Houston, we have a problem! I’m now 12-days into the 2010 year, and almost 3-weeks since my last half-ass blog post, and a full 2-months since my last serious posting. Granted, there’s been a lot going in those two months. 2-months ago I started the interview process for a new CFO position, which I am escatic to report….I secured! Then we rolled into the Holidays, which meant some much needed downtime and decompressing after an incredibly hectic 2009, and really, the first real chance to kick back and relax a bit since my merger turmoil of 2007. Yes, it was a VERY enjoyable Christmas this year.
However, it’s time to get back to business and there’s not better way to do that than with a little old-fashioned accountability and peer pressure, which is exactly what a public posting of goals will do. Although I mentioned in my last posting that I was going to have to throttle back a bit on posting info relative to my current position (public company….), there are so many other topics that I look forward to addressing this year. Over the break I put together a listing of blog topics that I will be drafting in the coming weeks and months. Some of these topics include:
Ø Are you securing true value from your published reporting or just assembling volumes of historical data?
Ø Can you really perform an honest introspective on your skills & abilities relative to the opportunity currently on the table?
Ø How do you drive change within a company that is so entrenched with the old armada & “the way it’s always been done…”?
Ø Taking charge of your career and ensuring you don’t go stale in a stale & uninspiring environment.
Ø Driving improved financial performance in the face of non-existent staffing resources.
Ø How do you ensure consistency in your financial reporting when the “East”, “West”, and “Russia” are all coming to the table with different reporting formats?
Ø Are you telling me the only way to increase your corporate valuation is through mergers, reorganizations, & fancy new ERP systems?
As Finance professionals, we all have an obligation to not only create and increase value within our respective companies, but to increase our knowledge base as individuals. It’s that curiousity and enhanced knowledge that will keep us ahead of our competition and to deliver results that will increase our individual “commodity value”. Perhaps if you don’t enjoy the career you’ve chosen then this is a difficult task. However, I do love what I do and embrace the opportunity to increase my knowledge in this area. I don’t ever want to be put in a position where I feel like I’m going stale, where I have no career options, or I’m failing to create value for the company I’m working for.
So here’s to a fantastic 2010! I look forward to what I feel is Volume II of this blog after having a nice 2-month break and the chance to recharge. It starts here today and let’s see where we wind up at the end of the year.
Thanks for reading . . . .
Jeffrey Ishmael
