INTHEBLACK December - January 2022 - Magazine - Page 10
INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT
Skills check
STORY SUSAN MULDOWNEY
10
DEC 2022
JAN 2023
FROM
CFO
TO CEO
Want to rise to the top of the career
ladder? Here are the skills you will
need to make it from CFO to CEO.
Above: The late
Phil Ruthven AM, founder
of IBISWorld and the
Ruthven Institute.
The late Phil Ruthven AM, founder
of IBISWorld and the Ruthven Institute,
had an interesting observation on how the
pathway to the role of CEO has evolved
over the years.
“Once upon a time,” he said, “production
managers were in line to become CEOs,
then it was marketing managers, and
more recently CFOs or chief operations
officers. Knowing how to lead a business
successfully is the key, more so than the
functional path chosen by aspirants to get
into the running to be CEO.”
In the wake of pandemic-induced
challenges, CFOs are increasingly being
viewed as a natural choice for CEO roles,
given the skills they develop while solving
everyday business problems.
Winterbourn, associate director of finance
and technology at Robert Walters.
“Adaptability is sought-after for all
accountants, especially those in senior
leadership roles who are looking to step up.”
The ability to shift gears signals
resilience as well as an open mind.
OPENNESS TO CHANGE
Adaptability has long been a skill on the
wish list of employers, but the uncertainty
of the past few years has pushed it right to
the top of the list.
“If COVID-19 has taught us one
thing, it’s the importance of being able
to adapt to change. As a result, I think
adaptability will be a highly sought-after
skill for all accountants, especially those
in senior leadership roles who are looking
to step into the top job,” says Hamish
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STRATEGIC SKILLS AND MINDSET
Ruthven observed that, “for a very
long time, only one in 10 Australian
corporations achieved world best practice
(WBP) profitability of 22 per cent
return on shareholder funds after tax,
compared with four in 10 in the US”.
According to Ruthven, the finance
and management accounting savvy that
CFOs have is a flying start to sound
leadership, but without the “strategic
pathway” followed by adhering to the
“golden rules” that result in a WBP
leader, those skills are not enough.
“Exceptional strategic skills will
be a requirement if CFOs are to
continue to be considered for the
CEO role,” says Winterbourn.
“As we’ve seen [recently], businesses
have had to shift operations quickly
and, while there has been a focus
on reducing costs and managing
cash flow in a challenging economic
