CFgrOw: Staying in the Driver’s Seat on the Path to CFO

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM

Becoming a CFO can be extremely rewarding from many perspectives and can lead to exciting life experiences and financial rewards – and can be extremely gratifying emotionally. Ultimately, becoming a CFO can result in you transforming into a thought-leader of your industry and as an accounting and finance professional. Your opinion is sought out and referenced by not only your business but also the broader market, and you can steer the success of an organisation, creating opportunities for its employees, shareholders and customers. No doubt if you’re reading this book, you already aspire to becoming a CFO at some stage or at least have ambitions to take yourself to a new level.

But within this aspiration lies the problem. Most accounting and finance professionals hope to become a CFO but don’t take ownership of this goal, which ultimately leads to ongoing frustration as they never reach the career heights they were hoping for. To add fuel to the fire, only a limited number of CFO opportunities exist in any particular market or location. There is not one path of getting there and there is plenty of competition along the way.

Many will invest hours in education and their positions, in the hope that their efforts will be recognised and take them to their nirvana – to hold the CFO position and be recognised as a leader in their field. While education and a strong work ethic is a given to be successful in any field, aspiring CFOs often fail to manage three key problems as they embark on their career journey. These problems are:

unclear goals and a lack of self-awareness (clarity)

an underdeveloped network and professional profile (network)

ineffective influencing and decision-making skills (influence).

So, on top of appropriate knowledge, technical skills and the ability to ‘get things done’ as an accounting and finance professional, solving each of these three problems dramatically increases the chance of you achieving your career goals. They are the foundation of becoming a successful CFO.

Unfortunately, with the battles of daily life, meeting deadlines, trying to maintain a family and social life, as well as everything else that pops up along the way, most people put taking a bigger-picture view of their career in the back seat. They focus on the short term and often make decisions they later regret, or pretend that things are the way they are meant to be. However, what you know, deep down, is that you can take control and take action that means you no longer need to make excuses and you can feel proud of who you are and what you do.

The content of this book is not typically mainstream and not for everyone. If you’re in cruise control in your career and you’re happy to let the employment market dictate where you end up, it is highly unlikely this will be an enjoyable read for you. I’d suggest putting the book (or ereader) down now before you waste your time. This book has been created for accounting and finance professionals who want to take their career forward and are willing to challenge their beliefs to get there.

The concepts in this book really work for professionals with focus and the willingness to take action with an end goal in mind. In some cases, the techniques and recommendations will initially take time to build and master, but they are proven to work if executed effectively.

FINDING YOUR CAREER SWEET SPOT

This book is as much about your journey to CFO as it is about finding what I describe as your ‘career sweet spot’ (CSS).

Before explaining how it is found, it is important you understand what your CSS is. Your CSS is the place where you are highly regarded by your peers and network, well-rewarded for the stage you’re at in your career and on track to where you want to be. You can remain in your career sweet spot as your career moves, because it acts as a foundation to your career success, not the career itself. As a result, through cementing these foundations, you will become more secure and satisfied in your career, with the ability to make changes with confidence.

Most importantly, your CSS is the point where you are most likely to achieve your career goals, whatever they may be.

The CSS sits at the point where you have complete balance in each of the three areas instrumental to finding career success and achieving your goals: clarity, networks and influence.

Clarity

When you have mastered clarity, you will have a well-defined view of where you are in your career now, and where you are going. You will have a clear appreciation for the challenges in reaching that goal and a solid plan for achieving it. This is complemented by a strong sense of self-awareness, with a thorough appreciation of the way you see the world compared to others, including a critical view of where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Having weaknesses is not a problem – we all have them; being aware of these weaknesses is what counts.

Networks

Creating networks is the second area to master. As you can likely gather, this area is about being connected to others, but not just anyone. The relationships you build should be genuine and allow for mutual value to flow between contacts. Of course, you will connect with some contacts in your network more frequently, and the depth of the relationships will obviously vary; nonetheless, the relationships will be genuine.

Secondly, these relationships can solve a variety of career challenges or problems. They will include contacts who can open channels to new opportunities in your career, as well as previous managers and referees, and mentors. They are also contacts within your organisation who can collaborate with you to get things done.

Building a quality network can take time; however, the benefits to your career are endless, and become a protection mechanism in times where external factors out of your control may lead to a required role change. The people in your network will leverage your skills and ability quicker than you can as one person.

Influence

Influence is the third area required to find your CSS and is as important as the first two areas. The strength of your influence is in the ability to move a person, or group of people to a desired action. From the point of view of finding your CSS, influencing others is equally as important as influencing yourself. To move yourself to a desired action is to make a decision and, at your CSS, you will not only make decisions, but also appreciate and deal with the consequences of those decisions well.

Mastering the concept of influence with respect to your career will be balanced against the first two areas of finding your CSS (clarity and networks). The bigger and more robust your goals are, and the more dynamic your network is, the more effective you need to be in the space of influence.

In this book, each of the eight Pillars contribute to, and are highly important in helping your find your career sweet spot and become the CFO you want to be.

Finally, when building to your career sweet spot, you need an additional ingredient that underpins everything you do – that is, to always perform to a high standard.

High performance

In this book, the concept of high performance is covered with a focus on the areas of ‘getting stuff done’ and ‘high-quality output’. Without demonstrating the technical skills and meeting the performance targets set in your own role (or any activity you undertake) the three areas mentioned earlier are for nothing. It would be very difficult to influence a business stakeholder if you are known for average performance, or for a previous manager to recommend you if you couldn’t meet their own expectations on quality.

Clarity, networks and influence allow high performance to work for you. These three areas are your vehicle and high performance is the fuel you choose. Take away high performance, and you won’t go very far.

How the three areas of clarity, networks and influence combine with getting stuff done and high-quality output to create your career sweet spot is shown in the following figure.

INTERVIEWS USED IN THIS BOOK

As part of my research for this book, I interviewed various industry experts who have faced such challenges and taken their career where they wanted it to go. Quotes from these experts appear throughout this book, and longer excerpts from the interview transcripts are included in breakout boxes in some chapters. The experts I interviewed were:

Tania Betts – CFO of Ingenia Communities Ltd (ASX: INA) and previous career with Stockland (ASX: SGP). In 2011, Tania was awarded the UDIA Young Leader Award for Excellence.

Michael Bradburn – CFO of Brisbane Airport and previous career with Asciano (ASX: AIO) and Brambles (ASX: BSB).

Brett Houldin – recently appointed CFO of Quick Service Restaurant Holdings and previously CFO and Acting Managing Director of The Star, part of Echo Entertainment Ltd (ASX: EGP).

Christina Katsibouba – Executive General Manager, Finance, CMS at Salmat Ltd (ASX: SLM) and previous career with Apparel Group.

IS THIS BOOK FOR ME?

Wondering whether this book is really worthwhile for you and your circumstances? Read through the following scenarios and see if any strike a chord.

I’ve never needed to plan my career – I’ve always been successful

This book is especially for you. There comes a time in every career journey where you approach a fork in the road or your forward momentum slows down, forcing you to ask, ‘What should I do next?’ Implementing the techniques recommended in this book reduces the pain of any lost momentum, and increases the chances of opportunities continuing to come to you, even in an economic downturn and tough employment market.

I’m later in my career and it feels like it’s too late

It’s never too late to take control back of your career. With clarity and an honest look at yourself, the implementation of concepts in this book around your career can shift you to the driver’s seat. You can reduce the time spent battling with recruiters, applying for jobs and not being responded to, and just generally worrying that it is all too hard. It is not – you just need to put your energy in the right places and keep that energy consistent.

I’m already a CFO

Even if you’re already a CFO, it’s highly likely that you will still take away many new insights on career management and leadership from this book. The marketplace for developing accounting and finance professionals, and the approach to career management they need to take is now very different. In the last five years alone, the advent of social media platforms and a more competitive employment landscape has driven the need to be more planned, focused and cautious about the way your career profile is managed and the recruitment decisions you make. This book can be a guide to best practice career management for you as much as someone growing their career.

I’m not a risk taker or an extrovert

It is a fallacy that successful careers in business require a high degree of risk. In fact, planning your career well and using the tools around you takes a significant level of risk out of any decision. This does not mean you can implement everything in this book from behind your desk. A serious degree of relationship building and networking is a key component. But building effective relationships has nothing to do with being an introvert or an extrovert; it’s simply about connecting with the right people and offering value.

I haven’t followed a traditional training path

The typical career of an accounting professional starts with relevant education. However, what is clear from the assessment of top performers and successful CFOs is that they hold different qualifications and have been educated in many different ways. The consistent feature is an ongoing investment in relevant education and professional development. If you’re not prepared to build your knowledge on and off the job, you will limit your opportunities and the way you are perceived by others. If you are prepared to make this investment, this book is for you. Perception is reality.

I can’t see how the marketplace can be made any easier to manage a career now

If you think the marketplace is just the way it is and you couldn’t possibly have any influence on it, this is book is for you. Read it. Put time into implementing the strategies recommended and continue to do so until you have mastered them. If you really want something to happen in your career, go and make it happen. Nobody else is going to do it for you and the tools to make the whole experience of steering your career to senior heights are in this book. The following pages provide a smorgasbord of techniques, tools and strategies that will work.

Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!

Rocky, in the film Rocky Balboa

YOUR CAREER IS A FERRARI

I don’t profess to know everything about cars, but Ferrari is a name that’s likely to send most people to thoughts of highly impressive, unique, expensive and extremely fast sports cars. While I’m sure some people prefer other brands of sports car, let’s assume I hand you the keys to a Ferrari – it’s unlikely you will turn me down on the offer to take it for a drive.

Now imagine for a moment that you are in the position to own a Ferrari. Perhaps money is no object, or a beautiful sports car is something you’ve always wanted. It’s now yours. What would you do first?

Shortly after you have looked over and admired your new toy, you have one very logical decision to make. You have two seats to select from. Which do you choose? The passenger seat might make you feel more comfortable. You don’t drive a Ferrari every day, so perhaps you hand the keys to someone else. You still get to feel the ride, enjoy the speed and it’s still your car.

As the car exits your driveway, you move down the road and your driver hits traffic. You initially talk to your driver. Perhaps you ask them how it feels to drive and then move on to some idle chat. The car continues to purr but you’re not moving very far.

You see an opportunity to cut through some traffic and get onto one of the back roads, which