While many finance executives run from uncertainty, Stacey Ryan Cornelius is drawn to it. That may be a bit of a stretch, but listening to Ryan Cornelius talk about her work and mission at advertising and marketing firm Ogilvy, the excitement she feels about leading finance in a dynamic industry with highly creative people is clear.
“I like being with a group of people who are committed to discovering something new,” Ryan Cornelius, global CFO at Ogilvy, told StrategicCFO360.
We spoke with Ryan Cornelius ahead of his keynote address at the CFO Leadership Council's fall conference in Dallas on October 8. Cornelius talked about the type of finance talent agencies are looking for, how he motivates his staff, and why he believes his accounting education and experience at Baruch College in New York have led to his success.
Is being a CFO at an advertising agency very different from being a CFO in other industries, and if so, how?
The primary operating factor is our talent and ideas, but in manufacturing, for example, it might be the product that goes on the shelf. We talk about talent and ideas and creativity being our primary product. If you want to nurture that and grow the business, you need to be in tune with people. I have very strong partnerships and relationships with key leaders in the organization. We are not just creating campaigns. We need the right chemistry and diversity within the team to determine what will help grow the client's business the most and to make those teams work in a way that inspires ideas. It's not linear to know what my sales will be. It depends on whether I win this pitch, whether I have chemistry with that client, or whether I can crack the idea. Honestly, I'm a little nervous.
Does the need for creativity extend to the talent you hire in finance?
Was [part of] Because we're a public company, we need people who are going to be relentless in making sure that the numbers are absolutely accurate, that we have reporting and sound controls, that we're tracking the cash that's coming in. But I have another group, the commercial partners. They're the ones who work directly with the companies to create business models that serve the clients. They have to be very creative and they have to understand the client's deliverables, because there's not always going to be the same in terms of how we deliver our deliverables. Sometimes the client wants a large team, sometimes they want a small team. Someone who knows how to work across the matrix has to be equally creative to keep up and advise on that. [the teams] Some people find that environment very frustrating. I thrive in it because I don't want to be boxed in.
With the labor market being so tight these past few years, have you been able to find the finance talent you need?
We're trying to bring partnership-focused people into the organization, which is a little bit of a challenge. Once we find people who can think outside the box, we teach them about the industry. I like to hire people from investment banking who want change. I love the way they do financial modeling. They apply it to our business, and I want more of that. Scenario planning is very important to us. We need people who can take different levels of input and produce results. If you're from an investment bank, you have to be prepared for a bit of culture shock.
What is your approach to retaining top talent and providing them with career and advancement paths within your organization?
I tell my team, “Look, I want you to be better than me. I'm not the standard.” I try to be very open and honest with them. When I understand their problems, their own family and personal lives, I can get a lot out of them. Then I can keep that in mind when I ask them to do a tough task quickly. They work harder because they know I empathize with their situation.
But I learned early on that I shouldn't expect others to be like me. I'm type A, I probably work too much, and I don't want to set that example, especially for a young mother. [my path] It's not the only way to get where she wants to go, she has to choose her own path.
Your work ethic was established early on. You attended Baruch College in New York City. It's a great school for business, but it's by no means an “ivory tower.” Many of the teachers are former business executives and Wall Street alumni. Most of the students come from backgrounds where they had nothing given to them.
I paid for my own education at Baruch College. I had to go to class and then go to work. I was inspired by my classmates because everyone else was busy as well. That kind of upbringing instilled discipline. I was in the middle of the corporate world early on in my education. [lecturers] I worked in business and heard real business cases. I didn't learn from professors with PhDs. It didn't seem like a big change when I started working full time. I got my full-time job at PwC through Baruch College's very strong on-campus recruiting program, which is a source of supply to these companies.
It's often said that CFOs need to be more strategic and not have their heads drowning in spreadsheets all the time, but is an accounting degree still valuable for a CFO?
When I started teaching, I didn't understand strategy. The only way to know strategy is [through] Accounting theory. I like accounting theory, so I guess that's where my interest came from. But I could never have been successful as a CFO without knowing the nuts and bolts of accounting. The other piece is risk. As an accountant, you grow, you learn about risk profiles, which is also very important. As a CFO, what I do every day is strategy and risk management.
