Leadership, Trust, And AI: Dan Durn’s Journey As Adobe’s CFO

17 Dec 2024 by Jack McCullough · Forbes

Dan Durn has been the CFO of Adobe since October 2021.Adobe

Dan Durn was appointed the role of CFO at Adobe in 2021. Known around the world for being a global leader in digital media and digital marketing solutions, their creative, marketing and document solutions empower everyone. From emerging artists to global brands, Adobe helps to bring digital creations to life and deliver immersive, compelling experiences to the right person at the right moment for the best results.

I recently connected with Dan to talk about small-town values and how they’ve affected his career, the importance of trust, the CEO and CFO relationship, what it means to have a finance hackathon and more.

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Dan Durn grew up in the Rust Belt of Pennsylvania, more specifically, in Cooperstown, Pa. Approximately five minutes outside of Allentown, upon which Billy Joel’s famous song was based, Durn believes that the lyrics help people understand where he grew up.

“While the economic opportunity was limited, and I always knew that I would be leaving Pennsylvania for as long as I can remember, I’m enormously grateful for the small-town values, the integrity that my parents instilled in me, the hard work, the work ethic and also what I call a nonsense meter that points true north,” he explained. “You see nonsense coming from a ways away. It serves me well in the seat I sit in.”

Durn’s straightforward, no-nonsense approach was also influenced by the fact that his father served in the military. That example inspired Durn to attend the Naval Academy himself, where he was shaped by teamwork, discipline, and high standards. He internalized other core values that revolve around people–believing in them, growing them, developing them, and trusting them.

He has been on the receiving end of that trust and knows what it can mean to someone’s career. It’s a core element of the leader he is today–especially in how he views leadership overall.

“People follow leaders because they trust leaders,” he said. “It has shaped my view as to what instills followership in great leaders. It’s that trust. Trust is the greatest currency, followed by resilience. Don’t ever give up. Life isn’t a straight line. Careers are not a straight line. Be resilient in the face of adversity.”

Durn’s commitment to those leadership principles led to him taking on a number of progressively higher-responsibility jobs throughout his career. Prior to coming on board at Adobe, he has held roles at powerhouse firms such as KPMG, Booz Allen Hamilton and Goldman Sachs. He first became a CFO in 2011 for GlobalFoundries, followed by NXP Semiconductors and Applied Materials.

At Adobe, Durn has helmed Finance, Technology Services, and Operations as CFO for more than three years. Perhaps his most visible CFO role yet, several underlying factors have resulted in Durn’s career satisfaction: being exposed to value creation at innovative companies, experience in a variety of industries, and collaboration with mentors.

But, contrary to the traditional idea of how mentorship should work, Durn’s thoughts about transformational mentorship involve flipping some ideas on their head.

“Mentorship is often confused with those that are more senior,” he explained. “My personal view is that mentorship is also about having people tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.”

In fact, one of Durn’s most important mentors was a former assistant who ensured he was in tune with the employee population. It was a particular area of expertise for her, as three generations of family members had worked at the company. She made an impression on him because of her instinct, belief system, and passion about what they were doing.

Seeing how effective mentorship can be has made Durn a willing–and coveted–mentor himself. In fact, watching the people who he has mentored grow and assume responsibility in their careers is one of the most satisfying experiences.

“I take the responsibility seriously,” he said. “I want others’ career paths to be easier than mine because there are twists and turns along the way. I view it as an important part of the seat I sit in. I take a personal role not only with the people who are on my team, but also with others throughout the organization. Making my time available is a privilege to do that for other people.”

As the global economy changes and digitalization sits as one of the main driving forces, Durn also recognizes the sense of responsibility he has as part of the Adobe team. As it serves as the digital interface between companies and their customers, as well as a digital document and content company, there is a deep-seated responsibility regarding how they bring technology to life.

Durn shares that responsibility alongside Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, who was a primary reason he accepted the CFO role. He considered it a privilege to be his business partner and work alongside an icon inside the company and in tech.

To others looking to build a relationship with their CEO, Durn’s advice is simple: Don’t underestimate the importance of that dynamic.

“It is the most important relationship in a CFO’s journey,” Durn emphasized. “This gets back to playing team sports growing up, my time in the military, or my experiences since then. I believe the best teams win championships, not the best talent. The role of a CFO is to complement the existing environment, the magic that a CEO brings to a company, the executive team, and their strengths. How you come in and complement that dynamic means that your team can win championships and the company can be a leader in its industry. I feel like I can partner with [Shantanu] best to make sure that Adobe’s best days are in front of us.”

The numbers back up this theory: Currently, Adobe is growing to $20 billion in revenue, with aspirations to grow to $30 billion and $40 billion. Durn and his colleagues are constantly considering how to put the proper infrastructure in place to allow the company to operate at a higher velocity and realize the value in that innovation.

To operate at that velocity, innovation will involve the use of AI, and Durn is one of a handful of CFOs on the cutting edge of using AI for financial leadership. In fact, he and his team are using ideas they sourced from the organization during a hackathon to shape the future of finance.

“We came up with the idea of sourcing ideas ground up in the organization through a hackathon,” he said. “We put the challenge out to the broad population regarding how generative AI and machine learning will shape the future of finance. We got more than 100 submissions that my leadership team then sorted through. We came up with 15 ideas that we were going to put resources behind, drop into a sandbox, and run proof of concept. We had those 15 teams come in and present to the finance leadership team in a Shark Tank-like moment of where we were going to put our resources. We chose five.”

In some organizations, too much change can create apprehension. But at Adobe, the best ideas surfaced. The team knew that they were not only going to be a part of the solution but the future of finance inside Adobe.

Durn found that when people were part of architecting the solution, morale increased. Enthusiasm and discretionary effort were unlocked as well.

“I don’t think generative AI replaces human ingenuity,” Durn said. “It augments human ingenuity to make us better and more effective at what we do. If I were to take a snapshot of how finance organizations operate free from AI, machine learning and generative AI, I would say probably 70 percent to 80 percent of the time is spent assembling data, doing analysis, generating reports, and 20 percent to 30 percent of the time is taking action and driving value.

I think these technologies can turn that on its head, where 20 percent to 30 percent of the time is creating a data-based picture that reflects the reality inside the company. Seventy percent or 80 percent of the time can then be focused on action and driving value. It makes us collectively more effective as a team. I think the business impact is derived from the data. Driving business impact is the measure of an effective CFO. I don’t ever see that being machine-generated.”

Effectively harnessing AI to empower teams and drive value means that the future of financial leadership will revolve more around business impact. For future generations of CFOs, Durn advises people to be authentic in order to create that impact.

“Don’t lose authenticity,” he explained. “There’s no formula for doing a job like this. There are lots of different ways of doing it, and there are lots of different paths to success.

Be authentic because it strikes at the heart of the concept of trust. If people don’t feel like you’re authentic, they’re not going to trust and follow willingly. There’s an essential connection between the concepts of trust, followership, and authenticity. Building and growing teams is enormously gratifying. Believe in people, invest in people, grow people, and bring that next generation of leaders on. You’ll understand the gratifying nature of that investment over time. It’s enormously gratifying.”