Intro Video Transcript

Are you aspiring to the office of the CFO? Are you about to take on a new role as CFO, perhaps in your own organization or another? Or maybe you've been a CFO for a while and want to take a fresh look at your function or validate your approach. It's my hope to give you a glimpse into those first 100 days. My name is Blair Cook and I'm a three time CFO and continue serving in the capacity as a corporate director for a number of companies. I have experienced and observed these first 100 days several times already during my career. In this course, I'll share with you some of the successes, failures, and lessons learned.

In the courses I developed for live and online learning, my area of specialization is the path to and the role of the CFO. In this one hour course, we're going to cover a lot of ground at a level of depth that is hopefully both insightful and practical to your needs. Let me give you a brief preview of what's to come. In our first lesson, we're going to look at the competencies of the modern CFO. What does this role entail? What skills do you need? What value does the CFO bring to the organization? These are attributes that you need to develop leading up to and after your appointment. It's a very personal introspective view of ourselves.

In our second lesson, once you're appointed CFO, you will need to assess the situation. Some of you will be fortunate enough to inherit a well oiled machine though quite often, that's not the case. The finance function is always evolving. So even if it is serving the needs of the organization today, the CFO has to consider the future in making this overall assessment. We will look at a maturity model that you can use to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your finance function.

In our third lesson, we will talk about building high performance finance teams that deliver results. We will look at a few team building principles. We will also look at an easy to use framework to specify the skills and competencies of the finance function. In our fourth lesson, let's talk about a strategic plan for the finance function. We will discuss how you can use strategic management principles to align your finance team with the objectives of the organization. I use mission and value statements along with an action plan to set up the right sorts of conversation with my staff.

In our fifth lesson, we will look at structuring the finance function. Every CFO is confronted with the age old dilemma of balancing off centralization and control with getting closer to the operational activity. We'll discuss some ideas and finally, let's talk about change management. Perhaps you need to transition the organization for new growth or new systems or new processes. These are no small undertakings. So understanding change management principles will prepare you before embarking on a major new project. I guarantee that knowing a few principles before you begin will save you the frustration and provide you guidance when you need it most.

This is a rather tall agenda to fill in just one hour but if you only have an hour to get briefed on what you've got yourself into, then this is the course that's designed to give you enough to formulate a game plan to get through your first 100 days. Leadership qualities aren't individual traits. There's more than one type of approach to leadership that can lead to a successful outcome. So I'm not naive enough to suggest that there's only one way to approach your first 100 days. In fact, in each of the CFO roles I've held, the context was different. My first day in a CFO role was in the context of a turnaround. My second was more of a cleanup and stewardship role. My third CFO role required me to build a finance team to meet the demands of public company reporting.

But the approach and the methods discussed in this course are broadly applicable, and I believe will spawn ideas for you to get started. In terms of an overall approach, I believe that you first build inward strength and then expand your sphere of influence outward from there. This means assessing our own personal competency as it stands today and where it needs to be to be a successful CFO. This sort of self-assessment gives us a list of areas for self-improvement. Gaps will also be supplemented by recruitment and development of your team.

As you're thinking broadens further, you'll consider the role of finance inside your organization. Which inevitably leads us to consider the role of finance in supporting the organization in a much broader marketplace which includes relationships with investors and analysts and lenders and customers and suppliers. While this may appear sequential, it really is not. Think of it more as a prioritization. I focus much of my first 100 days on ensuring that the inner layers are well developed and aligned before I start making promises and commitments to the outer layers. Click on the first lesson to begin your journey through the first 100 days as CFO.