Dan Martin has an interesting story from France about Flamel CFO Michel Finance (yes that really is his name) who was presenting at the CFO Congress. He says:
“CFO should stand for Chief Communication Officer,” he declared. Cheesy admittedly but the statement appeared to ring true in the room as many delegates met it with nods of agreement. “Internally and externally the CFO is spending more time communicating,” Finance said. “CFOs and their team should be spending at least 50% of their time explaining and translating what they are doing.”
Michel provides good detail around the key issues involved in being a communicator to different audiences.
For me, the more interesting point is that CFOs and other senior industry finance types nearly always have a good understanding about internal and external communications. Especially among the FTSE 350. Surprisingly, they usually experience the biggest issues communicating internally .
If industry CFOs can do it, then partners in professional firms can as well. It’s all about recognising the value it brings others.
Technorati Tags: communications
