIP: Here’s how to present financial information.
Show Notes
- 00:46 – Ed opened for John Legend—yep this is not a typo🎤
- 02:50 – The path from individual contributor to CFO is NOT straight
- 03:45 – Consulting was a good entry point for a liberal arts background grad
- 05:03 – Surround yourself with smart, motivated people
- 05:49 – From philosophy major to being finance hire #3 at WeWork
- 06:50 – Take 1 question and think about the 100 questions behind that question
- 08:13 – Want to be CFO? Remind yourself to think less and less about finance
- 09:36 – High-potential candidates have experience operating in a world with constraints
- 12:12 – Entering and leaving college without knowing what you want to do happens
- 13:30 – OPPORTUNITY ALERT—CFO asks you to start a data team from scratch
- 16:27 – CFOs take their knocks too—the key is to learn from them
- 18:50 – Start measuring your impact on your company, not the number of hours you work
- 21:09 – Ask stupid questions all the time—it’s how you learn
- 23:11 – Remind yourself to do things outside of your normal day-to-day
- 25:36 – Not everyone wants to be a manager or CFO and that’s not a bad thing—there are many career paths to take
- 27:22 – Saving time in spreadsheets = productivity, that’s why Ed works for and loves using Cube
- 28:56 – If you can spend time together in person with your team just do it—they will be remembered
Conclusion
Ed is comfortable being uncomfortable.
Taking leaps across career paths and disciplines has stretched him into the CFO he is today.
Building relationships in communities, always asking questions, and actively taking time away from spreadsheets have had a BIG influence on who he is as a leader today.
And given the twists and turns in his career, you may also find him at your local concert venue jamming out with a legend (like John).
Thank you, Ed, for sharing your career story with us.
Where did your unique FP&A journey start?
Share your experiences by replying to this. We read and reply to every email.
Now go have fun making an impact on your business and your career!
See you next week 👊
Cheers,
Drew & Yarty
👉Follow us on LinkedIn
Level up your FP&A game today 👊
