If you enjoy nerding out over numbers but also consider yourself a people person, Anders Liu-Lindberg, co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute, has a new finance job for your consideration: business partner.

“Unlike other roles in finance, business partnering is an interaction between people — whereas if you're an Accountant or a Controller, you mostly interact with the numbers,” Anders says on this episode of The CFO Playbook.

Another incentive: more companies are hiring CFOs with business partnering experience instead of finance alone, because the skill set lends itself so well to a high-level role.

“You need to be able to influence decisions, communicate assertively, build relationships with people,” Anders says of both the business partner and CFO roles. “That's how you build trust. If you're not trusted, you cannot influence any decisions.”

Anders previously worked as the business partner for the Europe and Middle East region for Maesrk, the largest container-shipping company in the world. For him, the feeling that came from providing real support to stakeholders brought a rush totally separate from career advances.

“It gives you a high on adrenaline: it's a fantastic feeling when you have these successful breakthroughs within business partnering,” he says. “I wish everyone could experience this rush of, ‘I was a great partner, I created value and I got great feedback from our stakeholders — this thing rocks!’”

Also in this episode: the power of a 30-minute lunch, and why good business partners don’t send reports.

Connect with Anders on LinkedIn.

Connect with our host Rob on LinkedIn.

Full show notes and resources from this episode can be found here.

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