Currently Chief Financial Officer at specialist insurer AEGIS London, Katie Wade landed her first CFO role in 2010, through an internal promotion at Aspen Insurance Group. As she left her old FD role behind, she recounts, there was little room for a honeymoon period.
“I was excited to step up and prove my worth, yet conscious that I still had much to learn about the job and many tasks to cover,” she says.
“I put myself under pressure to perform differently and impress from day one, and in hindsight, that desire to demonstrate all my skills and capabilities meant that I gave colleagues far more information than they needed. What people really want from a CFO is a strapline.”
Wade also recalls that sense of impostor syndrome at her earliest board meetings, prompted by her first steps into territory that held a certain mystique within the business. As a result, Wade now feels she “massively overprepared” for the gatherings.
“It was my way of compensating, but a really great lesson learned,” she says. “All my rehearsals enabled me to be confident in my messaging and to focus on the people in front of me and observe how the room flowed. I still invest in preparation today – just not quite as much!”
Know this before you start
Asked what she wished she had known before entering her first CFO role, Wade says accountants should take on board four lessons:
1. The board doesn’t want surprises
“They’d much rather receive bad news early on for everyone to catch than have a potential issue lurk and deteriorate,” Wade says.
“If you flag something early and it goes away – fantastic. That’s a good-news story. If you try to tidy it up behind the scenes and it doesn’t go away, then you’re springing a surprise at the 11th hour, which never goes down well.”
2. Get to know the board
Take the opportunity to meet board members upfront. Find out who they are, what is most important to them and how they like to work. Bringing the chair up to speed on any issues ahead of meetings will help you garner their support and build a trusting relationship.
3. Never ignore your instincts
“Whenever I’ve encountered a piece of data that doesn’t look quite right, and have justified it to myself by saying, ‘Oh, it’s probably X…’ it has always come back to bite me,” Wade says.
“Whether it’s a financial result, or even a job candidate’s remarks, if something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.” As a CFO, instinct is based on your experience and expertise.
4. Don’t try to deliver everything at once
“Focus on executing two or three high-priority goals really successfully,” Wade advises. “If you try to deliver a mass of tasks all at the same time, you could end up doing none of them terribly well. Keep areas of focus and priorities clear.”
Learn this as you go
Here are the main lessons that Wade drew from her first year as a CFO:
1. The buck stops with you
One of the most significant points that stood out for Wade was that previously, she had worked with a boss who was a finance expert and a team that spoke the same, professional language – but now, she was at the top of the finance tree, with all the ensuing responsibility.
“I used to go to my boss and peers to validate and sense-check things,” she says. “As CFO, you’re the boss – and while the CEO will be a business leader, they’re not there to help you answer finance questions.”
2. Be confident in your own answers
Trusting yourself is a critical part of taking on the role, Wade points out. It is essential to be confident in your own judgement. For particularly complex or specialist matters, as well as your own development as a leader, she advises senior professionals to cultivate a network of external peers – whether at Big Four level, or elsewhere in the business world – to clarify your thinking.
3. You don’t actually need to be the expert
Wade stresses: “What’s really important here is to take more of a big-picture, top-down view, while focusing mainly on leading the finance team’s culture, planning and delivery.”
She explains: “Progressing through a finance career is mostly about demonstrating technical ability. But when you become CFO, you switch to being more of a corporate leader and a business generalist.
“You rely on your team to have more expertise than you; they can work much closer to the detail. Your role is to form opinions about key business areas, and the business as a whole, and convey them to your fellow leaders.”
4. Filling the FD vacancy you left is absolutely vital
This applies specifically to CFOs chosen through internal promotion. “I did not take this step,” Wade admits. “I tried to be helpful and keep costs down by doing double duty – but at times, I was just sucked back into the past, because the old tasks have a comforting familiarity. In the end, you’re not helping anyone – and you’re certainly not helping yourself. What you should really be doing is stepping up and cracking on into the future.”
That lesson – to stay out of the weeds – stayed with Wade. “When I took my next CFO role in another business, I very deliberately didn’t get access to the general ledger. It would have been so easy to go into the ledger and constantly review it. But it was on a completely different software system that I didn’t know – and, purposefully, never learned. My team told me what I needed to know.”
Wade offers this advice to any finance professional who is thinking of becoming a CFO:
“Go for it!” she says. “You’ll never feel ready, so you just have to take the leap. It’s such a brilliant job, because you have much more time to support and mentor other people.
“I’m not a technical expert in underwriting, but I mentor lots of underwriters, and it’s so rewarding to have a positive influence on their careers.
“So, get your qualifications on point, ensure you have the relevant experience and enjoy the opportunity this exciting new role brings.”
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