Preparing leaders to adapt

We’re midway through the summer months of 2023, and a common experience is a little bit of extra chaos. Whether you have children of your own, or work with teammates who do, and you’re maneuvering teams around travel and vacations, everything is getting stretched a little bit further, and in different directions, than the rest of the year. 

Physician, writer, and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., is attributed to have said, “One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions,” and I think he’s right. Though it may not always feel that way at the moment.

A few years ago, I was working with one of my most talented editors to help her develop and refine her leadership style. I casually mentioned that, in the past, I would subtly allow the team’s capacity to get stretched a little bit, usually when one or more people were out of pocket, and always in low-stakes situations, just to see how everyone would respond. The idea being that, like in physical fitness training, the more you stretch in practice, the higher your performance ceiling becomes when the stakes are high. I figured she would appreciate this approach. Her response?

“You do WHAT?!?”

So maybe I should have explained the process sooner.

But in the time I’ve spent with the CFO team and talking to myriad finance chiefs, it is clear to me that you do the same, in all manner of situations. In fact, it is so remarkable that I now see it as ordinary — boxing, the RV life, baseball, triathlons, and waking up at “Oh my gosh it’s early” — are just some of the ways CFOs stretch themselves physically and mentally every single day. 

In senior reporter Vincent Ryan’s piece on being an effective treasurer, Mike Richards of The Treasury Recruitment Co. said, “A good treasurer is adaptable. The financial landscape is constantly changing.” Instead of contently staying in their lane, a strategic treasurer possesses long-term focus and leads by example, even in challenging circumstances. A treasurer who doesn’t know how to stretch their abilities, goals, and strategic thinking is quickly on the path to becoming a bad treasurer.

In similar fashion, as reporter Adam Zaki wrote, 23labor trends are in constant flux. The finance manager that sits idly amid the changes, afraid to not only adapt but to lead through it, will quickly feel the pain of talent drain.

“It’s no secret that people have been leaving the accounting and finance sector in recent years, and put simply, organizations have not been able to replace them … and CFOs and other finance leaders are stretched too thin,” said Jim Dinnneen of Robert Half.

The lesson for CFOs? Stretch yourself in the ways you can control. Or don’t, and the business landscape will happily — and mercilessly — do it for you, and to you. 

July 31, 2023