Strategy Driven

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

Then, and only then, connect your services, your products and your perspective with the other person’s needs and desires. He was President, CFO, General Counsel, and the second largest shareholder of PDS Tech prior to its purchase by AKKA Technologies. Most of all, be patient and relaxed. Be like water. About the Author.

Open-book 101

Open-book CFO Learning-by-Doing Audience 101

Harvard Business Review

JULY 25, 2016

What receives far less attention is that, more and more in our increasingly complex, volatile, and fully-globalized business world, the effectiveness of such action depends on a powerful partnership between the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the General Counsel (GC). Compliance.

CFO 8

CFO Chief Financial Officer Compliance Due Diligence 8

Lead Change Blog

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Wally states: “ Great bosses know that being bossy is bad for morale, bad for productivity, and bad for them. ” CFO Jon Verbeck gives us a major pointer for increasing our profits, and helps leaders understand these important elements of running a department or business. Find Jon on Twitter at @jonverbeck1.

Leadership Development 269

Leadership Development Development Leadership IAS 269

N2Growth Blog

JUNE 29, 2010

Bottom line…If you can’t avoid the crazies there is still hope…I sincerely believe productive working relationships can be formed with even the most difficult people where there is a sincere desire/need to do so.

Blog 282

Blog Brand CEO Consultative 282

The Idolbuster

JANUARY 15, 2013

Research created an elaborate robotic system to streamline the user experience for one of the flagship product lines. Product development is always needed to make a new technology robust enough to work consistently in customer hands. He was a Scorpion , a “visionary” who felt that the technology should sell itself.

Biotechnology 41

Biotechnology Groupthink CFO Stress 41

Harvard Business Review

JULY 23, 2013

It''s time for CIOs to move beyond their roles as chief technology officers, and embrace the name with all of its implications: Chief Information Officer. At the same time, technology budgets are static or contracting, and non-IT execs want more attention to cost-cutting. Because no one is managing the store.

CIO 8

CIO CFO Zero Based Budgeting Chief Technology Officer 8

N2Growth Blog

AUGUST 22, 2010

If your CFO handles all communications with your banking relationships, and your Chief Investment Officer handles all of your investor relations, you’re flat out missing the boat. If your CMO is making all of your brand decisions there will be h*ll to pay down the road.

Blog 401

Blog Gordon CEO Consultative 401

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 24, 2013

This area of innovation is where mobile payment companies want to play, especially in markets where such technology is less than ubiquitous. For the uninitiated, Square offers two technologies — a card reader for merchants to use, which is called Register, and the other a mobile interface for customers to pay, which is called Wallet.

CFO 8

CFO Loyalty Technology Definition 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

Almost any enterprise you can think of, no matter the industry or sector, is trying (or being pressured by competitors) to use new technology to harness the vast new oceans of data being generated by smartphones, sensors, digital cameras, GPS devices, and myriad other sources of information originating from customers and markets.

Technology 8

Technology Metrics Budgeting CIO 8

Mills Scofield

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

In meat plants, tens of thousands of operators are “whizzing” meat products everyday in over sixty countries around the world. Through a myriad of questions our knowledge increases and we begin to play “what ifs” with potential customers as product solutions appear in our mind. Million; not big, but interesting.

Succession 70

Succession Industry Stage-Gate CFO 70

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 8, 2018

Since then, we interviewed several chief financial officers (CFOs) of leading technology companies and senior analysts of investment banks who follow technology companies. CFOs of these companies themselves admit that they cannot justify their market capitalizations based on traditional metrics.

Report 8

Report GAAP Net Present Value CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 15, 2016

This, in turn, is triggering a shift in the perceived role of the CFO — from bean counters to planters of seed corn. Redefining the CFO role. After all, it’s the CFO who typically sets expectations about growth to investors and then allocates resources to ensure their organizations deliver.

Short-term 8

Short-term Long-term CFO Wiseman 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 29, 2014

In the July/August issue of HBR , Ram Charan argues that the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) role should be eliminated, with HR responsibilities funneled in two separate directions — administration , led by traditional HR-types, reporting to the CFO; and talent strategy , led by high-potential line managers, reporting to the corner office.

CFO 11

CFO Charan Intangible Assets Human Resources 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 5, 2012

Everyone in the room who is fully satisfied with their IT staff and has no concerns about finding and recruiting new technology talent raise your hand. It's an "irreplaceable motivator for high-performing technology staff," McKinsey reports. Big Pharma's Questionable Start-Up Strategy (Technology Review).

Development 14

Development McKinsey CFO Competitive Advantage 14

Miles Anthony Smith

MAY 2, 2018

A strong personal brand is so much more than a memorable name or product. Graham Keen "Inspirational CEO/CFO turned positive-psychologist resiliently transforming businesses & financial performance." If you’re successful, your brand will leave an impact long after you’re gone.

Brand 68

Brand Examples Career Godin 68

Harvard Business Review

JULY 4, 2018

Or perhaps the solution lies in better application of technological tools, rather than additional people. ” It’s not just new managers who make this mistake — a few years ago, I was invited to interview for the CFO role at a fast-growing tech company. Hire someone who brings something new to the team.

Learning Curve 14

Learning Curve Management CFO Delegation 14

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 18, 2014

Even what appears to be a small investment risk can turn into a big one, especially when information technology comes into play. Warehouse automation systems are big and complicated; if they don’t work, you’re worse off than before since it becomes almost impossible to ship product. Their ability to execute. Forecasting acumen.

CFO 8

CFO Venture Funding IPO Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 3, 2017

Jacqueline Reses, a former private equity investor who became Yahoo’s CHRO, said, “We should drive HR like a product organization that finds the most critical use cases of our customers and then builds products to solve those needs. We shouldn’t execute programs that don’t serve the business.

Quinn 13

Quinn Execution CFO Forrester 13

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 4, 2011

Increasingly, consumers on the floor know more than the sales staff about the store's products and price points — and competing offers. How do they adopt an intelligent-store strategy that incorporates associates, shoppers, changing technology, new consumer behaviors, and the store itself? Create a store without boundaries.

Retail 15

Retail Attrition CIO CFO 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 26, 2013

More humbly, incompatible communications networks and a less-than-proactive IT department drove a company''s supply chain and procurement teams to use LinkedIns, private Tweets and cut-and-paste Sharepoints to quickly coordinate go-to-market product changes with key vendors. Why Can''t a CIO Be More Like a CFO?

Media 8

Media Power CIO Supply Chain 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 17, 2014

Marketing and finance share a fully transparent analytics platform that all parties can access to run what-if scenarios, optimize marketing-dollar allocations across products and markets, and get course-correcting feedback on the performance of those allocations. Financial accountability for marketing performance has become front and center.

Finance 13

Finance Marketing P&L ROI 13

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 28, 2016

Virtually every 21 st century business scandal is reducible to a morality tale of a technology that allows us to do things we couldn’t before, coupled with major institutional failures that were enabled by failures of omission and commission of corporate leaders. Consider the Columbia and Challenger space shuttle disasters.

Ethics 9

Ethics CFO Technology Learning-by-Doing 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 14, 2011

And as a former CFO I also understand the preoccupation with numbers, but during my time as a CEO it has become clearer to me than ever, that numbers don't tell the whole story. It doesn't matter if you are an administrative assistant or a CFO; all employees need this common experience. As a CEO leading a global U.S.-based

CFO 13

CFO Software Engineering CEO 13

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 8, 2013

But massive disruptions in business models, technology, and the work force have been throwing up massive new challenges for CIOs and other technology leaders. If they work for a product company, it may be looking to services revenue for growth. IT management Information & technology Strategy' Organizational DNA.

CIO 8

CIO Succession Fast Follower Chief Information Officer 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 28, 2018

Then a new CFO joined the company: Masashi Oka, a financial industry veteran who had played a key role in transforming Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group-owned Union Bank in the US. It’s a core part of the CFO’s work: Last year Oka personally met with 145 investors and his IR team collectively met with more than 500.

Company 8

Company ROIC CFO Restructuring 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 11, 2018

The digital work crisis is this unnerving pace of technological change, complex global networks, and lists product and service variation in almost infinite work streams, a whole tone of digital distractions, and fundamental access to more data than humans can handle. Think about this, if you think about a legacy product company.

Content 8

Content Crisis Apparel Learning-by-Doing 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

Sensors, the cloud, mobile and broadband wireless, and other such technologies are increasing the flow of digitized information exponentially. The platform allows the exchange of digital information, services, and products across the power grid, allowing much greater efficiencies industrywide. This is not guesswork. Cut layers.

Short-term 8

Short-term How To Venture Capitalist CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 23, 2012

Just ask Gene Morphis, ex-CFO of clothing retailer Francesca's. without any compliance process or technology in place.". The combination of the right policy and the right technology can render even the most delicate of communications compliant. The risks and penalties are real. You will likely see thousands of them.

Compliance 15

Compliance Media Compliance Officer Policies 15

Strategy Driven

OCTOBER 21, 2011

Or if you’re handling a return and typing information into a computer, you might explain to the customer, “I’m just entering the date of purchase and the product number so that we can make sure we give you the maximum refund possible.” Use technology to provide quick, efficient customer service. Make your customers feel valued.

Learning-by-Doing 62

Learning-by-Doing Price Bottom-up Finance 62

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 15, 2013

For a brief period, as they were being built into the infrastructure of commerce, all these technologies opened opportunities for forward-looking companies to gain real advantages. Nor do they understand the CIO''s role or, typically, the technologies that the company deploys. IT isn''t somebody else''s job, it''s ultimately theirs.

CEO 8

CEO CIO Technology CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2012

Are we going to have to work really hard to differentiate the product or products that result from the acquisition? Consider the pharma industry'sdeals standard practice of buying products or companies chasing known therapeutic targets. The deal should be based on something other than a Hail Mary pass or ill-defined synergies.

Innovation 13

Innovation Company Biotechnology CFO 13

Harvard Business Review

JULY 30, 2013

As game-changing technologies transform every business process, they also give us the ability to create new products and services that were impossible just a few years ago. The old way was about technology-centricity; the new way is about technology-empowered business strategies. Transformation Drivers.

CIO 8

CIO Innovation Technology Wireless 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 16, 2015

And as an HBS white paper points out, even some of today’s most mainstream executives — from the CTO to even the CFO — were once just new positions created to deal with “significant opportunities and risks emerging from technological or social disruptions.” Insight Center. The Future of Operations.

Constraint 8

Constraint Supply Chain Resources Operations 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 26, 2014

The phenomenon of fast-track CEO succession appears to be most prominent in the retail, technology, media, and telecommunications sectors—all of which are particularly affected by disruptive business models and new competitors. A fast-track CEO succession should be the product of a deliberate strategy, not of desperation.

CEO 13

CEO Contingency Plans Telecommunications Planning 13

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

With a background in both strategy and finance, Sheila was an up-and-coming manager at a well-known consumer products company. Of course, Sheila still had her job – and could even pursue other roles – in the consumer products company if she wanted to stay. Here’s a case example.

Career 10

Career Examples Supply Chain CFO 10

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

The CAO should be under an executive that naturally spans all of the business units that have analytical needs, such as the Chief Strategy Officer, the CFO, and the COO. However, if the CAO reports to the CMO, then other business units such as product development or customer service might not feel that they get equitable treatment.

Company 8

Company COO Information Technology CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2016

Even my hometown can’t get our products right , Cameron thought as he chased Graham over to the playground. Some localities had bought lights but failed to fully utilize the accompanying technology, which meant they couldn’t service them properly or achieve the hoped-for energy savings. But not here , he thought.

Case Study 8

Case Study Business Model CFO Software 8