The CFO's Guide to LONG-TERM Success (It's Not Just Cash) Ep #16

Nino Maisuradze joins Eric Josovitz to share how growing up during a civil war shaped her resilience, curiosity, and leadership style. From finance leadership in global payments to stepping into CEO responsibility and now advising companies as a fractional CFO, Nino breaks down what it really means to "tell the story" behind the numbers—and why long-term success depends on clarity, calm judgment, and satisfaction across stakeholders. Show Notes Nino Maisuradze is a finance and operations leader in the payments industry who now works as a fractional CFO for growing companies. In this conversation, Nino explains how early life instability taught her that most problems are temporary—and solvable. She shares why she's obsessed with separating signal from noise, how the best finance leaders translate numbers into a story the business can act on, and what changes when you move from director/VP to the C-suite. Nino also unpacks a Growth Under Pressure moment from early in her C-suite journey: carrying responsibility when leadership shifted unexpectedly, navigating a difficult year, and learning to stay calm, pragmatic, and decisive even without perfect information. Finally, she closes with a contrarian metric she checks consistently: satisfaction—because cash tells you if you survive today, but satisfaction tells you if you'll last. — 🌟 Highlights Growing up in a civil war: why instability teaches resilience, support, and perspective "Most problems are temporary": learning to solve what's in front of you Career philosophy: not attached to titles, drawn to complex problems, open to learning through mistakes Finance as storytelling: "Don't tell me it's up 2%—tell me the story" Signal vs noise: how focusing on facts makes decisions pragmatic and straightforward CFO as business partner: what numbers mean for the next level of the company The jump to C-suite: the weight of responsibility and how to carry it without unnecessary pressure CFO → CEO transition: being close to customers, the business, and the operating reality The value of trust and relationships in hard conversations Growth Under Pressure: leading through uncertainty and a difficult economic year Operating principle: tune out noise, focus on stakes, decide without perfect info Boardroom truth: why speaking plainly elevates conversations and speeds decisions Rapid fire metric: satisfaction (employees, customers, board, stakeholders) Leader principle: don't confuse activity with productivit