Cameron Kinloch

I am a Board Director, former CFO & COO, and advisor to high-growth CEOs and CFOs with experience across SaaS, consumer, fintech, and global markets. Over 20+ years, I’ve led 4 exits, supported 2 IPO journeys, and partnered with founders, boards, and investors through the moments that define a company’s trajectory.

My career spans high-growth venture-backed companies, public-company transitions, and complex strategic situations. I bring experience from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as well as executive roles where I’ve scaled companies through hypergrowth - from tens of millions to hundreds of millions in revenue.

Examples of impact:
↳ Led Weights & Biases through a strategic exit to CoreWeave after 10x ARR growth
↳ Turned around a $200M+ P&L at Bulletproof, achieving profitability in six months
↳ Scaled Sunrun and Box through their IPO journeys, building FP&A and public-company readiness
↳ Guided multiple VC-backed companies through successful exits to private equity and strategic buyers
↳ Served as Board Director across public and private companies, including Finance, Audit, Risk, and Governance Committees

Today, my work centers on three areas:

1. Board Service
I serve on public and private boards, including EROAD (NZX/ASX) and Copper Cow Coffee, partnering with CEOs on strategy, governance, M&A, and scaling through inflection points.

2. Advising CEOs & CFOs
I help leaders navigate growth, fundraising, M&A, and strategic alternatives, with a focus on the leadership alignment required during critical transitions.

3. Finance Leadership at Inflection Points
I work with sitting CFOs and CEOs during the moments that matter most: first 100 days in role, preparing for IPO, leading M&A, scaling the finance function, and strengthening the CFO–Board partnership.

If you’re navigating a pivotal moment - or preparing your company for its next chapter - reach out at cameron.kinloch@gmail.com.

Chief Financial Officer

We are building the best in-class, enterprise grade tools for AI developers. Our vision is to be the single system of records for all things AI within an organization.

Used by teams at NVIDIA, OpenAI, Lyft, Blue River Technology, Toyota, and MILA, W&B is part of the new standard of best practices for AI.

After 15 years in the C-suite and 4 board seats, I’ve noticed the same mistakes that quietly stop talented finance leaders from becoming CFO:

1) They think like controllers, not operators.

CFOs don’t just report numbers - they shape decisions.

If you never talk about customers, product, competitive pressure, or revenue levers, you’re signaling you’re a functional expert… not an enterprise leader.

2) They build relationships up, not across.

Great CFOs aren’t just trusted by the CEO and board.

They’re trusted by GTM, Product, Ops, and People because they show up early, listen, and help solve real problems.

3) They can model a forecast but not tell the story.

The CFOs who earn board confidence connect everything in one clean thread: what’s happening, why it matters, what options exist, and the trade-offs behind each path.

Boards remember the narrative - not the spreadsheet.

4) They wait to be invited in.

Future CFOs don’t sit back. They initiate scenario plans, pressure-test strategy, and surface risks before anyone asks.

5) They stay stuck in precision mode.

Perfect accuracy slows companies down.

Standout CFOs set decision thresholds, embrace scenario ranges, and call out the unknowns so the business can move faster.

6) They solve today’s problem, not the next stage.

Boards choose the leader who can scale the company from $20M → $50M, $50M → $200M, or pre-IPO → public.

Your mindset must shift with the stage.

7) They underestimate how much the CFO role is leadership.

Most misses aren’t technical - they’re about influence.
CFOs lead rooms, drive alignment, and bring clarity in moments where ambiguity is high.

The difference between a great finance leader and a CFO isn’t technical skill.
It’s how you think, how you lead, and how you show up.

PS: I coach finance leaders on strategic storytelling, board communication, and executive presence. If you’d like to explore working together, send me a DM.

Board Director | CFO & COO | 4 Exits, 2 IPOs | Advisor to High-Growth CEOs and CFOs

Forbes called her the most powerful and influential CFO of the last decade…

But when Google hired Ruth Porat in 2015, most analysts doubted she was the right fit.

A Wall Street operator at an innovation-driven tech giant? 
Many assumed her discipline would slow Google down.

The opposite happened:

📈 Alphabet’s market value grew past $3 trillion during her tenure
🚀 The stock jumped after her early earnings calls
💡 The company consistently beat revenue and profit expectations

Here’s what she actually changed - and what today’s CFOs can learn from her:

1) Anchor decisions in data.

Porat was famous for saying, “The answer is a number.”
Data over opinions. Signal over noise. It cut through politics fast.

2) Replace passion projects with real frameworks.

She introduced structure to how Google funded big bets.
Teams had to prove why they deserved capital - not just ask for it.

3) Challenge the status quo.

She pushed back on excess, tightened spend, and reset expectations.
Not to clip innovation - but to fuel the right innovation.

4) Think in decades, not quarters.

Her support for AI and Cloud was grounded in long-term value creation.
CFOs don’t just protect the present. They underwrite the future.

5) Earn investor trust through transparency.

By separating core results from “Other Bets,” she gave investors clarity.
Clarity → confidence → multiple expansion.

Porat didn’t shrink Google. She sharpened it.

That’s the new era of finance leadership:

CFOs don’t just keep companies healthy. 

They shape strategy.
They influence product priorities. 
They build investor conviction. 
And they make the long term impossible to ignore. 💪

PS: If you’re a CFO or VP of Finance preparing for that next step, I coach leaders on the real levers of the role: strategic narrative, board communication, and enterprise leadership. 

DM me if you want to explore working together.

After 9 years as a board director, I’ve seen CFOs walk into a board meeting and lose credibility in minutes.

Not because of the numbers. But because of a weak CEO–CFO dynamic.

Boards don’t evaluate executives in isolation. 🔍

They assess how the leadership system functions.

And the CEO–CFO relationship is the core of that system.

Here’s what boards are actually watching for:

1) Shared narrative 🎯

Do the CEO and CFO tell the same story about the business?
Or does alignment start to drift once questions begin?

2) Respectful tension

Do they challenge each other cleanly?
Or does disagreement feel defensive, corrective, or personal?

3) Decision flow

Does alignment speed decisions up?
Or does the board slow down because something feels unresolved? ⚠️

4) Signals under pressure

When the topic gets uncomfortable, do they stay aligned?
Or does the partnership fracture in real time?

The most credible CFOs I’ve worked with do one thing exceptionally well:
They resolve tension before the board meeting.

Specifically, they:

✅ Align with the CEO on a single narrative
✅ Resolve disagreements privately
✅ Clarify which decisions the board is being asked to make and why
✅ Pressure-test sensitive topics together

What boards want to see in the room is cohesion.

One direction. Clear ownership. Leadership that holds under pressure.

That’s what earns trust.

I recently sat through a board meeting where an independent director challenged a core assumption.

What the Chair did next changed the room in seconds 👇

Instead of brushing past the moment, the Chair leaned in and:

- Slowed the discussion
- Separated ideas from identity
- Asked “why” before defending positions
- Pressure-tested the assumption in real time
- Pulled quieter directors into the conversation
- Sat in the discomfort until clarity emerged
- Made it explicit that challenge ≠ lack of support

The result → a stronger decision, with full alignment behind it.

I’ve sat on boards across scaled CPG brands, public companies, and PE-backed companies.

And I’ve seen dissent mishandled when boards:

- Take pushback personally
- Default to hierarchy over logic
- Letting power dynamics decide what gets airtime
- Rush to a vote to escape tension
- Push real debate into hallway conversations
- Boards are designed for dissent.

Not as disruption.
As a governance tool.

The best boards don’t avoid tension. They use it.

They create enough psychological safety for dissent to surface, and enough rigor to turn it into better judgment.

Handled well, dissent accelerates insight.
Handled poorly, it delays the truth.

When I got promoted to my first CFO role, the #1 piece of advice I heard nonstop was:

“Be a strategic business partner to the CEO and the Board.”

No one explained what it actually meant.

After four CFO roles, here’s the simplest definition I’ve landed on...

A strategic CFO doesn’t just report results.

They actively shape:

🎯 Decisions
⚖️ Trade-offs
📈 Outcomes

Here’s what that looks like in practice 👇

1/ Strategy = owning the “so what” 🎯

Every real strategy decision is a trade-off. 

Being strategic isn’t about better slides. It’s about making those trade-offs explicit.

- What we gain
- What we give up
- What happens if we wait

At Adobe, leadership made a fundamental shift.
They stopped selling one-time software licenses and moved to subscriptions.

Finance clarified the trade-off, short-term revenue pressure, and long-term recurring growth.

✅ Strategy is helping leadership commit with eyes open.

2/ Partnership = influencing before decisions are locked ⚖️

Decisions aren’t shaped in the boardroom.
They’re shaped well before the meeting.

Real partnership happens upstream.

- Pressure-testing ideas early
- Challenging assumptions privately
- Helping the CEO see second-order effects

At Oracle, alignment didn’t start at the board table.

Safra Catz shaped major M&A and the company’s pivot to cloud well ahead of board approval.

✅ Partnership is influence before positions harden.

3/ Implementation = turning strategy into action

Great CFOs don’t just approve strategy.

They make sure it actually gets executed.

- Pulling capital from underperforming areas early
- Funding the next growth engine
- Accepting short-term discomfort to avoid long-term stagnation

At Netflix, leadership made a clear choice.

They leaned into original content and international expansion.
Spencer Neumann supported sustained investment despite rising cash burn.

✅ Implementation is forcing strategy into motion.

Being a “strategic business partner” isn’t a title upgrade.

It’s the moment finance stops describing reality and starts helping leadership decide what to do about it.

That’s when CFOs earn real influence.

Here’s the difference between a VP of Finance and someone the Board trusts as CFO:

Most finance leaders think it’s about experience. Boards know it’s about how you show up.

VP of Finance thinking 👇

- Measures success by a clean close and forecast accuracy
- Optimizes the finance function
- Brings analysis and waits for direction
- Executes the CEO’s agenda as given
- Prepares board decks and walks through the numbers
- Frames impact primarily in dollars
- Operates mostly inside the company
- Explains what went wrong after the fact

Board-trusted CFO thinking 👇

- Measures success by better decisions made earlier
- Optimizes enterprise value
- Brings a point of view and recommends a path
- Partners with the CEO to shape the agenda
- Controls the narrative and decision flow in the boardroom
- Frames trade-offs across growth, risk, and resources
- Brings an external lens: investors, markets, benchmarks, and capital conditions
- Reorients the business and clarifies what happens when something goes wrong

Becoming CFO isn’t about being better at finance.

It’s about owning how the company competes, allocates capital, and creates value.

That’s the real shift the Boards are watching for. 🎯

P.S. After 15+ years in the C-suite, 4 exits, and 2 IPOs, I now coach finance leaders on strategic storytelling, board communication, and executive leadership.

If this resonates, feel free to reach out via DM.

34% of CFOs moved into a President or CEO role in 2025.

That’s not a coincidence.

Boards aren’t “promoting finance leaders.”
They’re recognizing enterprise leaders who already operate at CEO altitude.

Here’s why the CFO role has become one of the strongest pipelines to the top seat, and the shifts that matter most 👇

1️⃣ CFOs see the whole system, not just the numbers.

Finance sits at the intersection of strategy, capital, operations, risk, and incentives.

That vantage point makes patterns visible early:

→ Growth that looks good but breaks the org
→ Cost cuts that quietly kill momentum
→ Functional wins that damage enterprise outcomes

Boards want CEOs who understand second-order effects, not siloed optimization.

✅ The shift to make

Stop framing recommendations as financial outcomes.

Start framing enterprise trade-offs, downstream impacts, and the risks the company is consciously underwriting.

2️⃣ CFOs are trained to make decisions under volatility

Finance leaders spend years making irreversible calls with incomplete data across pricing, headcount, M&A, and cash.

That builds judgment under constraint.

In volatile environments, boards value leaders who can decide, adapt, and course-correct without freezing.

✅ The shift to make 

Move from scenario modeling to decision ownership. 
Take a clear position, name the risk, and define what would trigger a change in direction.

3️⃣ CFOs understand incentives, power, and where execution breaks

Most strategies don’t fail because the idea was wrong.

They fail because:

→ Incentives pull leaders in opposite directions
→ Capital is allocated cleanly but deployed politically
→ Accountability diffuses once execution gets hard

Finance operates where pay, capital, and performance collide. That’s where real behavior shows up.

✅ The shift to make

Design decisions with incentives and ownership upfront.

Be explicit about who owns the outcome, who has authority, and how behavior should change when things drift.

The shift from CFO to CEO isn’t a leap.

It’s the result of operating as an executive leader long before the title changes.

P.S. After 15 years in the C-suite and serving on four boards, I now advise finance leaders on the skills that matter most: partnering with CEOs, communicating with boards, and leading at the executive level.

If you’re sharpening those muscles, feel free to reach out.

I’ve been both a CFO and a Board Director. This is where strong CFOs still lose the room.

↳ They speak finance. Boards speak trade-offs.

Here’s an example:

Early in my tenure, I told the board in a quarterly meeting: “The risk is too high.”

A director smiled and asked: “Compared to what?”

That question changed how I show up in boardrooms. 💡

Most CFOs learn to see risk in absolutes:

- Can we afford it?
- What’s the downside if it fails?
- How does this hit the plan or forecast?

Those are necessary questions, but they’re incomplete.

Boards think in portfolios.

They’re asking different things:

- What does this unlock that staying safe won’t?
- Is the upside meaningfully larger than the downside?
- Which risks are reversible, and which ones lock us in?

Here’s the bridge between CFO thinking and board thinking 👇

1) Frame risk relative to the whole business

Not “this could fail.”
But “this risk is small relative to our growth gap, capital base, or strategic exposure.”

Context changes the conversation.

2) Separate visible risk from hidden risk

What shows up in the forecast isn’t always the biggest risk.
Inaction, delay, and missed learning compound quietly.

Boards are very aware of that. ⏳

3) Pair every risk with a lever for action

If the risk starts to show up, what do you do?
Slow it down, narrow the scope, cap the spend, or stop the initiative altogether.

Boards aren’t risk-averse.

They appear risk-averse when the risk isn’t framed in context. 🧭

When CFOs learn to speak in their language, they stop sounding like the brake.
And start sounding like the guide.

I’ve watched brilliant Directors and VPs of Finance get passed over for the CFO seat because of this one mistake…

↳ You wait for the title before adopting CFO-level ownership.

Every CFO I’ve worked with started acting like one long before the title showed up.

Because those years of owning outcomes build trust with the CEO, create visibility with the board, and sharpen judgment under pressure. 🎯

All of which quietly drives the promotion.

Here’s what CFO-level ownership actually looks like:

1️⃣ You optimize for enterprise value, not just finance outcomes
You balance growth, risk, capital, and talent instead of chasing a single metric.

2️⃣ You earn trust outside finance 
🤝 You understand what motivates functional leaders, where they’re constrained, and the trade-offs they’re making.

3️⃣ You take a position 
Not just “here are the numbers,” but what you would do, why, and what it means if you’re wrong.

4️⃣ You think in second-order effects 🔍 
You explain how today’s decision shapes behavior, incentives, culture, and flexibility over the next 12 to 24 months.

5️⃣ You own outcomes when plans miss 🧩 
You frame a clear narrative on what happened, what it means, and what changes next.

6️⃣ You act as a true thought partner to the CEO 
You pressure-test strategy, surface blind spots, and share accountability for results.


The pattern is always the same:
CEOs promote the person who already thinks, decides, and owns like a CFO.

Be that person today.

I’ve served on boards across $200M CPG brands, public companies, and PE exits. And the more boardrooms I sit in, the clearer this becomes 👇

Fiduciary duty gets referenced constantly
Yet it’s misunderstood just as often.

Some directors think it means loyalty to management.
Others think it means aligning with the room.

Neither is right.

Fiduciary duty is loyalty to the process that protects the company. 🛡️

What that actually looks like in practice:

1️⃣ Asking the uncomfortable question

Not to be difficult, but to surface risk, trade-offs, and blind spots before they become expensive.

2️⃣ Testing assumptions before approving decisions

Every decision teaches the organization what to optimize for.
If short-term wins erode retention, pricing power, or trust, fiduciary duty is to call it out.

3️⃣ Anchoring decisions in long-term value

Today’s incentives shape tomorrow’s behavior.

If this quarter’s results are borrowed from future credibility, it needs to be named.

4️⃣ Holding the line between oversight and execution

Boards own decisions and consequences. Management owns the how. Blur that line, and accountability breaks.

Fiduciary duty isn’t about being agreeable.

It’s about being accountable to the work, even when it creates tension.

And accountable boards build resilient companies. 💪

1999: Joined Oracle as a Senior VP
2005: Became CFO
2014: Named Co-CEO and helped scale Oracle to a $1T company

The board didn’t promote Safra Catz for financial excellence.

They promoted her because her decisions reshaped Oracle’s business model and long-term relevance.

And that’s the gap most CFOs never close.

Here are 4 moves that earned her the top seat and what other CFOs can learn from them.

1) She was already functioning as a de facto co-CEO before the title

Safra didn’t stay inside finance. 
She took ownership of the company’s hardest decisions across M&A, operating trade-offs, leadership changes, and long-term bets.

The Co-CEO title didn’t expand her scope. It formalized it.

✅ You don’t get promoted into scope. You expand scope first and let the title catch up.

2) She turned capital allocation into the company’s growth engine

Safra reframed the CFO role from financial stewardship to enterprise design.

- Every dollar was a strategic lever
- M&A followed a thesis, not one-off deals
- Acquisitions like PeopleSoft helped Oracle skip long build cycles and reshape its platform

✅ Use capital to shape how the business grows, not just to protect performance.

3) She earned trust with the Board and CEO by owning the hardest calls

She didn’t just report to Larry Ellison. She helped shape the strategy with him.

By the time she became Co-CEO, the board had already seen her navigate hostile acquisitions, activist pressure, cost discipline, and leadership changes under real stress.

✅ Credibility compounds when you show judgment when pressure is highest.

4) She steered Oracle through its most disruptive pivot

The shift from on-prem to cloud wasn’t incremental. It was existential.

Safra balanced short-term pain with long-term survival and kept stakeholders aligned through years of uncertainty.

✅ Top leaders don’t avoid disruption. They turn it into durable growth.

Most CFOs master cost control, forecasting, and governance.
Few build the judgment to shape the company’s future.

Boards don’t promote CFOs who protect today’s P&L.

They promote CFOs who help the company survive its next reinvention.

That’s how a CFO becomes a CEO.

40% of CFO dismissals come down to one thing:
A strained relationship with the CEO or the board. ⚠️

And yet, CFOs are still expected to:

- Challenge the CEO
- Say no when momentum is high
- Deliver bad news before there’s a fix

After serving as a 3× CFO and 4x board director, here’s how the best CFOs manage this tension without becoming “the problem” 👇

1️⃣ They align strategy with finance

Boards push for ambition. CFOs protect discipline. The best CFOs bridge the gap by:

- Translating strategy into cash, margin, and capital risk
- Modeling outcomes: what hitting X costs, what it earns, and what breaks if execution slips
- Framing decisions as explicit trade-offs

2️⃣ They eliminate surprises

Trust erodes when issues show up late or without context.

- Surface problems early
- Use simple dashboards the board can read in seconds
- Explain why numbers moved and how the team is responding

3️⃣ They challenge the CEO in private, align in public

- Push hard behind closed doors
- Present a unified leadership team in the room
- Never put the board in a position to choose between the CEO and the CFO

This protects the CEO’s authority and the CFO’s credibility.

4️⃣ They design the decision framework before taking a position

Strong CFOs don’t start with “no.” They structure the conversation.

- Separate facts, risks, and recommendations
- Make opportunity cost visible
- Frame choices, not ultimatums

This shifts the CFO from blocker to decision architect.

5️⃣ They manage confidence as much as accuracy

In a miss, boards read presence before precision.

- Stay calm under pressure
- Anchor discussion on what changes next, not who was wrong
- Surface second- and third-order effects instead of re-arguing the decision

Great CFOs don’t avoid tension. They structure it so the CEO, the board, and the business can make better decisions. 🎯

P.S. I coach CFOs and VPs of Finance on strategic narrative, board communication, and enterprise leadership. 

Slots are full until mid-March. Reach out if you’d like to join the waitlist.

Most CFOs think being “board-ready” means knowing their numbers cold.

It doesn’t.

Every CFO who’s ever been hired has clean financials, a tight forecast, and answers to last quarter’s variances.

If technical competence were the bar, boards would never struggle to find leaders.

But boards don’t evaluate you the way operating teams do.

They’re not asking, “Is this person good at finance?”
They’re asking, “Can this person help us govern uncertainty?” 🎯

That’s a very different test.

Here’s what boards actually look for:

1) Alignment

If every executive tells a slightly different story, the board sees fragmentation immediately.

Reporting results isn’t the job.
Unifying the narrative is.

Strong CFOs connect strategy, risk, capital allocation, and execution into one coherent story.

2) Thought discipline

Boards look for your ability to separate signal from noise and surface the decisions that matter most.

That means you:

✅ Frame the 2–3 variables that actually move outcomes
✅ Name what’s immaterial, and why
✅ Prevent the discussion from drifting into operational weeds

3) Confidence without rigidity

When assumptions break, the board isn’t judging the miss.

They’re judging how quickly you recalibrate capital, priorities, and expectations. 🔍
“I believed X. Here’s what changed. Here’s how we adapt.”

4) Scenario thinking

Boards don’t want a single forecast.

They want confidence you’ve pressure-tested multiple futures and understand the trade-offs.

The most credible CFOs don’t say, “Here’s the plan.”
They say, “Here’s the plan if conditions hold and here’s how we’ll respond if they don’t.”


The real test is simple…

Can you clearly explain:

- What’s happening
- Why it’s happening
- What you’ll do if the world shifts tomorrow

When a CFO can do that, the board stops seeing a functional leader.
They see a business leader. 🧭

And that’s when trust deepens, influence expands, and bigger roles quietly open up.

I’ve seen seasoned ex-CEOs join boards and fail in the role within 90 days.
Here’s what they get wrong 👇

Board meetings turn into operational working sessions because they default to execution instead of judgment.

- They dig into the org.
- They second-guess execution.
- They try to “oversee” the CEO.

And this quietly erodes trust and authority. ⚠️

Boards are not there to run the company.
And directors are not there to replace management.

When directors operate instead of govern, three things tend to break:

1) The CEO loses air cover when directors step into execution.

2) The board loses altitude when time shifts from strategy, risk, and capital allocation into operational details.

3) Accountability breaks when directors do the work, because ownership of outcomes becomes unclear.

This is the shift new directors have to make. Being a good director means:

✅ Asking the questions management can’t or won’t
✅ Setting direction without prescribing execution
✅ Holding the CEO accountable without undermining them

The strongest directors I know are disciplined about where they engage.

They influence outcomes without stepping into the line.

Getting the seat is the milestone.
Learning how to stay out of the weeds is the real work. 🎯

If you’re early in your board journey...

What’s the hardest instinct you’ve had to unlearn, or expect to unlearn?

I’m passionate about empowering women and helping to close the gender gap in senior leadership. 

I spent 18 years in tech and biotech sales, holding positions as a VP and EVP, Sales. Along the way I introduced many brand new technologies to market, built a commercial organization from scratch, and scaled a hyper-growth team to achieve 9 digit revenue growth in 2 years.

Despite this success, I struggled for years with my transition from Manager to Director to VP, and even asked myself if I was cut out to be a senior executive.  

Finally, I ‘figured it out’ and had the confidence, knowledge and skills that I needed to be an impactful leader. 

My mission at Insights to Action is to help others get there by sharing what I’ve learned.

I want to use my passion to help more women transition to senior leadership and help leaders make that leap from unsure and unfocused to strategic, decisive and outcome driven - all without burning out. My goal is to help women thrive as executives, instead of merely surviving. 

I would love to work with you on your journey and look forward to connecting!

Read about what some of my clients are saying: https://www.insightstoactioncc.com/testimonials

Katy McFee

I help women become execs and thrive in leadership - Former Exec | Certified Coach | Forbes.com contributor

At Insights to Action I help female execs and aspiring female leaders become the leaders they want to be and thrive as executives all without burning out. 

I offer group coaching programs for women looking to break through to executive leadership and 1:1 immersive executive coaching for current execs who want to level up and show up as the amazing, effective leaders they know they can be, while still living a life they love.

My goals don’t include my kids,

I go on vacations without my kids,

I take girls trips that are just for me,

My partner and I have a date night every 2 weeks,

I prioritize my morning meditation and exercise daily,

And I’m still a great mom.

As women, we often feel this pull to be the perfect mom and dedicate every part of ourselves to our kiddos

And a pull in the opposite direction to be the best we can be at work and prove we're all in

It’s damn exhausting
It’s a losing game
And I quit

I adore my kids and love my family

But I am still my own person
I still need my own time
I need my own goals

And I don't apologize for it ✌️💜

PS. And to all the mommas out there, you’re doing great ❤️

Follow me Katy McFee for more posts on women in leadership

#1 in helping women become VPs and thrive in leadership | Former Exec | Certified Coach | Forbes.com contributor | Host of More Women Promoted Podcast

Dating advice you can apply to your career:

For a little Friday fun - here's my top 4:

1. Early red flags rarely get better. They usually get worse.

Dating: Too many of us have dated somewhere where we saw the early signs, but ignored them. If there are early red flags, they're going to get a lot worse. 

Career: HR was dismissive in the interview and they took a week to get back with next steps...
Listen to your gut.  This may not be the dream job you were hoping for. 

2. Actions speak louder than words. 

Dating: He says he really likes you, but blows off plans and doesn't text you back...
He's just not that into you. 

Career: Your manager keeps telling you how much they value you, 
But you get passed over at every promotion cycle...

He's not going to promote you unless something changes. 

3. Just because they look great on paper, doesn't mean they're the one. 

Dating: We've all dated the guy who was SO perfect on paper!
Great job, nice to his mom, treats us well.  But you just don't feel it...

Career: This job is so perfect on paper!
Well-known company, great pay, lots of perks. But the culture sucks and people are toxic....

In both cases, move on.

4. Don't rely on someone else to make you happy. Work on yourself. 

Dating: You need to make yourself happy to be happy in a relationship. 
Do the work, the healthy relationship will follow.

Career: Don't rely on your boss to get you promoted. Work on yourself.
If your manager isn't helping to carve the path, take ownership and find mentorship outside of them. 

Do the work, and the promotion will follow. 

What did I miss? ✌️💜

6 more months, and things will slow down

I told my (now ex) husband that more times than I can count

And at the time, I really believed it!!

I just needed to lean in for 6 more months
And then we'd start to see the results we wanted...

And I could:
- Travel less
- Be more present
- Put my phone away
- Stop making work the priority

But you know what?
6 months never came,
And I missed a lot.

I remember leaving for a 10 day 'Euro-tour' 
To meet all of the KOLs in our space in Paris, London and Amsterdam

And truthfully, I was really excited about the opportunity

But leaving for the airport while my not-even-1-year-old was pulling himself up on the ottoman

Practically broke my heart

And I discovered the concept of everything being a trade-off 

This is your friendly reminder that when you put your real life on hold 
For 6 months,
Or a year
Or more

You miss out on real things

That doesn't mean you should work hard for what you want
But ask yourself what your non-negotiables are

And make those trade-offs with intention

Because - believe it or not - you can have both hustle and boundaries 
And save some regret along the way ✌️💜

I became a successful executive (with ADHD)

And it came down to a single change I made:

I started playing to my strengths
And delegated, minimized or outsourced the rest

This is a really important concept 
That many of us overachievers don't seem to get

We think we need to do it all
And do it all perfectly

We often spend years trying to improve weaknesses
With minimal results

But once we get honest about where we are great and where we aren't

We can focus there and see a huge difference in our impact!

This was one of the pivotal changes I made that helped me go from struggling as a Director to a successful VP

Here's your Friday reminder: 

Whether it's ADHD, the way you grew up or any other thing that you think means you can't be an exec,

It's only true if you let it be

I'm living proof ✌️💜

♻️ Hit repost to spread the word!

I've met tons of bright, ambitious and hard-working women
Who are crushing it, in terms of talent

But using language and mannerisms that undermine their skills and abilities.

And I'll be blunt - this is preventing them from landing the roles they want.

Here are 5 examples that you should watch out for:

1. Constantly apologizing
Why: Over-apologizing undermines your authority

2. Raising your voice at the end of a sentence (ie. uptalk)
Why: Makes you seem unsure and unconfident

3. Twirling your hair in meetings 
Why: Can convey a lack of seriousness and distracts your listener

4. Sharing ideas as questions
Why: Makes you seem less confident and unsure about the idea.

5. Using filler phrases and qualifiers
Why: Your ideas will be taken less seriously

When it comes to language, here are 3 to avoid starting today (seriously):

"This may be a dumb idea but...."
"Does that make sense?"
"I'm not the expert but..."

Remember: it's not only the quality of your ideas that's important...

The WAY you share them is equally important
Maybe even more important!

As women, many of us have been conditioned to use these communication styles so we are seen as less dominant. 
We don't want to be 'bossy'.

But once you hit the workplace, holding on to these habits can mean:
- You're less likely to be seen as a leader
- Your ideas won't get the credit they deserve
- People won't take you as seriously

I consciously began using more empowering language (and body language) and saw a real difference.

You can too ✌️💜

Has anyone else caught themselves doing any of these things and decided to break the habit?

♻️  Repost to share these tips!

PS. Check out the comments for my free guide on simple language reframes you can use to start communicating like a confident and collaborative leader!

My job didn't suddenly become toxic - I'd ignored the red flags 

The first ones were there even in the interview process

- It had felt like the day from hell
- 2 senior interviewers were rude and aggressive to me
- I felt judged by many of the people I interacted with - even over lunch!

But I told myself that it wasn't a big deal...

- I wouldn't be reporting to the managers who were so rude
- I'm sure that 'vibe' I felt didn't mean anything
- This was such a great opportunity

In the end, I was gone within 2 years.

6 months after I was hired, I started reporting to one of those managers
And the other one was his boss!

The vibe I felt was very real, and trust on the team was low
Constant gossip and backstabbing

My dream job had become a nightmare

But it taught me a valuable lesson:

To treat the interview process as an opportunity to learn the people and culture
And see if it's actually somewhere you want to work

I was so dead-set on landing the role, 
I wasn't even asking myself if this was the right company for me

So, this is your friendly reminder:

The interview process goes both ways
They are evaluating you, 
And you should put your best foot forward,

But you are also evaluating them
And if you don't like what you see during the interview process
It's probably not going to get better once you start

Pay attention to the red flags friends
They rarely turn green ✌️💜

♻️ Repost if more people need to hear this

As women, we get some terrible career advice!
Here are my top 3 for worst advice we give women:

#3. "Just advocate for yourself"

Ummm... years of conditioning and workplace bias would argue it's more complicated than that.

Better advice: Implement a process to create visibility into your work and career goals, in a way that feels good. 

(This is possible - I teach women to do this all the time)

#2.  "Don't be too assertive" (you'll be seen as a b!*ch)

This advice keeps women small, and makes it impossible to confidently share your ideas and opinions. Frankly, women who aren't assertive are also not promoted. 

Better advice: Pair confident, assertive language with empathy and curiosity. Assertive does not have to mean aggressive. 

#3. "Find a mentor"

This seems like good advice, but women actually have more mentors than men do! People LOVE to tell us what to do. We don't really need more of it. 

Better advice: Find a sponsor, or develop a mentor into a sponsor. The difference is that a sponsor will champion you, open doors and advocate for you in the rooms you're not in.  

What's the worst career advice you've ever received??  

✌️💜

Success might look like:
- making 6 figures
- starting a business
- getting a big promotion
- working at a cool tech company

But it can also look like:
- prioritizing self-care every day
- taking a vacation and fully unplugging
- taking a full lunch hour to go for a walk
- prioritizing your health and relationships

We tend to focus too much on the first list
And not nearly enough on the second

When the truth is: the way you spend each day
And who you spend it with
Is the recipe to a life you truly love

And guess what?
You don't have to pick one list or the other

You can have both
You just have to be intentional about it

This is your Sunday reminder:

Don't focus so much on career success that you forget the rest of your life

Take the time to focus on yourself, your health and relationships
For me, that's what it's all about✌️💜

There will always be more "qualified" men for that VP or C-level role

It's true.

Because even when there are an equal number of men and women coming in at the entry-level:

- Men are promoted on potential, and women on experience
- Women lose opportunities when pregnant or just back from mat leave
- Men are more likely to have sponsors due to the affinity bias
- Men are encouraged to apply for positions even when they don't meet all of the criteria 

The 'promotion gap' starts at the very first promotion to manager, 
(This is referred to as the 'broken rung')

This means more men make it to mid-level manager positions, 
Which increases the pool of available men for senior-level positions

And so on...

And the gap is even larger for white men and women of colour
With 'white men' being the only group that is overrepresented in the C-suite

So here are some 'wild' ideas:

1. Stop relying on years of experience in a role as your hiring criteria!

Instead, focus on the skills and traits you need
Which are typically more effective for finding a great candidate

2. Focus on culture add vs. culture fit
Don't hire the same people over and over

3. Consider a first-time female VP 
Who may not have been in the position before but is crushing it as a director 

Guess what? She's probably ready to make that leap

4. Encourage the young women on your teams to apply for positions they want, even if they aren't 100% qualified

Until we get serious about making these changes, the gap will continue to exist...

And the gap will continue to widen as you go up in a company.

My goal is to help narrow this gap 
Even a little bit

Who's with me? ✌️💜

♻️ Hit repost to spread the word

There's a real cost to being the 'only'
 
The only woman on the leadership team
And the only exec (or leader) in your friend group
 
Not only is this lonely,
It also puts you at a huge disadvantage!
 
I remember feeling like I was on an island
 
Because I had no one in my life who really understood what I was going through
 
I was balancing being an exec and a single mom
While all of the men on the team had stay-at-home wives
 
My friends were teachers and stay-at-home moms
And they didn't really even understand my job!
 
I think this is a conversation that needs to be had
So in today's newsletter, I do a deep dive on the real cost of being the 'only'
And what you can do about it
 
Happy reading ✌️💜

The following is an excerpt from my FREE Weekly Insights Newsletter. Subscribe now, and you’ll immediately get the full article delivered to your inbo

Open article: The real cost of being the 'only' by Katy McFee • 3 min read

Women spend 200+ more hrs per year on non-promotable tasks, 

Compared to our male counterparts

These tasks include things like:

- Organizing the Christmas party
- Informally onboarding new hires
- Taking notes or ordering lunches
- Volunteering for extra committees
- Emotional support for colleagues and reports
- DEI or culture work WITHOUT authority or budget

Ladies, if this is you, 

And especially if you've been trying to land a Sr. Director or VP role

This is not serving you!
In fact, it's holding you back. 

Yes, everyone appreciates you
The team would fall apart without you

And you're also not getting tapped for that next role
Because this type of 'irreplaceable' is also unpromotable

This week's episode of More Women Promoted dives into this very topic
AND I give you some actionable and tactical next steps you can take today

Check it out anywhere you get your podcasts 
I'll link it in the comments

Time to go from helpful to promoted ladies! ✌️💜

It’s not your boss’ job to promote you
It’s your job to show them you’re ready

It’s not your partner’s job to make you happy
It’s your job to make yourself happy

It’s not your trainer’s job to get you in shape
It’s your job to do the work every day

Once you start to take real accountability for your life and career
The magic happens.

No one to blame. 
No excuses.

And no limit to what you can accomplish. ✌️💜

PS. If you're a woman looking to land a director or VP role and you're ready to do the work, join my free masterclass today (or tomorrow)

I'll help you figure out exactly what's blocking you today and how to get to that next level.

Sign up here: insightstoactioncc(dot)com/masterclass 

Follow me Katy McFee for daily posts for women in leadership

3 rules for an exec with ADHD

Because the truth is, conventional advice may not work for you!
(A lot of it didn't work for me...)

Before I knew I had ADHD, I beat myself up because I assumed that my lack of executive function made me a failure or a bad leader. 

But once I figured out how to harness the good and mitigate the rest, everything changed. 

These are what helped me go from struggling to crushing it:

1. Stop trying to strengthen your weak areas

Seriously. Instead, spend as much time as possible in your zone of genius.

We have a brain of interest, so spending time doing things we hate is a recipe for low productivity or a crappy work product.

One of the best things I ever did was get serious about outsourcing, automating and delegating the things I hate. 

My impact increased significantly once I did that. 

2. Rely on systems, not your brain

I could come up with a great strategic insight, but always forgot that appointment.
This drove me bonkers. 

Hard truth: Yes, you may lack in executive functioning, 
But that doesn't mean you get to drop the ball. 

It means you need to create systems to ensure things get done. 

Find what works for you: a Trello board, your calendar, a VA... and use it diligently. 

3. Don't eat the frog first!

We've all heard the leadership advice to 'eat the frog first,' which means to tackle that big task that you don't want to do before anything else. 

This does NOT work for people with ADHD! 

We already lack dopamine, so we often need a fix before we're ready to eat the frog...

Instead, pick a dopamine-producing task to do first, 
Then move on to the big daunting thing you'd rather not do. 

For me, this would involve checking my sales dashboards and metrics, 
Then tackling the task I didn't want to do. 

I learned that you CAN be a successful executive with ADHD
But sometimes that means throwing conventional wisdom out the window

If you're getting leadership advice that doesn't work for your brain, forget it

Lean into what makes you great,
And outsource, delegate or automate the rest

You've got this ✌️💜

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Ever been told you need to be more 'strategic'? 
 
I have! 
 
I knew it was standing between me and a VP role, 
 
And the hardest part was that I had no idea what I needed to do to come across as more strategic. 
 
Every time I asked my manager (our CEO) 
I got some kind of vague answer, 

And because of this it took me years of trial and error
To finally learn what it took to become an exec
 
Years later I was thinking about this and it hit me, 
 
He didn't tell me what I needed to do, because HE didn't know either! 

He knew I wasn't quite there yet
But he didn't know how to coach and mentor me to get there
 
The truth is, sometimes you need help outside of your manager. 
 
That's where I come in. 

Join my free masterclass today where I help you pinpoint what's holding you back and what to do about it.

This is exactly the type of clarity I wish someone had given me!

Grab your spot here: insightstoactioncc(dot)com/masterclass

Hard truth: It may not be your fault you're struggling

But it IS your responsibility to fix it

And that sucks, but the sooner we learn it
The sooner we can take action to change things

No one teaches us how to navigate our careers
And no one teaches us how to become an executive

We're left to just figure it out on our own

So it's no wonder most people get stuck and aren't sure how to advance
They hit the dreaded career plateau and have no idea what to do

It hit one as a manager, and then again as a director

Here's what I see happen:
Early in your career, you work harder than everyone else
And you do the work you're assigned perfectly,
As a result, you get promoted

So you keep trying to outwork your colleagues,
Putting up your hand for extra projects
Executing on your goals flawlessly

But this time... nothing

You're waiting for that next promotion because you're doing ALL the things. 

You're working crazy hard. 
You're doing exactly what you've been told to do.

And the promotion isn't coming

Maybe your colleague gets promoted ahead of you, even though he started a year after
And works half as hard as you do

Or they decide to fill the role externally

The truth is, what got you here, won't get you there.

But here's another truth: 
YOU need to be the one to change

If what you've been doing isn't working
You're the one who needs to start doing things differently

The good news is: this is 100% learnable!

Find a mentor or sponsor who can give you some real guidance

And this is exactly what I do with the women I work with.

Curious to know more?
Send me a DM and let's chat. 

✌💜

My LinkedIn engagement is WAY down, and yet...

I've just had the highest revenue month in my business to date
And the month isn't even over yet

My business is growing super fast
And I'm seeing real-world impact for my clients
DMs about VP promotions every week!

But if I were just looking at the performance of my content
It would look like things are just so-so

Why am I telling you this?

Because - just like you - I can get distracted by metrics that don't really matter
Instead of focusing on what's really moving the needle

If you want to be a social media influencer
Then yes, focus on all of those metrics that we call 'vanity metrics' 
Because they matter for things like brand sponsorships 

But if you're trying to build a business
Or become a thought leader while working in corporate

These metrics probably aren't worth stressing over

Focus on helping just one person
And you'll resonate with the right people

I know many examples of people with highly successful businesses
Who aren't crushing it when it comes to LinkedIn content

And I know many people with high engagement and big followings
Who are struggling to grow their businesses

My 2 cents?
Decide what truly matters and focus on that ✌️💜 

PS. It is snowy and freezing where I am, but I'm posting a photo of where I wish I was right now!

Curious why wealth tends to be passed down through generations?
 
Yes, there are advantages, like going to a good school
But the biggest thing is the access
 
The people we spend time with and learn from have a huge impact on our success
 
The good news is, even if you didn't grow up with money
You can intentionally surround yourself with people who inspire and motivate you
 
I credit so much of my success to the people I've met and learned from
 
And this is true in my business today
 
In today's newsletter, I talk about the power of finding your people
- I share the 3 types of people and groups who have impacted my success most
- And how you can start finding them
 
Happy reading ✌️💜

The following is an excerpt from my FREE Weekly Insights Newsletter. Subscribe now and you’ll immediately get the full article delivered to your inbox

Open article: The power of finding your 'people' by Katy McFee • 3 min read

I didn't stay in my director role out of loyalty!

The truth? It was out of fear. 
Fear that I just wasn't that good. 

I had stopped growing in my current role 
And I knew that I wanted to become a VP

But I didn't feel as though I had crushed it
Because we were consistently falling short of our goals

And I was continuously being told I wasn't ready for the next step

In my mind, if I couldn't get promoted at my current company
It meant that I was not VP material anywhere else either

This was just not true!

I discovered that the stage and culture of a company 
Have a huge impact on your success

This is exactly what happened with me
At company A I struggled to grow revenue to a few million ARR
At company B I grew the existing revenue by 8 figures! 

Some people crush it at early stage startups
Some shine at scaling stage companies (like me)
And some do best at large, multi-national companies

If you're feeling stuck where you are
Consider that it may not be a 'you' thing

You may just be in the wrong place

And as scary as it may feel
The best things you can do is to move on ✌️💜 

♻️ Give this a repost if more ppl need to hear it!

Too many 'nice' women are giving away their promotion
 
You're saying 'yes' to every little thing
You're doing it yourself because it's faster and you'll do a better job
You're making sure that you do your job 100% perfectly, to make your boss happy
 
And... when promotion time comes
You watch your colleague land the role that you know is right for you
 
In today's newsletter, I dive into 3 pitfalls -
Things that, as women, we do that we think are helping
But are actually hurting us and our promotability
 
Learn what they are,
Why they're hurting your career,
And what to do instead
 
Happy reading ✌️💜

Open article: The 3 pitfalls that keep talented women stuck by Katy McFee • 3 min read

The 3 pitfalls that keep talented women stuck

If you're not delegating well, you'll hit a ceiling

Because it's impossible to do it all perfectly
And also do the strategic work needed to get to the next level

I get it. It's '"faster if just I do it myself"

I hear this ALL THE TIME from women 

The result?
- They're overworked
- Doing tasks well below their skill level
- And can't free up time for the important, strategic stuff

And as a result, they are seen as a 'high performing executor' by leadership
But NOT as senior leadership material

Do you relate?

If yes, I'd like to give you a new way to think about this,
Call it the reframe you didn't know you needed:

If you're not spending time on strategic work, 
You're doing your company and yourself a disservice

If you're not delegating the right work to your team,
You're robbing them of an opportunity to step up and show their stuff

If you're not taking the time to teach
You will be bogged down with this stuff forever

So delegate the stuff you know you should be delegating, 
And spend your time on what matters most.

You've got this ✌️💜

PS. Because this is so important, I've created a brand-new workshop on Feb 16th on how to delegate the right things and free yourself up to become the leader you want to be.

We'll go through your calendar together to determine what you should keep and hand off, and how to do it to ensure your team is successful. 

Sign up for "From Doer to Leader: The Executive Delegation Framework" workshop in the comments or send me a DM to get the link!

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Cameron Kinloch's LinkedIn Performance

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