By Andy Burrows

Communication skills, from lots of viewpoints, are not only something that CFOs benefit from. They’re skills for life, and skills for leadership.

That’s the same with any of the “personal effectiveness” skills I’ve written about in my previous few articles. I’ve directed them towards Finance business partners and CFOs, because those are the people who I hang around with most, professionally.

But, in reality, when we talk about “gravitas” or “maturity”, or even “credibility” or “presence” – i.e. the kinds of things that make people listen to you and take you seriously as an adult, rather than a young upstart, all seem to come back to some version of the few things I’m describing as “personal effectiveness”.

So, let’s have a think about communication skills.

Four types of communication

And let’s narrow it down further. There are four types of communication: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Reading, writing and speaking are abilities and skills that we take...

By Talita Ferreira

I no longer set New Year’s resolutions. I think it is far better to set intentions.

If we follow the latest developments in neuroscience, we can rest assured that our brain, if used correctly, can be a very powerful tool. Although, we currently only use a fraction of its capability and get caught up in the noise of our self-doubts, limiting beliefs and repeat dialogues.

Setting an intention is key to bringing about a change or a desired state or goal. The various synonyms for intention are purpose, aim or plan. Setting intentions can play a key role in activating our subconscious mind to help bring about a goal or desired result. The word ‘intent’ originated from the Latin word ‘intendere’, which means to stretch towards.

My first encounter with intention was a few years ago when I read the book ‘Synchrodestiny’ by Deepak Chopra. I was trying to find my purpose in life. I knew I wanted to leave corporate life but had no idea what type of business I wanted to...

By Andy Burrows

[Published 23rd July 2018, edited 20th September 2018]

To be successful the future CFO will need to be all about mindsets and methodologies.

My presentation at the AICPA-CIMA Finance Transformation conference in London this year would have been entitled, “the DNA of the future CFO”. 

And since I now can't do the talk because I'm having cancer treatment, I'm letting you know my basic thesis, right here! 

But am I out of step?! I mean, surely the future CFO is going to be all about digital technology, automation and predictive analytics? Well the Finance Transformation conference is hearing plenty of perspectives on all those things from people more qualified than me!

Would you like to hear a different perspective? I knew you would! Here we go...

So, here’s what I mean by mindsets and methodologies. Four essential ingredients for being a successful CFO in the future. Four parts to the DNA of the future CFO.

1. The future CFO must have a leadership mindset

Firstly...

By Andy Burrows

[First Published 7th March 2018]

If you’ve read any of my articles, you may well have wondered why I’m not a CFO by now. I presume to talk about the Finance function. I talk as if I know what the Finance function should be, and how it should be run. I’ve had many senior roles in my career in Finance over the last 20 years. So, why am I not a CFO by now?

So, I thought I’d tell you a little of my story.

And as you read, you’ll realise two things:

1. I didn’t follow all the advice I gave in my article about how to plot a course to the CFO role you've always wanted, giving tips to plot a career path to be CFO one day. Much of that advice is based on reflecting on what I did, what I should have done, and what I’ve learned from other people. And,
2. No one is entirely in control of their own future.

So, the fact that I haven’t attained a CFO position isn’t because I haven’t tried to, didn’t want to, or wasn’t good enough. I actually think I’d make a fairly decent CFO, Fi...

By Andy Burrows

[First published 8th February 2018]

When Andrew Codd asked me if I'd be a guest on his new podcast, The Strength in the Numbers Show, I was excited.

I connected with Andrew on LinkedIn quite soon after starting Supercharged Finance, late in 2016. He and Anders Liu-Lindberg seemed to be having some good online discussions about Finance business partnering, which I’d already written about. And Andrew had recently published his book about the subject, The Audacious Finance Partner.

I was partly excited because I’ve never been interviewed before, except for jobs!

Networking Backwards

But the main reason for my excitement is that I’m getting a real buzz out of the connections I’ve made through Supercharged Finance.

Before the end of 2016, I was one of those who wouldn’t connect with people on LinkedIn unless I’d at least spoken to them. I’d reject random connection requests from people, or at least be suspicious, especially of recruitment consultants!

But in deciding...

By Andy Burrows

[First published 19 January 2017]

How do you motivate a Financial Reporting team to go through the stress and pressure of “month end” and be happy about it? How do you stop it becoming a monthly grind that makes them curse the day they decided to train as an accountant?

I once took up an interim position heading up Group Reporting in a large business. The business had been through a lot of change, and I was stepping into the shoes of someone who was clearly one of the few people in Finance that had detailed knowledge of every area. It was a tough act to follow.

The team, and even the junior managers and team leaders, were new to their roles. At the same time, some team members appeared less motivated, and the team leaders were finding it difficult to get through the changes to a steady state. Every month end seemed to involve days of staying late into the evenings to get things done (a 9pm finish would be good going during month end). It was never due to the same th...

By Andy Burrows

[First published 28 February 2018]

“What are the things I need to do to become a CFO in the future?”

“How can I make the transition from Financial Controller to Finance Director?”

These are the kind of questions I get from people from time to time. They probably ask me because of the breadth and length of my experience.

So, I thought I’d write something that gives a few pointers around how I would answer those questions.

[BONUS: I've created a free workbook to help you come up with your action plan from these tips.

It's called the CFO Career Action Plan Workbook.

Get it by clicking here!]

So, without further ado, here are those pointers…

1. Do a great job now

I’ve seen several career-minded people fail because they spent so much time and energy thinking of plotting their career that they didn’t do a good job. And that’s a shame.

Careers are made up of levels and steps. And you don’t normally get to progress to the next one unless you’re impressing people i...