I saw an article on CFO.com come through my email box this week, and a quick scan made me think about my constant evangelizing about career positioning from value rather than responsibilities. Addressing his finance staff, the CFO of Kimberly-Clark, Mark Buthman, said …
a CFO “delivers insight, not data ….”
In very much the same way, from a career perspective…
A top-notch Finance Chief showcases value, not responsibilities.
What you do (responsibilities) only matters in the context of how it positively impacts a company (value). If you really want to distinguish yourself from the myriad other candidates, don’t talk about the what (responsibilities), wow them with the how (value).
– Where were you able to mitigate or eliminate potential risk?
– How did you slash costs and what did that mean to the company?
– What problems did you solve that got a company unstuck?
– What can the company now do that it couldn’t do before?
That’s value! That sells! That makes you competitive! Showing how you can take away a company’s chief pain point is power positioning!
