Yesterday we kicked off our 3rd CFO Incubator breakfast series. We would like thank Chad Barton, Group CFO, The Star Entertainment Group, for providing valuable insights into his career and the challenges facing current and future CFOs.
Chad highlighted that throughout his career he has intentionally pursued opportunities in both small and large organisations. The smaller organisations provided a breadth of experience which he believes formed the foundations for his career. He subsequently built on this experience by consciously taking a step into a larger organisation. In both cases, he was seeking roles with real change management mandates and challenges in which a finance executive could make a real difference. Chad also emphasised the importance of assessing the competence of the individuals and Executive team that he would be working with and ensuring that it was a priority as part of his decision making process when choosing the next step for his career.
Amongst the advice he provided to our attendees, he could not stress enough the importance of providing insights to management and being able to communicate this effectively in a business.
“Technical skills will get you so far, but it is your ability to develop real insight, build relationships, influence decisions and execute that enable you to add true value”.
Chad’s three tips for any aspiring Finance executives are:
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- Be prepared to stretch yourself with challenges that provide exposure across a business and develop your skill portfolio.
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- Continually work on the development of your communication and influencing skills;
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- Seek to achieve work/life balance – it is not always possible but if you are not striving for balance you will never achieve it.
[axr] appreciated having Chad present to our latest CFO Incubator group and all our participants certainly took something valuable away from the experience.
If you would like to find out more about our CFO Incubator program please visit our CFO Incubator webpage.
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