Hello Reader 👋

Last week, I was almost at the end of a workshop with a finance team when something completely changed in the atmosphere. It became a discussion table about a fear they all had.

A very specific, very physical fear of walking into the ExCo and presenting results to a group of executives who would, almost inevitably, push back.

I've seen this before. But this time it was particularly intense. Almost the entire group described the same feeling: the one that, no matter how prepared you are, you will get pushback. And humanly, I get it.

So I opened my catalogue. The one I've built over years of sitting next to finance teams in high-stakes moments.

This week, ladies and gentlemen, we're going through how to handle executive pushback in four concrete ways.

So take a coffee, sit down and read FP&A Stories just like 18k other readers

This week in FP&A Stories

🫸4 ways to handle pushback from executives with confidence

The fear underneath the question

By the time an analysis reaches an executive, the work is usually solid.

The model has been reviewed, the assumptions challenged internally, the recommendation stress-tested by the team.

The fear comes from somewhere else: the feeling that any question, however small, could unravel everything you've built.

That feeling is real.

And it's worth taking seriously, because it affects how you show up before a single slide has been clicked.

What executives are actually doing when they push back

Pushback is rarely personal. When an executive challenges your numbers or your recommendation, they're usually stress-testing the decision, protecting their own credibility, or trying to understand the risk they're being asked to carry.

That's their job.

And when you understand the intent behind the question, your whole relationship with the room changes: you stop defending and start engaging.

The 4 types of pushback and how to handle each

1️⃣ Challenging the data

This is the executive who questions the numbers themselves. The source, the methodology, the period, the comparables.

It can feel like an attack on your competence, but it's usually a request for confidence.

The response is simple: know your data deeply enough to walk them through it calmly.

If there's a limitation in the analysis, name it yourself before they find it.

That kind of transparency builds more trust than a perfect-looking model.

Extra tip: knowing the different reports that circulate inside your company also allows you to understand the filters used (and compare to your version)

2️⃣ Challenging the recommendation

The executive has a different view. They see the same data and land somewhere else.

This is the pushback that rattles people the most, because it feels like the whole presentation is being rejected.

Acknowledge their reading genuinely, then invite the difference rather than closing it down.

Something like: "That's a fair challenge. Here's the reasoning behind our position, and I'd like to understand where you see it differently."

You're thinking together. That's exactly where you want to be.

3️⃣ Challenging the timing

This surfaces when the recommendation feels premature.

Why now? What's changed?

It sounds like scepticism but it's often orientation.

The executive needs a clear story about what shifted to feel confident moving forward.

If you can tell that story fluently, the timing question becomes a moment of clarity.

If you can't, it's a signal worth listening to: sometimes the recommendation is right and the sequencing needs work.

4️⃣ Challenging the risk

This is usually the last question before a decision lands.

What's the downside? How do we contain the exposure?

Executives carry risk on behalf of the organisation and they need to understand what they're signing off on.

Give a bounded answer: what is the realistic worst case, how would you know early enough to act, and what does the course-correction look like.

That preparation is what confident finance leadership sounds like in that room.

The posture that holds it all together

How you carry yourself when the room gets hard matters as much as what you say.

If you visibly tighten when a question lands, the executive reads that before you've said a word.

Confidence in that room comes from preparation. Specifically, from having thought through each of these four types of pushback before you walk in.

Run your recommendation through every lens: where's the challenge to the data, to the recommendation, to the timing, to the risk?

That thirty-minute exercise changes the energy you bring.

And it is obvious when it's done.

That's a wrap for this week

See you next week!​

P.S.

After 17 years in FP&A, Consulting and Leadership, I’ve coached and trained finance teams across industries, from consulting and manufacturing to tech, media, and global logistics.
Through The Finance Circle, I’ve had the chance to work with teams from companies like Ralph Lauren, Deloitte, Roche, Holcim, CMA CGM, Bauer Media, Indeed, Volvo, AbbVie, NATO, and many others.

If you want to sharpen your own storytelling skills or bring this work into your team, here are a 3 ways can work together:

• ​Financial Storytelling Program for Individuals​
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