Most finance functions are still running on old DNA.
I see it everywhere. Talented people buried in reports. Smart teams drowning in month-end. Leaders watching AI accelerate around them while their function stays wired for control, compliance, and caution.
Nothing is broken, but something is outdated. And that’s a much harder problem to spot.
And tools aren't the answer. Nor are tech stacks or another transformation programme with a glossy name. There's an invisible performance issue baked into how finance has been designed to operate for decades.
We’ve trained ourselves to look backwards.
To prioritise control over contribution.
To treat insight, decision support, and learning as “nice to have” add-ons.
And then we wonder why AI feels threatening.
The real challenge isn’t AI adoption. It’s AI freeze! That moment when teams know change is coming, but their habits, rhythms, and incentives are coded for a different era.
What’s happening right now in the UK is also happening in the US. This is global. Quietly, the profession is being refined. The finance leaders who are moving fastest aren’t chasing AI headlines, but evolving their finance DNA.
They’re embedding decision support into daily work.
They’re strengthening issues management before problems escalate.
They’re building learning into the flow of work, not bolting it on as a one-off “transformation”.
That’s the shift I want to talk about.
At the next US edition of GENCFO Talks, I’ll be introducing the new DNA that finance leaders inside the GENCFO community are already using to evolve themselves and their teams, without losing rigour, control, or credibility.
We're not here to share scare stories.
We're not here to add more hype fuel to the fire.
I'm just presenting a practical reframing of what finance needs to become next.
If you want 2026 to be the year you stop reacting to change and start shaping it, this conversation is for you.
