Home / Insights / Members’ Publications

Chaordic CFO – Managing DISTRESS in an Uncertain Future

June 18, 2025

Contributed by: R V K S and Associates.

Chaordic perfectly describes the environment finance leaders now operate in, a fusion of chaos and order. In March 2025, R Venkatakrishnan wrote an article titled Accounting in the Era of STEM, published in The Hindu Business Line. The piece explored the changing landscape of the finance profession amidst the rise of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines. The response was overwhelming and encouraging. It prompted a deeper reflection—not just on accounting per se, but on the evolving nature of leadership in finance, particularly the CFO’s role.

That journey, and the conversations it sparked, culminated in an address to a forum of senior finance professionals on the theme: “Chaordic CFO – Managing DISTRESS in an Uncertain Future.” The title was a deliberate play, on both the emotional and structural stress, experienced in today’s business world, and on the leadership compass needed to manage it.

The word Distress:

Was used as a strategic acronym Disruption, Innovation, Strategy, Transformational Growth, Resilience, Execution, Storytelling, and Stakeholder Management. Each dimension reflects an area where the CFO’s responsibilities have evolved. The objective is not merely to diagnose corporate pain points, but to offer a roadmap moving from distress to ‘eustress’ a productive, purposeful stress that drives excellence.

The term ‘chaordic’:

Perfectly describes the environment finance leaders now operate in, a fusion of chaos and order. Today’s CFO must strike a balance between structure and innovation, compliance and creativity. Systems must be self-organising, adaptive, and resilient. Too much order leads to rigidity and missed opportunities. Too much chaos results in collapse and confusion. The Chaordic CFO thrives in this space, designing systems that are stable yet agile prepared for disruption, but wired for reinvention. Chaordic is not about eliminating uncertainty it is about leveraging it for growth.

Chaordic: Setting the Stage

In a world of exponential change technological acceleration, regulatory flux, ESG expectations, and geopolitical uncertainty—finance professionals are under more pressure than ever. For decades, they have been trained to drive by looking in the rear-view mirror, obsessing over historical data. But in today’s landscape, that’s not just limiting it is dangerous.

Marshall Goldsmith’s famous book, ‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’, speaks to a mindset shift. Past strengths become blind spots. Comfort zones calcify. To lead in the modern enterprise, CFOs must let go of outdated patterns and embrace agility. The real question is not whether change is coming it is whether we are ready to stay ahead of it.

Disruption: The New Normal

Disruption is not a trend in this environment. Technology is reshaping every sector, consumer behaviour is shifting faster than ever, and geopolitical shocks are redefining supply chains. What makes this disruption more challenging is its unpredictability and pace. CFOs must now function as foresight enablers detecting early signals, modelling scenarios, and funding agility.

It is deeply ironic that the quote ‘Only the paranoid survive’ came from Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel a company now facing sustained challenges from Nvidia and Chinese semiconductor firms. Even titans can stumble if they fail to adapt. Disruption now comes not just from competitors but from adjacent industries, startups, and platform models. CFOs must build organisations that don’t just absorb shocks but anticipate and capitalise on them.

Innovation: Commercialising the Future

Innovation has shifted from being a lab function to a boardroom priority. It is also conjunction of two words viz., invention and commercialisation. It’s no longer just about products; it is about new business models, new partnerships, and new ways of delivering value. CFOs must move beyond the ROI lens alone and understand the potential of test-and-learn models, venture capital style investments, and sandbox experimentation.

Take 3M’s example, where 40% of its revenues must come from products introduced in the last five years. Or Ather Energy, incubated by IIT Madras, that scaled into a nationally recognised EV brand where the incubator has raked in a coolk Rs.50 crore from the offer for sale in the public issue. Finance must now fuel innovation not just evaluate it. CFOs must underwrite risk that creates long-term optionality.

Strategy: Agility with Focus

Strategic clarity is no longer about five-year forecasts. It’s about adaptive decision-making and dynamic capital allocation. AV Thomas’s investment of ₹25 crore in Chai Kings shows how legacy firms are diversifying into emerging markets a classic case of corporate venture capital. Similarly, Century Pulp’s divestiture of its paper division to ITC for ₹3500 crore underlines the strategic importance of focusing on core competencies.

Organisations are embracing circularity to reduce waste and manage cost, aligning sustainability with strategy. According to an EY India survey, over 74% of Indian corporates plan to divest non-core assets over the next 24 months. CFOs must be stewards of simplification and strategic boldness.

Transformational Growth: Moving Beyond Linear Ambitions

Linear growth is no longer viable. In a post-pandemic economy shaped by digital transformation, CFOs
must support adjacencies, build ecosystems, and simultaneously drive scale and efficiency. Transformational growth is about doing many things at once; entering new markets, exiting declining
verticals, building platforms, and reinventing delivery.

It also involves challenging assumptions. The boldest CFOs support disruptive bets whether transitioning from B2B to B2C, investing in net zero transitions, or acquiring capabilities, not just revenue. Transformational CFOs help the organisation operate with a venture capitalist mindset.

Resilience: The Boardroom Priority

Resilience is no longer reactive; it must be embedded in business design. From climate events to cyberattacks and supply disruptions, organisations must be equipped to bounce forward, not just back. McKinsey outlines six dimensions of resilience – financial, operational, technological, organisational, reputational, and business model. CFOs now oversee more than capital; they govern continuity.

Boards now ask: Do we have the liquidity buffer for the next disruption? Can our cost structure flex if demand collapses? Resilience also includes reputational equity. CFOs must institutionalise preparedness, monitor lead indicators, and embed risk thinking into every process.

Execution: The Discipline of Doing

Execution is what separates vision from reality. A recent Business Standard report noted Tata Steel’s plan to take out ₹11,000 crore in costs on top of ₹6000 crore already realised in FY25. Such initiatives signal that execution must be relentless. Consumers are price sensitive. Passing cost increases is difficult. The only path forward is variable cost design, continuous upskilling, and capacity flexibility. Execution also means systems that support decision-making at speed.

The CFO must empower frontline managers with real-time data, nurture a culture of ownership, and facilitate productivity through technology. Agility is not about chaos it is about preparation meeting opportunity.

Storytelling: Data with a Heartbeat

Today’s CFO must speak the language of influence, not just accuracy. Whether explaining investment strategy to the board or decoding ESG disclosures to investors, the ability to narrate numbers is a superpower.

Storytelling brings structure to ambiguity and converts insight into alignment. It is not enough to report that margins shrank. One must explain why, what’s next, and how strategy adapts. Storytelling is also critical in earnings calls, sustainability reporting, and employee town halls. A CFO who can tell a story backed by data earns credibility across all stakeholders.

Stakeholder Management: The Trust Imperative

Stakeholder management has become central to the CFO’s role. With rising public scrutiny, social media activism, and ESG mandates, companies must engage diverse interest groups with integrity. Stakeholders now include investors, employees, regulators, communities, NGOs, and platforms. Each has different expectations—and one misstep can go viral.

CFOs must ensure that communication is consistent, transparent, and backed by ethics. From regulatory filings to advertising messages, every output must reinforce corporate trustworthiness. In this era, compliance is the baseline. What sets leaders apart is principled engagement.

From DISTRESS to EUSTRESS

Not all stress is harmful. Eustress, the positive tension that motivates performance, is essential to growth. The Chaordic CFOs doesn’t fear challenge. They harness it. They convert disruption into discipline, ambiguity into architecture, and pressure into possibility.

Moving from DISTRESS to EUSTRESS is about re-framing the CFO’s function: from protector to co-creator, from controller to catalyst. It is about building cultures that don’t avoid risk but learn from it. Eustress is energy with direction. It empowers the organisation to stretch without snapping.

Inventing the Future

As Alan Kay said, ‘The best way to predict the future is to invent it.’ CFOs now have the mandate and tools to shape the future. But as John C. Maxwell reminds us, ‘If you don’t create the future you want, you must endure the future you get.’

The Chaordic CFO is no longer confined to the balance sheet. They are strategic designers, resilience champions, and change agents. Their mandate is to build organisations that are future-ready fiscally sound, digitally intelligent, and ethically grounded.

This is not just about navigating the next disruption it is about leading the transformation. From DISTRESS to EUSTRESS is not just a framework. It is a call to action.

Contributed by: