It’s easy to call the CFO pessimistic when the CEO is pushing for growth. But here’s the plain truth: they have completely different jobs, and that creates necessary tension.

The CEO is focused on catching the next wave of opportunity; Growth, Revenue, and Market Share. A colleague of mine calls it, "Feeding the Dragon." The CFO, bless their hearts, is focused on the life raft, Preservation, Liquidity, and Risk management.

The CFO is the essential brakes on the growth engine, driven by the CEO. But a critical mistake companies make is letting that tension distract them from the most important question: Is the operation "structurally ready" for either growth or a downturn? Forget stability, if you're not growing, you're failing slowly. The two roles are simply different sides of the same coin.

The failure to plan for "Operational Readiness" is how you miss the next wave or get crushed by it. That’s what we at BEC focus on: bridging both worlds.

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