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Think about how the finance function
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and specifically, the role of the CFO
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has evolved during the course of your tenures.
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Stock market valuations have gone up.
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Analyst coverage has increased dramatically.
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The analysts are smarter, right?
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Visibility into your data and into the competitor's data
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has advanced dramatically simply with digitalization.
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The whole world has become better aware
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of what your business is doing
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and what your competition is doing, right?
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So, you have to be sharper.
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You have to make your organization sharper.
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I think because information is flowing quicker,
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we have to change quickly, right?
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We have to be able to adapt to
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whether it's an external change,
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whether it's an internal change,
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whether it's a, you know, unforeseen thing
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in the stock market.
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You have to be able to change more quickly than before.
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I find it helpful to fall back upon the basics, right?
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Do you have the right team around you, right?
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Do you have the right processes?
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Is your strategy right?
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Not only has the CFO's jobs gotten challenging,
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but so is the CEO's job.
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And so, as the, you know, chief capital officer,
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if you will, of how we're going to deploy capital,
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you need to become very, very aware
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of what's going on in the risk management area.
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Compliance, you mentioned, technology, huge.
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How much are we getting?
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How much are we getting back?
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You know, marketing, sales, product development.
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If you're in, you know, medtech, what's the R&D budget?
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How much is being commercialized?
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Those are way out of your swim lane.
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And if you can't go in there confidently,
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have a discussion about what's driving your business,
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you then can't help the CEO make an assessment of saying,
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"Where do we need to deploy our capital?"
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And that's a really fun job.
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And so, you'd better get on with the transformation,
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because that's a lot more fun
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than just running the finance team.
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What advice would you give to emerging CFOs
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or finance leaders who are getting ready
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to lead their first finance transformation?
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It's exhilarating, it's exhausting,
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it's rewarding, it's frustrating,
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but it really is worth it at the end.
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But having some patience for the outcomes
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is really important as well.
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And keeping your eye on the prize, the long-term prize.
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My advice would be communication is key.
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Upfront make sure you sell the transformation,
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sell it to the board, to the leaders, the CEO,
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internally, the entire finance team, over-communicate.
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And be that example.
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If things are going well, communicate and celebrate.
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If things aren't going well, then be honest and transparent.
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Especially, finance people, we tend to get too detailed
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and dive in and try to do everything ourselves.
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You have to delegate, you have to get your team right,
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you have to trust what they're doing,
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but you have to stay on top of everybody,
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and you have to make sure the trains are running on time,
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and you will have a more elevated position, right?
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It's a management position.
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It's a business looking forward position.
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It's multifunctional.
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Keep in mind that businesses
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that are in need of transformation,
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it didn't happen yesterday.
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It's multiple years of low investment
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or a radical shift in your market.
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You have to make sure that you have enough staying power,
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because it will take you two to three years
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to do a full transformation.
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So, folks think, oh, it's going to be six months
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and it's going to be over.
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You know, that's not a transformation, that's a resizing.
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And so, what my advice to CFOs is,
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get buckled up, because it is a journey.
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You will have some wins, you'll have some losses.
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The world will continue to shift on you.
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You may need to go faster in certain areas
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and slower in others,
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but understand that the path
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will lead you to a better outcome
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and a more sustainable business model.