The 10 commandments for a newbie CFO
Strategy is the road, culture is the compass — and revenue is vanity, profits are sanity, but cash is reality
Every newbie CFO needs a compass. These ten commandments are mine.
The first five are about the business and its people. Help the Board set and execute corporate strategy — including understanding where not to play, because a good strategy without an execution plan is a dream you eventually wake up from. Remember the customer all the time: firms that guess client needs overspend and many never recover. Help the CEO build strong culture — strategy is the road, culture is the compass. Be the champion of change, shifting the company from output focus to outcome focus even when it requires brave, heart-breaking decisions. And dedicate time to developing talent — learn to spot the people who talk the talk versus those who walk it; the latter become your leadership bench.
The second five are about money and character. Build your understanding of disruptive technology — snow melts from the edges, and CFOs must see around them. Cash is king: revenue is vanity, profits are sanity, but cash is reality. Everything else is madness. Understand your cost structure so unit economics work — at least at cruising altitude. Maximise return on capital employed, not vanity metrics like units sold or market share. And finally, lead with both charisma and character — while making the conscious effort that charisma never masks the true character underneath.
This is a condensed version. Read the full piece at signal-to-noise.co →