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June 7, 2016 By Samuel Dergel 9 Comments

CFOs Under Pressure

I speak with many CFOs in my role as executive recruiter, CFO Peer Group facilitator and executive coach. Each CFO, without fail, expresses that they are busy. The scale starts at ‘busy’ and goes all the way to ‘overwhelmed’. ey-the-CFO-role-is-under-intense-pressure

So I was not surprised to see the results of this recent report from EY. I appreciated this infographic, as it helps to explain why the Chief Financial Officer is feeling overwhelmed and under pressure.

These four survey results identify two areas of pressure facing the CFO today.

  • Weak finance team (Ability to delegate, Concern over finance function)
  • The day to day gets in the way of the strategic priorities (Tension between old and new, Role stretch)

I showed this graphic to member of my CFO Peer Group, and here is some of the feedback they gave:

Weak finance team

  • We have under skilled people in place as we cannot “afford” to recruit at the experience level we need 
  • The CFO is being asked to cut staff significantly while taking on additional responsibilities and regulatory burdens.  This all needs to be performed while changing and upgrading staff to meet more strategic priorities

The day to day gets in the way

  • We are so transaction heavy we need more staff to keep up with the day to day
  • Under increased pressure to meet compliance demands with no legal or other support
  • The CFO often lacks along with his organization an understanding of the business is one I see quite often from business partners
  • While there has been an evolution in what else the CFO is responsible for, the CFO is still the defacto compliance officer managing accounting, legal, HR, Facilities, and broad administrative responsibilities. 
  • The CFO is under tremendous pressure today to “do it all”

I also asked my CFOs what can be done to resolve these pressures. Here are some responses.

  • From a CFO disciplinary viewpoint, you need to define the stands where you say: “this is a MUST to have, and this is a NICE to have”.
  • Ultimately, the role is CFO is defined by what expectations are. 
  • The CFO often lacks along with his organization an understanding of the business is one I see quite often from business partners. They just don’t visit customers, spend time with sales or other functions.

 

As CFO, it is your responsibility to deliver what is expected of you. To do so, you need to get the buy in necessary. While platitudes reign, yet not enough CFOs have the ability to change the expectations. Too many times I hear “this is the way it is – I cannot change it”.

As CFO, you have accepted this job in this environment. Either fix it, or find a more reasonable environment. It may not be the environment that’s the problem, but the person in the mirror who accepts the problem environment.

No one wants to just do the best they can (certainly not you). You want to thrive and achieve more, better, further, faster.

You can fix your team – you just need to have a plan and get buy in. As executive coach for CFOs, I have worked with Chief Financial Officers to help them accomplish this. While not an easy task, it will not get better by itself.

You can move from the day to day to the strategic – you just need to make sure you have the people, process and technology that can take care of the day to day to give you time to be involved with the strategic issues.

Here are my recommended steps to break the cycle:

  • Prepare a vision of how you can focus on the strategic while your team properly covers off the day to day.
  • Prepare a plan to meet the vision
  • Sell the plan (classic change management)
  • Implement it
  • Deal with exceptions as they happen, yet if exceptions happen regularly, they are no longer exceptions and you need to have the people, process, technology to deal with it.

Sounds simple? It’s not. But unless you are going to tackle this head on, you will be unable to move beyond these challenges and continue to be stuck like most of your peers.

What’s your plan to break the cycle?

Filed Under: CFO Coach, CFO Coaching, CFO Peer Group, CFO Peer Groups, CFO Research, Executive Coaching, EY, Financial Executive Coaching

April 15, 2016 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

CFO Buzz – week ending April 15, 2016

CFO Buzz

CFO Buzz is a news feature capturing top stories affecting CFOs. This feature is published Fridays so that CFOs can gain perspective over the weekend, allowing them to challenge themselves and think about how to improve their lives, careers and companies.

1) CFO as Chief Everything Officer?

The business press has been talking for a long while about how the CFO is becoming more responsible for areas way beyond traditional finance. I continue to see this, but only in cases where the CFO is the trusted right hand to the CEO. So, if you’re a CFO and want to be indispensable to your CEO, focus on continuing to build that trust and the rest will follow. (It is certainly one thing that I work on with the CFOs that I coach).

Why CFOs Continue to Gain Clout in the C-Suite – CFO.com

2) Developing your Leaders

Many CFOs that I speak with are very interested in developing their key people further, and would love to have someone that they have developed eventually take over their role. This HBR article discusses how it is not enough to train them for skills and abilities – you need to give them real experiments and challenges too.

Leadership Development Should Focus on Experiments – Harvard Business Review

3) The Paranoid CFO?

Kelly Kramer, Cisco’s CFO believes that being a bit paranoid can be healthy. While I question whether CFOs need to advertise that they are paranoid, her focus on investing in innovation, making strategic acquisitions and fighting for digital talent are good areas for CFOs to think about being better at.

Cisco’s Kelly Kramer on how healthy paranoia drives growth –  EY / Disruption

4) The path to CFO is filled with political intrigue

Politics is not just for presidential candidates. Politics is a key differentiator between smart people that stay managers and smart people that become business leaders. I continue to see too many finance professionals focus on increasing their technical ability and competency, but avoiding managing relationships. Office politics does not need to be mean, nasty or vile. It does need to be thought through and planned, building alliances, business friendships and most importantly, trust. This article is a worthy reminder.

Great Leaders Embrace Office Politics – Harvard Business Review

5) Hiring Right

As CFO, you can only be as good as your finance team allows you to be. The ability to hire right is very important for CFOs, yet, this is a continued challenge that they face. While I am pleased to help CFOs hire their lieutenants, I can’t help every CFO. Here are some tips to keep in mind that will help you hire right.

What This Former Facebook Exec Wants You to Know About Hiring Great People – Fortune.com 

Some of Samuel’s other CFO stuff this week

CFO Moves – Moves across the USA – week ending April 8, 2016

Filed Under: Uncategorized

March 29, 2016 By Samuel Dergel 1 Comment

Change in Business, not Commitment.

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that I will continue to serve companies and executives across the United States and Canada in the areas of executive search, coaching, consulting and training under my own banner, Dergel CFO Search & Consulting Inc.

I am proud of the difference I have made to the hundreds of people and organizations over the past years. I’m looking forward to continuing the tradition of service excellence while having significant impact on you and your business in the future.

Please note that you can always contact me through LinkedIn, or by sending me an email.

Looking forward to being an important part of your ongoing success,

Samuel

Filed Under: Announcement

March 25, 2016 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

CFO Buzz – week ending March 25, 2016

CFO Buzz

CFO Buzz is a news feature capturing top stories affecting CFOs. This feature is published Fridays so that CFOs can gain perspective over the weekend, allowing them to challenge themselves and think about how to improve their lives, careers and companies.

1) How to be a Long-Term CFO in a Short-Term World

The short-term is always on the CFOs mind, with Quarterly financial reporting, significant regulatory disclosures, stock price swings and investor demands taking up a good chunk of time and pressure on the publicly listed company CFO. With all this pressure, it is known that long-term is where real value is created. This article addresses some of these isssues.

How CFOs Can Take the Long-Term View in a Short-Term Economy – Harvard Business Review

2) M&A Mistakes

Many companies aim for growth through acquisition. Yet M&A can be painful. While there will always be challenges with making M&A successful, there are ways to avoid some common mistakes. Here are a few.

How to avoid common mistakes during high M&A activity – CGMA Magazine

3) Learning the Earnings Call

Many CFOs I speak with want to become a public-company CFO. If you have never managed an earnings call with investors, here is a good guide on how to prepare.

How to Prepare for an Earnings Call – CFO.com

4) Don’t Just Stand There: Asking Questions at a Networking Event

So you decided it’s time to be out there and network. It’s normal to be shy and uncomfortable in a room where you may know few people. This list can help you through the awkward moments and allow you to start conversations and feel more comfortable.

9 Guaranteed Conversation Starters for Your Next Networking Event – Inc.com

5) Be Prepared when Traveling for Business

This week’s events in Brussels reminds business travelers to have a backup plan for when disasters happen. There are things we cannot control, but we do need to be smart and safe as we travel to make a difference to our companies.

What to do if you’re traveling in a city struck by a terror attack – Quartz 

Some of Samuel’s other CFO stuff this week

CFO Moves – Moves across the USA – week ending March 18, 2016

Tweet of the week

Read a CFOs view on the business of Politics? Interview with #CFO of @politico, https://t.co/xfWv5UM95O pic.twitter.com/eaUtjJAj7E

— Dergel CFO (@DergelCFO) March 23, 2016

Filed Under: Uncategorized

March 22, 2016 By Samuel Dergel 1 Comment

A CFO Success Story: Vinay Mehra, CFO of POLITICO

Vinay Mehra

Vinay Mehra – CFO of POLITCO

The following is from an interview with Vinay Mehra. Vinay became CFO of POLITICO in November 2015. Previously, Mehra served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of the PBS/NPR media organization WGBH, as announced in CFO Moves. This interview was edited for clarity.

Samuel: You’ve embarked on a new role. Why is this exciting for you?

Vinay: The primary reason I came to Politico is because they have built a new business model. I love going into businesses that are creating and inventing new business models. Politico has redefined how to make money in the media business without just being dependent on the advertising side of it. That’s something that really attracted me– they not only created a new business model, but they are also hugely successful in this new business model, and I want to be part of that.

  • Quick Takes from Vinay Mehra on…

    What makes a good CFO?

    CFOs often forget that we are story tellers. And we need to tell a story with the numbers. We need to overlay the non-financial data with the financial data to complete the picture.

    Underappreciated skillsetThe most underappreciated skillset in finance is the cost-accounting mindset. Once you have a good understanding of true cost, and once you figure out how much of that is the standard cost, it becomes easier to manage and scale a business.

    Not-for-profits

    I find it very fulfilling. One tends to forget, in life, we all have the responsibility to give back to society. Whether it be money, or donating your time and skillset to a needy organization.

    Working with a millennial workforce

    This work force wants constant change and they’re not willing to stay with the status quo. Therefore they are constantly adopting new technologies, or adapting to new way of doing things.

    Importance of good HR

    The biggest assets here are the people. I really feel that HR is probably the most strategic department of this company. And that is where we have to make the investments.

    Something to remember

    The CFO is, in a way, the chief sales person. He is the one who sets the tone of what the organization is doing. He needs to keep providing a positive spin on how the business is doing. To be able to tell people the story even in the worst situation. He not only has to be a fabulous story teller, but also has to be a great sales person.

 

Samuel: You’ve had a good long run from your previous experience, in more of a television environment. And now you’re taking that to a new and exciting “new media” environment. What perspectives are you bringing to this new business from your years at WGBH?

Vinay: The first thing I can think of is that the most underappreciated skillset in finance is the cost-accounting mindset. The media business is heavily capital intensive. Having to understand the cost is really important. And thanks to my experience in accounting for 10 years, I had alot of clients – manufacturing clients, tech clients – one of the things they taught me was the concept of cost-accounting. Once you have a very good understanding of true cost, and once you can figure out how much of that cost is a standard cost, it make it much easier to manage and scale a business – rather than just focusing top line goals which is just the revenue side of it. And I think what TV broadcasting taught me is – that it is a business which is hugely capital intensive. For example, if we had 5 to 10 million dollars to make a TV show, we would have a very robust cost-accounting system. We would knew down to the penny, and down to an invoice, what everything was being spent on. And for which episode. So taking some of that same discipline is what I inherited from my experiences in the broadcast side of things and brought it into the “new media” side of things. And that was pretty hard to do – because you’ll have journalists writing their stories, and then they’re putting up their stories up on websites, or newspapers. And then you have to figure out how that translates to revenue – which are the stories that are actually driving traffic to the website, which are the stories that are driving revenue. And then figuring out the cost allocation system. So I think that going from old media to new media is where I found the benefit of having the ability to build a true-cost evaluating system.

On the revenue side, there is alot more diversity in the revenue field; more in new media than there is in the ‘traditional’ media space. Because the new media companies treat content as information, they don’t treat it as just content. The content that’s on the website should be driven by analytics. And they should decide what really makes sense to put on the website. But more importantly, let’s not just treat it as entertainment, let’s treat it as information. So there’s the mindset of it being an information company instead of being just a media company.

Samuel: What do you think makes you a good CFO?

Vinay: I think there are 2 kinds of CFO – there are CFOs who are very financial focused, and then there are CFOs like myself – CFOs who blend the financial and the non-financial data. What I have found in my career, what has made me successful is the fact that I am able to overlay the non-financial data with the financial data itself. So I can tell a story around what exactly is happening. And in every financial function I’ve had a small group of people doing data analytics. But they’re putting non-financial data and they’re trying to see if it tells a story. I think very often we CFOs forget that we are story tellers. And we need to tell a story with these numbers. Just by looking at the numbers it’s hard to tell a story, unless you have the non-financial information to overlay to show if there is some kind of a trend; or to show what is driving those financial numbers. So I would say that I am very much one of those people who loves to tell the stories behind the financial and the non-financial data.

Samuel: I also see that in your career you’ve been very involved in not-for-profits. How has that helped you?

Vinay: I think it’s very fulfilling. To be honest with you – one tends to forget, in life, we all have the responsibility to give back to society. And I personally found it very fulfilling to be involved in different causes – to give back to my city, my town, to my local cultural institution. And that’s one thing I would encourage everyone to try to do. It’s less about being on another board, its more about feeling how I’m able to give back. And giving back doesn’t necessarily need to be about giving money – it could be about giving your skillset, and your guidance to these organizations who don’t have allot of sophisticated management skills. They have a mission, and as long as you are in mind with the mission, you can help in many different ways. Helping to make it successful and running it like a business. Even a not-for-profit has to be run like a business and sometimes they lack the skillset. For me it was something very fulfilling, and something I’m glad I got involved with.

Samuel: And how did that benefit you? What impact did it have on you as a professional and as a CFO?

Vinay: Sometimes, as a CFO, you tend to look at things are pretty black and white. Things are just numbers. But when you get involved with a non-profit, the thing that I’ve come to appreciate is – sometimes, when you are making an investment, you don’t have a true ROI, from a financial perspective. But you will have ROI from a human impact. Or from the bigger benefit of the people, or of this country. For example – when I was in WGBH, very often we needed  build TV shows and I would say “hey – no one is ever going to buy this show, no one is ever going to agree to do a big sponsorship for it”. And while that’s true, someone needs to tell the story of lack of diversity, or to tell the story of some other area which nobody else is willing to put the money in to do, because they don’t see the financial ROI on it. But we have a responsibility to tell that story. So we’ll spend money on it because that’s really our core mission is – to educate people. So I would say it’s given me the appreciation to understand that sometimes in business you will make an investment in something that may not have a true ROI, but there will be other ways to measure ROI beyond the financial terms of things.

Samuel: What was most surprising for you when you showed up at Politico?

Vinay: The energy and the passion around their mission of providing political information to their audiences. They are all uniformly passionate about this subject. You know, it’s not often you walk into a business where everybody – from the administrative assistants, to the help in the kitchen – are all uniformly passionate about this stuff. It’s amazing. And it make everything alot easier, because everyone is aligned with the mission. Everybody is very passionate about what difference they want to make.

And the second thing – which came as a bit of a surprise for me – was the millennium demographic, which is a large proportion of our employee base – between 25 to 28. They’re working at a much faster pace than you or I do! And I love working fast and changing things, but this work force wants constant change and they’re not willing to stay with the status quo. Therefore they are constantly adopting new technologies, or adapting to new way of things. And they crave it, and they keep pushing for it. This has been a big surprise for me, coming from big corporations where change is so hard, and it’s so hard to get people on board, or to follow new ways of doing things.

Samuel: It must be a big change, coming from NPR-type of background, where you were truly middle-aged, taking a look at everyone around you. Coming from an environment where you were one of the younger ones, to an environment where you’re one of the older ones.

Vinay: Yes – and the other thing is I think their desire and energy for staying in the forefront of technology and processes – it’s in their DNA. You don’t have to tell these people – they live this every day – how can we do things better. They’re built this way. And I think some of it is maybe because you don’t have the luggage of a traditional media company and all the headaches of running a traditional media company. But this is a company that continues to innovate every day. In every way – from how to come up with new revenue ways, to how can we become more efficient to how to use new technology. It’s just blowing me away. And it’s very refreshing to be an environment like this.

Samuel: And how does that translate for your finance team?

Vinay: That’s where I would say I have work to do. Because the rest of the organization is so forward thinking that my finance team hasn’t kept pace, with their level of change. In some ways I think the finance team got comfortable with the old ways of doing things. As if it’s the only way to be doing things

Samuel: So what are you doing to put change into a finance group that needs to be changed a little bit?

Vinay: The first thing I’ve done is to physically relocate people from my finance team into business groups. The people who do invoicing and billings and collection for my ad business used to sit in finance, in a central location, and I’ve taken them out of there and said go sit in the unit. Go sit in the business. Go see what they do every day and be part of their workflow, instead of sitting separated on a different floor and communicating through emails. I think that’s given them a sense of appreciation how the business operated, that they never knew before.

Secondly, substituting some of the skill sets that are lacking on the team, I bring in new people. For instance, somebody with more experience and or somebody who is an expert in certain areas is going to have expertise in their DNA of the finance function and will be able to figure it out as they go along. Which works to a certain point, but then a lack of knowledge and a lack of expertise because of the hindrance.

And the third thing is technology. They are very advanced with leveraging and using technology here. And because of that, the business units have gone off and made selections of technology products to streamline their operations and their processes. And on the back end of things you have finance working on QuickBooks because they haven’t kept pace with the evolution and change that has happened in the business.

Samuel: What are you ultimately responsible for, at Politico?

Vinay: I have Finance, I have HR, and I have Operations. I have pretty much ALL the business operations of the business. Basically all the non-editorial side of things.

Samuel: Have you always had HR responsibility?

Vinay: I have. In different forms. In WGBH I had business managers in HRO sitting in the business units, who reported to me. So yes, I’ve always had some HR responsibility. Planning, strategy, all those groups reported up to me

Samuel: How does it feel to be responsible for human resources in an environment that’s growing, dynamic and where culture is a key part of the talent pool?

Vinay: To be honest – the biggest assets here are the people. They don’t really have any physical assets here. And so preserving that asset base is extremely critical, for the organization. And we are thinking about additional approaches – until now we took for granted that we’ll have 20-30% turnover and keep hiring new people. My philosophy is we need to find a better way of keeping this from happening instead of constantly dealing with this turnover. And I get excited about the fact that I can help influence and be a caretaker of the culture of the organization. I feel that it’s a great opportunity for the organization to be able get what they are looking for, from a cultural perspective. Sometimes I feel that an HR reports directly to the CEO of an organization, and they tend to take a more of an administrative function. I really feel that HR is very strategic and probably is the most strategic department of this company. And we have to make the investments here. This is where we need to put the most focus – to help make sure that we can keep our employees.

Samuel: What advice would you give to someone in finance that’s trying to work their way up and wants to become successful in their career? Advice that you wish someone would have told you?

Vinay: I would say that having an understanding of the numbers and the context of the business, the strategy of the business is extremely critical in this day and age to be a successful CFO. Early in my career, when I was in accounting, I think the reason why I was so successful with my clients is because I was able to focus on their business problems, not just their financial problems. Additionally, in some ways the CFO is also kind of the chief sales person. He is the one who sets the tone of what the organization is doing. He needs to keep providing a positive spin on how the business is doing. To be able to tell people the story even in the worst situation. And so what tends to sometimes happen is that we forget that we have the DNA of a sales-person. We need to use that. Whether we are talking to our salary employees, or if we’re talking in external shareholders or investors. And I feel that anyone who wants to grow their career in a finance perspective, not only has to be a fabulous story teller, but also has to be a sales person.

+++++++

A CFO Success Story is a feature of Samuel’s CFO Blog, where Samuel Dergel follows up on his book, Guide to CFO Success, speaking with CFOs featured in CFO Moves and CFO Moves Canada, Samuel’s popular and comprehensive weekly report on CFO Movement across the USA and Canada.

Filed Under: Better CFO, Better CFO, Books, books for CFOs, books for CFOs, Build your Finance Team, Build your Finance Team, CFO Consulting, CFO Moves, CFO Relationships, CFO Relationships, CFO Success Story, Finance Team, Finance Team, Great CFO, New CFO, Onboarding, POLITICO, Real CFO, Speaking and Training, Successful CFO, Successful CFO, Talent Management, Team Structuring, Team Structuring, The Fresh CFO, Training and Development, Vinay Mehra, Wiley

March 4, 2016 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

CFO Buzz – week ending March 4, 2016

CFO Buzz

CFO Buzz is a news feature capturing top stories affecting CFOs. This feature is published Fridays so that CFOs can gain perspective over the weekend, allowing them to challenge themselves and think about how to improve their lives, careers and companies.

1) CFO as Ethical Standard-Bearer

Is the CFO the best person to be the moral lighthouse in an organization? Is that a good thing? This article brings up the point that CFOs should instill a culture of trust and ethical excellence in their organizations. Hmmm…

IMA Tries to Build More Trust in CFOs – Accounting Today

2) CFOs in a Crisis of Confidence

Another survey of CFOs (which leads me to wonder when CFOs can get any work done with all the surveys they take). This one says that the board and outsiders don’t trust them as much as they used to. I’m sure this is tied into the previous article, but I’m just an armchair philosopher, not a social scientist.

Who Would Be A CFO? A Crisis In Confidence As Concerns On Reporting Rise – Forbes

3) Office Politics: It exists. How should you deal with it?

My CFO Relationship Map is certainly a good visual for the politics a CFO has to deal with. I just call it relationship management. “Politics” has a bad name for some reason. (Read the news lately?) Call it relationships or politics, CFOs that play the game well usually win. We can all improve our game.

What Everyone Should Know About Office Politics – Harvard Business Review

4) There must be a better way

“Closing the books” is the bane of most CFOs existence. Technology is changing my friends. Find a way to make it disappear.

Stopping the Madcap Sprint to Close the Books – CFO.com

5) Your Team: You can do better

“A new wave of digital tools can help companies to focus not only on hiring but also on managing, retaining, and developing employees.” Wouldn’t you like to do better in hiring, managing and developing your finance team? Don’t ignore the available digital tools. Embrace them and build the finance team that will support you being a great CFO.

Managing talent in a digital age – McKinsey & Company 

Some of Samuel’s other CFO stuff this week

CFO Moves – Moves across the USA – week ending February 26, 2016

Tweet of the week

Ask @StartupCFO: Should I hire a COO or CFO? https://t.co/q4TeqnslvE pic.twitter.com/mtwEsQhgy2

— BetaKit (@BetaKit) March 1, 2016

Filed Under: Uncategorized

February 26, 2016 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

CFO Buzz – week ending February 26, 2016

CFO Buzz

CFO Buzz is a news feature capturing top stories affecting CFOs. This feature is published Fridays so that CFOs can gain perspective over the weekend, allowing them to challenge themselves and think about how to improve their lives, careers and companies.

1) Let’s merge Finance & HR

It never fails. When I talk to Finance leaders about HR (and when I talk to HR leaders about Finance), executives who are usually rational people start to get emotional. I’ve written about the topic in my blog and book. What do you think about Finance’s relationship with HR?

A Match Made in Human Capital – CFO.com

2) How to tell a Story

When you were younger, you didn’t realize that a big part of your future job as CFO would require you to be a great storyteller. We can all be a better storyteller. Here are some tips.

The Ancient Storytelling Secret That Every Leader Needs To Know – Fast Company

3) You Suck at Networking

We all do. I think I do. The only reason people think I am great at networking is because they see what I’m doing and believe I am better at it than they are. You can become better. You should become better. Make the effort.

Networking Should Never Operate Like a Vending Machine – Entrepreneur

4) Look to your left. Look to your right. One of you won’t be here in 2017.

Yes folks, we are back into a market where people are comfortable looking for a new career opportunity. This means that some people that work with you and for you will be gone soon. What are you going to do to keep the people you need?

What’s that sound? Is it talent heading out the door? – SmartBlog on Leadership

5) CFO Strategic Decision Making – One Story

There are many stories of CFOs leading strategic decision making at their organization. In this one, Frontier Communications CFO John Juller discusses positioning Capex decisions on the path to future growth.

Frontier Communications CFO John Jureller: Capex Planning in the Fast Lane – Deloitte CFO Journal 

Some of Samuel’s other CFO stuff this week

CFO Moves – Moves across the USA – week ending February 19, 2016

Tweet of the week

@jonerp Thanks for sharing. I agree. My 2¢: team & talent are key to making it all work. cc @MarkGervase @Intacct_Rob

— Dergel CFO (@DergelCFO) February 25, 2016

Filed Under: Uncategorized

February 19, 2016 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

CFO Buzz – week ending February 19, 2016

CFO Buzz

CFO Buzz is a news feature capturing top stories affecting CFOs. This feature is published Fridays so that CFOs can gain perspective over the weekend, allowing them to challenge themselves and think about how to improve their lives, careers and companies.

1) Another reason for CFOs to lose sleep: Activist Investors

This short article, with links to 4 different views on how to best manage Activist Investors, is a reminder to CFOs. Be prepared.

When the Activists Attack – CFO.com

2) And even more on: How long should it take to hire a CFO?

This topic, in its third week running in CFO Buzz, has John Touey sharing his perspective in CFO.com. Perhaps next week I will add my own.

Why Are CFO Jobs Taking Longer to Fill? – CFO.com

3) What do recruiters want?

This report gives you some good insight as to how recruiters position you. These are generalizations though. Keep in mind that retained executive search know what they are looking for, and if it’s not you, introduce them to who you know.

The Bloomberg Job Skills Report 2016: What Recruiters Want – Bloomberg Business

4) How important is HR anyway?

BMW’s CFO thinks that HR is very important, and brings up good points. Questions: How important is HR in your organization? How important should it be? What needs to change?

BMW’s Chief Financial Officer, Talita Ferreira, says “the Board really needs HR” – EG Board & Leadership

5) How valuable is Big Data?

This McKinsey report says that the value of Big Data depends on the type of company you are. Learn more about this continuing relevant topic to CFOs.

Big data: Getting a better read on performance – McKinsey Quarterly

Some of Samuel’s other CFO stuff this week

CFO Moves – Moves across the USA – week ending February 12, 2016

Tweet of the week

5 Ways to Close the Strategy-to-Execution Gap https://t.co/5rzMYN24fc pic.twitter.com/h7ZN9pQvQC

— Yesim Sonmezer (@YesimSonmezer) February 17, 2016

Filed Under: Uncategorized

February 12, 2016 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

CFO Buzz – week ending February 12, 2016

CFO Buzz

CFO Buzz is a news feature capturing top stories affecting CFOs. This feature is published Fridays so that CFOs can gain perspective over the weekend, allowing them to challenge themselves and think about how to improve their lives, careers and companies.

1) CFOs end up as roadkill on the path to CEO

Recent research shows that COOs get promoted to CEO much more often than CFOs. This should not be a surprise for most CFOs. My advice: you should become indispensable to your COO. It’s likely he will become your next boss.

COOs Win Out Over CFOs… Pretty Much All the Time – FEI Daily

2) More on: How long should it take to hire a CFO?

In a world where the key players at a company can agree on the kind of person they need as their next CFO, are willing to make this hire a priority, and use a top-notch executive search firm experienced in hiring CFOs –  it can take between 3 and 4 months. How long does it take in the real world? This article points to companies that have taken a lot longer than they should. And they even asked me for my opinion.

CFO Searches Drag On as Demand Takes Off – Wall Street Journal

3) Who’s your Successor?

Succession planning for key executives is critical for the ongoing success of any organization. Yet, if all corporations did succession planning properly, executive recruiters wouldn’t be so busy (see previous article). As someone that has helped CFOs prepare their succession, my personal experience shows that most CFOs do not do this well.

When Plan B is not enough: Some lessons from the United Airlines CEO succession(s) – SmartCEO

4) Why your company sucks at Big Data

Many CFOs will admit, in camera, that they don’t have a proper handle on Data Analytics. And they should for various reasons, including making the biggest impact at their organization, and that CFOs that really know what they are doing with Data are worth more.

Why Big Data Isn’t Paying Off for Companies (Yet) – Fortune

5) Become a better interviewer

And a better interviewee. These tips in Harvard Business Review are something all executives should keep in mind as they look to hire the best for their teams. Remember – you can only be as good as your team allows you to be. Hiring better requires interviewing better.

7 Rules for Job Interviews That Result in Great Hires – Harvard Business Review

Some of Samuel’s other CFO stuff this week

CFO Moves – Moves across the USA – week ending February 5, 2016

Tweet of the week

Congrats Samuel @DergelCFO! Great @WSJ article & insights @CFOJournal @StantonChase https://t.co/apci6RcNo9

— Cathy Logue (@CatLogueAmbit) February 11, 2016

Filed Under: CFO Buzz, CFO Buzz, CFO Buzz, CFO Buzz, CFO Buzz, CFO Buzz

February 9, 2016 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

Quoted in the Wall Street Journal: CFO Searches Drag On as Demand Takes Off

Excerpt from “CFO Searches Drag On as Demand Takes Off” in the Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2016

Some businesses have lost prime contenders for the finance chief job by waiting too long to make an offer. One industrial company started a CFO search in spring 2015 and identified two finalists late last year. But key decision makers at the company disagreed “over what they really wanted,’’ and their front-runner accepted a job elsewhere, says Samuel Dergel, a recruiter at Stanton Chase, where a colleague handled that hunt.

Company officials “were unhappy that they weren’t able to secure the most appropriate candidate for the role,’’ he added. The company hired the runner-up instead.

You can read the entire article on the Wall Street Journal website here.

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, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO Search, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Search, Guide to CFO Success, Guide to CFO Success, Guide to CFO Success, Hire your Next CFO, Hire your Next CFO, How Samuel Helps, How Samuel Helps, How Samuel Helps, Joann Lublin, Quoted, Wall Street Journal

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