Frank Gundlich
I often describe myself as a storyteller of data. Not because I romanticize numbers, but because I’ve learned that behind every dataset, every financial model, every liquidity report, there’s a human story — of trust, ambition, and sometimes denial.
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My story
I was born and educated in Germany, where I trained as a technical assistant in automation technology and later as an application development specialist. The German precision in engineering shaped how I think — but so did curiosity, empathy, and a relentless need to understand why things fail when people stop listening to data.
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For more than two decades, I’ve been working at the intersection of business, data, and leadership — guiding organizations across continents to use information not merely as a tool, but as a mirror. In those years, I realized that digital transformation is never just about technology; it’s about human transformation — the courage to confront truth through transparency.
That conviction led me to write my first business novel, The Cashflow Deadline, published in 2025. It’s a story of a CFO, Klara Vogel, and her team who face forty-two days before liquidity collapse. But beneath the financial urgency lies a deeper narrative — about integrity, fear, leadership, and the oxygen we call cashflow. The novel blends corporate thriller with management reflection, turning boardroom pressure into an emotional mirror for every leader who has ever faced uncertainty.
Writing this book changed how I view business. I no longer see companies as systems of profit and loss, but as living organisms built on trust, communication, and foresight. The story’s line — “Transparency beats optimism” — has since become a guiding principle for many of the leaders I meet.
When I speak or mentor, I talk about data as the new language of empathy. It tells us where we are, but also who we are — how we make decisions, justify mistakes, and build resilience. My leadership philosophy follows five strengths that I live by: Activator, Maximizer, Communication, Futuristic, and Competition. They remind me to act fast, aim high, speak clearly, look ahead, and never settle.
Today, I live in Atlanta, Georgia, surrounded by thinkers, dreamers, and my family — the people who remind me that balance is the art of any transformation. My current writing projects continue where The Cashflow Deadline left off — exploring the human side of artificial intelligence, the evolving role of the CFO and other leaders, and the eternal tension between data and intuition.
At heart, I’m not just a technologist or a strategist. I’m someone who believes that every number carries a story, and every leader has the power to rewrite it.