Karl Pichler, CFO of Sourceability Global Holdings and former CFO of Rackspace, shares insights from more than 25 years as a public company executive, investor, and educator. We discuss Karl’s evolution from corporate finance expert to enterprise leader, covering his role in scaling Rackspace from $80 million in revenue to over $2 billion, through an IPO and eventual sale to Apollo Global Management. This episode features a practical discussion of capital allocation and value measurement best practices—exposing the limitations of EBITDA and ROIC—and discussing how corporate leaders can truly balance growth and return on capital to optimize long-term value creation.

J. Michael Bruff, CFO of Envision Healthcare and a veteran finance and operating executive, joins us to discuss the core attributes of effective CFOs. We discuss internal controls, Michael’s broad functional and operational experience, and the importance of a deep understanding of how financial statements work together to drive lasting value. Michael shares insights from his time at Varian Medical Systems, where the company shifted its capital allocation priorities from buybacks to life-saving R&D, ultimately quadrupling its compounded revenue growth rate and nearly doubling its share price in just three years. The conversation covers how value-based incentive and allocation frameworks lead to agile and disciplined decision-making. This episode offers practical guidance for leaders seeking to improve capital allocation, strategic clarity, and value creation.

Valuation and corporate finance heavyweight, Professor Aswath Damodaran, joins us to discuss what truly drives value creation. Damodaran challenges conventional wisdom around return on invested capital, cost of capital, and incentive metrics, explaining why accounting-based measures often mislead managers and investors. He explores the importance of connecting corporate narratives and numbers, treating R&D and brand-building as real investments, and recognizing bias and overconfidence in forecasts—especially in capital allocation and M&A. While he is openly skeptical of EVA due to its susceptibility to being gamed, this critique highlights the need for more robust and innovative approaches to measuring value creation. The conversation also covers corporate life cycles, why most companies struggle to earn returns above their cost of capital, and Damodaran’s perspective on the AI investment boom.