Why do relatively few CFOs make the transition to CEO – and what can those with leadership ambitions do to improve their chances?
These are just two of the questions addressed by Emilia Bunea, former CFO at ING Insurance Europe in her first book – Leadership for the CFO – which will be published in mid-November.
The book provides guidance and recommendations on transformational leadership practices for CFOs and financial professionals, blending her CFO experience with leadership research, real-life cases and stories and links to video segments from what she describes as the world’s first ‘cinematic leadership case’ depicting a CFO’s leadership journey.
Bunea says her book is the first to place finance at the centre of the leadership conversation, answering questions such as ‘How can CFOs influence non-finance stakeholders and communicate with real impact?’, ‘What blind spots hold even the most capable leaders back from developing talent?’ and ‘What’s the smartest path from the CFO chair to the CEO seat?’.
“CFOs expand their impact when they stop being the voice of ‘no’ and become the voice of ‘why’, linking financial insight to strategic intent,” she says, describing political skill, networking, knowledge of individual motivation and storytelling as underused tools of influence.
According to Bunea, strategic influence also rests on practicing leadership in context. “Leadership is a system. To influence at the top, CFOs must master self-knowledge and self-development; skilful use of transformational leadership behaviours; understanding of their teams’ values, expectations from an ideal leader and their propensity to trust; and sensitivity to the organisation’s political and cultural context.”
The popularity of Treasury Today’s ‘Ask A CFO’ podcast series highlights the value of practical experience and the level of interest in the personal stories of chief financial officers. As with Leadership for the CFO, the series (hosted by Sophie Jackson, CEO) aims to inspire and guide the next generation of leaders through real stories and practical insights.
“In my role as CFO of ING Insurance Europe I learned that leadership is not about attempting to excel in all things,” says Bunea. “This is an infantilising, over-simplifying and moralising view of leadership. I came to realise that leadership success was rather about the dynamic interplay of leader, interaction, followers and environment.”
The behaviour that motivates in one country, with one team or in one business context (for example, growth versus cost-cutting) can demotivate in another.
“Power is essential for leadership and positional power is rarely sufficient, so you need to work at adding personal power through influence, political skill and leadership acumen,” she adds. “The humility to read and adapt to the environment is not weakness – it is strategic intelligence.”
Firms perform best when visionary CEOs are balanced by prudent CFOs but the same CFOs must also inspire their own teams. Bunea says they can be the organisational realist without becoming personally pessimistic and that it is entirely possible to play the risk-aware role externally while nurturing optimism and possibility internally.
“Practically, this means adjusting your tone and focus to your audience,” she adds. “In boardrooms and on investor calls, your prudence protects credibility. Within your teams, your forward-looking psychological capital (optimism, resilience, self-confidence and resourcefulness) sets the emotional tone. Leaders who master that balance model both fiscal discipline and imaginative thinking – the combination that allows a company to take smart risks rather than avoid them altogether.”
Since their teams are often overworked and under-resourced, many finance leaders feel compelled to do as much as possible themselves, to share the load. However, Bunea argues that employees are not inspired by overworked leaders and instead want their leaders to formulate and communicate a vision, to understand, work with and develop each team member’s individual abilities and aspirations, foster a team identity and challenge groupthink.
