About Matthew Kulasa
In a September 2022 discussion on organizational readiness for business disruption, Matthew Kulasa, Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller & Chief Accounting Officer at Wesco Intl, spoke about navigating change and fostering agility within a controllership team. He described change as "difficult" and "a leap into the unknown," but emphasized the importance of "being comfortable with being uncomfortable" to lay groundwork for team development. Kulasa stated that support from the team is essential, adding that he views himself as "in it with the team" rather than an outside sponsor.
Kulasa also discussed the value of proactive planning, recalling a former CFO who advocated "peeking around the corner" to anticipate future steps and maintain agility in response to market shifts. He acknowledged that failure is part of the process, advising that teams should "fail fast, move forward with that and be able to learn from it to get to a better decision moving forward."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Matthew Kulasa's recent appearances.
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Transcript (2 segments)
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Matthew Kulasa0:06
I look at change, and this is nothing new. Change is difficult. It's a leap. I look at it as a leap into the unknown, which makes some people uncomfortable. But I guess when we started our journey, and not to quote Yogi Berra, but being comfortable with being uncomfortable and really getting, stepping out of your comfort zone, and really helping that to lay the groundwork for who we are going to be as controllership team members going forward. You need the support of your team during this. This is not one person can do it all and direct it. Everyone's in it together. I don't see myself as necessarily an outside sponsor of this from a controllership, but in it with the team.
Now if you're asking about adjusting to this, you know, why it's important, I think about that. I think about really not being promised that next step, whether it's in your role or your company overall. How do you stay in front of things and make sure that even if you're not planning for it or putting it in place and enacting it, you're always planning for it to keep you one step ahead? I know it sounds a bit cliche, but a former CFO I used to work with always talked about peeking around the corner, always trying to get around that next step, planning for it, and putting those alternatives on the table. And I look at that as really agility. I think making sure you have an organization that is agile enough to change and to move as the market dictates. I think it brings a lot of hope. I think really critical in this is that there's going to be failure. I think that's part of the hesitancy, is that we will fail. I look at it: you're going to fail in certain aspects. But you need to fail fast, move forward, and be able to learn from it to get to a better decision moving forward.
