The Parable of the Harvest (How to Answer the CFO)
You can’t show ROI yet. So show them this instead.
Hello,
Let me tell you a story about a meeting that happens in every company eventually.
I call it “The Parable of the Harvest.”
It takes place in a glass-walled conference room, months after a major AI project launch.
The Project Lead walks in confident. She has deployed the tool. She has cleaned the data. The team is using it.
But sitting across the table is the CFO. He isn’t looking at the engagement graphs. He is looking at a spreadsheet.
He lowers his glasses and asks the question that kills more innovation than any bug in the code: “Where is the money?”
“We spent $500k planting these seeds,” he says. “Show me the fruit.”
The Project Lead freezes.
There is no fruit yet.
The trees are still growing. But because the spreadsheet column for “Revenue” says $0, the CFO cuts the budget. He plows over the field just as the shoots were breaking the surface.
The “Lagging Indicator” Trap
This is the tragedy of the “6-Month Wall.”
Most leaders fail here because they try to measure AI innovation the same way they measure a mature sales channel. They look for immediate ROI.
But in the first year of transformation, ROI is a lagging indicator.
If you judge a sapling by how much fruit it produced in its first season, you will cut down the tree before it ever yields a harvest.
The Solution: Move from “ROI” to “Profitability Potential”
You cannot show the CFO past money. You have to show him future money with mathematical confidence.
This is why, when we built our Use Case Validator (the tool I shared recently), we didn’t just score for “Feasibility.”
We scored for Profitability.
When the CFO asks, “Is this working?”, you don’t just say “Trust me.”
You pull out your Validator Report and say: “We aren’t guessing. We selected this use case because it scored an 85/100 on Profitability against industry benchmarks. We prioritized it specifically because the projected financial impact is high.”
Your Move
Don’t walk into that budget meeting with just “vibes” and “engagement stats.” Walk in with a Profitability Score.
Run the Validator: If you haven’t yet, use our free tool to get your score.
Read Chapter 5: In your 5-chapter book preview, I break down exactly how to measure progress before the money hits the bank.
Get your Profitability Score here: Run the Use Case Validator
To your readiness,
Davies Bamigboye