Good morning,
Toward the end of 2022, CFO turnover was on the rise. That means many execs are stepping into new finance chief roles this year. But it may take more than the standard 90 days to get your footing. It can take six months, according to an expert who's worked with thousands of execs.
"You're not hired to deliver the status quo,” Ajit Kambil, global research director for Deloitte’s CFO program, tells me. “You're really hired to deliver some transformation."
There are three key resources you have to manage correctly from the start—time, talent, and relationships, Kambil says. And that takes about 180 days to do it right, he says.
Kambil is the creator and a leader of Deloitte’s Executive Transition Labs and Transition Accelerators which offers a personalized one-day workshop for executives in new roles, from a first-time CFO to a seasoned one, for example. The program has been going on for more than a decade, with Kambil and his team working with over 4,000 C-suite executives in the U.S. who’ve participated. "And I've even personally done this for over 300 CFOs,” Kambil says.
In his new book, The Leadership Accelerator: The Playbook for Transitioning into Your New Executive Role, he details key findings from years of research and provides actionable tasks for execs. He further discussed with me what should take place in the first 180 days.
1) Prioritizing and managing time, Kambil says. That includes execs taking care of themselves, he says. “When they start, they're often working 70-80 hours a week,” Kambil explains. “I ask them about their work week, Monday to Friday. When do you get up? When do you get to the office? When do you get home? How much time is spent on emails after dinner? The goal is to get them into 50 to 60 hours of work a week because that's sustainable.”
I asked him for an example of an exec struggling with work-life balance.
“We’ve had situations when someone suddenly realizes their child’s wedding is planned for a certain date in the next six months,” Kambil says. “They look at all the different editions of the work plan, and they're like, ‘Wait a minute, I have to change this.’”
2) Talent is critical, he says. “If you don't get your talent right, I kind of say it's like giving up 20% of your tenure. Let's say you have five years to run the role, the opportunity cost of having the wrong team just goes higher and higher the longer you prolong things.”
Some questions to ask yourself: “How do I evaluate different functional talent?” Kambil says. “How do I build out FP&A capability tangibly in the next six months? How do I free up people's time to get done the really important things? How do I create an ongoing learning organization?”
3) To get key agendas executed with the least resistance, manage relationships to build social capital and influence other C-suite members, Kambil says. Another tip: “Make sure you really connect with the audit chair early and set up a regular cadence of both informal and formal conversations,” he says. “Because they want to help you.”
I asked him what CFOs shouldn’t do in their first year.
- “Don't jump to conclusions too quickly,” Kambil says. “Take the time to really connect with different stakeholders, and really hear them and learn the business.”
- Don't make assumptions. For example, “If you're promoted, don't assume that the team around you is up to the challenge.”
I asked Kambil what his personal takeaways were from years of coaching CFOs. “They’ve taught me to be a better leader,” he says. And they’ve helped him delve deeper into “the ways in which you unlock value in a company, but also how you have to organize to really drive large-scale change,” he says. “So many CFOs today are not just focused on finance.”
See you tomorrow.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Quick note: In recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 16, the next CFO Daily will be in your inbox on Tuesday, Jan. 17. Have a good weekend. Take care.
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