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The Difference Between Getting the CFO Job and Keeping It (My 2-Year Check-In) · The Diary of a CFO

• 0:00
  Welcome back to the Diary of a CFO podcast. I'm
• 0:02
  your host Wassia Kamon and today it's just me.
• 0:05
  We are halfway through the year. The podcast
• 0:07
  is almost two years. And I think it's a good
• 0:09
  moment to pause and reflect, right? Because there's
• 0:12
  so many things going on, so many things really
• 0:14
  in leadership that we don't talk about enough.
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  And I feel like today is a good time to be open
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  to some of those conversations. So this is not
• 0:21
  just for CFOs. If you are in a senior seat of
• 0:24
  any kind, this is also for you. I'm going to
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  talk about really three things. What I've learned
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  in those first two years being in the seat. Also
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  what I've learned speaking to now almost 40 CFOs.
• 0:34
  over the past two years from my podcast. And
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  one of the major things I realized, a lot of
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  people overlook. when they're stepping into executive
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  leadership. So two years into the role, I realized
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  that a person who gets promoted to CFO and a
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  person who survives as a CFO are two different
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  people. If you've been in the seat of CFO, you
• 0:52
  probably know what I'm about to talk about because
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  I remember what got me into the seat. I was not
• 0:57
  a CFO before. My first time CFO, I came from
• 1:00
  a VP of Finance and controller. So I was overseeing
• 1:04
  FP &A and controller, you know, everything accounting
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  in that prior company, an executive recruiter.
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  out to me on LinkedIn, went through the process,
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  and became a CFO. And I can clearly see why I
• 1:15
  was hired, right? looking in hindsight. First,
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  they were looking at relevant industry experience.
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  So I was a VP of Finance and Controller in the
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  CDFI industry, same where I am now. I was familiar
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  with the reporting complications, reporting cadence
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  and all things of that side. I had led teams
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  of similar size across different industries.
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  I have improved systems. My communication was
• 1:36
  on point, whether it was with when I was talking
• 1:38
  to the founder or other people that were part
• 1:41
  of the interviewing process. I had the right
• 1:44
  credentials. I would show strategic thinking,
• 1:46
  some of the questions they will ask. And it really
• 1:48
  also came down to what we often overlook, which
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  is how comfortable is a room when you are with
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  them? Because people like hiring people they
• 1:56
  like. So if you're going to an interview and
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  there is a good vibe, you will be hired. So I
• 2:00
  basically checked all those boxes. But now that
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  I look back, I realize that what has kept me
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  is not just being a strategic thinker, right?
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  Strategic thinking, you see the long term, you're
• 2:12
  able to analyze the big picture, but being a
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  strategic leader is really what kept me at this
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  role. And that's what I realized we often miss.
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  And it's also easy to miss for a lot of companies
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  hiring, they will test your strategic thinking,
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  but how do you know you're a strategic leader?
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  Because once you come to being a strategic leader,
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  it's actually understanding what is happening
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  in the business. What are the implications for
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  today? What are the risks in the long term? and
• 2:36
  acting to influence those results. Now that's
• 2:39
  where things get a little complicated. Because
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  it's knowing when you have to pitch and when
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  you have to back off on an idea. It's knowing
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  when you have to argue and when you have to let
• 2:49
  go. When you have to advocate for something and
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  when you have to say no. How are you going to
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  get executives, your peers that do not report
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  to you, to take the right action, especially...
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  How are you going to handle your relationship
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  with the CEO and the board? And I want to pause
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  right here because it's something that I think
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  we often overlook and underestimate. A lot of
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  CFOs I've interviewed, whether it was on record
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  or off record, all said that being at this point
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  of their career, it feels to others like they're
• 3:22
  at the top of their game, but it also feels like
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  you are the tip. of your game. A lot of them
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  are being forced to resign, not because they're
• 3:29
  not great at their role, not because they're
• 3:30
  not qualified, like they've checked all the same
• 3:32
  boxes for whatever companies hired them. But
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  it was really because of their relationship with
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  the CEO and the board. A couple months ago, I
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  had a CFO reach out to me and she was on the
• 3:45
  verge of quitting. She was like, I'm looking
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  for a new job. And when I asked her why, because,
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  you know, she was well -paid over probably over
• 3:51
  300K and great bonus equity package, it was because
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  that's At some point, her CEO asked her to stop
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  coming to the board meeting because she had come
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  to the board meeting and shared some information
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  that the CEO didn't. want to be shared, obviously,
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  because he had painted a different picture to
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  the board, and the board was okay with that.
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  And a lot of that happens in those cases because
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  it was a founder. Now, how you work with a founder
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  CEO is very different than how you work with
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  a CEO that was hired. See, how you build a relationship
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  with a founder CEO is often very difficult because
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  that's the person that built a company without
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  you. They went through all this. They had to
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  learn a little bit about finance. You were not
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  there. Now you show up, and you're going to tell
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  them what's wrong. And when they have a board,
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  it's often a board that's loyal to them first
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  before being a true governance board that is
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  loyal to the company and the shareholders. And
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  so in that situation, you can see how, well,
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  Neither the CEO, neither the board were on their
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  side. So for her, it was, OK, I'm going to leave.
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  And so that is one of the things that we often
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  overlook when we think about taking an executive
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  leadership role, is you need that alignment with
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  your CEO and with your board. Absolutely, because
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  otherwise, you're very, very. vulnerable. So
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  even though you checked all the boxes, you have
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  all the industry experience, you felt the vibe
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  when you were in the room and you felt like they
• 5:16
  said they wanted change and your ideas will be
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  approved or at least listened to before making
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  decisions, you really have to make sure all along
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  the way that you keep that alignment together.
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  And that is really all the subtle stuff that
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  happened in the background. So as I said earlier,
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  that's the part of being an executive that is
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  really hard to understand, but that's really
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  what keeps you in the seat and keeps succeeding
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  in the seat. Like when you have to pitch those
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  ideas, when you have to back up, when you have
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  to argue, when you have to let go, when you have
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  to advocate, when you have to say no, how you
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  have to deliver bad news, how you have to get
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  people aligned with you, whether it's your peers,
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  your CEO, your board, when and how you're going
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  to introduce change to your team, to the rest
• 5:59
  of the organization, when you're going to share
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  information, when you're going to withhold it.
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  And even down to the tone and the depth of every
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  word. Like I remember my CEO one day told me
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  after a meeting, Waseea, you said you were worried
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  about so -and -so and you almost never used the
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  word worry before. Can you tell me more? Right?
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  Because they read all those things. It's a heavy
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  title to have. And so this is how closely you
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  being read once you are in deceit. down to the
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  word you're using. What are you worried about?
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  When you say the word worry, what is it? And
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  once you understand it, you also can understand
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  how you can be strategic about the kind of words
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  you use, when you use them. And I call this strategic
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  influence. It is a term that I redefined in my
• 6:44
  Wharton online segment for the FP &A certificate
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  program. I did a segment for them a couple years
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  ago on leading through uncertainty. And strategic
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  influence is really, if you were thinking about
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  a Venn diagram, is that intersection between
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  influence and strategy. And it really has to
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  permeate everything you do and who you are as
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  an executive. You have to be able to read situations
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  and read people quickly and strategically. Otherwise
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  you will end up very frustrated in a role that
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  you work so, so hard to get. So I'm in the seat
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  now two years and that's definitely the major
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  lesson that I learned in this journey is... Yes,
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  you have the credentials. Yes, you can do the
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  work. But there are so many nuances that comes
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  with it. Now, the other thing I also learned
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  in speaking with other CFOs is regardless of
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  the size of the organizations, it's not like
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  you are a small version of a CFO if you work
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  for a smaller company. It's not like if you're
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  a large CFO, you have more problems. It's not
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  like the more money, more problems by the great
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  philosopher, Jay -Z said. But it's really more
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  money or less money. There's different problems,
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  regardless of where we go. That's really what
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  it is. Because if you are in a mid -market CFO,
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  you're considering a role in the small to medium
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  size, which is the space I operate in, you have
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  to realize that you operate at different altitudes.
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  In the same day, I can start a day talking to
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  a funder to give me money. I can be in the leadership
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  team. And then next thing I know, I'm reviewing
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  something in accounting. That was wrong. And
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  so you are doing all these things at different
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  altitudes going from big picture to small picture
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  and in between long term, short term, in the
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  weeds in the same day that, for example, a large
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  cap CFO at a larger company may have people specifically
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  for that. Like they probably have a leader for
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  treasury. They probably have a separate leader
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  for investor relations, et cetera. You may not
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  have it. And so again, it goes back to the bigger
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  lesson here, which is finding the right alignment.
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  between your background. the things that you
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  want to do and what the company is looking for.
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  Who are the people there? How are you going to
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  work with them? That's really what I've learned
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  in those past two years speaking with, again,
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  over 40 CFOs in the process. So if you're in
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  a CFO seat or in any other senior leadership
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  role, I think it's a good time to also pause
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  and ask yourself the honest question. How is
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  your relationship with your boss? How is a CEO
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  relationship? Where are your boundaries and what
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  is the seat asking of you right now? There's
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  no wrong answer. It's about staying valid and
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  staying aligned because that alignment is really
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  key in making sure that you are fulfilled in
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  the role. And I can even take it a step further
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  when it comes to alignment, not just alignment
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  with your boss and all those things that work,
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  but alignment with your own personal life. If
• 9:41
  you watch my very first check -in, when I started
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  this podcast, I did my first 90 day check and
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  I'll definitely drop the link in the show notes
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  where I was talking about how my first 90 days
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  went. And one of the things that really came
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  about was how much weight I had gained that first
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  year because I hadn't built the habit of dealing
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  with stress and working out. Now I'm down the
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  same weight now, two years later, but still comes
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  down to how is your life optimized for the choices
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  you have to make at your workplace? What is the
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  environment you need at home? for you to be effective
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  in your role. So to me, it all comes down to
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  alignment, alignment, alignment. Yes, it's very
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  tempted to just look at the money that is offered
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  for some of those roles, but you have to look
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  at the alignment. Is your family okay with it?
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  Is it gonna crumble because of that decision?
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  Is your health going to crumble because of that
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  decision? So the big lesson for me this year
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  has really been about alignment, making sure
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  you're working with the right boss in the right
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  company at the right. Can you work in a company
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  that's growing at that rate? Is it sustainable
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  long term? Or is it something quick that you
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  can turn around? So big word of the day is definitely
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  alignment, again. This is what I wanted to share
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  with you, because I don't think we talk about
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  all those nuances a lot. So if you enjoy this
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  episode, don't forget to share it with someone
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  that is also in the senior seat who might be
• 11:05
  having the same conversations with themselves.
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  Drop a comment about what you've been thinking
• 11:10
  about halfway through the year. I'll definitely
• 11:12
  really want to learn more about them as well.
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  And I'll see you in the next one.