I saw this clever post on the Ryan William’s Agency blog this morning … Getting Your Plastic Foot in the Door. It talks about a marketing campaign targeting CEOs to replace a CFO with outsourced CFO services.
As a career coach, my take-away was the message I continue to evangelize to my clients … you are the only ones looking out for you. If you don’t manage your career just like you run your company, you might find yourself completely blindsided and run out of town.
I’m not sure there has ever a scarier, or tougher, time for finance executives. With grave concerns around the ability to forecast, manage working capital, and maintaining team morale giving every finance leader grey hair, it’s easy to put your career on the shelf while you lead your company through these very precarious times. However, doing so is at your OWN peril.
It is critically important for you to know, and for your company to be very aware of, your value proposition.
–Are you saving them money? How much? How did you do it?
–How have you contributed to long-term positioning and growth? Why was/is it important?
–What initiatives have you launched? What did it mean to the organization … bottom-line and long-term?
Spending regular, consistent time networking (internally and externally) and building your online visibility is akin to wrapping a security blanket around your career. You have the MOST power and positioning while you are still sitting in that corner office with a beautiful view … rather than looking through the glass door from the curb. The severance package might be nice, but when the money runs out so does any security.
Don’t let an empty Ken suit catch you by surprise!