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Welcome to part 3 of this 4-part series on corporate politics and the invisible organization chart.

In week 1, we covered why CFOs don’t get to opt out of politics. And that by putting the business first, politics can actually be a force for good.

We also introduced the 8 political faces you’ll encounter, and how to influence them.

Last week, we broke down the world of indirect influence. The people who don’t hold formal power, but shape decisions through their proximity to those who do. The real invisible org chart.

This week, we’re diving into the moments when politics hit hardest. What I call a “Big Reset Moment” or a BRM for short. These are those sliding door moments… when everything shifts overnight. New ownership. A change in CEO. A sudden restructuring.

And as CFO, these moments matter. And when the dust settles, your role might not look the same, or you might not be in it at all.

So let’s start by defining the different forms a BRM can take.

You can group BRMs into four categories:

These aren’t mutually exclusive. One often leads to another. Let’s break them down.

1) Ownership shocks

These are the most acute forms of reset.

If you’re the CFO of a business that’s just been acquired, your future becomes instantly uncertain. Somewhere, there’s a headcount synergy list, and your name might be on it.

I remember one business disposal I led (as Group CFO) where the CEO of the unit being sold was told all the right things. She was their chosen leader post-deal. They agreed a comp package with her. She was excited about the new owners. Two weeks after the deal closed, she was gone. The buyer had a new CEO lined up the whole time.

The same risk applies with new PE ownership or an activist entering your boardroom. And don’t assume you’re safe just because you’re the acquirer.

Early in my career, the business unit I worked in acquired a competitor of a similar size. I was the unit CFO. They had a more experienced CFO, and I was still proving myself. Over the following weeks, I watched as most of the acquired execs were picked to run the combined business. I was quietly bracing for the same outcome. I’m sure there were questions behind the scenes about whether I was “ready” to lead a larger, more complex finance function. In the end, I was confirmed as CFO — but it was a nervy few weeks.

2) Leadership resets

The clearest example of a leadership reset is a change in CEO. Any good CEO will ask: what do I keep, and what do I change?

Some of those answers are locked in before they even step through the door. Like it or not, you’ve just become part of the old regime. Your track record might be strong, but trust resets to zero.

The question isn’t “Are you capable?” It’s “Are you what they want?” And some CEOs have their pet CFOs that follow them everywhere (especially serial PE CEOs).

I’ve seen it twice. New CEO arrives. Within a few weeks, four or five of their former lieutenants are in top roles. In both cases, those decisions were made before they’d even met the people they were replacing.

CEO transitions aren’t the only form of leadership reset. Honorable mentions go to changes in the Chair or Independent Directors. Even a new Audit Committee Chair can trigger a quiet reshaping of finance, without anyone ever saying it out loud.

3) Strategic Shifts

As the company changes, what it needs from its leaders changes too. Turnaround CFOs and growth CFOs are not the same skill set.

It’s the same story as the business moves through different strategic checkpoints.

If your board commits to prepping for an IPO in two years, you can guarantee they’re already asking whether you’re the right CFO to lead that journey, especially if you’ve never done it before.

The same applies when new investors join the board following a funding round or capital restructuring. Or if you find yourself subject to a leveraged recapitalization. At a minimum, the priorities for the CFO shift significantly.

4) Structural Reorganizations

This is board politics dialed up to 11.

Boards rarely change out senior execs directly (although it happens). Especially the CEO or CFO. It’s more elegant to hire a consulting firm to review “leadership design.” Even if the board already knows what it wants, and has quietly briefed the chosen firm in advance.

Once armed with a deck of external “recommendations,” those hard conversations suddenly become a lot easier.

Well… at the extreme ends, a BRM could get you fired. Or it could be a complete nothingburger.

More often, it's somewhere in between. You keep your job, but the job changes.

So, what are the common ways a BRM can reshape a CFO role? In my experience…

Financial Policy

Changes in ownership or capital structure almost always trigger a shift in financial policy. But even a new CEO or board member can drive a radically different capital allocation agenda.

You might see changes in:

At its core, it comes down to whether you’re playing offense or defense. Growth or cash.

Your new CEO was hired to deliver a specific dream: growth, debt reduction, M&A, etc. Find out what it is, and it will tell you where the financial policy is heading.

Day-to-day Priorities

New owners. New plans. New CEOs. It all flows down. Their priorities will become yours:

Who’s Number 2?

This matters more than people admit.

Every CEO leans on someone. Might be the President of the biggest BU, CRO, COO, Chief of Staff, or the CFO.

Or, in the case of Astronomer, the CHRO…

Personally, I’ve always sought roles where the CFO is the natural number two. But a change in CEO can tilt that dynamic overnight.

Who they depend on most becomes the gravitational center of the exec team.

Centralization vs Decentralization

CEOs often come with baked-in views on org design, shaped by where they’ve been before.

A classic battleground: who the business unit CFOs report to. Do they report into the divisional President with a dotted line to Group Finance? Or the other way around?

It sounds trivial. It’s not. It tells you how the business thinks about control, autonomy, and the role of central functions.

And that is just one acute example. There are plenty of similar battlegrounds at different levels of the business, inside and outside of finance.

I once worked with a CEO who didn’t believe corporate FP&A should exist. In his view, all FP&A lived in the business units, or not at all.

It’s a reminder that a simple change at the top can ripple right through the CFO seat in practical ways you might not expect.

Adjacent Functions

Some CFO roles are lean and focus on finance only. Others include IT, Procurement, Legal, Strategy, ESG, Risk, Real Estate… the works.

Who owns what is shaped by many things. But the CEO’s personal preferences and experiences matter more than most.

In one role, I had IT under my remit … until a new CEO joined. They were used to having the CIO report directly to them, and wanted it back. So it moved. No big drama. But it changed the scope of my role immediately.

There are times to stand your ground, and times when you are fighting a losing battle. Read the room.

The key thing to understand after a BRM: you are under evaluation.

That might be formal, with a shortlist of potential replacements already sitting in the Chair’s inbox. Or it might be informal. But if you don’t adapt to your new master’s priorities, it won’t stay informal for long.

Knowing this isn’t cause for panic. But it should sharpen your focus. Because if you act like nothing’s changed, you’re already a step behind.

So whatever you do, don’t make these mistakes…

So if that’s what you shouldn’t do… what should you do?

But naturally, there are times when you’ll need to go. Either because you don’t buy into the new ownership, leadership, or strategy. Or because they don’t want you.

When that happens, you need to exit like a pro…

If you’ve decided to go, the best move is simple: say the right internally, while privately preparing your next step.

Buy yourself time through professionalism. It protects your story and your reputation.

Once you’re inside a specific industry, the world is smaller than it looks. Odds are, your future Chair, CEO, or investor will know someone on your current board.

When that reference call comes, you want the story to be: “They’re capable. It just didn’t work out for a mix of reasons.”

Not: “I didn’t see much of their work, but I remember they left badly, real asshole.”

Even if you’re being forced out, you can still maintain grace. Fight for what’s yours, bring legal help if needed, but don’t let it get personal. No drama.

I once worked with an exec who fell out with the CEO and left badly. Over the next decade, they ended up working for two different businesses that were acquired by that same CEO. Talk about bad luck. Both times, they got fired on day one. Don’t burn your bridges.

CEOs can (and frequently do) get away with the occasional diva meltdown. CFOs can’t… even if they are on their way out. No-one wants a CFO who loses their cool under stress. This is your moment to live the stereotype!

The big reset moments are unsettling. For everyone, not just the CFO. Careful, deliberate, professional steps will carry you through.

But even if the new CEO and owners are onside, there is a new battleground brewing in your business. The future will belong to those who control the data. And that means an entirely new political dynamic to contend with.

Next week, we’ll get into what happens when the numbers get weaponized and why data is the most political asset of all.

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Disclaimer: I am not your accountant, tax advisor, lawyer, CFO, director, or friend. Well, maybe I’m your friend, but I am not any of those other things. Everything I publish represents my opinions only, not advice. Running the finances for a company is serious business, and you should take the proper advice you need.