The Frustrated CFO

M. Guzik’s career in finance and accounting spans 23 years with last 16 years in CFO and Controller positions.

She pledges no allegiance to any particular industry and through the years worked in public and private sectors with the latter including manufacturing, international commodities trading, high-tech, and financial services. She zealously believes in the strength of fundamental knowledge and commercial acumen, which can be intelligently applied to any particular business model.

Over the years M. Guzik has acquired broad spectrum of professional expertise covering multitude of tasks from international treasury to M&A, from financial analysis to information systems, from start-up planning to consolidation, and everything in between. Nevertheless, when asked about her executive management specialization, she frequently names “firefighting.” In her opinion, putting out burning fires that flare up daily in the struggle for commercial survival is the core function for financial execs in small and mid-size companies.

She also believes that psychological profiling of everyone around you is a mandatory requirement for professional success. On top of formally studying it while obtaining her multiple academic degrees, including PhD and MBA, she considers herself an eternal student of behavioral science. Understanding motivations behind actions and anticipating reactions of bosses, peers and subordinates guarantees clarity and self-control in the most complex situation.