financial leadership
Riding the CFO Roundabout: Securing Hospitality’s Financial Leadership Future
Bill Conn | April 4, 2024
By Bill Conn CFOs are on the move. Since 2022, the hospitality sector has witnessed a dramatic shift in its financial leadership environment. Data shows that during the first six months of 2023, 103 CFO (Chief Financial Officer) changes occurred in Fortune 1000 companies.[1] This number represents a 30% increase from the 79 changes in the same period in 2022. From a hospitality perspective, this CFO “carousel” and the high demand in 2023 for CFOs and other finance executives is unlike anything the industry has ever experienced. The demand for top talent has risen across all disciplines, but 2023 was definitely the year of the CFO. Sur...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Chapter 13 – Serving
David Lund | November 16, 2020
By David Lund The chapter below is an excerpt from my new book. It’s fiction but some of the characters and story lines are based on people I have worked with and events that have taken place in the hotels I have worked in. The book is a fable about a hotel manager who has some very bad habits. He must change in order to survive and the book takes him and you through the lessons needed to be a great hospitality financial leader. I’m writing ahead each month so I’m not sure how the book will end. I hope you enjoy it and if you missed any earlier chapters you can find them on my website blog tab. “My Story is not a story,” e...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: What Everyone Needs to Know About Hotel Financial Skills 1-10
David Lund | August 24, 2020
By David Lund On the eve of starting my financial leadership course for the third year with Royal Roads University it occurs to me that most people have it somewhat wrong when it comes to how they think about the financials inside the hotel business. It’s almost like they think that a mechanic is the only person who can drive a car. On that note many great drivers possess great knowledge about how the car works but they’re not mechanics; it’s not a requirement to be a great driver. You would never take your Ferrari to the driver for a repair, but man can they drive it. The exact same goes for financial skills and understanding. You ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Shift Your Thinking
David Lund | April 6, 2020
By David Lund We all have predisposed ways that we look at our world and the things, people and circumstances inside of it. It’s what makes us human and we either have an open mind or one that’s closed. Another way to express this is we either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. In her wonderful book Mindset, Carol Dweck dives deep into this distinction and relates it to our lives. I highly recommend reading her book—it’s nothing short of amazing. In this piece I am going to apply this distinction to you and your hotel career. Specifically, around the notion that we are either a numbers person or not. When I start a fin...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Food Cost Net Weight
David Lund | March 30, 2020
By David Lund With Guest Author Patrick McClary When people hear the term food cost, they generally think of the simple calculation of cost / selling price = food cost %. This calculation does little more than give you a percentage. Understanding and controlling food cost is much more complex. In operations that have proper controls and processes in place a spike in food cost can be traced back to one event. Operations that do not have a strong foundation of food cost usually react with bizarre behavior such as stepping up their garbage cans thinking that the costs increases are because of people throwing out food. That may be the case,...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Creating Asset Value Even in These Turbulent Times
David Lund | March 25, 2020
By David Lund That’s right, your eyes and the headline are not fooling you. I learned an incredibly valuable lesson from a client in a backwards kind of way and now I want to share it with you. It is a simple way to create something valuable and powerful even in a completely down market like were in now. Use this story to show your teams what they are leaving on table in the way of profits and asset value if they are not always looking for the upside in their hotel. Here is my story. I had just finished a half-day hospitality financial leadership workshop for a client, one of a series of six that they had contracted me to do. The Gene...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Beverage Controls – Top 10
David Lund | March 23, 2020
By David Lund Controlling the beverage cost is a big deal in hotels. People like to drink and that’s great for the bar, but you have to remember the people serving your drinks need a tight set of checks and balances or else they will help themselves to your supplies. It’s just human nature to mess around with the stuff at your fingertips all day long. There is a certain sense of entitlement as well because the wages are small, and people rely on tips. Bigger portions or the odd free one for a client can make a big difference in the tips left behind. Now, I’m not saying your beverage staff are stealing or anything like that but wha...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Separation of Duties – Part 1
David Lund | March 16, 2020
By David Lund In the business world protecting your assets is a critical strategy. Without it, you are open to “things” happening that can cost you a fortune. I was trained with the concept of separation of duties as a foundation so in some respects I take it that everyone else has the same perspective. Recently I worked with a client that showed me just how far things can go awry when you put your trust in someone and you fail to have the proper separation and oversight. Now I know you’re thinking two or three things right now: “David is very distrusting, and he has no idea who I have looking after my affairs and besides tha...
