"People Stay Because of Expectation, Not Delivery" — A Street Artist's Lessons for Finance Teams | Inside Finance #3

"People Stay Because of Expectation, Not Delivery" — A Street Artist's Lessons for Finance Teams | Inside Finance #3

What can a street artist teach a finance team? More than you'd think. In this episode of Inside Finance, host Gerlyn Tiigemae sits down with Sylvain Oulala, a French circus artist who has spent 12 years performing on streets around the world, including a 3,220 km unicycle ride from France to Estonia. Sylvain has also keynoted at Estonia's biggest finance conference, sharing what corporate leaders can learn from someone who literally makes a living capturing strangers' attention. This is a different kind of episode. Not about AI tools or finance workflows, but about the human skills that matter more than ever in an AI-driven world: attention, presence, social skills, and the courage to step out of your comfort zone. Topics covered: * How to actually grab and hold attention in a distracted world * The "first follower" phenomenon and how it applies to AI adoption in finance teams * The cue, action, reward framework for getting people to change * Why people stay because of expectation, not because of delivery * Why social skills are becoming the rarest competitive advantage in business * How AI is shrinking social skills and what to do about it * Why Sylvain deleted Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook * His honest take on AI and a 100% personalized AI-generated feed future * Cold calling as his "secret cheat code" for getting bookings * Why real change is boring, and what New Year's resolutions get wrong About Sylvain Oulala: Sylvain is a French circus artist, unicyclist, and entrepreneur who has been performing professionally for over 12 years. Originally trained as an engineer in France, he chose street performance and moved to Estonia, where he now runs his international show business. He performs across Europe, India, New Zealand, and beyond, and increasingly speaks at conferences about attention, presence, and human connection. Website: https://sylvainoulala.com [https://sylvainoulala.com] About your host: Gerlyn Tiigemae is an AI implementation consultant with dual Master's degrees in Finance and IT, MIT AI certification, and 13+ years of corporate finance experience. She has trained 2,000+ professionals across 50+ organizations. Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerlyn-tiigemae/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerlyn-tiigemae/]  Website: https://gerlyntiigemae.com [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbC1ma3NkWkZWQkRIY3pMdGxXUWdKQTVNV0NyZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsRDcyLWhsMFQ3cVhJOWhDN3NrVjFTODFBWGhOVUdzRVFoZ3pVVkEybVBJTVdBT1AxWFB6WUJjUUhkZGpXV3FManR3VmdWRXVtMGgzV013TEtFcTBjLUdOaXlJUTl6T1FLZXkxWkxEeDR4eXRVOGVacw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fgerlyntiigemae.com%2F&v=jTuS9R26eMk]  Newsletter: https://substack.com/@gerlyn [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnZfdkFZTWxIR3ZaN2JzS29WTHpPTXlTczdZd3xBQ3Jtc0tuSjVPLXc3d2J2MFNWRDNwOXBvUDF6SUstRmxWdDhxakt0WXRmaWhaWHJIOXl0Z2xCUXFIeE1INVpCekh3SHl4dXh3cW9vYzZqUzBRX0pMLVlONkU2Tk85SE4ta0dKeDg0N01IOXZrMThyU3JFR28zdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2F%40gerlyn&v=jTuS9R26eMk] #InsideFinance #ChangeManagement #Leadership #SocialSkills #AIimpact

"Manual Work Is Killing Your Creativity" — How Bolt Uses AI in Finance | Inside Finance #2

What happens when a data analyst at one of Europe's biggest tech companies decides that manual work in finance has to die? Not the hype - the reality of building AI workflows inside a real finance team. In this episode of Inside Finance, host Gerlyn Tiigemae visits Bolt's Tallinn office to meet Amir Ghorbani, a data analyst who builds agentic AI workflows for Bolt's finance team. They talk about why finance teams are more cautious about AI than other departments, why 90% of AI workflows you see on LinkedIn won't work in a real company, and how to actually get started without being afraid. Topics covered: * How AI is actually being used in Bolt's finance team today * Why finance people are right to be cautious about AI * Data quality and master data - the real blocker before AI can work * Shadow IT and how to get AI properly approved in a company * Hype vs. reality - why social media use cases don't translate to business * Why Bolt uses different LLMs for different tasks (Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT) * Manual work kills creativity - and why automation doesn't mean replacement * First steps: how to start using AI in finance this week About Amir Ghorbani: Amir is a Data Analyst (Analytic Engineer) at Bolt with 5+ years of experience in financial data and payments. He builds agentic AI workflows that automate manual processes across Bolt's finance team - from tax reporting checks to data quality validation.  About your host: Gerlyn Tiigemae is an AI implementation consultant with dual Master's degrees in Finance and IT, MIT AI certification, and 13+ years of corporate finance experience. She has trained 2,000+ professionals across 50+ organizations. Connect:  Gerlyn: 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerlyn-tiigemae [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerlyn-tiigemae] Amir: 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-ghorbani-dev/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-ghorbani-dev/] Website: https://gerlyntiigemae.com  [https://gerlyntiigemae.com ] Newsletter: https://substack.com/@gerlyn [https://substack.com/@gerlyn] #AIinFinance #DataAnalyst #Bolt #FinanceTransformation #AIImplementation #InsideFinance #InsideFinancePodcast

What Does It Actually Take for a Finance Team to Start Using AI? | Inside Finance #1 with Mari-Liis Kikas

What does it actually take for a finance team to start using AI? Not the hype - the real, practical steps.In the very first episode of Inside Finance, host Gerlyn Tiigemae sits down with Mari-Liis Kikas, a fractional CFO who works inside 10+ companies at any given time. They talk about why most companies aren't actually ready for AI (even when they think they are), why data quality is still the biggest blocker, and what finance leaders can do to take the first real steps.Topics covered:- What a fractional CFO actually does and why it's growing fast- The difference between compliance-ready and strategy-ready data- Why employees are afraid of AI and how to get them on board -Automation vs. AI - where to start and what to expect -Why your month-end close date tells you everything about your AI readinessAbout Mari-Liis Kikas: Mari-Liis is a fractional CFO with a background from PwC, Enefit, and Orkla Group. She now runs Kickass CFO, helping small and medium-sized companies build their finance function from scratch or improve what they already have.About your host: Gerlyn Tiigemae is an AI implementation consultant with dual Master's degrees in Finance and IT, MIT AI certification, and 13+ years of corporate finance experience. She has trained 2,000+ professionals across 50+ organizations.Connect: Gerlyn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerlyn-tiigemae/ Mari-Liis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariliiskikas/ Website: https://gerlyntiigemae.com Newsletter: https://insidefinance.substack.com#AIinFinance #CFO #FractionalCFO #FinanceTransformation #AIImplementation #InsideFinance #InsideFinancePodcast

Trailer: Welcome to Inside Finance

What does it actually take for a finance team to start using AI? Not the hype - the real, practical steps. Inside Finance is a new video podcast where host Gerlyn Tiigemae sits down with CFOs, fractional leaders, tool builders, and advisors to talk about how AI and technology are actually changing finance. No scripts. No polished answers. Just real conversations that go deep enough to be actually useful. First episode dropping this week. Subscribe so you don't miss it. Host: Gerlyn TiigemaeWebsite: https://gerlyntiigemae.com [https://gerlyntiigemae.com]LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerlyn-tiigemae/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerlyn-tiigemae/]