Austin, Texas—How can a CFO become a better leader, not just for the finance team but for the entire organization?
On Tuesday, decorated U.S. Army officer (pictured above), your leadership legacygave more than 400 attendees at the Fall 2025 CFO Leadership Conference keen insights on how to unlock your leadership potential. We have summarized them into nine main points.
Leadership is selfless service..
“If service is below you, then leadership is above you,” McCulloch said. Leaders must lead by example in everything they do every day. Because “team members are always watching.”
You are the moral, ethical, and legal compass of your organization.
“If we want to make this country as great as it can be, we have to get back to doing good,” McCulloch said. “And that's your job as a leader. If you're a leader, you have to be accountable.”
It also means developing an organization's culture, which requires a clear vision and a clear plan. “And vision and culture need to go together,” McCulloch said.
Tell your team your “why.”
When McCulloch was in the Army, he admits it took him a while to understand that there was nothing wrong with having an 18-year-old come up to him and ask why he needed to carry out an order. “What I discovered is that if you could explain why; [your team] “They'll do whatever you want them to do. The people working for you that you have the privilege of leading will get you there, and if they don't know where you want to go and why you want to go, how can they help you?” he said.
Be decisive. In other words, make a decision.
“Have you ever worked for someone here who can't make decisions? That's awful,” McCulloch said. “Not only do you lose all trust in the organization, you lose all trust in the leader.'' When McCulloch asks leaders why they haven't made a decision, the typical answer is “We didn't have enough information.'' But “a world where you have all the information you need to make a decision is called Fantasyland.”
Hold people accountable and delegate authority.
Many problems in leadership today stem from the fact that people often use the three words accountability, authority, and responsibility interchangeably. “These are three different words with different meanings,” McCulloch said. We know that accountability and responsibility are dirty words in today's society. You have to get over it. We have to get back to holding everyone accountable. ”
“The best leaders I've ever worked with delegated as much authority as possible to the people they contracted for projects, missions, and work, and let them do the work,” he continued. “If you haven't given them permission, how can they do that without coming back to you every five minutes and asking for permission? This is a waste of their time and yours.”
improve communication.
If you can't stand up and speak in front of people, you can't be a leader, McCulloch says. But you can become someone who can do it well. Because it's a skill like anything else. To successfully communicate with people, “you need to be concise, concise, and easily understood,” McCulloch says. “When communicating to others, the adage 'If it can be misunderstood, it will be misunderstood' is very true.”
Have a mentor and be a mentor.
McCulloch said, “There's no need for a mentor to be within your organization, there's no need for a mentor to be above you, there's no need for a mentor to be in a profession.” In fact, McCulloch advised participants to have non-professional mentors because “everyone in the field has been educated the same way.”
Leadership is about getting results..
Good leaders demand results from their teams, McCulloch emphasized, “because in the real world, results matter.” Not everyone can win a trophy. “In the real world, where you work and where I work, results matter and you have to demand results from people.”
Please give it to me.
McCulloch advised the finance leaders in attendance to continue developing their leadership skills through reading, attending conferences, and writing a leadership journal. And recognize this fact: great leadership is passed down from generation to generation and is what makes a great nation. [or companies or any other group of people].
“Your legacy is that you will help create the next generation of leaders, and they will help create the next generation of leaders, and they will create the next generation of leaders,” McCulloch said.
