The ability to tell a story was embodied in a list of required CFO skills specifications several years ago. After all, CFOs often communicate important information that their audience needs to hear, understand, and often act on. Compelling storytelling can accomplish all three.
“Inherently, people are much more story-driven than they are information-driven,” Sam Kemp, chief financial officer at Bilt Technologies, told StrategicCFO360 last August. “Presenting clear logic to people is not the way to get them excited about your strategy or operating model or to get them to follow your ideas.”
Prominent CFOs are acutely aware of the value of stories and the need to develop storytelling skills. At the CFO Leadership Conference in Dallas last week, three people shared how and where they've used storytelling to build trust and inspire action.
tap customer
Startup finance leaders have important messages to pitch and communicate to potential equity investors, future employers, and sales prospects. Anand Govind, chief financial officer at o9 Solutions (pictured above with editor-in-chief Dan Bigman), says that by listening to how customers use o9, his venture capital firm He told the conference audience that he found it much easier to convey financial messages. product.
At a recent o9 user conference, the company had several major customers on stage to share their experiences using o9's planning software. For example, a major lighting company leveraged the software to make better decisions about inventory, customer demand, and product positioning. As a result, the company was able to pay for its IT budget for the next five years. “These elements are very transparent storytelling points,” Govind says. “Telling the story of the numbers is one thing, but being able to connect the customer value created from a financial perspective is incredibly powerful.”
Don't leave your audience behind
As an organization undergoing transformation, WM (formerly Waste Management) “wants to preserve what's best about our company,” CFO Devina Rankin told attendees at the CFO Leadership Conference, making the company's name synonymous with renewable energy and environmental solutions. I made it into a word.
“CFOs are the chief storytelling officers because we help guide senior management in dialogue and engagement with investors,” Rankin said. CFOs need to ensure that the transformation story resonates and “connects with people who have an ambitious view of what the company can become,” she said. At the same time, new narratives need to connect with existing stakeholders. Rankin calls them “people who rely on dollars and cents and are concerned about their finances.” [a change like this] It's too risky because it's fundamentally different from what we do today. ”
“You can't get away from the fundamentals that investors expect,” Rankin added.
Messages always connect
Stacey Ryan Cornelius, global CFO at advertising agency Ogilvy, is surrounded by people who make a living telling stories. Ryan Cornelius said that while everything in the financial industry is data-driven, a key element of storytelling for CFOs is connection, just like advertising. She pointed out that CFOs communicate with questions, not just information. “We have to think about what kind of connections are created. [the listener] We want to act,” Ryan-Cornelius told the CFOLC audience.
Citations are a tool Cornelius Ryan prefers to use on executive committees and other groups she addresses. (David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather and known as the “Father of Advertising,” is a rich source of Cornelius Ryan's favorite business aphorisms.)
“Start with a quote and it goes from there.” [the audience’s] ” said Ryan Cornelius, compared to starting a presentation or discussion right out of the blue. This quote typically contains an underlying theme that connects to the purpose of the meeting and the message Ryan-Cornelius wants to convey.
Using GenAI to create reports and other language-based content at scale highlights nuanced storytelling with emotional depth and context. But very few are born storytellers. As Jack McCullough, founder and president of the CFO Leadership Council, wrote last July, getting good at it takes practice and refinement. He advises rehearsing how you speak, paying close attention to your pace, tone, and body language.
