Absolutely anyone can become a salesperson. It requires no skills whatsoever. No qualifications. No Knowledge. Apparently.
Gone are the days when global corporations would be led by someone who had cut their teeth on a long career in sales and marketing, perhaps complimented with spells in various other departments. Never finance of course. Today it is exactly the opposite way round.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
It is now the CFO that becomes the CEO. Never ever the sales professional. Of course not. Anyone can be a salesperson. Right?
The biggest problem (and opportunity) with Sales is that it has such a low barrier to entry. As long as you can talk you can sell. Or so it seems. Certainly my whole career has been blessed with countless non sale people in management having strident views on what should or should not happen in sales. Frankly speaking, if I listen to them, I can be forgiven for thinking they must have had centuries of long hard nosed sales experience . If I, on the other hand, were to suggest that the Finance and Controlling Department should adopt a different strategy then I would, most likely, be looked at with disdain - possibly even restrained until an ambulance turned up with a couple of specialists in white coats ready to take me away. I am well aware of this phenomenon of course since I am guilty of it myself. You see, I am a sofa activist. I sit on my sofa, “listen” to various politicians on television while simultaneously shouting things back, as if they could hear me. Or even want to. At these moments, sitting on my sofa, I really do have all the answers because I happen to be the brightest person in the world - well - my world anyway. Now remove the sofa, go to yet another 'review' meeting with senior management, and everyone that has never sold a thing in their lives is suddenly an expert in the subject of sales strategy. They are not even sitting on their sofa.
The funny thing is I have also experienced an ex CFO newly promoted to CEO coming to me and saying “Andy, I realise that selling is my big weakness, can you give me some advice?” I'm joking. I have never remotely heard anything like that question in my life. Of course they wouldn't ask that (see my last blog on ego and humility). What I have experienced in that situation is the newly appointed CEO (from CFO) telling me “Obviously I need to brush up on selling“ and then, striding away, proceed to immediately define the new sales strategy in the new corporate plan - requiring of course a new organisation structure - especially for sales. Another reorg project (see again my previous post 'Never throw your notes away') Here we go again.
That is NOT to say that all CFOs have no chance of ever becoming a successful CEO. I have known quite a few CFOs and have no doubt that some would have made the transition brilliantly - with a bit of help and guidance. Not least a spell in sales - not a day or two but let's say a year. It would honestly be a fantastic grounding. Naturally I have never heard of anything like that happening. Pity. Most CFOs would never do it (take a year in sales) anyway because it would be like an island hermit suddenly being forced to take part, virtually naked, in a version of the TV reality show 'Love Island'. Lets face it, 'CFOing' is, frankly, a pretty dull and introverted activity. The CFO will spend hour after hour staring into a computer screen trying to make various things balance. At least I think that’s what they are doing. Perhaps they are secretly streaming the latest episode of “love Island” dreaming that their puny or flabby body would, with a little help from the sales team, one day look like one of those rippling sun kissed ones on the show. More likely they are, after hours of arithmetic, finding adjustments to make the damned accounts balance.
In my varied career I once spent quite a bit of time analysing balance sheets. You would be quite amazed at what I often found. That in fact the balance sheets DIDN'T balance. I am talking about completed and signed off accounts. Signed by the directors and the auditors. I once called an auditor (with permission of the customer who couldn’t answer my question). “Hello, thanks for your time. I just wanted to ask, what is that item on line 14, that is labelled ‘FF’?” “Oh that”, replied the Auditor, “no need to worry, that stands for ‘Fiddle Factor’, so that we could make the accounts balance”. I promise I am not making that up. It really happened. In that specific case it represented about 20% of the value of the company. I came across many similar examples over the years, though, I admit, never quite so blatant as 'FF'. Often the numbers were simply not the sum of the parts.
Another reason for the latest recruitment ground for CEOs now being the finance function is that the sales and marketing function has, lets face it, developed a bad press of its own. In the corporate world - any world for that matter - the image of a salesperson is one of a gregarious extrovert, persuasive, eloquent and probably totally dishonest. Ask the salesperson however and their image of the finance function conjures up the image of the introvert, the bookish loner studiously getting on with the job of adding things up and trying to find ways of sucking the blood out of their next sales leader victims. It is usually done by the rigorous prevention of sales expenses. Of course these are massive over generalisations. I have certainly known such people on both sides.
I have known sales directors whose approach to sales expenses could be summed up as something like this:
Submitted expenses:
Taxi $250
Conference Room and equipment hire for one week $1000
Food and sustenance for sales team during conference $500
Miscellaneous expenses $60
Economy Return Flight to Madrid for sales meeting with potential new client (no sale) $500 Paper and ink for home office $30
Total $2340.
Image by Circe Denyer from Pixabay
True expenses:
Taxi $50
Champagne for clients $500
Nightclub entry for clients $300 cash
Dancing girls (or boys) $1000
Hush money for ensuing scuffle between Global CEO and police $400
Chiropody expenses to repair finger nails of dancing girl (or boy) $50
Headache tablets $10
Paper and ink for production of fake receipts $20
FF $10
Total: $2340
The former maybe a bit short on legitimate receipts but then this is how sales operates….isn’t it? Well, it is according to the CFO who will dedicate the rest of his or her life proving it. This of course is after the CFO has spent many hours trying to produce meaningless management reports for the board that are based on made up data by people who have long since lost touch with reality. Key to the task will be to show the global board what they want to hear: that the problem is sales, especially the cost of sales, and that you, as the CFO have the answer if only you could become the new CEO and restructure the sales organisation. Other than that they are trying to hide fiddle factors.
It is not just about sales of course. An effective CEO needs a broad base of knowledge and experience. They also need that pesky thing that you can't define but you can see and feel. Charisma. Lets face it. It's not a word we tend to associate with the CFO. A lettuce leaf will normally have more. We should not be surprised at that. Adding numbers all day long and devising cunning ways to hide fiddle factors isn’t really going to train someone to be like Denzel Washington. But again, it's not impossible. Indeed there are a fair few examples. Nobody would describe Mick Jagger as dull. Did you know that he trained at the London School of Economics as an accountant? (before you ask, no I didn't meet him there) Nobody would know if he would have made a great CFO. I suspect he would have made an impact as a CEO. At least the sales conferences would have been fun. Heard of Janet Jackson? Of course you have; yes, she too studied accountancy. Her skills as a show person extraordinaire would have been a good grounding to lead a corporation. And let's face it, John D Rockefeller didn't do so bad either, starting out as a bookkeeper at the tender age of 16.
To understand what is happening is to understand what qualities are really needed to do both jobs well. Get a grasp of that and you get a grasp of whether the change in roles will work or not. Lets face it, if you are a scheming, manipulative and lying bully as a CFO then that is not going to change when you become a CEO. A great CFO is a great Leader of people and this is obviously a prerequisite in any senior role. But there are two additional things that you really do need as a CEO. Both of them don't fit so easily with the finance function. The ability to Act and the ability to act. Let me explain.
The first one is Acting as in theatre or film acting. The second one is to act - as in making a firm decision. To make a decision as a CEO means that you have to be able to take a risk.
Acting The CEO needs to be capable of winning an Oscar. They must live and breath the new positive vision, they must act with exemplary dignity, they must be hugely encouraging in the farce of adversity and completely humble in success. It is the kind of acting where you write the script, act the lead, and produce an incredible amazing film. You have to be the film that you create and see in your mind. But that sounds, again like the gregarious extrovert. Does that mean that the introvert has no chance?
If you Google the phrase 'introverted actors' up pops seemingly never ending lists. Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Lemmon, Bill Macy, Steve Martin, Noah Wiley, to name just a few amazing actors that openly admit to be introverted. What people forget is that the best actors have often been the introverted. I told my closest trusted colleagues that I was an introvert. They didn’t believe me of course. But I can honestly say that I was. I find groups uncomfortable. Groups of one included. Speeches in front of large audiences a nightmare. For sure I am on the spectrum. And that is precisely why I was able to elevate myself into a new character. The great actor. Some might unkindly say, more like the Great Gatsby. Seriously though it wasn’t me in front of the crowd. It was my alter ego. To be put away in its briefcase when I finally got home after the invariable flight and hours drive. It kept me sane and my feet harboured in reality. If you want to find someone who might have the potential to be a great CEO then you can do worse than check if they have performed in amateur dramatics. You just need to make sure that they also have that essential quality of incredible actors. That they act with total integrity. When they are acting, they really do become that person. Because at that moment they really are that person.
Introverts are often great listeners and observers, highly empathetic and sensitive to others as well as deep, creative thinkers. These qualities are fantastic for an actor to have, and just as fantastic for a CEO. So if you are an introvert, please do not limit your ambition because of it. You will be depriving society of your talent.
To act as in taking a decision A decision that is, without all the information. Taking a risk. It doesn't sit very well with a corporate CFO. In fact in most large corporations the CFO role is as much to prevent risk taking than encouraging it. And of course, by definition, risk taking is …well….risky. I remember some years ago, when the group CEO was retiring, he told me “Andy, we need people like you because you are a real entrepreneur”. I took the complement of course. It was only polite to do so...he was, afterall, retiring. But as I reflected on his comment I realised it simply wasn’t true. If I was a real entrepreneur I wouldn't be working for a large bureaucratic organisation. I would have left years ago - willing to bet everything on my ideas - leaving behind the comfort of a regular pay cheque and a nice pension at the end. This then is the point. Being a CEO within a large organisation is moving the dial towards risk. It is not yet betting your house on your idea. The beauty of the CEO role in a company you do not own is that you can bet other people's money - and that's much more fun than betting your own.
But be under no illusions. Nobody wants to lose money. Get stuff wrong and your time is up. In fact, get stuff right and your time will be up as well - since someone will be plotting to overthrow you. Et tu, Brute. The reality of the CEO in the corporate world.
If you look at any truly great leaders - the “CEOs” of their day - whether in business,
politics or the military, you see it. Image by Gerson Martinez from Pixabay
Those great leaders ALL had their battle scars. Some of them died as a consequence. Mandela spent over 27 years in prison before leading with huge dignity, integrity and courage a South African nation to a peaceful democratic country and the most industrialized, technologically advanced, and diversified economy on the African continent. Churchill fought off huge professional mistakes as well as personal mental health issues - “the black dog” depressions as he called them, to lead a country with inspiration and determination through its worst moments to victory. Nelson, arguably the most successful naval commander in history, died in the heat of his greatest victory by a sniper's bullet. By then he had already, as a result of his own risks, lost and arm and an eye. The thing is, they were not paralysed, as so many big organisations are, by the fear of taking a decision. The fear of the risk. “Paralysis by analysis” its called.
Unfortunately the C suite in the large corporation including CFOs are often the worst culprits. With no courage to move away from a regular pay cheque they see no advantage in making a decision that requires risk. Better say no than say yes. I remember once being presented a business idea by one of my business units. The team had clearly put in a huge effort into what they felt was a market opportunity. The argued their case with passion. Even the local CFO was on side willing to put his future on the line (a potential CEO right there). Interestingly, working as we all did for a hopelessly bureaucratic and hierarchical organisation, their question wasn’t - “can we go ahead and do this?“ It was “who in HQ do we need to ask to get approval?” “What?” I said. “Don't be daft. If you ask for approval in HQ you will still be asking in 10 years time. Forget that. I’m giving you approval. Here and now. Let's do it! Just don't screw it up…..please!” And so they did it. And were hugely successful, ultimately generating the bulk of their units profits. By then, HQ had noticed this success. But , it being a success, someone would have had to decide to STOP this successful business. Nobody was willing to take that responsibility. Better not make any decision at all. Just claim the idea as your own. Sad isn't it.
As an interesting aside, some years later the same successful team came up with another idea. This time the wheels of corporate compliance had tightened again such that the proposal could not avoid the 'decision' of management several layers higher. Of course they never gave an answer….what they needed was more information. And more. And more. To my knowledge as you read this, senior management still need more information. Unfortunate since the proposal was put to them in 1893. Ok, maybe not quite that long ago. But it might as well be. Nobody has the courage to make a decision anymore. Becuase real leaders are few and far between. I often think of Nelson when I think of great corporate leaders and CEOs. They are willing to take a metaphorical bullet. That’s the nature of the role. The only difference in the corporate world is that the bullet is just as likely to come from your own side in the form of your bosses or so called “colleagues” as the competition.
So to sum up. To all CFO’s. If you love to bungee jump, or Kitesurf, or cave dive or just love to dance to rock like a person possessed then is perfectly possible for you, or for that matter anyone with sufficient experience, knowledge, and leadership capability to take on the CEO role. You will need to be able to take decisions with very limited information…which means taking a risk…..which means being brave. You will need to move mountains with skill, passion, energy and integrity…creating your own amazing film…with you in the lead acting role, ignoring the sofa critics. And when the film is awarded Oscars, you will thankfully, as an introvert, move into the shadows, applauding and showcasing your team members for their success, not your own. Despite you dodging bullets from all directions, your war wounds, your pain, it is your team who ultimately made it happen. If you can't take the heat then don't go into the kitchen in the first place. When you understand that and you can wholeheartedly embrace your eventual demise then go for it! While it lasts. I promise you this, you will be privileged to have the best job in the world.