How to Ensure Success in Finance
Can I guarantee you success in your Finance career?
Maybe not, but I can point you in the right direction.
You’ll still have to do the work. There’s labour involved.
Not the kind you can put into a spreadsheet, type up in an email, or do while sitting at your computer.
No, I’m talking about emotional labour.
That’s a concept popularised by one of my favourite authors, Seth Godin.
It’s also essential. In a world of BI, AI, and ChatGPT, it’s what separates you from others.
In fact, it’s always been the thing that sets you apart. It’s just more obvious now.
And it’s completely unavoidable. It’s the price of success.
Facing Uncertainty
Ten years ago, I worked on a large finance transformation project.
I came to it from a project background, while some of the other team members were from business-as-usual (BAU) positions.
Those team members had a tough time adjusting to the needs of the project.
See, BAU work in Finance is all about routine.
Do the month-end.
Do the analysis.
Do the planning.
Rinse and repeat 12 months of the year.
There are clear processes to follow. There’s a correct way to do the work.
Somebody drew the map already, all you have to do is follow it.
It’s all very neat.
But project work isn’t so tidy. There’s no map to follow.
Just uncertainty.
You have to do things knowing they might not work.
And that requires a lot more emotional labour.
Finding the Path to Success
The thing with maps is that someone had to draw them in the first place.
The person who follows the map gets the benefit of certainty.
But the person who draws it discovers the treasure.
That’s who you want to be. Certainty might be comforting, but it doesn’t bring success.
Success comes from tasks that are full of questions and doubt. It comes from finding new solutions instead of relying on easy answers.
It’s not easy. When you’re drawing the map, you have to push through all your negative self-talk.
Maybe this won’t work and you’re just wasting your time.
If there’s a solution here, someone smarter would’ve already found it.
What if your map’s even worse than the one we already have? Won’t you feel foolish then?
It’s tempting to give in to those thoughts, but you can’t. Not if you want to succeed.
You have to work through those negative thoughts and move toward the uncertainty.
Take a detour away from Easy Street.
That’s the direction I want to point you in.
That’s how you become influential.
No one gains influence by following the instructions.
Scary Speculation
Back to that project I was on.
The BAU team members would freeze up whenever uncertainty reared its ugly head.
When there was no path forward, the meetings would go around in circles.
People would rather speculate about every eventuality rather than doing the emotional labour of taking a single step into the unknown.
Tim Ferris says that “everything you want in life is on the other side of a difficult conversation.”
And there were plenty of difficult conversations ahead - with the project manager, the stakeholder, the boss.
But those conversations are a lot easier when you realise there are two ways to approach them:
- “I don’t know the way forward.”
- “I don’t know the way forward, but I have the following options and I’d like your input on them.”
Or when you really don’t know the answer:
- “I don’t know.”
- “I don’t know what I don’t know yet, but I’ll investigate these three avenues as the next steps.”
In each case, the first answer is panicked and sheepish. The second is confident and promising.
When you frame uncertainty the right way, those difficult conversations become a lot less frightening.
You’re not pretending to have all the answers. You’re admitting there’s no established path - but you’re being proactive about carving out a brand-new one.
It takes emotional labour to pull that off.
But that’s the work that will bring you success and help you get ahead.
Scary Town
Giving a presentation to a room full of people is scary.
It’s even scarier to stand in front of them and say “I don’t know.”
But what if you could say it with confidence?
Yes, it’s possible!
In fact, I can show you how.
I’m excited to be running a webinar on The Finance Leader's Guide to Influencing Executives Decisions, where I’ll cover how to be calm under pressure and how to give a great presentation even when you don’t have all the answers.
You can find all the details on the registration page.
Alan “Drawing New Maps” Cameron-Sweeney
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are three ways I can help you be more influential:
1. Grab my free insight paper
It’s your roadmap to having a more influential Finance team.
Click Here
2. Book a strategy call to discuss how to upskill your Finance team
If your Finance team needs to be more influential and you want to have more impact, reply to this email and we can arrange a free 60-minute strategy call. No strings attached.
3. Get my free Engaging Presentations resource
It’s the solution, structure, and specifics to delivering engaging Finance presentations.
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