“Everything is about thinking ahead, looking ahead where you want to go, before you actually go to that meeting or meet that person or take that action. So always be prepared and look ahead.”

Great advice from this week's guest mentor Cecile Francais who shares with us:

- The importance of seizing opportunities

- How finance professionals can best engage with people and challenge existing practice

- Why we should trust not only our training but also our intuition about the data

Check out sitnshow.com/ for detailed time stamped show notes, transcripts, links to resources and more guest mentor episodes and Monday Memos.

#financementor

#financecareer

What has the financializaton of traditional industries mean for finance teams?

Over the last couple decades there has been an increasing financialization of entire industries with the emergence of Airbnb; Uber; Amazon; Netflix and so on where a lot of companies that don't necessarily own assets or generate profits in the same way as traditional companies used to but have nonetheless fetched very high market valuations.

In this bite-sized episode I share some of the risks and opportunities this presents for the modern finance team.

#FinanceMentor

#SITN

“Knowing your craft, that's table stakes, there's no substitute for hard work. But rolling up your sleeves and being collaborative with other people is a real art.”

According to today’s guest mentor Sebastian Grady, who also helps us deconstruct on the #sitn podcast:

- Why is software so valuable today and some ways of maximising ROI from it.

- The relationships between CFOs and CIOs, how these have evolved during the last year.

- His personal experiences with Fortune 100 CIOs particularly how the pandemic has accelerated them making things happen during the past year that would have otherwise taken much longer.

- Key insights from their recent global finance survey of 1572 CFOs and finance leaders

- The importance of doubling down on the business case.

Check out https://sitnshow.com/ for detailed time stamped show notes, transcripts, links to resources and more guest mentor episodes and Monday Memos.

#financementor

#Insights

“Why Do Chief Data Officers Fail?”

This was the headline of an article I read during the week and got me thinking since finance professionals rely so much on data too are there any signals or traps we need to be aware of so we don’t make the same mistakes.

#FinanceMentor

#SITN

“It doesn't matter whether you're right or wrong, it only matters how much you lose when you're wrong and how much you make when you're right.”

A quote from George Soros excellently recounted by today’s guest mentor Chris Belchamber, who also helps us deconstruct on the #sitn podcast:

• The importance of aggressively managing risk over chasing returns;

• What’s System 1 and System 2 thinking and how finance professionals and leaders can use this knowledge to their advantage; and

• Where the astute investors are being clever with their capital and put their money today.

Check out https://sitnshow.com/ for detailed time stamped show notes, transcripts, links to resources and more guest mentor episodes and Monday Memos.

#financementor

#Risk

“What’s the difference between Digitalization and Digital Transformation?”

Is a question I had recently and given recent Gartner research points to the fact that 85% of finance teams are undergoing some sort of transformation at the moment digital is a key element in delivering the expected outcomes from such activites.

In this bite-sized episode I share a useful model to breakout digital in finance.

#FinanceMentor

#SITN

“I truly believe that you need to have your expertise to go deep, but always keep your eyes open what's around you because you never know what next step might come up.”

According to today’s guest mentor Michael Lengenfelder, who also helps us deconstruct on the #sitn podcast:

• How to move forward in your career path and transition between many different operational & leadership hats and finance.

• The importance of storytelling in finance and business and having more a journalistic mindset.

• How finance professionals can more effectively engage in storytelling to help with better decision making.

Check out https://sitnshow.com/ for detailed time stamped show notes, transcripts, links to resources and more guest mentor episodes and Monday Memos.

#financementor

#Storytelling

Why are CFOs not always rational?

It’s a provocative statement, however it’s a play on the title of a book I’m reading called The Irrational Ape by David Robert Grimes about why we fall for disinformation conspiracy theory and propaganda, and CFOs are not immune from this.

In this bitesized episode I explain a bit more behind this, share some examples on how we can become more aware of it and a couple steps we can begin to use to overcome the adverse impacts of irrationality.

#FinanceMentor

#SITN

“So as long as we continue in this role using finance and numbers, I feel that the world is our oyster. You can go into any role you want in the company.”

According to today’s guest mentor Quin SQ Thong, who also helps us deconstruct on the #sitn podcast:

- What we mean by strategic learning and the importance of expanding our skillsets as accountants

- How to transition from a finance role into a company leadership role

- How to leverage your finance skills into building social enterprises

- The importance of frameworks in helping accomplish goals in your current role and beyond

Check out https://sitnshow.com/ for detailed time stamped show notes, transcripts, links to resources and more guest mentor episodes and Monday Memos.

#financementor

#Leadership

Work-life balance as a goal?

That’s what someone asked me and whilst it seemed a very noble target to aim for it’s also probably a tricky question to answer.

In this bite-sized episode I explain why as well as some thoughts on how finance professionals can approach this question.

#FinanceMentor

#SITN

#worklifebalance