If you have been following me for a while, reading my blogs and my book, Guide to CFO Success, you will know that I believe that relationships is the area where CFOs ‘make it or break it’. I continue to speak to CFOs about this because of the direct impact that successful relationships has on the Chief Financial Officer.

When I ask CFOs if relationships are important, all of them agree. Yet when I ask them about to discuss the challenges they have in their corporate relationships, the conversation can go on for quite a while.

Each of the 4 areas of corporate relationships for the CFO (who they report to, work with internally and externally, and who works for them) are important. The CFOs relationship with the CEO is super important. I do not know a CFO who thinks that it is not important to keep their CEO happy.

Yet keeping the CEO happy means that you need to work on your other relationships as well.

A recent Forbes article pointed me to a KPMG report mentioning that “CEOs are relying more and more on the CFO to be their partner”.

Note one of the key findings in this KPMG report:

CEOs put a huge value on people skills, but many see their CFOs as lacking in this area. Almost all (97 percent) of CEOs say that attracting and retaining top-notch finance talent is the most or equally important contributing factor in improving the finance function, yet only 33 percent give their CFOs a passing grade in talent management.

As CFO…

• Do you have a passing grade in talent management?
• If you do have a passing grade, shouldn’t you be a top performer when it comes to talent management?
• Is your Finance team holding you back?

There are resources available on how to improve so that you can score higher on managing your talent (including, but certainly not limited to, my book and blogs). I have found that unless you (the CFO) make talent management a top priority, you will continue to limit your success.

CFOs can only be as successful as their Finance team allows them to be.

I’ve helped others and I can help you. Don’t let your Finance team hold you back.