Light some sparks to ignite some fires...

CFOs should nurture ideas that will fuel future growth - lesson I learned at Novell (From another brilliant CFO, Dana Russell). But this became more pronounced a few years ago at Akamai. Once I was having a debate with Jim on investments that seemed silly and egregious (from my perspective) in the light of austerity measures elsewhere in the company. 

He coached, sometimes we have to light some sparks to ignite some fires. Not all pursuits will drive growth, but if we don’t experiment at all, the next wave of growth can become hard. The trick though is to decide when and where to cut losses.

It’s a fine balance, more of an art, and each cfo discovers their own approach... but either way, an important aspect of the job.