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The Jedi CFO

“Do, or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda

Following an excellent exchange on a previous blog (The Lonely CFO) in a LinkedIn Group Discussion, the concept of the Jedi CFO was brought up by Joseph Duran.

And it got me thinking…

People who deal with the CFO (see Road Map to Successful CFO Relationships) expect the CFO to have Jedi-like qualities.

Let’s see if the Jedi Code applies to CFOs.

    1. Jedi are the guardians of the galaxy.
    2. Jedi use their powers to defend and protect, never to attack others.
    3. Jedi respect all life in any form.
    4. Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them for the good of the galaxy.
    5. Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.

Replace “Jedi” with “CFO” and “galaxy” with “organization” and you too can be a Jedi.

Do you want to be a Jedi CFO? Coaching can help.

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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!

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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?

 

 

 

 

 

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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

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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?

Contact Information

You can reach Samuel by:

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

Email: [email protected]