Archives for February 2014

February 18, 2014 By Samuel Dergel 2 Comments

25 Quotes from Guide to CFO Success

A number of my followers are excited about the release of my upcoming book, Guide to CFO Success: Leadership Strategies for Corporate Financial Professionals in the United States and Canada on March 31, 2014. (Available in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2014)

While you may have to wait a little longer to get your copy of the book, I extracted quotes from the book I thought might wet your appetite.

If you find you find these quotes relevant and interesting, you can let others know about the book by:

Sharing the Slideshare presentation on social media
Sharing your favorite quote on social media
Recommending the book to someone who would appreciate reading it.

Stay tuned for further updates, including speaking engagements and book signings.

Thank you for your continued support,

Samuel

25 Quotes from Guide to CFO Success from Samuel Dergel

February 6, 2014 By Samuel Dergel 2 Comments

3 Lessons Learned: The Failure of Heenan Blaikie

The Canadian legal and business communities are getting over the shock that a storied, successful and well known establishment corporate law firm has decided to shut its doors this week. (Read the Financial Post: Heenan Blaikie partners vote to wind up operations)

Heenan Blaikie has been an icon in the business community in Canada for decades. The fact that it can just disappear and disintegrate in a matter of weeks leaves many lessons to be learned. Here are some of the things that were reinforced for me this week.

#3 – Job security is a myth

The only place that job security exists is in your head. There is no such thing as a safe, life-long, job.

Throughout my career in recruitment, I have always heard from individuals that were looking for the safety and security of a career in a firm that is too big to fail. And every so often, stories of failures, restructurings, refocused strategies and mass-layoffs make the headlines. If you would have asked any employee (and many partners) this past December if they had any fear for their career with the firm, they would have given you a look that would be a mix between being puzzled and that you must be out of your mind.

Don’t ever think you have job security. I don’t care what company you work for, even if you work for supposedly secure jobs in government. You job is at risk. If you don’t want to be unemployed, or to minimize your time in transition, you must build and invest in your network. You can only expect your network to work for you if you have invested in it before.

If you’re a CFO or senior finance professional, you may want to read my chapter on CFO Transition in my upcoming book.

#2 – Beware the multi-headed monster

If you’re my age, you remember Sesame Street well. You will also remember the two-headed monster with a smile.

Professional services firms have a challenge becoming a business like the others. The nature of this type of firm (accounting, legal, engineering, marketing or even executive search) can be very perplexing. In most publicly owned businesses, the boss is the CEO and the Board represents the owners. Managing relationships for an executive in a standard environment can be challenging enough. While there is a chain of command, the number of people to keep happy is limited and controlled.

In a professional services firm, every partner is the boss. Add a number of people with big egos and who are not afraid of litigation and you can find yourself facing a multi-headed monster that is not as cute and cuddly as the Sesame Street version.

Managing relationships is a key component for the success of any executive. From the perspective of a CFO, I believe it looks like this. In my soon to be released book, I discuss the issues of managing these relationships for success, and dedicate one chapter to the challenges of managing the relationships of the people you report to.

#1 – The world is changing. Are you?

This applies to all businesses as well as individuals.

The post-mortem on Heenan Blaikie will continue for a while. When a personal relationship breaks up, there is his story, her story and the truth. In a partnership that has many heads and egos, the story can only be more complicated.

From an informed outsider’s perspective, the legal industry has been going through changes in the past years and decades, mirroring the changes that have been going on in rest of the business world. In today’s world, business needs to grow to keep their competitive advantage, needs to assess strategic opportunities and threats, and must take on a more global perspective while keeping a local flavor.

All businesses must adapt to the changing realities facing them. Failure to do so can lead to doors closing.

On a more personal note, each one of us needs to be aware that to continue to stay relevant and employable, we must continue to improve, change and adapt so that we can thrive. Sitting at your desk while the world changes outside your window will only leave you dazed, confused and lost when security leads you outside the building.

What are you doing to:

Create your own job security?
Get the best out of your work relationships?
Stay ahead of the curve in a continually changing world?

February 4, 2014 By Samuel Dergel 4 Comments

The Sleepless CFO

Being Chief Financial Officer can be stressful. The responsibility that the CFO bears for the company they work for is not a 9 to 5 job. Most CFOs I have met and spoken with agree that the role takes up most of the hours they are awake, and even some of the hours they should be sleeping.

So what keeps the CFO awake in 2014?

To find out, I reached out to my CFO Advisory Group. My CFO Advisors were instrumental in providing me with relevant and realistic input as I wrote my upcoming book. Guide to CFO Success: Leadership Strategies for Corporate Financial Professionals is published by Wiley & Sons, and will be available at all fine bookstores end of March 2014.

I recently asked my CFO Advisors what top their top 3 concerns that keep them awake at night. After reviewing their responses, here are the top 3 current issues that are keeping CFOs from getting a good night sleep.

#3 – Team

CFOs are worried about their team. Some CFOs are concerned about how to continue to grow and motivate their staff. Others are losing sleep worried about retaining the staff they need or dealing with the aftermath of unforeseen resignations. There are some CFOs who are unsure of how they will succeed in acquiring and developing the new talent they need to make their team even better.

Regardless of the type team based challenges facing the CFO, they know that they can only be successful if their team is strong enough to support them. When the finance team is not giving the CFO what she needs to succeed, this can cause anxiety and sleeplessness for even the most experienced CFO.

#2 – Growth

Growth can be an issue for many CFOs. Or, rather, the lack of growth is the real issue. Most for-profit companies define success as making more money, and for the Chief Money Counter, growth drives corporate financial success. It is the Key Performance Indicators of this growth that informs the CFO if the company will reach their targets or not.

When companies are continually growing their revenue and profit, all is good. Few companies though, do this regularly and consistently. Financial success for most organizations can only come when sales rise and profitability continues an upward trend. For the CFO, who knows they are king when the results are good, and the court jester when the results aren’t, losing sleep over growth is understandable indeed.

#1 – Cashflow

Cash is King. The ultimate responsibility of whether there is enough cash to do what needs to get done rests with the Chief Financial Officer (even when their team does the technical work). CFOs are concerned with cash from all sides, whether they are collections issues, access to capital and lending or how to make decisions about allocating cash in the most effective way.

Cash is, by far, the most common issue that is keeping my CFO Advisors awake at night. What is interesting about this response is that cash was a concern for most of my CFO Advisors, yet they all come from different industries and company sizes. It seems that cash issues are a challenge in most, if not all companies. While the type of cash challenges will certainly change based on the situation facing a company and its industry, most companies, and therefore most CFOs, are anxious and losing sleep over cash.

What is keeping you awake at night?

Archives for February 2014

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