What also helps in the development of a clear strategic narrative is to play with the horizon and it’s always a must to pay attention to the visuals and the readability of your information. Don’t forget to collect enough info on the risk side because risk and reward is always connected, and every investment decision needs to be balanced.
Finance people have a natural affinity with data and with measuring performance. Because of their traditional financial reporting responsibilities, they are well positioned within their organizations to steer and feed multidisciplinary teams to measure and understand the wider environmental, social and governance effects. Let’s not forget our profession’s strong relationship with ethics.
During my time at RIPE NCC we made sure that the finance team was supportive of our mission by serving as a role model for neutrality and openness. Major decisions were taken in close consultation with our community and as a CFO I always tried to present all the relevant facts and recommendations in a clear and understandable way so that our members were well informed before they had to make a final decision during the General Meetings.
I am also trying to break down diversity barriers by sharing my experiences and by bringing up the gender equality conversation. The accounting profession should act as a trailblazer to promote diversity and inclusion because unbiased and objective decision making can’t be done without it and diverse teams simply perform better. We need to tap into the widest talent pool that we have in order to innovate and transform organizations during these challenging economic times.