Diary of a CFO | Financial Strategies for Smart Business Growth

When AI can do almost every job, people can no longer earn their living through wages. Futurist Calum Chace calls this the economic singularity, and he says almost nobody is planning for it. For finance leaders, that is not a distant theory. It is a question about cost bases, controls and who owns the value AI creates.

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This is Episode 1 of Voices From The Future (2036), a new series on Diary of a CFO and The King Dems Podcast. Each episode asks one of the world's leading futurists, founders or finance leaders what the decade to 2036 will demand of leaders, and what they should do now so it does not catch them by surprise.

Calum Chace, known to many as "the AI guy", is a futurist, keynote speaker and bestselling author of Surviving AI and The Economic Singularity. He is one of five co-founders of Conscium and its Chief Marketing Officer. Conscium explores whether machines can become conscious and runs an agent verification platform. Before writing about AI, Calum spent 30 years in journalism and business, including at KPMG.

Calum grew up on Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick, but assumed human-level AI was centuries away. Then in 1999 he read Ray Kurzweil and realised superintelligence could arrive in his lifetime. Colleagues tired of hearing about it and called him "the AI guy" sarcastically. He kept the name.

In this episode:

• The economic singularity, a term Calum coined in 2016, and why economists must design the post-automation economy now
• Who will own a fully automated economy, and why sharing its wealth may be the hardest problem of all
• Shadow AI and the "phony war": why most large companies have not deployed AI at scale yet
• Conscium's five levels of AI agents and why agents need verifying before and during deployment
• Ademola's offload, extend and elevate model for AI agents
• Calum's timeline: possibly 10 to 20 years, and a 50 per cent chance of AGI by 2035
• Why AGI is a fleeting moment and superintelligence is the issue that matters
• The "jagged edge": judgement, volition, common sense and a world model that AI still lacks
• The five human revolutions (fire, cognition, agriculture, industry, information) and why AI is not the fourth industrial revolution
• Host and guest disagree: Ademola argues AI will remain a tool given uneven adoption across Africa and the developing world. Calum counters that this argues for slow dispersal, not against arrival, pointing to how fast smartphones and large language models spread

Calum Chace, futurist and co-founder of Conscium, on the economic singularity, AI agents, AGI and the future of finance and work, on Diary of a CFO with Ademola Odewade.

More from Calum Chace:

Website: https://calumchace.com

Conscium: https://conscium.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calum-chace-bb68168/

Hosted by Ademola Odewade: chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich) and Founder of K-DEMS Consulting.

Diary of a CFO: Financial Strategies for Smart Business Growth. Global top 2.5% on Listen Notes.

The King Dems Podcast: Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights. Global top 2% on Listen Notes.

Conceive, believe, strive to thrive and achieve.

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#DiaryOfACFO #VoicesFromTheFuture #EconomicSingularity #FutureOfFinance

Your customers are not lying in your surveys. They simply do not know why they do what they do.

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Johanna Faigelman is a cultural anthropologist, speaker and the founder and CEO of Human Branding, the Toronto consultancy she launched in 2006 to apply anthropology to business strategy. She is the pioneer of Applied Anthropology Thinking (AAT)™, studied at York University and ran planning at a large advertising agency before going out on her own. Human Branding now has more than 40 people working across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, with clients including 11 of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical companies and brands such as Nestlé, Visa and Logitech.

She is an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2026 Ontario finalist, an EY Winning Women 2025 honoree and a 100 Women to Know Winner 2026.

In this episode:

• Why Johanna works on the principle that roughly 80 per cent of decision making sits at the unconscious and subconscious level (her working rule, not a cited study)
• Why she places almost zero value on the answer to a direct question
• Every business problem is a human problem: why doctors who say in surveys they will prescribe a drug still do not
• Applied Anthropology Thinking (AAT)™, the approach she created when she founded Human Branding
• The Who Say Do principle: who people are, how they say things and what they actually do
• Ten years with no holidays: the unglamorous reality of building a bootstrapped consultancy
• Why saying no protects a company's vision more than saying yes
• How Human Branding uses AI: a closed model built about five years ago, with Johanna reporting 30 per cent efficiency gains overall and 80 per cent on analytic grunt work
• Where they differ: Ademola asks what AI will do better than humans in anthropology, and Johanna is not convinced it will do anything better, only that it frees people for the human work
• Her one piece of advice to women founders: your difference is your advantage

Johanna Faigelman, cultural anthropologist and founder and CEO of Human Branding, on consumer behaviour, decision making, Applied Anthropology Thinking, bootstrapping and human-led AI, on The King Dems Podcast and Diary of a CFO with Ademola Odewade.

What is Applied Anthropology Thinking?

It is Johanna Faigelman's approach to using anthropology's methods, especially ethnography, to uncover the hidden drivers of customer behaviour and turn them into marketing and strategy. She built Human Branding around it in 2006.

Can AI replace market research?

Johanna's view is no. AI speeds up the analysis of transcripts and data, but the insight that changes behaviour depends on human wisdom that is often not captured in language at all.

More from Johanna Faigelman: https://humanbranding.com · linkedin.com/in/johannafaigelman

Hosted by Ademola Odewade: chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich) and Founder of K-DEMS Consulting.

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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The voice you hear when you speak is not the one your team hears.

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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

Most finance teams start closing the month before the month has even finished.

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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.

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Most transformation programmes fail because the organisation is quietly protecting the very thing you are trying to change.

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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.

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

What happens to financial judgement when AI, cognitive bias, uncertainty and executive pressure collide in the boardroom?

In this episode of Diary of a CFO, Ademola Odewade sits down with Dr. David Rock, Co-Founder and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Institute and originator of the field of neuroleadership, for a powerful exploration of the neuroscience behind executive decision-making.

This conversation goes beyond accounting and financial strategy.

It examines the brain behind the numbers.

Dr. Rock explains why even highly intelligent executives can make poor decisions under pressure, why recognising your own cognitive biases is harder than most leaders realise and how AI can either strengthen human judgement or encourage cognitive surrender.

One principle captures the conversation perfectly:

“Human in the lead, not human in the loop.”

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why leadership creates three major cognitive challenges: capacity, self-regulation and social cognition
• How pressure and uncertainty can affect executive decision-making
• Why technical competence does not eliminate cognitive bias
• How CFOs and finance leaders can use AI without outsourcing critical judgement
• Why accountants, lawyers, marketers and other executives can interpret the same business information through completely different mental models
• How the SEEDS framework helps teams identify patterns of bias
• How the SCARF Model explains Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness
• Why stronger decision processes can matter more than relying on individual objectivity alone
• Why one of the most important jobs of a modern leader is simply to create clarity

About Dr David Rock

Dr. David Rock is Co-Founder and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Institute and the originator of the term neuroleadership. His work applies cognitive science to leadership, organisational behaviour and human performance. He is the author of Your Brain at Work and the forthcoming Good with Humans, which explores the neuroscience behind human motivation and the SCARF model.

Connect with Dr David Rock

NeuroLeadership Institute:
https://www.neuroleadership.com/

NILES AI:
https://www.askniles.ai/

Book: Good with Humans:

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Ashley Stahl believes the future of work will not simply be about AI replacing humans. The bigger risk is being replaced by someone who knows how to use AI better than you.

In this episode of Diary Of A CFO, Ashley Stahl joins Ademola Odewade for a powerful conversation about career reinvention, artificial intelligence, leadership, personal branding, intuition, entrepreneurship and finding meaningful work.

Ashley’s own career has been anything but linear. She moved from national security into career coaching, entrepreneurship, authorship and helping experts turn their ideas into powerful signature talks. Her journey demonstrates why the skills developed in one chapter of your career may become your competitive advantage in the next.

One of Ashley’s central ideas is simple: you cannot think your way into career clarity. You have to explore your way into it. Careers are experiments. Reinvention requires the willingness to test, learn, fail, recalibrate and move again.

We explore:

• Why successful careers are no longer linear
• How to know when your career is genuinely misaligned
• The difference between your values and your skill set
• Why career transitions should not automatically be feared
• How Ashley moved from national security into entrepreneurship
• Why a TEDx talk transformed her career
• How storytelling can create business opportunities
• Why intuition matters in leadership and business decisions
• The difference between intuition and impulsiveness
• How executives can create space for better decisions
• Why clarity comes from experimentation rather than overthinking
• How transferable skills can power career reinvention
• How AI will reshape careers
• Why employees who learn to leverage AI could outperform those who resist it
• Why follower count may be one of the most overrated personal-brand metrics
• How executives can build authority through ideas rather than virality

Ashley explains that her TEDx experience became a major catalyst for her new career and showed her the commercial and professional power of developing a signature message.

And on AI, her message is especially important: AI still requires strong prompts, strategic thinking and people who understand how to deploy it effectively.

If you are a CFO, finance leader, executive, entrepreneur or ambitious professional wondering how to remain relevant as AI transforms work, this conversation is for you.

🎧 Diary Of A CFO explores the strategies, technologies and leadership principles shaping the future of finance and business.

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How can CFOs and business leaders turn AI investment into measurable financial value?

Oluchi Ikechi-D’Amico, Founder and CEO of Fully Bossed, joins Ademola Odewade on Diary Of A CFO to explain why successful AI transformation requires more than purchasing technology. Organisations must change behaviours, strengthen leadership capabilities and connect AI adoption to measurable outcomes such as revenue growth, cost reduction, operational efficiency and return on investment.

Oluchi spent nearly two decades advising CEOs, boards and major financial institutions. Her experience includes senior roles at Accenture and EY-Parthenon, more than 30 transformation and M&A programmes and transactions with a combined value exceeding $15 billion.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why many organisations invest billions in AI without achieving the expected ROI
• How CFOs can measure the business value of AI adoption
• The difference between adopting AI and enabling behavioural change
• How AI can reduce costs, improve efficiency and create new revenue opportunities
• Why transformation programmes fail without effective leadership
• How to define the right KPIs before investing in business transformation
• Why human judgement, storytelling and executive presence remain essential
• How Oluchi evaluated the risk of leaving an EY partner role to build Fully Bossed
• What major M&A and organisational transformation programmes involve
• Why leadership is defined by impact rather than job title

Oluchi’s message to finance leaders is clear: AI can generate the report, but it cannot replace your ability to challenge the assumptions, defend the analysis and influence decisions in the boardroom.

This conversation is essential listening for CFOs, finance directors, CEOs, founders, investors and transformation leaders seeking to generate measurable returns from AI.

Watch the full video episode:
https://youtu.be/ob5n15FUbaM

Connect with Oluchi Ikechi-D’Amico:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/oli-ikechi/

Discover Fully Bossed:
https://fullybossed.com/

Explore the tools and resources I use to power my podcasts, business and content at:

⁠https://kingdemspodcast.com/tools

Follow Diary Of A CFO for financial strategies, AI insights and practical leadership lessons for smarter business growth.

What is the biggest barrier preventing organisations from achieving a return on their AI investments?

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Eric Chu, CFA, CEO and co-founder of TradeDesk Securities, joins Diary Of A CFO to explain how busy professionals can use AI to research investments more efficiently without outsourcing their judgement.

For professionals with investable income but limited time, this conversation offers a practical framework for thinking about AI, financial regulation, risk management and long-term investing.

Eric built his career across investment banking, hedge funds and data centre development before co-founding an SEC-registered broker-dealer designed specifically for working professionals in their 30s and 40s.

His experience during the 2008 financial crisis, including receiving a job offer from Bear Stearns that disappeared when the firm collapsed, shaped the disciplined approach to risk that now underpins TradeDesk Securities.

You will learn in this episode:

• Why AI’s biggest advantage for investors is time, not information (23:11)
• What happens inside a data centre when you send an AI prompt (20:38)
• Why Eric describes the Bear Stearns collapse as his first real lesson in humility (14:27)
• The regulatory requirements TradeDesk Securities follows as a FINRA and SIPC member (18:17)
• Why individual investors may have a structural advantage over professional fund managers (28:03)
• How Eric and his team build trust in a highly regulated financial industry through direct expertise (31:44)
• Where AI in finance could go next, including sector-specific AI engines (33:58)
• Eric’s honest and non-committal perspective on cryptocurrency as an asset class (38:07)

Guest:

Eric Chu, CFA, is CEO and co-founder of TradeDesk Securities, an SEC-registered broker-dealer created to help working professionals invest using AI-powered insights and portfolio tools.

He holds an MBA from NYU Stern and has spent almost 20 years working across investment banking, hedge funds and public company finance. His experience includes senior roles developing and financing data centre platforms across Asia.

Links

• Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-chu-cfa-7159567/
• Guest company: https://www.tradesk.co/

Diary Of A CFO ranks in the Global Top 3% on Listen Notes and reaches audiences across 130+ countries.

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#DiaryOfACFO #AIInvesting #Investing #FinancialStrategy #ArtificialIntelligence #WealthManagement #RiskManagement #FutureOfFinance

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What separates leaders who achieve success from those who create lasting impact?

In this episode of Diary Of A CFO, host Ademola Odewade sits down with Lameen Abdul-Malik, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, transformation advisor, lawyer and former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leader, to explore how leaders build systems, develop future leaders and create impact that lasts for generations. From Nobel Peace Prize-winning work to Africa's development, healthcare transformation and leadership, this conversation is packed with practical lessons every executive can apply.

Drawing on more than 25 years of international leadership, Lameen shares lessons from helping establish Zambia's first cancer hospital, contributing to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning work of the IAEA and advising governments, CEOs and institutions across Africa. He explains why great leadership is measured not by titles or recognition, but by the lives transformed and the systems left behind.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why impact matters more than outputs and activity
• How world-class leaders build systems instead of chasing recognition
• The leadership lessons behind the Nobel Peace Prize journey
• Why succession planning determines whether leadership truly succeeds
• How to measure qualitative impact alongside quantitative metrics
• Why mindset always comes before skillset and toolset
• Lessons from building Zambia's first cancer hospital
• The biggest opportunities for Africa's future development
• How to define success on your own terms instead of society's expectations
• Why humility, service and courage are competitive advantages for modern leaders

Guest Links:

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lameen-abdul-malik/
📖 Book: IMPACT Framework

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Hosted by Ademola Odewade, MBA, ACA, BSc (Economics)

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Why do brilliant business strategies fail despite strong financial plans, ambitious targets and carefully designed performance measures?

Dr. Suzy Burke argues that strategy may live in a slide deck, but culture lives in what happens on Tuesday morning.

Dr. Suzy Burke is an organisational psychologist, four-time founder, former Fortune 20 executive, co-founder of Accountability Inc. and lead author of Headamentals: How Leaders Can Crack Negative Self-Talk.

In this practical conversation with Ademola Odewade, she explains why CFOs and business leaders must look beyond financial performance to understand the culture, accountability and human behaviour driving the numbers.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why brilliant strategies fail faster and more expensively inside broken cultures
• How CFOs can identify cultural problems before they become financially expensive
• Why accountability should be a daily operating habit, not a disciplinary tool
• The three areas to examine when inheriting a struggling organisation
• How clarity, visible scorecards, named owners and weekly check-ins improve execution
• Why metrics only create value when people take ownership of the outcomes
• How healthy cultures surface bad news before it damages performance
• Why senior executives receive less honest feedback as they rise
• How psychological safety strengthens decision-making, innovation and execution
• Why measurement bridges the gap between vision and financial performance
• How leaders can balance short-term pressures with long-term sustainability
• Which human capabilities AI cannot replace
• How AI can reduce administrative work and preserve time for judgement, relationships and trust
• Why a leader’s negative self-talk can influence the performance of an entire team

Dr. Burke also shares lessons from Xerox, her approach to sustainable culture change and the systems leaders can use to turn strategy into measurable execution.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that financial results do not exist independently of people. Culture shapes behaviour, behaviour shapes execution and execution ultimately shapes the numbers.

Connect with Dr. Suzy Burke:

Website: https://www.suzyburke.phd/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzy-burke-phd-ab77071a

Headamentals: https://headamentals.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Headamentals-Leaders-Defeat-Negative-Self-Talk/dp/1774585898

Discover Diary Of A CFO:

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Hosted by Ademola Odewade, MBA, ACA, BSc (Economics), Chartered Accountant, former Big Four professional and founder and CEO of K-Dems Consulting Ltd.

Subscribe, share this episode with a CFO or business leader in your network and tell us:

What is the clearest sign that an organisation’s culture is beginning to damage its financial performance?

#CFO #FinancialLeadership #OrganizationalCulture #StrategyExecution #ArtificialIntelligence

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What does it take to become a strategic CFO in the AI era?

Wassia Kamon explains how finance leaders earn boardroom trust, influence business strategy, build visible authority and maintain human accountability as technology accelerates financial work.

Wassia is a CFO, finance educator and 2025 Atlanta Business Chronicle CFO of the Year. In this candid conversation with Ademola Odewade on Diary Of A CFO, she moves beyond technical finance to reveal the judgement, relationships, resilience and intentional visibility that shape trusted financial leadership.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why the modern CFO must understand marketing, HR, technology and the wider business model, not only accounting and reporting.

• How CFOs earn trust by listening first, understanding why existing processes exist and connecting finance with business priorities.

• Why visible expertise can shorten the time required to build credibility before an interview, board meeting or strategic conversation.

• How joining a nonprofit or professional board can reduce boardroom fear and strengthen executive judgement.

• Why founders should treat debt as a strategic financial tool while understanding its cost, risk and purpose.

• Which finance activities AI can automate and why accountability, controls, explanation and final judgement must remain human.

• Why finance professionals who ignore AI may face the same disadvantage as graduates who never learned Excel.

• How executive presence can be developed through observation, listening, composure and disciplined focus.

• Why mentorship, continuous learning and intentional personal branding can accelerate a finance career.

• How ambitious leaders can pursue professional impact without allowing achievement to consume their health, family or identity.

About Wassia Kamon

Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA, is Chief Financial Officer at Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs. She was named the 2025 Atlanta Business Chronicle CFO of the Year in the community service category and is a two-time CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 honoree.

She also serves as Guest Faculty for the Wharton Online FP&A Certificate Program and hosts The Diary of a CFO.

Connect with Wassia

Website: https://www.wassiakamon.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wassiakamon

The Diary of a CFO: https://thediaryofacfo.com

Explore Diary Of A CFO

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DiaryOfACFO

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Diary Of A CFO ranks in the Global Top 3% on Listen Notes and reaches audiences across 120+ countries as part of The King Dems Podcast Network. Help us move towards the Global Top 1% by following, rating and reviewing the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Company culture is not just an HR responsibility. It is a financial performance driver. Arthur Carmazzi explains why CFOs and executive leaders who understand organizational psychology make better decisions, build stronger teams and create more resilient businesses.

In this episode of Diary Of A CFO, Ademola Odewade sits down with Arthur Carmazzi, globally recognised as one of the world's leading experts on organisational culture and creator of Directive Communication Psychology.

Together they explore how finance leaders can move beyond spreadsheets to build organisations where communication, trust and accountability become measurable competitive advantages.

You'll learn:• Why culture directly impacts profitability and business performance

• How CFOs influence organisational culture beyond finance

• The hidden financial cost of poor leadership communication

• Why psychological safety improves execution and innovation

• How neurodiversity can become an executive advantage

• Practical leadership frameworks for finance executives

• Why AI should enhance executive judgment rather than replace it

• How communication psychology improves decision making

Whether you're a CFO, finance director, founder, CEO, board member or aspiring executive, this conversation provides practical leadership insights that extend far beyond finance.

The strongest businesses are not built by numbers alone. They are built by leaders who understand people.

Diary Of A CFO reaches business leaders across 120+ countries and is ranked among the Global Top 3% of podcasts on Listen Notes.

⭐ Help us reach the Global Top 1% by following the show and leaving a rating on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Power your business with the same tools we use:
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Connect with Arthur CarmazziLinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthurcarmazzi/

Website:
https://www.carmazzi.net

Connect with Ademola OdewadeLinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ademola-isimeme-ai-odewade-b883a0382/

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What makes a brand trusted, remembered and chosen in the AI era? David Aaker explains brand equity, branding strategy, purpose-driven branding and how leaders build emotional connection in crowded markets.

David Aaker is widely recognized as one of the most influential thinkers in modern branding. In this powerful conversation with Ademola Odewade on Diary Of A CFO, he explains why branding is not just a logo, campaign or slogan. It is a strategic business asset that shapes loyalty, trust, differentiation and long-term business growth.

This episode explores why many companies lose brand power through short-term thinking, why AI can either strengthen or weaken brand strategy, why purpose-driven brands outperform transactional brands and why storytelling remains one of the most powerful tools in leadership, finance and business growth.

David also breaks down the Aaker Brand Vision Model, brand equity, memory anchors, emotional connection, category creation and how entrepreneurs can build powerful brands without massive advertising budgets.

Whether you are a CFO, CEO, founder, finance leader, consultant or entrepreneur, this episode will help you think beyond quarterly performance and build an organisation that compounds value through trust.

Key insights from this episode:

• Why brand equity is one of the most valuable business assets an organisation can build
• How brand loyalty transforms branding from a marketing activity into a leadership responsibility
• Why AI in marketing can unintentionally encourage dangerous short-term thinking
• How purpose-driven branding creates long-term value, customer trust and competitive advantage
• Why storytelling is more persuasive and memorable than data alone
• How emotional connection strengthens customer loyalty and sustainable business growth
• How AI can help entrepreneurs develop stronger brand positioning and messaging
• Why category creation is more powerful than competing on price
• The leadership principles behind building authentic, trusted brands

Guest: David Aaker

Host: Ademola Odewade

Podcast: Diary Of A CFO

Connect with David Aaker

LinkedIn: Search "David Aaker"

YouTube: Search "David Aaker branding"

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How should CFOs and business leaders prepare for a world of rising geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and rapid technological change?

In this episode of Diary Of A CFO, Ademola Odewade speaks with globally respected forecaster, investor, strategist and author David Murrin about the macroeconomic forces that could reshape financial leadership over the next decade.

Drawing on decades of research into history, geopolitics and financial markets, David explains why understanding long-term cycles may be one of the greatest competitive advantages for today's finance leaders.

Together, they explore how the changing balance of power between China and the West, artificial intelligence, global debt, market psychology and geopolitical risk could influence business strategy, capital allocation and organisational resilience.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why geopolitical risk should be on every CFO's agenda
• How the rise of China could reshape the global business landscape
• Why history often repeats itself in financial markets and world affairs
• How market psychology influences investment decisions and economic cycles
• What AI means for finance, productivity and competitive advantage
• How leaders can build resilience during periods of uncertainty
• Why strategic thinking matters more than ever in a rapidly changing world
• Practical insights for founders, CFOs, investors and senior executives navigating global disruption

Guest Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-murrin-06406820/

Website: https://www.davidmurrin.co.uk/

About Diary Of A CFO

Diary Of A CFO is ranked in the Global Top 3% on Listen Notes and features world-class conversations on finance, leadership, strategy, AI and business growth.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show, leave a rating on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and share it with a colleague. Your support helps us continue bringing insights from some of the world's leading business minds.

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Most businesses do not lose because their product is weak. They lose because their marketing fails to protect margin, communicate value and convert attention into revenue.

In this episode of Diary Of A CFO, Ademola Odewade speaks with Australian marketing strategist John Dwyer about the direct link between marketing strategy, customer acquisition, pricing power and profitable business growth.

John has worked with brands including McDonald's, KFC, 7-Eleven and the NRL. He also created one of Australia’s most successful celebrity-led marketing campaigns featuring Jerry Seinfeld.

This conversation is a practical masterclass for founders, CFOs, finance leaders, consultants, coaches and professional service firms that want to generate more leads without destroying margins through constant discounting.

You will learn:

✅ Why price wars weaken profit margins and business value

✅ How direct response marketing supports faster revenue growth

✅ Why businesses should compete through value, not discounts

✅ How incentives can drive customer action without damaging pricing power

✅ Why authority and credibility influence customer acquisition

✅ How case studies become commercial assets

✅ Why every business needs to own its audience through a database

✅ How contests and smart offers can reduce lead generation costs

✅ Why talented experts often lose to better-positioned competitors

✅ How founders can turn marketing into a measurable growth engine

Guest links:

Website: https://theinstituteofwow.com/

Leads Promo: https://leadscontest.com/

Vacations Promo: https://vacationsincentive.com/

Diary Of A CFO ranks among the Global Top 3% on ListenNotes and reaches listeners across 120+ countries through the K-Dems Consulting media ecosystem.

Help us grow by following, rating and reviewing the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Motivation fails when leadership is built on fear, pressure and short term numbers. In this episode of Diary Of A CFO, Dr. Lance Secretan explains why inspirational leadership, human culture and values based decision making create stronger business growth, better performance and more sustainable organizations.

EPISODE SUMMARY

What if the biggest leadership mistake in business is confusing motivation with inspiration?

In this powerful Diary Of A CFO conversation, Dr. Lance Secretan, former Fortune 100 CEO, bestselling author of 24 books and one of the world’s leading authorities on inspirational leadership, joins Ademola Odewade to explain why leaders who focus only on numbers often destroy the very performance they are trying to improve.

For CFOs, founders, executives and business leaders, this episode is a reminder that financial performance is not separate from human performance. Culture, trust, values and inspiration directly affect productivity, retention, execution and long term enterprise value.

Dr. Secretan challenges conventional thinking on performance appraisals, engagement surveys, fear based management and toxic leadership. He also introduces his memorable CASTLE framework for building organizations that people genuinely want to serve, support and grow with.

CASTLE stands for:

• Courage
• Authenticity
• Service
• Truth
• Love
• Effectiveness

This conversation explores leadership, business growth, organizational culture, financial performance, AI, storytelling, authority building and the future of work through a deeply human lens.

KEY INSIGHTS

• Why fear based motivation may create short term compliance but damages long term business performance
• Why CFOs and executives must understand the link between culture, people and financial results
• How inspirational leadership improves trust, execution, retention and organizational performance
• Why performance appraisals and engagement surveys often fail to create real accountability
• Why people should never become secondary to numbers in sustainable business leadership
• How the CASTLE framework helps leaders build values based organizations with lasting impact
• Why toxic leadership creates hidden financial costs that many companies fail to measure
• How storytelling helps experts, founders and executives build authority that compounds over time
• Why visibility does not always equal impact in leadership, consulting and business growth
• Why AI should serve human judgment, creativity and leadership instead of replacing them

ABOUT DR. LANCE SECRETAN

Dr. Lance Secretan is one of the world’s foremost authorities on inspirational leadership. He is a former Fortune 100 CEO, bestselling author of 24 books, executive coach and founder of The Secretan Center.

His work has influenced leaders and organizations across the world, including Microsoft, Starbucks and many global enterprises. He is widely respected for helping leaders build inspiring cultures, values based organizations and workplaces where people can do meaningful work.

CONNECT WITH DR. LANCE SECRETAN

Website:
https://secretan.com

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/secretan/

CONNECT WITH ADEMOLA ODEWADE

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ademola-isimeme-ai-odewade-b883a0382/

The King Dems Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/@kingdemspodcast

Diary Of A CFO:
https://www.youtube.com/@DiaryOfACFO

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Disability inclusion and neurodiversity are not charity. They are human rights and economic opportunities. In this episode, disability advocate and Daughter of Ellen founder Eyvonne Anthony-Eleko explains why Africa cannot afford to leave talent behind and how inclusive leadership can unlock human potential.

EPISODE SUMMARY

What happens when society stops seeing disability first and starts seeing people first?

In this powerful conversation, Eyvonne Anthony-Eleko shares her journey with ADHD, her mission to advance accessibility across Africa and why inclusive leadership is essential for economic growth, innovation and human dignity.

From education reform and workplace inclusion to AI and the future of accessibility, this episode challenges leaders to rethink how talent is recognized and developed.

KEY INSIGHTS

• Why disability inclusion is a human rights issue rather than charity.
• How neurodivergent individuals possess strengths that organizations often overlook
• Why accessibility should be built into systems from the beginning rather than treated as an afterthought.
• How AI can accelerate accessibility and inclusion when designed responsibly.
• Why Nigeria and Africa are losing valuable talent by excluding people with disabilities.
• How faith, resilience and self-acceptance empower neurodivergent leaders.
• Why education systems must celebrate different forms of brilliance.
• How inclusive workplaces reward outcomes rather than conformity.
• Why executives shape culture more than policies.
• Why the future belongs to societies that embrace every form of human potential.

Guest: Eyvonne Anthony-Eleko

Website:https://daughterofelen.org

Instagram (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/yvonne_anthony

Instagram (Organization): https://www.instagram.com/daughterofelen

The King Dems Podcast ranks in the Global Top 2% on ListenNotes. Help us reach the Top 1% by leaving a rating on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Artificial intelligence is transforming productivity, employment, taxation and economic growth faster than governments and businesses can adapt.

In this episode of Diary of a CFO, entrepreneur and political reform advocate Steve Endacott explores how AI could reshape labour markets, public finances, taxation systems and long-term economic competitiveness.

Steve argues that AI will accelerate automation, redefine workforce productivity and force governments, business leaders and policymakers to rethink how economies function in an increasingly AI-driven world.

What happens when entrepreneurial thinking is applied to economic policy?

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this fascinating conversation, Steve Endacott shares his vision for a more productive, competitive and AI-enabled Britain.

From taxation reform and youth unemployment to energy security, workforce transformation and the future of economic growth, Steve discusses the opportunities and risks facing businesses, governments and citizens as artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy.

This is not just a conversation about public policy.

It is a conversation about productivity, prosperity and the future of economic growth.

KEY INSIGHTS

• Why AI could become the biggest workforce disruption in modern economic history
• How automation may reshape employment, productivity and corporate strategy
• Why current taxation systems may become unsustainable in an AI-driven economy
• How governments can prepare for large-scale workforce transformation
• Why youth unemployment remains one of the UK's most significant economic challenges
• How nuclear energy could underpin long-term economic competitiveness
• Why lifelong learning and continuous reskilling are becoming essential career strategies
• How AI copilots could dramatically increase productivity across industries
• Why entrepreneurial thinking may be critical to solving complex economic challenges
• How Britain can strengthen its competitive position in an increasingly AI-powered global economy

GUEST LINKS

Steve Endacott:https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenendacott

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Diary of a CFO ranks in the Global Top 3 percent on ListenNotes.

Help us reach the Global Top 1 percent by following the podcast and leaving a rating on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

POWER YOUR GROWTH WITH THE EXACT TOOLS WE USE

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