7 Traits Of The Highly Successful Modern CFOs

Having had the honor of working with a select group of CFOs from top-level organizations, our observation is that the life of the modern-day Chief Financial Officer has dramatically changed compared to what it was 10 years ago. Today, with advancements in science and technology, it gets challenging to cope with trends, especially when you are not a technophile.

It’s safe to say that there is no detailed job description portraying the roles and responsibilities of the CFOs in 2022.

A recurring question that usually comes up is, what traits make a CFO successful in their career? We are here to answer it for you.

Listed are the top 7 traits of successful CFOs that we have managed to distill -

1. Trustworthy - A quality that has been important through and through. As CFOs are entrusted with financial information that belongs to both the company and the clients, they must keep it confidential. Credibility, honesty, and integrity are essential when you are in the socks of a CFO. Without these values, organizations will be at great risk of losing their business and clients. 

2. Technology Evangelist - “CFOs are challenged with turning the numbers into something meaningful. You need to be able to derive insights and deliver information to the rest of the organization. The integrity, flexibility, and speed of that information enable your management and staff to more effectively manage the business.” -Chris Pass, CFO of John Muir Health.

The best CFOs master operational KPIs, not just financial metrics, to ensure that every department functions properly. They play a role and need to understand the business from the top level to the far bottom or even the teams right below them.

3. Bridge the gap - Successful finance leaders take a keen interest in business strategies discussions; they strive to bridge the gap between strategy and finance whenever possible. Finance leaders bring in a unique perspective by focusing on financial implementations while making big decisions. Their input adds immense value to business ideas that could be costly to the company. 

4. Clarity - It is critical for today’s CFOs to have clarity about what they need to bring to the table to create an impact and extend help towards the organization's growth. They must be able to take calculated risks, especially if the company is going through major transitions (Going public or being taken private etc.) at that time; the role of the CFO, their skills, and abilities is very important. Their decisions can shape the future of the organization. 

As Maureen O’Connell, Former CFO of Scholastic, rightly said - “Just as organizations continuously evolve with the ever-changing global business climate, the role of a CFO is bound to change. A CFO needs to go beyond being ‘the finance operations expert’ to become a corporate strategist who can enhance the firm’s valuation and brand and win over stakeholders’ trust and goodwill.”

5. Accelerate Change - To succeed, the CFOs need to manage cost pressures on finance, track if the wider organization is positioned to grow rapidly, and deploy improvement projects more quickly.

6. Communication - CFOs need to be more careful and observant while communicating. There are legal implications of being in charge of finance at an organization. Next to the CEOs, they are held accountable for any incorrect accounting or financial mishap. Your response as a CFO should always be professional, be it by email or face-to-face.

At times, face-to-face communication is deemed effective; in others, getting something written is better. The key here is to develop the same level of discretion and care as an attorney would.

7. Strong Leadership Skills - Last but without which all of the points above hold less to no value and in true form binds them together are STRONG leadership skills. CFOs need to be able to motivate different types of people in the organization. They need to be more decisive, focus on team building, be problem solvers, and hold the ability to teach and mentor.

If you operate with these 7 traits in your role, your success is guaranteed and will be threefolds faster.

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