The CFO of one of the world’s largest staffing and employment firms doesn’t see himself as a finance guy.

“I never went into finance to be a finance person,” Derrek Gafford, EVP and CFO of TrueBlue, told CFO Brew. “I went into finance to be a business person.”

That comes through in the emphasis he places on strategy, innovation, and people. Gafford has been with TrueBlue for more than 20 years, 18 of them as its CFO. Over that time, he and CEO Steve Cooper grew the company from an $850 million general labor staffing firm to a $2.4 billion workforce solutions firm that has helped businesses find staff in more than 70 countries.

A commitment to employee engagement has underpinned Gafford’s success.

Click here to read how Gafford creates a culture of employee engagement.—CV

Here’s a cold-hard fact: The “typical” day in the life of a CFO…doesn’t exist. From managing books to assessing risks to holding high-stakes calls with stakeholders, an exec’s schedule is often a total whirlwind. The trick to staying on top?

You need a daily routine, and Oracle NetSuite’s got you covered. They’ve put together The CFO’s Daily Checklist to help you uncover the daily methods top-notch leaders practice in order to perform at ultra-high levels.

Wanna sneak peek? This bad boy has tons of insights on:

• effectively communicating with other departments
• setting aside time each day for deep work
• mentoring potential successors

Get the guide and make your days count.

In CFO Brew’s latest live event, Katie Fogertey, CFO of Shake Shack, spoke with editor Drew Adamek about building and executing efficient strategy amid turbulent times. Here are some key takeaways from their conversation.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How do you go about balancing the strategic needs of the job with the operational needs of the job?

Shake Shack is, at its core, a multi-unit restaurant company. We have over 370 company-owned restaurants. In total, we have almost 500 restaurants system-wide. So, being able to partner with operations is absolutely critical. And really with strategy, you have to dedicate a chunk of your time to making sure that your strategy is the right strategy, and running your models and really understanding where your opportunities are, which is very important.

Anybody can come up with those types of opportunities. It doesn’t mean a thing to shareholder value creation, or to the long-term health of your company, if you don’t actually implement them. So, I think when you’re setting strategy, it’s best to align on strategy that you agree with, that your CEO is behind, that you can get the org to rally behind and just execute that, rather than introducing a lot of churn along the way.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t be flexible about how you’re getting there, but your destination should be your destination unless something radically different happens.

For more of Katie’s strategic insights, click here.—NP

Greg Robbins is the new chief financial officer at Odyssey Elixir, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company that produces mushroom-enhanced sparkling energy drinks. Previously, he held finance and CFO roles at other functional beverage companies, including Red Bull.

What are some ways you’ve made finance accessible to non-finance people?

The CFO is really a business partner these days…Being the business partner, you’re helping other people do their job better, which means that you’re providing them information. It could be financial information, it could be some insights, but anything to help them do their job better is the key. And educating them is a big part of it.

At Red Bull years back, I created financial acumen teams, one goal of which was to get sales and marketing people to think about not just driving top-line revenue but also profitability and cash flow. It got them thinking about different aspects that are important to the business that they maybe weren’t focused on enough. You make it relevant to their position so they can relate to it.

Click here for more on creating finance fluent teams.—CV

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 29 tons. That’s how much gold China added to its reserves in August. China is stocking up on gold as it moves to ease its dependence on, and the dominance of, the dollar as a global reserve currency. (Business Insider)

Quote: “We’re seeing borrowers come to grips with the reality that rates are probably not going lower in the very near term,” said Maureen O’Connor, Wells Fargo managing director, global head of high-grade debt syndicate, on increasing borrowing costs for companies. Companies are issuing bonds in record numbers to lock in rates ahead of possible further hikes. (the Wall Street Journal)

Read: The mouse house can’t seem to get its succession plans in order. (CNBC)

Strategy steps: The trick to staying on top of your CFO game? A sharp routine. Fortunately, NetSuite’s new daily checklist guide has all the insights and tips you need. Read here.*

Tune in: Get all the tech stack deets for your accounting needs at CFO Brew’s virtual event on Sept. 28, sponsored by Xero. Register for free.*

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