Samuel's CFO Website

  • Home
  • CFO Blog
    • Samuel’s Other Blogs
      • CFO Moves
        • USA
        • Canada
        • UK
      • CHRO Moves
  • CFO Book
    • Buy your copy
    • What others have to say about Guide to CFO Success
  • How Samuel Helps
    • Hire your next CFO
    • Build your Finance Team
    • Financial Executive Coaching
    • CFO Peer Groups
    • Speaking & Training
  • About Samuel
    • Media on Samuel Dergel
  • Contact Samuel
  • English
  • Français
You are here: Home / 2011 / Archives for August 2011

Archives for August 2011

August 29, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 9 Comments

CFOs: 5 Reasons why you need an Executive Coach.

You want to be a Successful CFO. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, and you want to continue being the best CFO you can be.

If you are like most CFOs, you have never had a Coach before. Most likely, you’ve felt that you’ve never had a reason to. Your career success to date has been because of you have been good at applying and improving your knowledge, strengths and abilities.

Except…

The world is changing.

The business world is changing in front of your eyes faster than it has in your entire career. Markets and the economy are changing. Technology is changing. Customers and Suppliers are changing. The demands of your owners, board members, investors and regulators are changing.

Are you staying the same?

Now is the time to step up your game.

The good news is – most of your fellow CFOs are not stepping up their game. They are getting comfortable. They have finally achieved their career goal of becoming CFO and they feel it is time to coast.

They are coasting their way out of the CFO chair.

You, on the other hand, want to make sure that you become the most Successful CFO possible.

If you are ready to step up your game, get yourself an Executive Coach.

Why do you need a CFO Coach? Let’s take a look at the reasons why.

    1. Plan – Do you go into the office every day and just fight fires? Or do you have a plan with long-term, medium-term and short-term objectives that will help you accomplish more with less fire-fighting. Failing to plan is planning to fail. (See our Blog – From CFO Vision to Action Plan)
    2. It’s Lonely being a CFO – You need someone that will listen to you, provide you with advice, guide you, challenge you, and keep you at the top of your game. (See our Blog – The Lonely CFO)
    3. Relationships – you are no longer an accountant. It’s no longer just about being technical. You need to manage your relationships. (See our Blog – Roadmap to Successful CFO Relationships)
    4. Feedback – Now that you are at the top of the Finance Group in your company, do you really expect the people that work for you to provide you with objective feedback? You want someone candid and practical to give you the feedback you need.
    5. Stress – remember the days when you left work at the office? If you do remember those days, I’m sure it is a long time ago. Managing the stress of being CFO is difficult, yet critical to your company as well as to yourself and your family. Expressing yourself and talking about what stresses you can go a long way to actively managing your stress, ensuring you get a better job done in less time.

Wouldn’t you love to…

    • have a plan?
    • be less lonely?
    • manage your relationships better?
    • get constructive feedback? and
    • be under less stress?

Email me to arrange your first Coaching session – FREE.

You have nothing to lose.

Let’s talk!

Filed Under: Successful CFO

August 28, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 1 Comment

How to Find the Best Recruiter for Your Needs

As a follow up to my guest blog post (CFOs and Recruiters: Beefs and Beef) written for Cindy Kraft, CFO Coach, here is the next part – How to Find the Best Recruiter for Your Needs

Here is a glimpse of the post:

In my last guest blog for Cindy (CFOs and Recruiters: Beefs and Beef) I reviewed the 5 categories of complaints that CFOs had with recruiters.

So, how do you find the best recruiter for your needs?

[Visit Cindy’s Blog to read more]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

August 26, 2011 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

Tell-tale sign your new employee has one foot out the door.

You’re excited. You’ve finally hired the person you were looking for to join your team. They’re personable, intelligent, capable, have a great pedigree, can do the job needed today and can grow within your organization. They might be the right person to eventually take over YOUR job when you’re ready top leave.

Except…

…If they are that good, chances are:

  • you weren’t their only choice.
  • they had other opportunities brewing when you hired them
  • they are susceptible to a better opportunity and offer.

Did I scare you?

Thought so.

Want to know if the risk of them leaving is high?

Check their LinkedIn profile.

If they’ve updated their profile to show their new role with your team, you can sleep better. The risk of them leaving is not high.

However, if they haven’t updated the LinkedIn to show their new job commitment it means they are still shopping.

How do I know this?

I regularly see this with job seekers who have accepted something with the hope that something better will come along shortly.

The new reality is that professional and executive job seekers use LinkedIn for their careers. If they haven’t updated their profile, it means they are not telling their network about their exciting new commitment. It means they are not excited. It means they are not committed to you.

Has this happened to you?

Filed Under: HR, OnBoarding, Social Media

August 25, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 5 Comments

Does a CFO need a PA?

A recent article in CFO World UK (The bottom line on time management) got me thinking about CFOs and Personal Assistants (PAs).

Personal Assistants (formerly known as secretaries) used to be standard for senior level executives in companies of all sizes. With the advent and proliferation of computers and personal devices to assist with communications and scheduling, many executives have taken control of their own agenda and their own communication methods.

So the questions that need to be asked in the current world we live in are:

  • Does a CFO need a PA?                                                                     [polldaddy poll=5451855]
  • If a CFO needs a PA, why? [Share your comments below]

Filed Under: CFO Poll, Personal Assistants

August 22, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 6 Comments

You’ve been promoted to CFO. Now what?

You’ve been in a senior financial role with the company for a while, and have been aiming for the CFO chair. One day, you get the call from the CEO (or the Chairman) and they offer you the CFO job.

Congratulations! You’ve been promoted to CFO. You have a new office, a new title, new business cards, and a better compensation package.

Except…

… You’re not exactly sure what to do as CFO.

Based on speaking with new CFOs in the same situation as you, you are not alone. When I speak with them and ask them if their job has changed since their promotion, they usually answer “Not really…”

As CFO, you should not be doing the same job you were doing before.

So now that you’ve been promoted to CFO, what can you do to ensure you become the best CFO you can be for your company?

1) Prepare a Plan

Your success as CFO depends on you having a plan for success. This requires that you be aware of the expectations the CEO and Board has from you, and putting in a plan to ensure you can deliver, and have a Strong Finance Team you support you in your goal to become a Successful CFO.

I recommend that this plan be completed within the first 100 days of your new tenure as CFO.

2) Get a Coach

If you ask your CEO, there is a good chance he or she has a Coach. It gets lonely at the top (see Lonely CFO). Being an Effective CFO requires someone that you can talk to that can guide you to make the right decisions and keep to your Plan.

Your success as CFO depends on your ability to deliver. Take responsibility for your new role. Make sure you have a Plan for your success, and have a Coach that ensure you keep to your Plan.

Filed Under: CFO Coach, CFO Coach, CFO Compensation

August 19, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 2 Comments

More companies are ready for their first Real CFO

The WSJ CFO Journal recently posted an article by Emily Chasan called Silicon Valley Seeks CFOs to Hop on IPO Train.

This article, which is interesting reading, discusses how growing technology companies are getting ready for their next serious round of financing, which could include an IPO.

What I found interesting about this article is that many of these growing companies have been using Part-Time CFOs to guide them through their initial growth period, and that they are now ready for their first Real CFO.

Or, at least they think they are ready. But are they?

Having a Real CFO, especially for the first time, requires not only hiring the Right CFO. (See Dear CEO & Board: You can’t afford to hire the wrong CFO.)

The executives in the company, including the current CEO and other VPs, need to be ready for a Strong CFO. The leadership dynamics and the management relationships are going to change. Is your team ready?

My recommendation to CEOs, Boards and Investors: Make sure your team is ready for your new CFO.

How can you make sure your team is ready? Ask me about our program created specifically for you called: Are you ready for your 1st CFO?

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: First CFO, Investors, Investors, IPO

August 18, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 5 Comments

CFOs and Recruiters: Beefs and Beef

This blog post was written for Cindy Kraft, CFO Coach, following our joint survey.

Thank you to everyone that provided input. It was most helpful.

Click here to read the guest blog.

Samuel

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Uncategorized, Uncategorized

August 16, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 9 Comments

Dear CEO & Board: You can’t afford to hire the wrong CFO.

Hiring the wrong CFO can be detrimental to your business.

Costs of hiring the wrong CFO include:

    1. Risk to your company reputation.
    2. A weak CFO will not help your company with what it needs.
    3. Not being able to get the most out of your CFO as soon as possible.
    4. Opportunity cost – the wrong CFO misses the opportunities to add value to the company.

Yet, many companies fear doing a proper search because

    1. Cost of a CFO Search.
    2. Effort and time required to do a CFO Search properly.
    3. Cost.

As CEO or Board Member, you may think that you know people (that know people) that know CFOs. And you ask yourself “How hard can it be?”

Let’s face it. The cost of hiring the wrong CFO is way more than the fees you will pay for a proper CFO Search.

Well. Have you ever hired the wrong CFO? Wonder why they were wrong for you? The CFO was not right for your company because you didn’t do a proper CFO Search.

Now, there are options to how to do a proper CFO Search. You can work with me, work with any good executive search firm, or even manage the process internally.

However, you must have the following elements in your CFO Search.

Assessment: You need to assess what your company really needs from the CFO, both today, and in the future. You need to assess whether your leadership is really ready for a good CFO that will add value and be a leader in the business. You need to assess what skills, knowledge and abilities your new CFO will have to have to be successful in your environment. If your last CFO failed, ask yourself if you did a proper assessment first before hiring him or her.

Search: “Who you know” will not cut it. You need to do a proper search for CFO caliber people that can meet the needs you’ve assessed. If you don’t do a proper search, you will not end up with the best possible CFO for your business.

Onboarding: For a new CFO to be successful, it is important to invest in ensuring that the CFO has what they need to be successful. Onboarding allows your new CFO to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become most effective for your organization.

If you’re ready for your next CFO, do yourself and your company a favor. Hire the right CFO this time.

Filed Under: Assessment, Assessment, Board, Board, Board, Board, CEO, CEO, CEO, CEO, CFO Search, CFO Search, CFO Search, CFO Search, Hire your Next CFO, Hire your Next CFO, Onboarding, Onboarding, Search

August 12, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 15 Comments

The Lonely CFO.

Many finance professionals aspire to become CFO. Once they get there, they realize it’s lonely at the (almost) top.

As CFO, you have relationships with those you work for (CEO, Board, Investors), the executives you work with internally, your important outside relationships (bankers, auditors, lawyers) and of course your finance team. (See Road Map to Successful CFO Relationships). With all these people you work with, can you really be lonely?

The answer is yes.

CFOs have told me they feel alone because very few people in their organization understand all the pressures they face, the complexity and the volume of issues they deal with, and the difficulty of the conflicts they manage. The only people that can relate to the challenges CFOs face are other CFOs.

How can a CFO find other CFOs to commiserate with, learn from, and talk to?

There certainly are many groups that bring CFOs together. FEI (both in the USA and Canada) is an example of great organization that brings CFOs together. There are regional groups (like The CFO Roundtable and The CFO Alliance) that bring CFOs together for topics of interest and networking. Social Media CFO groups like CFO or TGL are very visible and active.

However…

There are few places where a CFO can go online to discuss with their peers matters of interest to them. To meet the needs of Lonely CFOs, I am announcing the launch of CFO Lounge, a closed LinkedIn Group specifically created for CFOs to have discussions about the real issues facing them – whether they are technical, interpersonal or strategic in nature.

My role in this group will be to moderate, engage and sometimes lubricate discussion with the CFO members. This group will only be open to CFOs.

If you’re a CFO that would like to be a little less lonely, join your peers at the CFO Lounge on LinkedIn.

Photo Credit Jeffrey Munro

Filed Under: CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, CFO Lounge, CFO Lounge, CFO Lounge, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Financial Executive Coaching, Financial Executive Coaching, Financial Executive Coaching, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, The Lonely CFO, The Lonely CFO, The Lonely CFO, The Strong CFO, The Strong CFO, The Strong CFO

August 10, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 9 Comments

When should a CFO hire?

According to a recent article in CFO.com (Always Growing Means Always Recruiting), a growing finance team should always be in hiring mode.

We recently touched on this subject in our recent blog post A Strong CFO needs a Strong Finance Team.

Should a CFO always be hiring? Well, let’s see…

For a CFO to be successful, they need a strong team to support them.

For a CFO to have a strong team, they need to properly manage their talent.

For a CFOs to properly manage their talent, they need to have a Talent Plan.

A Talent Plan requires understanding the needs of the team today and in the future, the current structure and capabilities of the team, identifying growth opportunities for key performers, and managing the probabilities that staff will leave the company.

In the context of a Talent Plan, ‘always hiring’ is a good idea. However, done outside a well prepared Talent Plan, time and effort will not be spent efficiently or effectively.

Filed Under: All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, Build your Finance Team, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, CFO Relationships, CFO Relationships, CFO Relationships, CFO Relationships, Executive Search, Finance Team, Finance Team, Finance Team, Finance Team, Recruiters, Recruiters, Succession Planning, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Talent Management, Team Structuring, Team Structuring, Team Structuring, Training and Development, Training and Development, Training and Development

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Search in Samuel’s CFO Blog

Related Blogs

  • Your Next CFO
  • Why work with Stanton Chase to hire your next CFO?
  • Why do CFOs Leave?
  • When hiring a CFO, is LinkedIn the place to look?
  • What I learned at the Bank of America Merrll Lynch Conference – Treasury in a Connected World

Related Blogs

  • When should a CFO hire?
  • What I learned at the Bank of America Merrll Lynch Conference – Treasury in a Connected World
  • VIDEO: Webinar Presentation – CFO Succession: The Right Way to Grow your Company’s next CFO
  • Together, CFOs and CEOs Create A “Can Do” Culture
  • Thoughts About Successful CFO Hiring

Related Blogs

  • You’ve been promoted to CFO. Now what?
  • Why should a CFO tweet? 
  • What I learned at the Bank of America Merrll Lynch Conference – Treasury in a Connected World
  • What a CFO should read every day
  • Together, CFOs and CEOs Create A “Can Do” Culture

Related Blogs

  • Why should a CFO tweet? 
  • What I learned at the Bank of America Merrll Lynch Conference – Treasury in a Connected World
  • VIDEO: Webinar Presentation – CFO Succession: The Right Way to Grow your Company’s next CFO
  • Together, CFOs and CEOs Create A “Can Do” Culture
  • Thoughts About Successful CFO Hiring

Related Blogs

  • Your Next CFO
  • You’ve been promoted to CFO. Now what?
  • Why work with Stanton Chase to hire your next CFO?
  • Why should a CFO tweet? 
  • Why do CFOs Leave?

Recent Blogs

  • PODCAST: The Hiring Triangle – CEO, CFO and the Board
  • Is your CFO your best salesperson?
  • A CFO Success Story: Sajid Malhotra, CFO of Limelight Networks
  • What Makes a Great Modern CFO?
  • Things CFOs Say

Like what Samuel has to say?

Great! The goal of Samuel's CFO Blog is to engage with CFOs and those who work with CFOs.

Please feel free to comment on any of the issues raised in Samuel’s CFO Blog. Your input, positive or not so positive, encouraging or critical, will add value to all readers of the blog.

You can reach Samuel...
Telephone
San Francisco: +1 (415) 738-2070
Montreal: +1 (514) 907-0925
Email: [email protected]

View Samuel Dergel - The CFO Expert's profile on LinkedIn

Contact Samuel

So you like what Samuel has to say, and you would like to reach out and contact him.

Excellent.

There are a number of ways to reach him. You can complete this convenient form on the right, or you can reach Samuel by...

Telephone
San Francisco: +1 (415) 738-2070
Montreal: +1 (514) 907-0925

Or by clicking on the social media icons below.

Thanks for your interest!

Contactez Samuel

Vous vous intéressez à l’opinion de Samuel et souhaitez le consulter?

Excellent.

Vous pouvez le rejoindre de plusieurs façons, soit en complétant le formulaire ci-joint ou en le rejoignant :

Par téléphone : +1 (514) 907-0925

Ou en sélectionnant l’icône d’un réseau social ci-dessous:

Nous vous remercions de votre intérêt.

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Archives – Samuel’s CFO Blog

Categories – Samuel’s CFO Blog

All of Samuel's Blogs Assessment Blog Board Board Books books for CFOs Build your Finance Team Career Management CEO CEO CFO CFO Buzz CFO Coach CFO Coaching CFO Consulting CFO Moves CFO Peer Groups CFO Relationships CFO Research CFO Search Chief Financial Officer Executive Coaching Executive Search Finance Team Financial Executive Coaching Great CFO Guide to CFO Success Hire your Next CFO How Samuel Helps HR Investors LinkedIn New CFO Personal Branding Recruiters Social Media Speaking and Training Successful CFO Succession Planning Talent Management Team Structuring The Strong CFO Training and Development Wiley
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Contact Information

You can reach Samuel by:

Telephone
San Francisco: +1 (415) 738-2070
Montreal: +1 (514) 907-0925

Email: [email protected]

Copyright © 2011-2016 - Samuel Dergel (Dergel CFO Search & Consulting Inc.) Note: Opinions expressed on this website are the personal opinions of Samuel Dergel only, and not any other person or entity, unless attributed otherwise.