Manifesto of a Self-Proclaimed CFO

July 19th, 2012 by Skywalk Group Categories: business, Business Coaching, Company Training, Employee Development, Human Resources Management, Management Development, Skywalk Group, Supervisory Training, Team Building

Career development is top of mind for many employees.  Some organizations have structured career development programs in place–others do not.  Regardless of the career development structure, or lack thereof, that your company provides, it is 100% up to you to own and drive your own career. 

Bill Thomasson, owner/CFO of Sedna Logistics in Iowa City, Iowa, shares his thoughts on what the road to becoming a CFO looks like.  Although Bill’s perspective comes from the finance world, what he says applies to nearly any career path that you may choose.  Enjoy!

Manifesto of Self-Proclaimed CFO

I have traveled the path of a finance professional with no regrets.  Through the last few decades, I have armed myself with some ways to think and a few tools of the trade that have helped me along the way.  I am hoping that some of these will be useful to you.

Ways to Get In

Educate.   Education may not always improve knowledge, but it is the access point to get in. Get in the best school you can.  Don’t kid yourself – Ivy League is worth more.  Big Ten is great if you can’t go higher.   Keep going.  Masters Degree or higher is required.  CPA – needed.  Damn this one. Sarbanes-Oxley changed the finance world and now everyone has to show they are a real accountant.  I don’t agree with this, but it doesn’t matter (back to access).  Beyond the degrees, take a collegial finance/accounting or heavy thinking business class every few years.  Keep one foot in the ideal plane of academia.

Know the Right People.  This one hurts.  The reality is that you can’t open the doors to top management by yourself.  Find and get to know individuals that will likely be the next CEO or Executive Manager.  Get to know Board members where you can, particularly the chairs of finance committees.  Build relationships with your auditors.  The CEO is likely going to pick the CFO and seek approval from the Board and potentially seek input from the outside audit firm.   You don’t have to like them.  In fact, I’ve learned a great deal from individuals I don’t personally like. Salute the position, not the person.

Rotate.  While you can get to the CFO level with the same company through your career, count on a long wait.  Always keep a fresh resume and a pulse on the job market.   Get to know key recruiters in the area.   Find a good one – I have been surprised how long I’ve known the same ones.   Recruiters are likely the first point of contact for new homes.   Keep elevating every few years and if it doesn’t happen internally, find a better deal on the outside.  New places give you more tools of seasoning and exposure as well as an accelerated path to the golden door of CFO.  You are the CFO of yourself.

Ways to Think and Work

Take on the Ugly.  Give me the ugliest, most challenging, highest complexity, project available.  The projects that no one wants, I want.   The expectations for improvement on these projects can be very low.  So the reward may be very high if improvement is made.  And worst case, if little to no improvement, expectation met.  Make a name for yourself as the “sweeper”.  Everyone calls on you to solve the hard problems.

Be Different.  No one follows vanilla or chocolate.  We all want vanilla twist.  Haven’t met a plain CFO yet.

Facts Speak for Themselves.   Too often, I get subjective opinions not supported by data.  Hard facts presented well don’t need more interpretation.  They speak for themselves.  Spend more time with facts than theories.

Be Cheap.   Much of the CFO’s time will be spent developing the most efficient path to highest return.  All CFO’s that are worth a salt are skinflints.  Frugality is built-in and this generally extends past professional thinking.  All spend has a return that can be quantified and evaluated.  CFOs can exaggerate this point so clarity can be brought home.

Change for Change Sake is Good. This is contrary to a lot of thinkers.  Within reasonable constraints (eg. don’t tank the ship), forcing continuous change has been a positive experience.  Through change comes innovation.   Become known as the innovator and build a culture that embraces change.

Fail Cheaply.  The reality is that you will have failures.  Agree to milestones that qualify the project as a failure and get out with the majority of your ass(ets) intact.  Passion can drive a project and can be helpful – just don’t let it get in the way and don’t get too emotionally attached.

Empower.  I’m not the brightest in the group.   Never have been.  I’ve always found quality colleagues.   Armed them with the tools to succeed and put them front and center.  They will always drive the organization further than you could have by yourself.  I have seen too many Managers spend their time second guessing their employee’s decisions.  The Manager’s decision may have been better. However, the loss from the second guessed employee is greater than the gain from the better decision.  It is unlikely the employee that was second guessed will put their hand up to help next round.  Takeaways are worth twice as much as gains.   Give your employees a crack at success and win together.

Scorekeep.  Give employees frequent updates of the business and their work activities in a quantifiable way (back to “facts speak for themselves”).  I am always astonished how things improve just be the mere fact results are measured and published.  Want something to improve fast (back to the “sweeper”) – simply educate the employees impacting the issue on the costs and measure these costs in a public way.  Make them part of the solution.   Problem solved.

IT .  Good finance managers almost always find a way to align themselves with high quality IT professionals.  The finance innovators are usually faced with finding improvements through technology.  Learn the ways of IT.  I have been served well by understanding the very fundamentals of all company systems.  And generally, the IT department, which no one wants (back to “take on the ugly”), reports to the CFO.

On-Time Always.  I am never late to anything ever.  I can be counted on and people know this.  A simple thing where most fail.

Work Hard.  I overcompensate with high work ethic for my intellectual shortcomings (or at least fear thereof).  Many work hard with a plan to retire later.  What the hell is retirement anyway – retire to “what”?  This is what I want to do and I like doing it.   I will retire to more work.   As a practical matter, there are higher priorities (eg. family/spouse) that need serious review and I am working to get better at these.  That said, all quality CFOs have work ethics higher than the rest of the organization.  That’s just part of the deal.

Integrity.  This is core to everything.   Everyone trusts and comes to you for honest, fact based counsel.  I will not cheat anyone for anything.  Work is voluntary and if requested to even bend integrity, I will move along.

You must be trusted and counted on. 

Congratulations on your journey to CFO.  It’s a trip worth taking.