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You are here: Home / Archives for CFO / CFO Consulting / CFO Coach

September 14, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 12 Comments

Negotiating your CFO Employment Contract

Congratulations! You have been offered the role of CFO at a company you are excited about. You’re buzzed, and pleased with yourself, and so you should be. However…

… keep the following in mind:

    1. From my experience, most CFO roles last an average of 3 years. The time to prepare for your next job is today.
    2. The best time to negotiate the terms of your employment is when you begin your employment.

Some Warnings:

    1. Be sure to have an employment contract. An offer letter may not be sufficient to protect you.
    2. Have the employment contract reviewed by competent counsel before signing.
    3. Do not resign from your previous role without ALL the details being worked out.
    4. A proper employment agreement not only protects you, it protects your new employer as well.

Now, let’s take a look at some things you should be looking for in an employment contract.

(Please note: I am not offering legal advice. I am reviewing points worth considering when negotiating your CFO employment agreement. For specific advice with regards to your employment situation, I recommend discussing it with competent counsel.)

Issues to consider for your employment agreement.

    1. Base compensation – you know how this works. You want more and they want to give you less. This is where all those years of sharpening your negotiation skills come into play.
    2. Upside – regular bonuses, special bonuses, stock based compensation etc. – many conflicts arise because of lack of clarity on how this works. Be sure it’s clear.
    3. Severance – you may be asked to leave. It happens. Having clarity on what happens if you are asked to leave is important not only for your cash flow after you leave, but for your reputation as well.
    4. Notice – you love your new job, but a better one might come along. What will your responsibilities be upon leaving?
    5. Restrictive covenants – usually includes non-disclosure and non-competition clauses, but may include others. It may be detrimental to your new employer for you to take your next job at a direct competitor. Ensure that the time limits on these restrictive covenants are reasonable, and get competent legal advice as to their reasonability.
    6. Relocation – there should be no guessing games when it comes to relocation for your new role. Will they cover moving expenses? Transition costs? Cover your ‘out-of-the-money’ mortgage? Clarity here is key.
    7. Other benefits – What will be offered in insurance (health, life, disability)? Will there be a car? Access to the corporate jet?

Issues outside your employment agreement that you will want to have a clear understanding of prior to accepting:

    1. Office – I have seen CFOs get off on the wrong foot when they get an office that was not what they were expecting. It can really sour the relationship.
    2. Resource support – Will you get an Executive assistant? Will you share one? Will you get to choose your own? (See Does a CFO need a PA?)
    3. Allowable expenses – What expenses will you be allowed to charge to the company? Is there a policy for executives?
    4. Professional Development – You should have a budget for allowing you to attend conferences you deem necessary to ensure you are on top of your game. You don’t need to be going hat in hand to the CEO each time.
    5. Coaching – Does your CEO have a Coach? If he or she does, then you should have the budget for one too. If your CEO doesn’t have one, you should recommend that he or she gets one. (See 5 Reasons why you need an Executive Coach)
    6. Team Headcount or Staff Budget – Before accepting the role as CFO, you need to know what the cost of your team is, and get clarity on the leeway you will have to make changes you feel are necessary to deliver to the rest of the company. (See A Strong CFO needs a Strong Finance Team)
    7. Onboarding – Ask what the plan for “Onboarding” is. You might get blank looks. Make sure that you have an onboarding plan that allows you to develop the internal relationships necessary for success. (If you want to know more about Onboarding, we will be posting a Blog on the topic soon. Click on the “Sign me Up” Button on the right to get blog updates directly in your email inbox).

Special situations.

In special situations, keep this in mind: When the company’s risk increases, so does yours.

    1. Restructuring – if you start off in a restructuring situation, or you are called upon during your mandate to turn the company around – you need to address the following situations.
      • Bonuses. If you accomplish the goals set out, you should have potential for an upside. Be clear on what the upside is.
      • Getting paid. You’re working hard for the company. If the company has no cash, and you’re busting your chops, what is the guarantee you will get paid.
      • What happens on bankruptcy, buy-out, new investment etc. How do you protect yourself and your career? Work these things out in advance.
    2. CEO leaves permanently or temporarily – It is time to renegotiate. (See Are you a CEO in Training?)
    3. Poison pills and takeovers – time to renegotiate.
    4. Where the CEO or other executives are getting special compensation privileges, it may be time for you to ask for more as well.

Remember, a key reason your new company is hiring you because you are supposed to be a great negotiator! Show them how you negotiate a win for all sides.

Filed Under: Bankruptcy, Contracts, Executive Search, Negotiation, OnBoarding, OnBoarding, Personal Assistants, Recruiters, Restructuring, Speaking and Training, Speaking and Training

September 9, 2011 By Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

Become a Better CFO: Be on Trend. Create your own Luck.

I received this video in my email yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you. I was fortunate to be attending a conference in May 2010 where Mike Lipkin was the keynote speaker.

[Sidenote: I have always been skeptical of Motivational Speakers. It was never my style. But I ended up in a room with Mike Lipkin and he is one person I thank for making the changes in my life and career that has brought me here today].

If you are the kind of person that does not like motivational speakers – do not watch the video.

If you are the kind of person that likes to hear new ideas, be current, and are open to change and improvement, go ahead and listen.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT1Y8hed0K4]

Based on the research done by Mr. Lipkin’s company, Environics Lipkin, Mike explains these seven powerful and current trends that have the ability to make you a Better CFO.

    1. Instrospection and empathy.
    2. New social responsibility and community involvement
    3. Social learning and cultural fusion.
    4. Vitality and effort for health.
    5. Rejection of authority and support for government.
    6. Equality of the sexes.
    7. Pursuit of originality.

If any of these trends interest you and you would like to understand them better, watch the video.

Do any of these apply to you?

Can you be on Trend?

Will following any of these trends help make you a Better CFO?

As Mike says “You may be the one that others have been waiting for.”

Filed Under: Better CFO, Courage, Courage, Courage, Mike Lipkin, Motivation, Real CFO, Real CFO, Trends, Youtube

September 8, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 1 Comment

CFOs: Are you a CEO in training?

The news of the replacement of Carol Bartz as CEO of Yahoo by Tim Morse, the CFO (as an interim position) brings up interesting points to ponder for the CFO about their career path and career plan.

As I was at my desk thinking about what CFOs could learn from the Yahoo news, the phone rang and it was the Wall Street Journal wanting my take on this news. You can read the article and my quotes in the article by Emily Chasan, When CFOs Become Interim CEOs.

This Yahoo succession story should make every CFO look in the mirror and ask themselves:

If I get the call to be CEO,

    • Can I take it?
    • Should I take it?
    • Am I ready to take it?
    • Do I have what it takes to take it?

Most CFOs will admit to second guessing the CEO on some of their decisions. It’s easy to think “I could do a better job”.

When a finance executive moves up the ladder to become CFO, they need to move out of their comfort zone of being technical to become a strategic finance leader. A CFO can only move to the CEO role if they have taken steps to move beyond finance.

What are you doing as CFO to learn, grow and challenge yourself? (Hint: Get a Coach or a Mentor)

Are you a CEO in training?

If you get the call, would you be ready to become CEO?

Filed Under: Succession Planning

September 7, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 6 Comments

CEO and Investors: Are you ready for your First CFO?

Companies in growth mode face great challenges. One of the biggest challenges a growing company faces is bringing in their first Real CFO.

In a previous post we reviewed an article written by Emily Chasen in the WSJ CFO Journal about how More Companies are Ready for their First CFO.

A growing company built on entrepreneurial spirit can only continue to grow so far on that spirit alone. At a critical juncture in the life of a growing business, it needs to make a transition from decisions made by the entrepreneur alone to a dynamic team that works on a business model of delegation of responsibility and co-operation between interests within the company.

This is an inflection point for many successful growth companies — when a CFO is recruited because the management disciplines that grew the enterprise to its current state will not be enough to take it to the next level.

Intellectually, the CEO and other key managers may know things need to change.  But that doesn’t mean they’ll be comfortable with a CFO who asks tougher questions, instills new disciplines or has a fiduciary responsibility to the investors as well as a loyalty to the management team.

So, what is the answer?  How do you strengthen CFO readiness when the next level of success takes people out of their comfort zones?  Courage.

That’s why we developed our CFO Readiness Program in conjunction with Dr. Merom Klein & Dr. Louise Klein, leaders of the Courage Institute.

The Courage Institute wrote the book on The Courage to Act — about 5 Courage Factors that equip effective leaders to challenge the status quo, champion new possibilities and get traction on breakthrough ideas and improvements. This is the foundation of the CFO Readiness Program.

The CFO Readiness Program is an assessment, feedback and action planning program that works to equip  the entire executive team to:

    • Strengthen and align your veteran executives — so they have the courage to welcome new thought-leadership and collaboration
    • Clarify your wish-list of expectations and priorities for the new CFO
    • Prepare for healthy debates and challenges to “the way we have done things here” as the new CFO identifies new opportunities
    • Equip the new CFO to conduct an independent assessment of your enterprise’s infrastructure, financial well-being and resources
    • Ensure career paths and mentoring opportunities for the finance executives who brought the enterprise to its current level
    • Identify fears, sensitivities and bridge-building that the new CFO could face — and ways to build courage to lift performance
    • Lift courage to embrace and accelerate change to get traction on new metrics, new ways of working and new ways to ensure regulatory compliance and good investor/board relations
    • Identify debates, deferred decisions and risk factors that the new CFO will face — and the input desired from the new CFO
    • See how to move past rivalries, turf-issues, personality clashes and other fear-inducing courage inhibitors that can reduce luminary efficiency at the executive and middle management levels
    • Invite scrutiny and transparency to sharpen up team thinking
    • Navigate matrix structures, networks and alliances — where it is not clear “who is in charge” or “who settles which debates”
    • Overcome fear and reluctance — as veteran members of the executive team are asked for courage to share decision-making discretion and authority with a new CFO

To receive a copy of our brochure and find out more about how our CFO Readiness Program can help your company, please complete this form:

[contact-form subject=”CFO Readiness Program” to=”[email protected]”] [contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Position” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Company” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”City” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”State / Province” type=”text” /] [contact-field label=”Country” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Phone Number” type=”text” required=”true” /] [/contact-form]

Filed Under: Assessment, CFO Readiness Program, First CFO, Hire your Next CFO, IPO, LinkedIn, PE, Private Equity, Public Company, Public Company, Team Structuring, VC, Venture Capital

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: CFO Relationships, CFO Relationships, CFO Relationships, CFO Relationships, CFO Search, CFO Search, CFO Search, CFO Search, Successful CFO, Successful CFO, Successful CFO, Successful CFO, Successful CFO

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: Board, Board, Board, Board, Board, Board, CEO, CEO, CEO, CEO, CEO, CEO, CFO Compensation, CFO Compensation, CFO Compensation, CFO Compensation, CFO Lounge, CFO Lounge, Financial Executive Coaching, Financial Executive Coaching, Investors, Investors, Onboarding, Onboarding, The Lonely CFO, The Lonely CFO, The Strong CFO, The Strong CFO, The Strong CFO

July 29, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 4 Comments

CFO Consulting: What it means.

What does the term CFO Consulting really mean? As I have found over the last while, it means different things to different people.

So for the sake of clarity, this is what it means (and doesn’t mean) to me.

CFO Consulting is:

The Coach's Job?

(c) 2009 DVIDSHUB and made available under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license

Working with CFOs to help them be a better CFO for the company they are working for, through

  • Executive Coaching – helping them become a more capable and effective CFO.
  • Training & Development – teaching to and increasing the knowledge, skills and abilities of the CFO.
  • Talent Management – providing CFOs with all the processes necessary for a more efficient and effective Finance team – including Talent Assessment, Talent Planning, Talent Succession for the entire the finance group or for specific individuals within finance.

CFO Consulting is not:

  • Interim CFO
  • Part-time CFO
  • CFO Career Coaching

Personally, I find Career Coaching for CFOs to be a needed and valuable service to those senior finance executives who need to plan their career. One such person that offers these services is Cindy Kraft (CFO Coach). She does an excellent job and I highly recommend her.

I’m not knocking those who work delivering Interim CFO or Part-time CFO. At one point in my career, I used to deliver Interim CFO and Part-time CFO services, so I do understand what is involved. There are many good companies and individuals that offer these services. My only issue is that calling these services “Consulting” is not appropriate. Calling them CFO Services is a better name for it.

This is my point of view. What is yours?

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, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO, CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, CFO Consulting, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Coaching, Finance Team, Finance Team, Finance Team, Finance Team, Finance Team, HR, Talent Management, Talent Management, Training and Development, Training and Development, Training and Development, Training and Development

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