The finance edge is becoming more human, says CFO Performance Coach Florian Pecher

As AI took on more routine work, the differentiator for finance leaders was shifting in a different direction.

In this CFO Edge, Florian Pecher, CFO Performance Coach at Imperative Advisory, argued that strategic value would depend less on individual output alone and more on presence, self awareness, and the ability to lead teams effectively under pressure.

Drawing on his background in cross border M and A advisory with HSBC, he made the case that the human edge in finance was becoming more important, not less.

Key takeaways:

• As AI absorbed more routine work, the CFO edge was shifting toward presence, emotional intelligence, and stronger collaboration.
• High performance depended on balancing personality, leadership approach, and execution while managing stress and attention more deliberately.
• Better decision making and innovation came from stronger self awareness, deeper trust, and teams built around complementary strengths.

Strategic value was moving closer to human performance

Florian argued that what set people apart in the age of AI was not isolated individual capability, but the ability to work effectively with others.

He pointed to compassion, presence, and emotional intelligence as qualities that shaped stronger collaboration and better leadership outcomes.

In his view, these were becoming more important as finance leaders faced rising complexity and greater expectations around judgement.

He also highlighted how attention itself was becoming a performance issue.

Even at full focus, the human brain filtered out more than 90% of stimuli, with distraction reducing effectiveness further.

That made intentional focus more valuable.

By reclaiming seven and a half to ten hours a week from low value activity, leaders could shift more energy into purposeful work that lifted both individual and team performance.

The CFO role was being redefined around how leaders show up

Florian described the CFO role as being in the middle of major reinvention, with 75% of positions expected to undergo significant change in the next few years.

At the same time, ADAPT data showed that 80% of finance leaders still said AI return on investment remained unclear, while only 6% of organisations provided mandatory AI awareness training.

That gap suggested the missing link was not only technical adoption, but the human capability required to apply AI responsibly and effectively.

To frame this, he introduced a performance model built around three elements, the who, the how, and the what.

The who focused on the individual and their personality traits. The how covered collaboration and leadership style.

The what focused on the actions and tasks that drove outcomes. His point was that sustainable performance came from integrating all three rather than over relying on one.

Better finance performance depended on self awareness and stronger team dynamics

Florian argued that high performers balanced intense task focus, strong collaboration, and rigorous problem solving, while staying adaptable enough to manage pressure without burning out.

Practices such as breathwork and centering helped leaders regulate stress and maintain the right level of activation for sustained performance.

He also explored the role of personality in team effectiveness, using models such as the Hogan Personality Inventory to understand individual strengths, blind spots, and team dynamics more clearly.

In his view, this kind of insight helped teams build trust, strengthen psychological safety, and create more complementary ways of working.

His conclusion was that finance leaders needed stronger strategic self awareness, making deliberate choices about how they showed up and how they helped teams perform together.