Answering Quora Questions: "A business development officer in a good organization or a finance officer in a smaller one? Better?"

I have to make some assumptions here. First, the word “officer” in the job titles leads me to believe these are the higher ranking positions at their respective firms in their specific roles, Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). I will also assume that you are capable of performing the job duties for both positions equally well.

Even with this foundation, the answers to your questions will be highly subjective and as varied as the people answering. This requires a less direct answer than telling you what is better. The best answer will have you answer these questions yourself through introspection.

The two positions are differentiated by the scope of the details they are responsible for overall and the level of revenue they generate for the company. There are finer details to be developed for his/her plans, but the CBDO focuses more on the big picture when developing strategies to generate new revenue streams. The CFO is responsible for every unit produced and every dollar spent sustaining the platform from which the CBDO can jump while adhering to very specific rules and accounting practices. The CFO is just as important as the CBDO and vice versa, one’s existence relies on the other. A well-functioning enterprise allows for seeking new business and without new business, there is no growth. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. Therefore, the two leaders must work together to achieve accurate run-rates for more precise revenue projections to help the rest of the functional leadership team to plan in kind.

Personally, I would opt for working as CBDO over CFO because I am more of an innovator and an extrovert who likes meeting new people all the time. I would rather do some creative thinking, put together brand new strategies, and go out into the world to find the right people and companies to make them a reality. Not that the CFO cannot come up with creative ideas for growth through managerial accounting practices and his/her own innovative ideas, but their focus is largely internal and more on current processes with well-defined rules than not. The CFO does generate some revenue and meets with others frequently but it is not to the same degree as the CBDO. This is not a realistic portrayal, but the image in my mind right now makes me feel a bit claustrophobic as I picture someone cooped up in an office, face in a ledger, and pouring over financial data day in and day out. As for me, even though I am very capable of filling both roles and I would feel lucky to do either, I just like being a sales guy more than a numbers guy. It’s simply my preference if I had to choose one or the other. Yet, that preference may mean more than druthers. Remember, doing something we like more may mean doing it better. On this aspect, you have to realize the job duties you will like more in order to determine which position is better for you.

However, this was not the only caveat to your query.

We also need to address the good versus small organization aspect. It reads like you are already biased towards, I assume, larger organizations since you compare beneficence to small size. I base this on the word “smaller” being more of an objective description than is the subjective “good,” and as therefore less likely have been subconsciously replaced by a term of endearment. In this case, I am inclined to agree with your sentiment. (If you meant small-valued businesses, I am way off.)

As an executive in either position, I would rather be at a larger company than a smaller one. A goal of leadership is to get others to achieve something together that they would not otherwise be able to do alone. The bigger the company, the bigger the achievements and with those come bigger rewards and bigger incentives to succeed. Yet, with bigger success comes bigger risks. There are greater responsibilities to more people, more people scrutinizing your every move, more people who will clamor for your removal when things are not going well. Plus, the pressure only increases with the size of the company and most people cannot handle it. Whether or not it is by choice does not matter; avoiding highly demanding jobs translates into some level of inability, for most people, real or imagined. Yes, there are some who spent their time at the top, leaving on their own for whatever reason, and there are some whose priorities are limited to focusing on smaller networks, like their families. All of these people are perfectly content with their current levels of success and are likely to prefer a smaller company with fewer responsibilities, demands, and pressure. I do not propose that smaller companies are not demanding with high-levels of stress, I used to prefer small businesses myself. There, you can find closer relationships and company commitment to every employee individually. This can be very fulfilling and intrinsically motivating.

Nonetheless, I can promise that not everyone is satisfied with the way things are at these small companies and being content to keep things simple is like a slap in the face to those who don’t. There are indeed exceptions, but for the most part, small business owners and other shareholders want to grow as much as possible. Turning their idea into the next multi-national conglomerate may not be on their radar but it is not far from their daydreams. Someone who hurts growth through complacency is someone who does not deserve to be a part of the family, you don’t hurt your family. But I prattle on…

Once again, you must look inside yourself to determine in which position you will be your best. No matter the size of the company for which you work, always strive to achieve your best because you owe it to the organization and to yourself. You and the other 5, 50, 500, 5000, or even 50,000 employees all rely on your collective efforts to accomplish mutual goals and holding back is letting them down. So, it all boils down to what your motivations are at the time you decide where you want to work. If you want to get in on the ground floor of a smaller company as the CFO and help them grow into greatness, pick that position. If they are happy where they are and you want a position that allows you more time at home, it may be the smaller business is the way to go. If you are not quite ready to take on the stress of the larger company, pick the smaller one to build your leadership experience. If you just don’t want to deal with all the crap the larger company has in store for you, the choice is clear. If your ambition is like mine and achieving greatness is the bottom rung of your ladder, you’ll find a faster path to getting there when leading a larger company.

As you can see, there are many variables that go into answering your question, variables that are deeply personal and only you can figure out. This may have been way more information than you were looking for but I’ll reiterate the main ideas here.

Asking a question about which is better between executive positions in business development (CBDO) at a large company or finance (CFO) at a small company leaves us with even more questions before we can get an answer:

Are you a sales guy or a numbers guy?

Are you a free-thinker or comforted by set rules?

How many people do you want to take care of, who is your top priority?

How much attention do you want while you are doing your job?

Are you ambitious enough take on any and every challenge along the fast-track?

Can you tolerate the risk of being replaced when business is down?

Would you rather play it safe and fly under the radar?

How much are you really willing to sacrifice to succeed?