Is it time to engage the services of a fractional CFO, a chief Financial officer?

How are you supposed to know? What can they bring to the party that's different from a CPA or a bookkeeper that you're currently working with?

Those are a few of the questions we'll explore with today's guest, finance expert John Hannum.

* How a fractional CFO differs from a bookkeeper and a CPA

* Whether a startup should consider consulting with a fractional CFO

* The value a fractional CFO can bring to a small business

* What factors to look for when hiring a fractional CFO

* And much more.

John is the founder and CEO of PPS Solutions PC, a firm that provides Fractional CFO services and full-service accounting and finance to growing businesses.

With a 25+ year background in corporate finance and as CFO of companies with phenomenal growth trajectories, he now focuses on bringing the Financial Firepower commonly employed by large successful companies to the smaller, growing businesses that need it most.

If you liked this interview, you might also enjoy our other Finance episodes.

Contact John and connect with him on LinkedIn, his company LinkedIn profile, and on YouTube.

Also visit his business website.

Rating and reviewing the show helps us grow our audience and allows us to bring you more of the rich information you need to succeed from our high powered guests. Leave a review at Lovethepodcast.com/BusinessConfidential.

Effective leadership is something every organization needs and we’ve known about the art and science of effective leadership and human team management for decades.

But yet there’s a gap between people in leadership positions knowing and doing. And it begs the question, why? Why is it so hard? What is standing in our way?

Those are a few of the things we’ll explore with Dr. Margie Oleson.

* How senior management often leaves effective leadership to chance

* The 3 tactical things needed for more effective leadership

* The perils of meeting overload

* How clarity around goals reflects effective leadership

* The 3 things you need to have clarity around goals

* And much more

Margie Oleson helps business leaders crush their goals by installing processes and habits for better clarity and alignment among the top team. She is a dynamic speaker and leadership expert who shares knowledge from her doctorate in organization development and decades of experience working with leaders and groups in many industries and companies.

She recognizes that companies aren’t set up to develop leaders or help them adopt the right leadership skills and behaviors. They are left to ‘make it up as they go – learning from past leaders… who were left on their own as well. Having leaders who know how to lead high-performing teams is the greatest strategic advantage for any organization – remembering Wickman (Traction): ‘As goes the leadership team, so goes the company.’

At the heart of her legacy is Top Team Accelerator™, a transformative force driving leadership development and cohesive, high-performing top teams… with changes that last in the future. She also helps leaders fix their meetings, use the Working Genius assessment to improve planning and execution, and right-size interactions across departments to break down silos and increase clarity and alignment.

Navigating diverse industries from aeronautics to fintech, Margie’s client roster reads like a global who’s who, helping redefine companies in Financial Services, Health Care, Manufacturing, Retail, Higher Education, and Nonprofits / Government.

If you liked this interview, you might also enjoy our other Leadership and Management episodes.

Contact Dr. Oleson and connect with her on LinkedIn and YouTube.

And be sure to check out her consulting website and her Top Team Accelerator.

Rating and reviewing the show helps us grow our audience and allows us to bring you more of the rich information you need to succeed from our high powered guests. Leave a review at Lovethepodcast.com/BusinessConfidential.

Being able to maximize human capital to optimize employee engagement is the unspoken goal of every business.

Yet not all talent is created equal, and too often entrepreneurs, especially those in startup mode, rely on their gut feel and past experience in assembling their teams.

But today's guest says a data driven approach to decision making helps sidestep predictable people problems and can actually accelerate your business success. Discover what data you need and how to use it.

* What you need to know before collecting data to maximize human capital

* 5 non-financial metrics that help maximize human capital

* How to create healthy work environments to help maximize human capital

* And much more.

DR. NIKKI BLACKSMITH is co-founder and CEO of Blackhawke Behavior Science and an adjunct faculty member at American University in Washington, D.C.

She has nearly 15 years of experience as a scientist-practitioner, focusing on psychometrics, selection, decision-making, and entrepreneurial performance.

She has also published over 80 conference papers, book chapters, and journal articles, and her scientific research has been featured in top-tier academic publications, including American Psychologist, the Journal of Business and Psychology, Personality and Individual Differences, and the Journal of Behavioral Decision-Making, and media outlets including New York Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, and BBC.

She’s the co-author of the new book: Data-Driven Decision Making in Entrepreneurship: Tools for Maximizing Human Capital (CRC Press; April 2, 2024).

If you liked this interview, you might also enjoy our other Human Resources episodes.

Contact Nikki and connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Also check out her website and her new book, Data Driven Decision Making in Entrepreneurship: Tools for Maximizing Human Capital.

Rating and reviewing the show helps us grow our audience and allows us to bring you more of the rich information you need to succeed from our high powered guests. Leave a review at Lovethepodcast.com/BusinessConfidential.