If We Get This Wrong, We're In Real Trouble - Cale Bennett

This episode was brought to you by Tallystone. Use the promo code CFOTRACK for a 30 day free trial by visiting tallystone.com/cfotrack CTM lost 90% of its revenue in a single month. Cale Bennett was part of the team that cut 1500 jobs to save the remaining 2000. At 17, Cale Bennett started university, studied international finance and landed on an FX trading desk managing sums of money he still can't quite believe anyone trusted him with. What followed was a career that moved through FX and interest rates in Brisbane and Sydney, a stint at Macquarie during the GFC and then corporate treasury at Aurizon through a government demerger and float. What he didn't know when the Aurizon chapter closed was that a relationship built during that period would end up reshaping the next stage of his career. A banker who remembered him from the Aurizon days rang a CFO and made the case for Cale to get a second interview at Tatts Group. He got the job. That same banker, nearly a decade later helped Cale save CTM during COVID when the business lost 90% of its revenue in a single month. The team cut 1500 jobs to protect the remaining 2000. Between those two moments he went from Group Treasurer at Tatts to building software from a coworking space in Kyoto. Then deliberately taking a role with Bank of Queensland finance because he thought he had gotten lucky the first time around. "If I fail here, then I was right," he says of the imposter syndrome that drove him into one of the most complex roles he could find. Again, he didn't fail. Today he is CFO at TechnologyOne, an ASX 100 software company with 1700 people across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. His approach to his career and networking is "If I can help you, I'll certainly try. And if I can't, I'll connect you with someone who can." Cale is a brilliant example of how networking can make an impact when you least expect it. You don't want to miss this one! What we cover: • How finishing school at 16 shaped his early career and his impatience • What happens when you leave a stable career to start a business and competitors physically turn up to try and intimidate you • The phone call that got him a second interview at Tatts, and what it teaches you about how networks actually work • How CTM lost 90% of its revenue in a single month and the decision to cut 1500 jobs to save 2000 • Why he took the Bank of Queensland role specifically to test his imposter syndrome • The difference between leading a team you inherited and managing one you built • Why he rented a house in Kyoto and went to the same co-working space every day for months • How compounding generosity replaced the version of networking most finance professionals do The CFO Track. Out now on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.