There's a word I use that stops people: consigliere.
It's not a finance word. It's not in the CFO job description. And it's not accidental. It's the most precise word I've found for what I actually do — and more importantly, for the relationship that makes it work.
The consigliere doesn't run the family. The consigliere sits beside the one who does, tells them the truth, and makes sure the decisions that matter are made with the right information, the right framing, and someone who's genuinely in it.
That's the second chair. That's the seat.
It's not a consultant. Consultants come in, build the deck, and leave. The work is the deliverable. The relationship is incidental.
It's not a board advisor. Advisors show up quarterly, offer perspective, and aren't in the room for the 11pm call when something breaks. They're not in it.
It's not a traditional fractional CFO, either. The fractional CFO model is built around shared time — a few hours a week, spread across a roster of clients, optimized for throughput. The second chair isn't a time-share. It's a seat. You occupy it or you don't.
"I'm in the room. In your numbers. In the meeting that decides the next 12 months."
To sit in the second chair, you have to have actually run something. Not just advised people who run things. You have to have made payroll, signed the lease, chosen between two bad options with incomplete information, and lived with the consequences.
Because the owner across from you has done all of that. And they can tell, within about ten minutes, whether the person sitting beside them has been there too.
I started as a producer. I made things under pressure, on budget, across industries — media, manufacturing, hospitality, automotive, startups. I've sat at the top of companies as an owner. I've run the finance function from the inside, not from the outside with a clipboard.
That's not a credential. It's context. And context is what makes the second chair useful.
Most owners don't have someone in their corner who tells them the truth. Their CPA is worried about the tax return. Their attorney is worried about liability. Their team is worried about their jobs. Their spouse is worried about the family.
Nobody's worried about the business. Not the way the owner is.
The second chair worries about the business. Not in a way that creates anxiety — in a way that creates clarity. Here's what the numbers are actually saying. Here's what the market is doing. Here's the thing nobody's saying in the room. Here's the call I'd make, and here's why.
That kind of relationship doesn't happen at arm's length. It doesn't happen with someone who's managing ten other clients and is mostly thinking about their next deliverable. It happens when someone is actually in it with you.
I ran companies from the top and learned something I didn't expect: the seat I'm best in is the one beside the owner. Not above. Not consulting from a distance. Beside.
That's where the real work is. That's where the numbers become decisions. That's where the business either gets better or it doesn't.
If you've never had someone like that in your corner — someone who's genuinely in it, who tells you the truth, who cares about the outcome because their name is on it too — you should try it once.
It changes the way you run the business. Usually permanently.
That's what the second chair is there to do: sit beside the owner, tell them the truth, and make the business worth more — by whatever measure matters most to them. Worth more to hold. Worth more to sell. Worth more to hand off to the next generation. The seat is in service of that outcome.
Tell me what you're building and where you want it to go. I'll tell you if this is the right fit — and what I'd do first.
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