Browse by topic:
-
We developed some genuinely effective outreach tools in the 3P collections world. The model was straightforward: collect more, generate more revenue, improve cash flow. Operationally and economically, everything aligned nicely. Even the revenue recognition under ASC 606 was intuitive enough that the executive team and Board immediately understood it: revenue was earned as a percentage…
-
One Board request sounded straightforward enough: explain monthly revenue variance. In the ARM world, we initially approached it using a standard three-factor decomposition: Simple in theory. Except variance attribution models are rarely as objective as they appear. The problem emerged almost immediately: sequence mattered. If volume variance is calculated using: …you get one answer. If…
-
People like to pretend modern professional life evolved beyond primitive power structures. I do not think it did. We simply industrialized them. Wrapped them in PowerPoint, recruiting decks, utilization targets, “talent strategies,” and consulting brands. Today was another reminder. We are implementing a new system. The consultants arrive. The product engineer running the demo starts…
-
“They eat their own.” That phrase has been stuck in my head for weeks. At first I thought I was writing about consulting firms, corporate hierarchies, aging workers, or the way professional systems quietly consume people once their economic utility begins to dim. But that is not really the deeper trigger. Recently I reread something…
-
Shakespeare, through Polonius, warns: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” It’s one of those lines that sounds outdated in a modern credit economy. Credit fuels growth. Borrowing accelerates opportunity. Lending creates return.All true. And yet, spend enough time in the back end of the system—the part where things break—and the line starts to sound…
Financial Foundations with Jim Curham 