On different types of jobs and how to do them...

Someone once told me there are no good jobs or bad jobs.  There are bad aspects in any good job as well. But digging deeper you should think about approaching your work as follows...

There is a difference between doing a job, running a business, and building a business.  The level of ownership, accountability, passion, drive and breadth of perspective is different when you consider your job not as a job, but as running a business.  If you consider it to be a job, you draw a line - after which you stop.

On transactional leadership vs vested leadership...

Over the years, I picked up a bunch of things from Jim.  Once we were discussing teams in Bangalore with remote leaders and how those teams are managed.  He explained...

There are various vectors in which leadership styles are defined.  But one way to think about leadership style is vested vs. transactional.  

Most remote leaders today follow a transactional leadership approach where conversations happen regularly, but generally center around tasks and activities that have to get done.  A periodic checkpoint mid-year or end of year is used to assess performance vs. career objectives and determine growth.  It's probably understandable that lack of growth drives dissatisfaction, but another driver is conversation quality.

Conversely, vested leadership involves the leader narrating stories and life experiences to the individual, with the aim of coaching the person and helping him/her attain longer term goals.  Or building them as a professional beyond the current job.  It is probably more taxing but you can earn better loyalty.  Now, ofcourse, you have to select individuals where you want to vest and invest your time.

On three legs of CFO stool (cont...) - Investor Relations...

The three legs of the CFO stool are: 1) Accounting/Auditing; 2) Finance Ops 3) Investor Relations

The first two are relatively easier.  Skills can be acquired through education (CPA/CA, etc).  Investor relations is more tricky because it requires communicating a story to investors.  When Akamai acquired Prolexic, it didn't have a lot of revenue.  But Jim had to believe in the security story and it's potential, and sell it to investors and capital markets.  That story involved some financial milestones, and some non-financial milestones - to help investors track that we are actually making progress on our strategy.  Jim was involved in not only selling the story, but also crafting it.  

To be of value to the CEO, a CFO has to be able to sell to investors such decisions in the right financial context - which makes #3 more art than science.

On finance business partnering...

Finance business partnering is tricky.  To the ones who are in the role, it always feels like walking a tight rope.  Early in my career, Bill explained a simple way to think about it.

Consider any professional sports team.  Individuals involved with professional sports team generally fall in one of the following categories:

Players: who play the game

Umpires/Referees: who tell the players when they do something wrong

Coaches: who tell the players how referees think and how they can play the game

A finance business partner has to have the ability to play all of these roles at different times.  The skill is to determine when to play which role.

On thinking...

Everyone does their job.  But promotions are not awards for a job well done.  Promotions generally happen when you exhibit a thinking ability at the next level.  A key tenet to bear in mind: think two levels up, act one level up (but keep your feet to the ground, and arrogance in check).

On Re-invention...

Every person has to re-invent himself/herself from time to time.  And this is required anytime he/she wants to aim for a higher role, or an inflection point move - where a new personality is needed to succeed in the job.  Often this has to happen when you get promoted or take a new job - but reinvention can become the difference between succeeding or failing.

On leaders having ability to judge people...

Once I was asking my business leader his opinion about my finance leader.  After some thought he said...

As you grow in an org it becomes very critical, and equally tricky to know who to trust.  In new leadership roles especially, judging character and building your advisory circle should not take time.  Some bad choices are possible, but rather have 1-2 bad decisions that you fix quickly rather than not knowing who you want to keep close.

Your finance leader has not been able to determine who to trust, which is the cause of indecision, and friction.

On giving rope...

One of the leaders I look up to (and worked with really closely) used to say - I am playing hangman (with so and so).  I often wondered what he meant. Eventually I realized...

Once you have determined that a team member (or your business partner) is set in his/her ways, it's ok to not coach them or try to save them.  It's better to give them rope so they can "hang" themselves.  In more eloquent terms - their ways are sometimes self destructive and you don't need to catch the falling knife.

On org design...

When designing an org (chart), it is important to remember two things:

1) designing an org can sometimes feel as simple as placing/moving boxes on an org chart (or power point slide).  But the real meaning of an org design comes out when you place names in those boxes.  That's when one can understand the real disruption from the org change/design.

2) Your org will be fluid and will change over time.  That's certain.  But anytime you design the org, you should design/change it with atleast a 2-3 year horizon.  It takes time for disruption to settle, people to learn their roles, build relationships, and add value.

On... well, Jim-isms....

When Jim was retiring from Akamai, some folks go together to document his Jim-isms.  I've highlighted my favorite ones from the list...

 

There's numbers you look up (Accounting), and numbers you make up (FP&A)

It's probably not our finest hour

Hope is not a strategy

We need to have a regular cadence to review this data

Two data points don't make a trend

I am pleased... but not satisfied

Make me proud

All ropes need to touch the ground (so many years later... this yet doesn't make sense to me)

Interrogate the numbers till they confess

Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into

Trust, but verify

If that is a priority, ok... but the size of their envelope cannot increase

Live to fight another day

Don't let go of the last vine till you are holding on to the next one

Precision does not equal accuracy

Thanks.  Just a few more things (followed by a list of 10 more things)

On trust...

Generally, leaders take time to trust a new team member.  New members have to earn their way to the trust circle - and gain access to information.  Sanjay had an upside-down way when it came to trust.  While his guard stayed up for everyone other than the most inner circle, his approach was to assign trust by default to all members of his leadership.  He would freely share information pertinent to the business. With this approach, he pushed the responsibility on the other person to keep the trust, rather than earn it.  The rule was simple: if the other person can't keep the trust, he/she would be out.  

This is a fascinating approach (having tried it myself) - it makes it easier for people to onboard, integrate and become effective.  Ofcourse, not without downsides.

On earning respect of a leadership team made of alpha personalities....

When dealing with a leadership team, it is imperative for a CFO to have respect from the team.  

One way is to engage with each of them at both a professional but also personal level.  Show genuine interest in them personally (families, kids, etc.).  And ensure this interest is sincere.  Care.  Always used that in any engagement (as an icebreaker).  It is also important to develop an ability for them to think you have their back...and in many cases follow through, (if you believe in something they are doing or trying). Lastly, it is important to find something they care about professionally and strive to help them in someway. 

On how to handle new hires...

When you bring in a new hire on the team, let them run.  Let them experiment and express themselves before correcting them too much.  Some refining is fine, but don't attempt to control their thoughts too much.  It's important to know how far the new hire can run, where the limits are, where the biases are - after which you can and should start reeling them in.

On tools of leadership...

Similar to how a golfer has different irons in his golf set, a leader has different leadership tools at his/her disposal.  These leadership tools are in the form of vulnerability, vision, aggression, empathy, compassion, etc.  The skill of leadership is more about using which tool in which situation.

On motivation...

 Not everyone gets motivated by the same motivation technique.  If you have two kids - a boy and a girl - if the boy gets motivated by a toy car, the girl likely won't be motivated by the same thing.  Your daughter will likely need something else to get motivated.  

A leader has to determine the motivation drivers for each member of his/her team.  Likely each person will have different motivating factors.  A leader has to customize the motivation approach.

On three legs of a CFO stool...

To give structure to a CFO role, consider it to be a three legged stool.

1) Accounting/Auditing/Control:  The nuts and bolts of finance.  This area covers accounting, governance, payroll - activities that are essential to any business.  Usually when a business starts, this is the first area to get setup. 

2) Financial Operations:  This pertains to business finance, finance support, operations, planning, FP&A.

3) Investor Relations:  This is the art part of the CFO role.  It involves managing investor expectations, and working with capital markets.  For simplicity, Treasury activities can be combined under this leg.  

What this blog is about

Over my career, I have been fortunate to have worked with leaders who were not only really smart but also dropped really cool advice from time to time.  Advice that helped me navigate through several professional challenges.  This blog is my attempt to capture some of those nuggets - partly in the hope of paying it forward, partly only to record it somewhere.