Inventory Optimization ProAdvisory by Sharon Custer Free 30 minutes

For teams and for events

Teach them to decide,
not just to prompt.

The team has the AI licences. Ask what has gone into the board pack since, and the answer is nothing. The output is there. Nobody is willing to sign it.

Ask for a proposal See the formats

Where the team isWhere it leaves
TodayAI output nobody signsSo the work gets redone by hand, and the licence pays for nothing
AfterwardsOne workflow the team trustsTested on numbers it already knows are right, with the rules written down

What they leave with

A decision the team is willing to sign.

The same method as the 1 on 1 coaching, run for the whole room. 4 steps, on the team's own work.

  1. The decision map

    Every recurring decision the team owns, on one page: who decides, and on what evidence.

  2. AI takes, AI assists, a person decides

    Each decision gets one of the 3 marks. The argument that never happens otherwise happens here, and the trust comes from it.

  3. Guardrails and financial boundaries

    What the workflow may never decide alone, what has to be traceable, and which cash limit sits above the model.

  4. Build one, test it

    The team builds one workflow in the room and runs it against numbers it already knows are right.

Who teaches it

Someone who has had to defend these numbers.

I have sat in the CFO chair, and at 3M I ran inventory operations that cut non-moving inventory from 8.5% to 5% while holding a 100% fill rate through the semiconductor shortage. I coach inside the AI Finance Club Accelerator: live sessions and written reviews of the projects finance leaders bring.

What finance leaders say about the teaching

I've seen how she breaks down technical AI and data concepts into something finance professionals can actually apply. Her blend of operational finance background and AI fluency is rare, and it makes her advice both credible and immediately useful.
Charles T. Charles T.CEO, intellectual property technology
She doesn't critique outputs, she diagnoses the system behind them: backtesting, train/test splits, auditability. That's the rigor senior finance professionals actually need.
Albert Lee Albert LeeFounder, FP&A advisory practice. FCPA
She has great ability in distilling complex subject into practical workflow and application.
Emily Moore Emily MooreSenior finance and FP&A leader. CPA, PMP
She offered insightful and timely responses to student queries during live sessions, and offered 1:1 support to all students within the cohort. She is knowledgeable, supportive and humble: a rare combination.
Parniyan C.Finance, strategy and operations leader. MBA

Read all 15 on the coaching page

Three formats

One idea for a room, or one workflow for a team.

Open the one that fits. Each is scoped to the event, and the proposal comes back on one page.

The room needs one idea it will still argue about next month.

Speaking: keynote or talk
In the roomA conference, an association, a leadership offsite
They leave withOne idea and the words to argue it

The talk asked for most: Designing AI workflows that improve decisions, not just speed. AI is producing more output, and decisions are not getting better. Three gaps sit behind that: no decision logic, no financial boundaries, and no record of why a person overrode the machine. It lands through scenes the room has lived: the reorder finance rejected because cash was never in the model, the forecast nobody trusted, the recommendation quietly ignored.

Other talks

  • Why AI on inventory data fails. The output is only as true as the valuation underneath it.
  • The decision that hardened before anyone checked it. How a commitment becomes irreversible while the reports still look healthy.
  • From data accuracy to decision accuracy. Two teams read the same report and act differently. What that costs.
  • What a CFO has to defend. The numbers a lender, a buyer or a board will examine, and where they break.

Ask for a proposal

The team has the tools and nothing it would sign.

Workshop: a working session for one team
In the room3 to 10 people from finance, procurement and operations
They leave withThe decision map, the guardrails, one tested workflow

Laptops open, on the team's own numbers. Finance, procurement and operations in the same room works best: the argument about whose number is right comes out and gets settled.

Ask for a proposal

Every workflow the team runs, built until it holds.

Group coaching: one finance team, over several weeks
In the roomOne finance team and its real workflows
They leave withWorkflows the team built and can defend

The same coached method as the 1 on 1 build, run for a whole team. Each person builds on the team's own data, and each workflow is tested against numbers the team already knows are right before anyone relies on it. Scoped to the size of the team and what rides on the numbers.

Ask for a proposal

Virtual, worldwide. In English or Mandarin.

A team that walks into the room able to defend every number.

Tell me who is in the room, how many, and what they should do differently afterwards. You get a one-page proposal: the format, what it covers, and the fee.

Ask for a proposal