In this episode of Behind Numbers, host Alessandro Cozzi sits down with Zak Ali, General Manager of the U.S. at Finder, to unpack one of the most unconventional leadership journeys in modern tech — building a senior executive career without a college degree.

Zak’s path didn’t follow a traditional blueprint. Instead of credentials, he focused on learning by doing, building products, growing audiences, and mastering the mental discipline required to lead at scale. From co-founding Rantt — which evolved from a news aggregator into a widely cited media platform — to leading growth and eventually the U.S. business at Finder, Zak’s story is about momentum, focus, and deliberate thinking.

A key theme of the conversation is attention — what you choose to focus on shapes your outcomes. Zak shares a powerful mental model, to explain how awareness, mindset, and intentional focus can quietly determine success or stagnation in both career and life.

Together, Alessandro and Zak explore:

• How Zak built executive-level responsibility without formal academic credentials

• Why controlling your thoughts and attention is a competitive advantage

• The difference between learning skills and mastering judgment

• How growth leaders scale teams, culture, and systems sustainably

• Why many careers accelerate not through planning, but through pattern recognition

• The role of self-belief, criticism, and resilience in leadership development

• What aspiring leaders should focus on instead of titles and credentials

This episode goes beyond career advice. It’s a conversation about mental discipline, leadership under uncertainty, and building credibility through execution rather than permission.

If you’re interested in leadership development, growth strategy, unconventional career paths, mindset mastery, or what it really takes to earn trust and responsibility at the executive level, this episode offers practical insight and hard-earned perspective.

#BehindNumbers #TechLeadership #NoCollegeDegree #ExecutiveMindset #CareerGrowth #LeadershipMindset #TechCareers #StartupLeadership #MentalDiscipline #CareerAdvice #NonTraditionalPath

In this episode of Behind Numbers, host Alessandro Cozzi sits down with Tim Bean, an engineer and founder whose unconventional career journey led him into the world of autonomous defense technology and AI-driven systems — not through a lifelong plan, but through pivotal moments and real-world opportunity.The conversation begins with 9/11, a defining global event that reshaped Tim’s perspective and ultimately redirected his career. Rather than “following his dreams,” Tim explains how he followed important problems, learning along the way and building technology where accountability, ethics, and leadership truly matter.Together, Alessandro and Tim discuss:• How global events can shape leadership paths and career decisions• Why many successful founders never planned their end destination• The difference between ambition and obsession — and why obsession can become dangerous• What it takes to build autonomous systems and defense technology in high-stakes environments• How AI, robotics, and autonomy intersect with ethics and responsibility• Why proximity to meaningful problems matters more than titles or credentials• How strong judgment and values define long-term leadership successThis episode goes beyond technology and AI trends. It’s a deep conversation about leadership, decision-making under uncertainty, career growth, and building impactful technology without a traditional roadmap.If you’re interested in founder stories, leadership development, autonomous systems, AI in defense, engineering careers, or unconventional paths to success, this episode offers rare insight into how meaningful work is built — one decision at a time.

In this episode of Behind Numbers, host Alessandro Cozzi sits down with Frank, one of the rare leaders who has operated at the very top of both the consulting and corporate worlds. Frank served as Chairman and CEO of Deloitte Italy, where he led the firm through one of its most challenging periods, and later as President and CEO of Herbalife, guiding the global organization through transformational change. Today, he is CEO of Finaxstrure, continuing his mission of building strong cultures and elevating people.Frank opens with a powerful truth: culture is the most important factor in your career. Intelligence and talent alone don’t guarantee success—being in the right environment does. If you’re in the wrong culture, you’ll struggle. In the right one, you’ll thrive beyond expectations. This theme anchors an episode full of hard-earned wisdom, personal stories, and unfiltered leadership lessons.Together, Alessandro and Frank explore:🔹 Why great careers aren’t designed—they’re built by delivering excellence in every assignment, no matter how small or unglamorous.🔹 How being proactive, not reactive, creates opportunities long before a title appears.🔹 Why you should choose leaders and culture, not logos, and how staying in the wrong environment is the fastest route to stagnation or failure.🔹 The differences between leading in Europe and the U.S., from negotiation styles to contrasting ideas of ethics, accountability, and transparency.🔹 Frank’s people-first leadership philosophy, built on loyalty, fairness, trust, courage, and compassion—and why employees will follow leaders who consistently live these values.🔹 His toughest leadership moment as Chairman & CEO of Deloitte Italy: arriving to find the firm on the brink of collapse, forced to cut 30% of the workforce to save the organization—and the lessons in dignity, honesty, and courage that shaped him.🔹 How he approached global leadership as President & CEO of Herbalife, managing diverse cultures, intense scrutiny, and rapid decision-making.🔹 How to recognize true talent, why everyone has a “genius zone,” and the leader’s responsibility to place people where they can excel.Frank also offers candid reflections on living and leading in Italy—learning the culture, adapting to the pace, and navigating a society where relationships matter as much as results.This episode is more than a career conversation—it’s a masterclass in leadership, resilience, values, and navigating the realities behind executive decision-making.If you’re a future leader, an ambitious professional, or simply curious about what happens at the highest levels of organizations, this episode pulls back the curtain with honesty, humility, and insight.

In this episode of Behind Numbers, we go far beyond titles and résumés to explore the story of a leader who built her career with conviction, resilience, and an unshakeable sense of direction.

I’m joined by Joy Mbanugo, CFO of CXAI, a publicly traded SaaS company using AI to transform how we experience workspaces. Joy’s journey spans EY, BlackRock, Google, and ServiceRocket—companies where she reshaped finance organizations, led through complexity, and built a reputation for being both deeply technical and boldly innovative.

But behind the impressive career is a story of perseverance, self-belief, and navigating spaces where she often had to push harder than most. Joy shares how her passion for finance began unexpectedly in high school, how her parents steered her toward law, and how she carved her path anyway—earning her law degree while working full-time at EY, moving across continents, and stepping fearlessly into the tech world.

We discuss the pivotal moments that tested her resilience: getting told she was “making a mistake” for wanting to move offices, being pressured to miss law school classes for audit work, or even hearing, “What makes you think you could be a CFO?” Joy reveals how she learned to block out the noise, trust her convictions, and lead with clarity—wisdom she now brings to her teams and to the next generation of finance professionals.

As the CFO of a company at the intersection of AI, workplace innovation, and analytics, Joy shares a front-row view of how AI is reshaping modern finance. From earnings prep to forecasting, memo writing, and real-time insights, she illustrates how AI can become a superpower for CFOs—not a threat. She breaks down:

• How companies can start adopting AI gradually

• Why securing an LLM behind the firewall is a game-changer

• How collaboration inside an LLM will redefine teamwork

• The future skills every finance professional must build

And for leaders wondering how to start implementing AI inside their organizations, Joy explains why it doesn’t require a massive transformation project—just the right approach, the right tools, and a willingness to evolve.

This conversation is inspiring, honest, and packed with insights for anyone navigating a career in finance, tech, or leadership. Joy’s perspectives on conviction, resilience, and the future of AI in the workplace make this an episode you won’t want to miss.

In this episode of Behind Numbers, host Alessandro Cozzi sits down with X, a leader whose career spans from being employee #2 at a startup to driving billion-dollar M&A deals at a FinTech unicorn and leading transformation at a Fortune 100 company.Today, as Co-Founder & COO of Bridge, X is tackling one of the most significant challenges of the decade — the $10 trillion wealth-transfer opportunity, as millions of small business owners prepare to retire and sell their companies.We dive deep into:•. What real growth means beyond financial performance — how adaptability, people, and purpose fuel long-term success.•. How a background in software engineering sharpens decision-making, operational focus, and empathy for technical teams.•. Why leaders should first “do the work” themselves — getting hands-on to understand the challenges, earn credibility, and make better, more grounded decisions.• The $10 trillion small business succession opportunity — how to empower owners, buyers, and communities during one of the largest generational wealth transfers in history.•. Leadership lessons: managing confidence versus humility, navigating uncertainty, and communicating across fast-scaling teams.•. The power of global perspective — how working across Asia and the U.S. shaped X’s approach to culture, resilience, and innovation.•. And finally, the one decision X would change — and what it reveals about timing, growth, and learning through failure.If you’re an executive, founder, or finance professional, this conversation will inspire you to think differently about leadership, strategy, and how to build organizations that last — not just scale fast.🎙️ Behind Numbers, hosted by Alessandro Cozzi, uncovers what’s not visible from the outside — the pivotal moments, personal struggles, and leadership insights that shape today’s top CFOs, CEOs, and innovators.#BehindNumbers #Leadership #Finance #MergersAndAcquisitions #SmallBusiness #WealthTransfer #BusinessSuccession #Innovation #TechLeadership #GrowthMindset #Strategy #Entrepreneurship #CFO #CEO

In this episode of Behind Numbers, host Alessandro Cozzi sits down with Tara Spalding, a dynamic leader whose journey spans from Silicon Valley startups to the boardrooms of Utah’s most innovative companies. Today, she’s the Strategic Relationship Advisor at Nusano, helping shape the future of isotope manufacturing — a field poised to transform energy and healthcare. But behind the milestones and titles lies a story of reinvention, self-belief, and turning doubts into power.

From teaching herself to code and leaping into tech in the early 2000s, to witnessing the birth of Salesforce and recognizing how data would redefine customer relationships, Tara’s career has been built on identifying the next big shift — and having the courage to move toward it. Her story is a masterclass in adaptability, resilience, and foresight — qualities that every leader needs in a world of constant change.

Tara shares how she learned to analyze her doubts instead of letting them paralyze her — transforming uncertainty into strategy. She reveals how to recognize when something “isn’t in the cards” and how to pivot with intention, confidence, and purpose. For her, doubt isn’t a weakness; it’s a signal — a strategic checkpoint that pushes you to reassess, refocus, and move forward stronger.

Beyond her impressive executive career, Tara has mentored over 500 entrepreneurs, helping founders navigate the toughest parts of building — from fundraising and market strategy to leadership and growth. Through her work with World Trade Center Utah, Kinect Capital, and her own incubator Hen House Ventures, she’s helped countless startups turn ideas into viable, scalable businesses.

In this conversation, Tara opens up about what it truly means to be a mentor and a leader in today’s rapidly changing world. She shares her perspective on:

• The mental mindset behind successful career pivots.

• The balance between confidence and humility that defines strong founders.

• Why curiosity and traction matter more than perfection in entrepreneurship.

• How leadership must evolve in the age of AI, digital acceleration, and global instability.

• The ongoing fight for gender equality — and what true empowerment looks like in the workplace.

Tara also reflects on what she’s most proud of — earning trust through integrity, consistency, and impact. Her story reminds us that credibility isn’t built overnight; it’s earned through actions that compound over time.

And when asked the closing question — what she would change if she could go back — her answer carries a timeless lesson: she wishes she had pursued technical education earlier, not because of regret, but because she sees how early learning and curiosity open doors to opportunity. Her advice to anyone listening? Keep learning, no matter your stage. Take the class, earn the certification, stay curious — because adaptability is the currency of leadership.

This episode is about more than a career journey — it’s about redefining success, embracing change, and leading with both strategy and heart.

🎧 Listen now to hear how Tara Spalding turned doubts into direction — and why embracing uncertainty might be the smartest move you make in your own career.

From navigating layoffs during the 2008 crash to leading financial transformation at Google, Lamont Johnson’s journey is a story of resilience, empathy, and reinvention. In this episode of Behind Numbers, host Alessandro Cozzi dives into how Lamont built his career through uncertainty, embraced change, and transformed finance into a driver of innovation and human connection.

Raised in Northern Virginia, Lamont’s path took him from Morehouse College to roles at Coca-Cola, Fiserv, and McKesson before joining Google—where he has led AI-driven efficiencies saving over $500M and built teams that thrive through trust and purpose.

Lamont shares pivotal moments that shaped his leadership:

• How losing his job early in his career taught him adaptability and self-awareness.

• Why empathy and transparency are the most underrated skills for financial leaders.

• How AI is reshaping—not replacing—the human side of work.

• Why the relationships you build will always outlast the reports you deliver.

He also reveals what it really takes to get into Google (after 20 interviews!), how to overcome imposter syndrome, and how he leads teams to improve productivity by 40%—not through control, but through compassion.

Lamont’s reflections remind us that leadership isn’t just about mastering numbers—it’s about mastering relationships. Whether you’re a finance professional, a startup founder, or a leader navigating transformation, this conversation offers timeless lessons on growth, humility, and the power of people in an AI-driven world.

🎧 Listen now to discover how empathy and innovation can coexist—and how to lead with both.