Tag: Controllers

The Ethicist Randy Cohen Talks About Your Boss


You worked real hard day in and day out.  You applied yourself to the very best of your abilities.  Finally, you have reached the senior/executive management position.  Now, you are the CFO, the Controller, the Director, "the right hand," "the most important person in the company without the title" – it doesn't matter what they call you: you've achieved it.  And it's irrelevant that the business is small – in this small pond you are a big fish.Does this mean that now you can tell your boss, the owner of the company, to stop watching porn on your computer after work and leave it on overnight?  Even my favorite columnist Randy Cohen, cannot give you a clear answer in his response to one of our peers' query in June 27th New York Times Magazine - The Ethicist: Porn in the Office.He is trying, though: yes, it is not right that the boss doesn't close the browser, that he leaves it for the next user to see, but he doesn't really do anything illegal either, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah… 

The point is that our dear entrepreneurs do not separate themselves from their businesses.  They treat their place of work as their second home: watching porn, meeting with their friends, letting their kids and pets run around.  This could be a $200 million business you helped to build, but THEY REALLY DON'T CARE WHAT ANYBODY THINKS.  It wouldn't even come to their minds to consider the possibility that somebody may be offended, or simply surprised, by the images on the computer screen.  And it is not about porn.  It's one thing today and another tomorrow – the principal (pun is always intended) attitude is always the  same.

And the unfortunate truth is that no matter how important you are to the company, you cannot criticize them, because they will never forget it.  They will hold the grudge forever, because subconsciously they feel that they are untouchable royalty in their little kingdoms and NOBODY dares to point out their shortcomings.  And if you are experienced and shrewd enough, you will not say a boo (neither would I).

So, here you are, frustrated out of your mind by the unbalance between your professional achievements and organizational position on one side and inability to exercise your personal freedom on the other.  All I can advise you to do at this point is to pick your favorite from my list of coping devices listed in One CFO's Personal Tools for Frustration Relief. That's all you can do.

New Job Hunting Secrets for CFOs and Controllers


All CFOs, Controllers, VP Finance and Financial Directors, especially in small businesses, are involved in recruiting process.  Most of them don't have in-house recruiters and nowadays not too many businesses can afford $25,000-$30,000 headhunters fees.  So, with hiring on one side and testing the market (or in the current economy actively looking) for themselves on the other (plus payroll, benefits, etc. management), their involvement with HR is pretty significant.

However, because they don't work for businesses with thousands of employees and are not professional recruiters, small and mid-size financial execs are not necessarily up to date on the talent-searching technology.  While going through hiring process they are still printing resumes, looking through them manually … – you know the process.  And when the tables turn around and some of these execs are forced to search for new employment themselves, they expect their resumes to receive the same treatment even if they apply for a job in a larger company with its own in-house HR department or reply to a recruitment agency's (such as Robert Half, Michael Page, Source Associates, Forum Group, etc.) ad. 

How could they possibly know, especially if they have been off the market themselves for several years, that today large HR department and recruitment agencies work with automated Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) – software that in its sophistication goes beyond database matching and usually employs cutting edge data-warehousing technologies?

 I know plenty of financial execs who are so proud (rightfully so) of their accomplishments they don't even bother adapting their resumes to the nuances of advertised job requirements and keep sending them out "as is" regardless of the recipients specifications.

Please, do yourself a favor and read this recent article from TheLadders  The 24-Step Modern Resume.  Not only it is incredibly valuable on its own (an eye-opener for uninitiated, really), but in the text you will find links leading to further details and related subjects. 

I also highly recommend The HR Capitalist blog.  It will provide members of financial executive talent brigade with an opportunity to learn what the other side – the hiring professionals – think.  I found particularly fascinating the insights into Social Recruiting and the important place it occupies in today's hiring in Why Social Recruiting Isn't About Having a Corporate Twitter Account. 

 

The Frustrated CFO Is Getting Anxious


I am really anxious to move away from abstract discussions on the nature of stress we experience every day and start showcasing stressful incidents and frustrating professional issues near and dear to every CFO, Controller, etc.  However, before I do that I feel we need to address one more theoretical subject – correlation of Frustration and Anxiety.

As I already mentioned several times, frustration is a normal reaction (whether extra- on introverted) to situations in which we face obstacles to our achieving goals or actions that contradict our standards, etc.  Every person experiences it from the moment he or she is born.  In this blog, with examples from daily war of survival, I argue that my peers, CFOs, Controllers, and other financial execs in entrepreneurial environment, operate in a state of chronic frustration.

Anxiety, on the other hand, no matter how many scientific definitions are out there, boils down to sense and fear of danger, whether real or non-existent.  The symptoms and sensations are the same if you are genetically predisposed ("wired") for anxiety or forced into it through the lifetime of conditioning.

Because it is far more fascinating to try to explain why some people feel anxiety and panic attacks for no tangible reasons at all, cognitive science is primarily preoccupied with the types of anxiety that are caused by chemical imbalance, hereditary factors, etc.  If you are interested to learn more about the latest research advancement in this area, I particularly recommend an almost a year old, but still very accurate and exhaustive, New York Times Magazine article Understanding the Anxious Mind. 

And, of course, most of us belong to the army of Americans (tens of millions of people, actually) who are worried about the economy, their job security, the money they lost in various market shakeups, the environment, the future of their children, etc. etc. Economic and environmental issues are big reasons why so many people seem to be on the verge of a breakdown.

That said, in the context of this blog I am primarily interested in the undeniable fact that chronic frustration with your job leads to stress and acute anxiety.  Just like Pavlov's dogs we are conditioned by frustration to fear those situations that cause the unpleasant experience.

We try to accomplish a particular task, meet our regular obstacles (bosses interventions, subordinates incompetence, time constraints), fail to achieve our goal, get frustrated – and (surprise-surprise), now we feel anxious every time we start that task, because subconsciously we anticipate frustration and fear the pain.  The anxieties accumulate into stress, and now we feel trapped.  If the situation is not managed, we can spin out of control.

And that is why it is so important to find methods of releasing frustration out of your system (please see my post One CFO's Personal Tools for Frustration Relief) and, just equally important, find resolutions for your professional problems by elevating your managerial, organizational, behavioral and technical skills – issues I hope to discuss in the future based on the incidents from your professional life.  

How Far Can They Push Us?


The post about infringement of freedom in the workplace generated further discussions among my peers. 

Some people actually said that I made them very depressed by putting into words realizations they try to avoid.  I would like to remind these people that the Welcome page of this blog, Reason to Share, clearly expresses my belief that sharing frustration gives us therapeutic relief.

Others felt that my "uplifting" statement that one can always quit was clouded by the suggestion that most CFOs and Controllers cannot afford to do so.  Indeed, I keep talking about how difficult it is to find a CFO/Controller level job nowadays.  That's why I don't suggest quitting without lining something else up or having sufficient funds to keep yourself afloat during the job search.  The truth is, you need to establish an emergency fund anyway – as I always say, there is no such thing as job security for anyone in this new world.

But let me tell you from my own experience, there comes the time when you just know you cannot deal anymore.  You are so frustrated, anxious, depressed, angry and hopeless, you cannot breath.  No matter what you do to get a grip, it feels like your balance is slipping away.  If that's the case, it is time to make your move, because otherwise the suffering is going to destroy you either psychologically, or physically, or both.

I have many stories about people pushed too far and, hopefully, I will be able to tell them here at one or another point.  However, for this particular post I decided to use, as means of a more familiar illustration, a Hollywood classic by Billy Wilder – "The Apartment" (1960). 

The main character (forever great Jack Lemmon) is not a CFO or a Controller, but he is an ambitious person and the gist of the story is very relatable to subordinate employees on all levels.  You see, he really wants to climb the career ladder.  So, he lets the VPs to use his apartment for their extramarital encounters.  He even lays out snacks and liquor for them to enjoy. 

When he allows himself to be convinced by his boss to leave his apartment on  a rainy Christmas Eve, he is angry and frustrated, but he keeps his mouth shut.  And finally he gets that "big promotion" he'd wanted.



Jack's character falls in love with the elevator girl.  He doesn't know that she has been to his apartment with one of his bosses as well.  When the moment of truth finally comes, he feels so overwhelmed, he realizes that he cannot be a doormat anymore.  The time has come to be a human being.



So, gives up his job.  Of course, as in all Hollywood fairy tales, he gets the girl (an adorable Shirley MacLaine) as a reward for his courage.  But it does not matter: rewards or not, everyone has their own threshold of pain tolerance.





 

Why Are Ex-Bosses Mad at Us?


Daruma People complain to me about not being able to get in touch with their old bosses.  This means they are talking about business owners. 

I have not heard of anybody having problems like that with their former supervisors from large companies.  After all, those people are subordinates of their own bosses too.  Unless you have spat into his coffee mug or slept with his wife, the two of you should still be on good terms.

It's a different story with Owners/CEOs.  Some may ask, why do you want to be in touch with them?  As the matter of fact, for many reasons.  I've already addressed the references issue (see my post from a month ago CFO's References Trap).  He (I am talking about an archetypal boss now) may have a networking connection you crave.  He may know someone you need to contact for your new business.  You liked his attorney and now you need one.

There could be a million reasons.  But you cannot reach him.  You emailed, you left messages with his assistant and/or wife, you tried to contact him via mutual relation…  No response!  And that fucking hurts! 

You have toiled 60-hours a week for him, you grew his business, you made him richer, you saved his ass from troubles numerous times.  Hey, you pulled him from the verge of bankruptcy and complete destruction!  Hell, it's his fault you are not his CFO/Controller anymore.  You are the one who should be mad at him!

And the funny things is – other people who worked there adore you.  They tell you how great and important you were to the entire company, how much they've learned from you.  Yet, the person who benefited the most from it, doesn't even want to acknowledge your existence.

Now, let's put emotions aside and think about it with our cool, rational financial minds.  There are obvious reasons for your ex-boss to be mad at you:

1.  You warned him about troubles that may befall his business and did your best trying to cover the risks, but he didn't listen to you.  Now, history proved you right.  Do you really expect him to talk to you and acknowledge that?

2.  Even before your ways parted, subconsciously he knew your were the smarter one.  Secretly he hated you for that.

3.  In his mind he expects to hear, "I told you so."  He has no clue that your decency would never let you do that.

4.  If he contracted and managed to save the smaller version of his business, in his head he probably blames your absence for his inability to grow back. 

5.  He had to hire three people to replace you and still they cannot keep up.  Whose fault is that?  Yours.

6.  And that secretary of his…  Well, let's not go there.

If any of these scenarios apply to your case, I guarantee, he will never talk to you, even if he needs you desperately.  He is the BOSS – he cannot put the ego aside the way we always do.