I also get very jazzed when I actually see or read about a person or company that “gets” the value of branding within the context of culture fit. So it was when I read the interview of Steve Stoute, Chief Executive of Translation LLC, in the NY Times.

If your organization hires for culture fit – or – if you as a future Chief Financial Officer want to land in an organization that has a culture built for your unique wiring, strengths, and interests, read the entire interview. Stoute makes some excellent points and he has some great ideas around ensuring the team is a good fit within the culture he has built.

Two salient points jumped out at me.

If you have people in your organization who touch culture, you have to reward them for bringing that into the workplace. Most companies mute their employees’ “off the court” activities. I want what you do off the court to be a part of our growing organization. It builds camaraderie inside of a company.

This is part of the value of authentic branding. You aren’t an executive when you’re in the office and someone else when you’re out of the office. The core of who you are is always a part of you, regardless of which role you might be playing (employee, boss, father, husband, friend). What you enjoy doing outside the office is a reflection of who you are in the office … at least it should be, because you are a WHOLE person all the time.

In a conversation around branding yesterday, I was reminded of my friend Jack McCullough. He may be one of the top 5 most authentically-branded people I’ve ever met. His gift of “helping others” is core to who he is, and he would give the shirt off his back to help anyone, any time.

He doesn’t turn that unique giftedness / hardwiring off when he walks in the door of his office in the morning and then turn it back on when he leaves. Jack is ready, willing, able, and enthusiastic about helping others wherever he is. He lives and breathes his personal brand. That is a hugely valuable asset to his company … just ask anyone who knows him.

When Stoute was asked how he hires … if he were interviewing [the interviewer], what questions would he ask. Stoute replied,

I would ask you a lot of questions that have nothing to do with your job. For example, what are your values? If you could do it all over again, what’s the one thing that you would do differently? Is what you’re doing the thing that you’re most passionate about? Why aren’t you doing what you’re most passionate about?

Stoute gets it. Who you are, how you’re wired, what your value system is, what you’re most passionate about … all speak to the whole of who you are, how you will fit with the corporate culture, and how you will benefit the organization.

Authentic branding is powerful stuff.

Who is responsible for ensuring that recruiters can make an assessment based on a crystal clear value proposition and fit for culture?

Based on the recent post at CFO.com on Linsanity, I’d like to rephrase my question …

Who is responsible for ensuring that a CFO candidate has a crystal clear value proposition and that fit-for-culture is evident in his messaging?

My first question originated because in a survey about recruiters, many CFOs complained that they were not getting calls for opportunities that were on par with their skill sets. My question is re-worded because the writer of the Linsanity article points out that companies seem to have tunnel vision when hiring … taking on the “I want it (the candidate requirements) my way or the highway” approach.

While I agree that is true for many companies, I still go back to my rephrased question and offer this analogy. If you are reading a book and the writer is all over the map, the message is muddy or confusing, or the plot is enigmatic … is it the fault of the writer or the reader? Do you continue to muddle through the story, totally frustrated, or close the book and move on to something that is clear and compelling?

If you want to sit in the driver’s seat of your career, then it is incumbent upon you – as the candidate – to have a clear and compelling message that is delivered clearly to the right audience.

I’m working on an article that delves deeper into the powerful strategy of telling the right story to the right audience. It will be available on the C-Suite Career Catalysts site in the next week. Watch for it!

If you’re the candidate without a CPA, you probably feel one isn’t necessary. Same for an MBA. Just read some of the comments on the Proformative discussions around this issue.

From a company perspective, a credentialed CFO is a matter of preference … and that preference really is not impacted by what a candidate believes to be true. That fact adds up to a lot of frustration on the part of CFOs who feel they are qualified to do the job despite lacking the required credential.

Apparently, recruiters, who are hired by a company to find candidates who meet a list of specific requirements., also hold differing opinions. Another post on Proformative around this same issue generated this comment from one of the members …

FEI SF recently had retained recruiters from Russell Reynolds and Spencer Stuart spark on what employers are looking for today in a CFO. Financial planning was the top skill being sought as companies need to look forward and develop scenarios in these uncertain times. CPA is not needed and in fact Controller skills are less sought after in this post SOX implementation era. Experience is most important vs degrees.

But, a post this week on CFO.com which talks about who CFOs are hiring said this …

But there is clearly a growing preference for those with broader business training. More than 2.5 times as many survey respondents (16%) have added people with MBA degrees than subtracted them (6%).

Specifically, companies need finance people who not only bring analytical skills but also influencing skills. They also require staffers with the ability to work across functions and, most important, the confidence to be credible business advisers, says Jeff Thomson, president and CEO of the Institute of Management Accountants.

The most desirable finance staffer, says Donald Kilinski, CFO practice leader at recruiting firm DHR International, is a CPA who then gets an MBA. Such a person may be more able to advise on strategic matters, such as what projects should be funded, whether something should be acquired, built, or bought, and whether products or services should be eliminated.

So there you have it. Everyone’s got an opinion. Here’s mine:

Know your value.
Know who needs what you bring to the table.
Play in that space.

If you don’t have a CPA and have no desire to get one, that’s fine. Focus on the companies who desire the proven ability to solve their problems over credentials. Same for the MBA.

One final comment. While I see the same MBA trend noted above, MBAs have become somewhat of a commodity … unless they are from a top-rated school. So, don’t buy one just to get one. Get one to add overall value to your proven track record of performance.

Among both C-suite and Senior Executives, the #1 most-valued response was “Solid Leads / Opportunities.” I believe a few of the comments helped to clarify that selection …

- Match skill set and management philosophy with prospective company
- Knows / understands the company, CEO, opportunity, risks of company and position
- Corporate culture knowledge

What a waste of time for all concerned when recruiters contact CFOs for opportunities that are obviously not a good fit. Which begs the question, who is responsible for ensuring that recruiters can make an assessment based on a crystal clear value proposition and fit for culture?

The rest of the responses were pretty similar with the exception that reputation of the recruiter was much more important to the C-suite than to Senior Executives at large … 58% vs. 38%.

Here’s the breakdown of all the responses to the question “what do you most value in a recruiter relationship.”

One other consistent comment from the C-suite was around “honesty and integrity” in their relationships. While probably somewhat tied to the “confidentiality” answer, the list of comments that were added around this issue raises the importance of it in the eyes of Senior Executives and the C-suite.

The “best of the best” are looking to work with recruiters who tell them the truth, keep them informed, and contact them for opportunities that are a good fit.

The resume is certainly evolving, but it has been evolving for years. Now though, resumes are going head-to-head with branded visibility via social media … and social media is winning.

What does moving beyond the resume and leveraging social media mean for CFOs? I’m glad you asked.

It might mean the difference between …

– Being found … or not

– Being perceived as embracing change … or not

– Having a Web 2.0 presence … or holding an outdated resume

– Being viewed as someone who understands the text generation … or a dinosaur heading towards extinction

– Creating visibility around subject matter positioning … or being outflanked by a competitor

– Being hunted for great opportunities … or becoming a full-time hunter in a very competitive market

And most importantly … branded visibility via social media could mean …

– Trumping the competition because it is so readily apparent that you fit within a company’s culture.

“We are most interested in what people are like, what they are like to work with, how they think.” Christina Cacioppo

I’ll be covering why branded visibility is so critically important to your executive career in the Proformative webinar scheduled for Friday, January 27 at 11:00 Eastern. If you are a member of the Proformative community, I hope you’ll join us.

P.S. There’s a big difference between a resume writer and a personal brand strategist. You may or may not need a resume one day, but you will absolutely  – always – need to understand, and be able to articulate, your compelling value proposition and market differentiation. That’s an investment with a great ROI.

But, I digress.

During my Internet scour, I came across an article on 10 mega business trends to watch for in 2012 and beyond. Now, these are “business” trends but #10 was interesting. And it applies to both your business and your career.

The brand remains king (or queen). Organizations with strong brands will continue to command greater margins, larger market shares, survive economic downturns, and higher market caps. Consequently, organizations must redefine, defend, and continue to position their brands. The brand describes a promise to stakeholders. The brand is more than the collection of products or services offered by the company.  The brand encompasses an emotional value, an aspiration, and the public face of a business strategy.

A strong brand “will continue to command greater margins, larger market shares, survive economic downturns, and higher market caps.” 

Let me put it in career terms. A strong brand will clearly illustrate culture fit (the hardest bar to meet in the hiring process), create competition for you as a passive candidate, survive economic downturns, and position you to get paid what you’re worth.

And now, a shameless self-promotion.

I’m doing a webinar for Proformative on Friday, January 27 at 12:00 Eastern on this very point. So, rather than ‘spill the beans’ here, I invite you to join me on the call and learn why a visible brand is critically important to your executive career. You’ll be glad you did!

– is very differentiated from his colleagues,
– more visible than almost all of his counterparts despite his rookie status, and
– stands clearly and firmly for his beliefs.

In short, Tebow is a branding sensation. Let’s take a deeper look at a couple of reasons why.

Differentiation

Different might just be an understatement. He’s far from the typical NFL quarterback, but despite being under the bright, and quite critical, spotlight of every single sports commentator, he was taken as a first round draft pick. The “experts” just shook their heads.

He was 3rd string, then 2nd, and then a starter … turning a losing record into an improbable winning record. He suddenly had “rock star” status … some positive, most negative as the “experts” once again just shook their heads.

Then he started losing and suddenly all those “experts” looked pretty smart. Only to be stunned into “Tebowing” when, against ALL odds, he led the Broncos to a record-breaking OT win against the highly-ranked Steeler defense.

He’s unorthodox, and that difference means he is highly visible. Differentiation in the world of Chief Financial Officers seems to be highly under-rated.

Visibility

Good, bad, or indifferent, Tebow is the most highly-talked about football player in the National Football League. He just might be the most talked-about person in the country.

Google his last name, and you’ll see 8.3M results. Google Tim Tebow and the results are in the neighborhood of 115M.

If you haven’t measured your Google visibility, now is a great time to do so. What, if anything, is Google saying about you? Quantity is good; quality is much, much better.

Tebow’s great visibility is due in large part to his strong, personal brand.

Brand

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything,” so says Alexander Hamilton. It’s a great definition of “authentic branding.” A well-defined, strong brand attracts those things that are a good fit and repels those that are not. Authentic branding can also create positive and negative buzz. Certainly that is true of Tebow.

What CFOs need to remember about a strong, visible brand is that it speaks to “fit.” Fit within an organization. Fit within a culture. Fit within an executive team. No one – not the employer and certainly not the candidate – wants to make a bad decision on something so critically important as a career move … and “fit” is the most difficult part of the hiring process.

The power of a well-defined, visible brand is crystal clear in the lightening rod named Tim Tebow.

I’m a big believer in differentiation as a way of standing out from the competition in a job search or as a top 3 candidate in the interview. The effective use of stories and pauses can certainly differentiate you from the pack.

Read the entire article on the Association for Financial Professionals site. (The article was originally published in the Futures in Finance newsletter.)

“ … finance chiefs say their positions were enhanced by the turmoil of the economic downturn, as everyone from the CEO to junior staffers looked to finance for guidance on how to cope with volatility on both the micro and macro levels.”

Great right? You’re an influential guy, at least inside your company. But what about outside your company? You might be the most effective CFO the company has ever hired, but unless you plan to be a lifelong employee of that company – and it plans on keeping you forever – your influence needs to be noticed outside of the organization as well.

As we begin the new year, there will never be a better time to create a career survival plan and begin executing that plan to raise your visibility among your target audience.  Here are two suggestions …

– Create a Linked In strategy. If you don’t have a profile, launch one. If your profile is bland and boring -or- incomplete, fix it. If you built it but no one is coming, today is a great day to revive it.

– Commit to making networking a lifelong habit. For many CFOs, networking is not natural and/or very uncomfortable; and therefore, easy to ignore, postpone, or cancel. Resolve to begin today to taking those small, critically-important first steps towards raising – and maintaining – your visibility among the people who need to know about your effective influence.

Ensure your 2012 is indeed your best year ever by proactively managing your career! Happy New Year!

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned in 20 years of consulting is that leaders need to know what others are saying about them, or risk losing their job.”

I couldn’t agree more. Where I do disagree, though, is on the methodology. How many people do you know who will really tell you the unvarnished, un-sugar-coated truth when you ask them?

Your boss? Maybe. Certainly, he may be the most-likely truth-teller. If you’re job is on the line – and you don’t know it – honest feedback at this point depends on the plan … keep you or replace you.

Your peers? Maybe with humor or sarcasm covering over the truth, but it is just very difficult to look someone you work with in the eye and answer very truthfully.

Your employees? At the risk of loosing their jobs or creating an uncomfortable working relationship? My guess is no.

Your spouse? She might be objective, but she also loves you. It’s not always easy to risk telling someone you love the truth knowing you might also wound them.

Your friends? They are probably not objective, nor might they care about what others are saying about you because you’re a fun guy.

My point?

Information is knowledge, and knowledge is power. If you don’t know the negatives, how can you change or improve? But an objective tool that solicits honest, confidential answers will undoubtedly get you much more valuable information. A reputation audit is indeed powerful … you just need to use the right tool.