You are forgiven if you thought this blog was about Valentines Day. And no, Valentines Day is not this week, so you can breathe a little easier.
So what am I talking about?
My friend, Cindy Kraft, wrote a blog yesterday about Lessons in Branding from Tim Tebow. Her points are very valid. There is certainly a lot for a CFO to learn from branding from Tebow.
She did get me thinking though. From my perspective, the one thing that differentiates Tebow from other players is Passion.
I speak with a lot of Chief Financial Officers. When I tell people that I speak to CFOs for a living, I often get an eyeroll, a sigh, and a look on their face that says “Oh, that must be boring”.
While some CFOs are bland, the majority of them are not. In many cases, knowing how to speak to them and get them interested and excited, I am able to get them to break through their shell and be themselves for me.
The CFOs that stand out are the ones that love what they do, love the company they work for, love the people they work with and couldn’t think of any other job they could have in the world that could be better then what they are doing right now.
When the passion is gone from their employment, they look for (and find) another one.
These CFOs love their children, their spouse, and their job.
And it shows.
Sam,
Interesting, I just did a Treasury Cafe post based on some innovation research by Booz and McKinsey, passion is one of the elements that sets up new and creative thinking! CFO’s can innovate too!
Posted by david k waltz | January 11, 2012, 8:29 AMDavid.
Yes they can!
Thanks for the comment,
Samuel
Posted by Samuel Dergel | January 16, 2012, 9:15 PMThanks for the mention, Samuel.
As we discussed on my blog post … I believe one’s passion naturally flows from being authentically branded. When you are doing what you love, love what you’re doing, in a place that is a great fit for you … you’ve most likely found your ideal brand fit.
Posted by Cindy Kraft | January 11, 2012, 10:35 AMYes. But what happens when the passion disappears?
Posted by Samuel Dergel | January 16, 2012, 9:15 PMA true passion for ones job, or anything else in our lives is what keeps people going. When we have a passion for our jobs we will not only work hard at our jobs, but also look for ways to make our jobs and company better. Very good comparison between football and the business world.
Posted by Derick Sibley | January 14, 2012, 5:08 PMDerick
Thanks for the comment. Do you have any other comparisons?
Samuel
Posted by Samuel Dergel | January 16, 2012, 9:17 PMMost European Union working people these days are full of gloom; the financial crisis has taken its toll and the fear of job losses is widely evident. It is also a fact that you simply do not see CFOs smiling any more. As further and further cost cutting exercises are not proving to save enough losses, we (CFOs) are trapped in a lose-lose scenario where the more you cut costs, the more you find yourself (the company) in the red….
It is high time we focused on increasing margins, and at last put a smile on people’s faces
CFOs need to differentiate themselves from the pessimistic views of their surroundings by putting in more energy and focus, positive thinking, actions and suggestions that should help increase morale. Yes, we should be more passionate about making the extra mile, about change management, about getting rid of ways and methods that do not bring the desired results any more. We should refocus; re-establish communication lines to awaken sales and operational managers, but especially the CEOs who have been at extreme unease due to reduced profitabilities and increased losses.
We should do what we do best, get back into that WIN-WIN scenario, and ensure our companies get rid of the defensive mood and re-enter the offensive mood, because the best proven way to defend is to regain offence!
Posted by Stavros Constantinou | January 16, 2012, 2:08 AMStavros
Thank you for the long and thoughtful comment.
From the sounds of it, it looks like you know exactly what to do to make your company (and your career) succeed in what looks like gloomy times ahead in Europe.
Let me know if you need some smiles from this side of the Atlantic,
Samuel
Posted by Samuel Dergel | January 16, 2012, 9:19 PMSamuel, I love your post about passion! I realized not long ago how important is passion at work, how satisfaction and happiness grow when you live your values at work. Thanks for writing it!
Posted by Edward Rejmer - Finanse z Pasją | January 30, 2012, 1:31 PMEdward,
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Do you have any input on how to find passion at work?
Samuel
Posted by Samuel Dergel | January 30, 2012, 1:57 PMWell, a very valid question. My guess would be that increase in self-awareness can be very helpful here.
In my case coaching had a big added value. It helped me to better understand myself, decrease stress and fear and take more pleasure from what I am doing.
Posted by Edward Rejmer | January 31, 2012, 4:13 AMHi Sam –
You CFO blog is very interesting since it covers such a wide range of topics. I especially agree with the passion part. I talk about it in my blog.
I would greatly appreciate you taking a look at my CFO blog entitled “The Common Cents CFO”. It is located at http://www.stufleischer.com.
Hopefully, you will find my four part article entitled “The CFO’s Four-Pronged Approach to Great Corporate Profits” of interest.
Regards,
Stu Fleischer
Posted by Stu Fleischer | February 22, 2012, 5:36 PMStu
I had a look at your blog. Congratulations on putting one together and making the effort to keep on doing it. I know how much hard work it is, and I commend you for your content and your commitment. I know it will pay big dividends to you.
Thanks for your comments and feedback. They certainly are appreciated.
Best,
Samuel
Posted by Samuel Dergel | February 22, 2012, 8:05 PMJust discovered your blog and although I am no CFO, I quite like it.
As you are obviously an avid blogger, could you write a few words on how you see CFO’s avoiding the typical pitfalls for their passion? I am thinking about typical things like company politics, pressure from investors, etc. How do they keep that passion alive?
Posted by curiousmanager | February 27, 2012, 2:18 PM