12th January, 2026
The stories and ideas that stayed with us
Looking back at the conversations we had on the Chat CFO Podcast in 2025, it’s clear that finance leadership is becoming far less linear than any job description suggests. Across pressure moments, career shifts, exits, and growth environments, the strongest CFOs are those who can sit with uncertainty, carry emotional weight, and help others understand what comes next.
Here are some of the biggest lessons from Chat CFO last year.
1. Leadership under pressure shows up in the quiet moments
Mark Buckley
Mark’s story was not about the mechanics of a US IPO; it was about how leadership behaves when there is nowhere to hide. The combination of capital pressure, public scrutiny, and personal uncertainty forced him to slow down, reflect, and get honest about what kind of leader he wanted to be next. A clear takeaway was that senior leadership doesn’t show up in boardroom presentations. It shows up in moments of uncertainty, self-doubt, and how you treat people when the pressure feels personal.
2. The modern CFO is a storyteller, not just a number checker
Benyam Hagos
Benyam made it clear that CFO effectiveness today is tied directly to narrative. Whether dealing with boards, investors, or internal teams, the ability to explain where the business is heading and why matters as much as accuracy. He spoke about design, presentation, and momentum as part of the finance role, reframing finance work as something that must be reconciled as well as understood, felt, and believed.
3. Exits are emotional before they are technical
Tom Platford
Tom’s exit story highlighted something that rarely gets airtime. The sale of a business carries months of tension and second-guessing, with emotional fatigue creeping into even the most technical decisions. His reflections showed how CFOs often carry both the commercial logic and the emotional weight of an exit, particularly when teams are unaware of what is unfolding. The lesson here is that exits demand emotional resilience, not just financial fluency.
4. People strategy is business strategy
Jenny Collins
Jenny’s career across recruitment, technology and investment environments reinforced one consistent lesson: the people a business needs depend on what it is trying to achieve. Moving from rapid experimentation to disciplined growth requires different leadership skills, incentives and ways of working.
Her advice was to define those requirements early, assess candidates against clear criteria and think carefully about what will keep good people engaged. As private equity hold periods lengthen, that means recognising progress along the way, rather than tying every reward to an eventual exit.
Jenny also explored where AI can improve hiring. Automation can help with research and administration, while structured interviews and direct conversations remain essential to understanding how someone thinks, works with others and responds under pressure.
Read Jenny’s insights on leadership across private equity and venture capital