“Saying hello doesn’t have an ROI. It’s about building relationships.” Gary Vaynerchuk
I was reviewing the Finance Mentors’ Handbook this week and whilst going through the index I discovered one of the most frequently used words was relationships so I guess this must be quite important to be a successful modern finance professional. So we’ve pulled together a special on how to practically build relationships within modern finance today from all parts of our worlds, even virtual.
We’ve included six short segments from guest mentors on #sitn to share with you on how they’ve developed relationships across all parts of the globe and various business functions. Enjoy!
– The art of finance professionals building relationships.
– Moving from the backseat to the front row
– Finding the commonalities such as food to build connections across continents
– How to engage with other departments.
– Why LinkedIn is a great place to build relationships.
– The value of being the gofer
Our Guest Mentors:
ANGELA HO is senior vice president and principal accounting officer at OceanFirst Bank. Angela is a successful up and coming female accounting & finance executive within the financial services industry. Angela’s career started with a number of public accounting internships before joining KPMG where she provided audit services to global financial services clients.
Angela holds CPA and CGMA designations, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is based out of New Jersey, USA.
PETER CHISAMBARA is an enterprise performance management specialist and the founder of ERPM Insights. He has more than a decade long experience of partnering with business leaders and their teams, helping them implement strategy more effectively, make informed risk decisions and improve enterprise & strategic performance. Peter is passionate about the integration of strategy, risk and performance functions of the organization to drive more effective decision-making. A regular article writer, he has written some thought provoking and original articles on finance transformation, data and analytics, and the potential of cognitive computing to help provide real time insights, among other topics. Peter has also written articles for the Journal of Business Forecasting. In 2018, he was nominated and appeared on two separate lists as one of the Top Finance Leaders to follow.
Peter holds ACMA & CPA designations and is currently based out of Toronto, Canada.
LANCE RUBIN is founder and CEO of Model Citizn and over the last two decades has built a strong reputation throughout the industry of being a highly accomplished and lateral thinking financial modeler. Lance was even referred to by one of the global industry leaders in financial modelling as one of the most tech savvy financial modellers. Lance qualified as a chartered accountant in South Africa & Australia, is an ex-Investment Banker, ex-CFO of a fintech start-up, currently Group CTO of SequelCFO, partner of the accounting & finance careers platform The Outperformer, as well as the Director of BGC Consultants.
Lance is currently based out of Melbourne, Australia although is a regular traveller working with clients and conducting data analytics visualisation and financial modelling training worldwide. He is also an approved trainer with the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI).
Mohamed El Rouby is a Senior Commercial Finance / FP&A expert, with more than 18 years of experience in global multinational companies: J&J, Novartis, Allergan, Energizer & Shire. He has handled multiple international senior roles across Middle East, Africa, India, Turkey and Southwest Asia. Mohamed specialized in FP&A – Financial Planning & analysis, Commercial Finance, Finance Business Partner, Business Controlling & Analysis and many other financial services.
Mohamed is also Chartered Global Management Accountant from CIMA Chartered Institute of Management Accountant, UK, and Certified Corporate FP&A professional, from AFP Association for Financial Professional, USA.
Mohamed has an MBA degree in Finance & Investment.
Susan Ní Chríodáin is not only a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland but now an Image Consultant for finance teams and leaders. As accountants are often stereotyped leaving their uniqueness hidden behind the numbers Susan works with those who want to see, and be seen, beyond the numbers.
She has worked and lived in Ireland, Australia, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, UK and Switzerland. Work travel included time in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Cambodia, DRC, Indonesia, India, Laos, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Northern Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Susan has experience working with the Big 4 and in Insurance, Hospitality, Film and International Humanitarian and Development sectors. Finance roles include Auditor, Project Accountant, Financial Controller, Compliance Officer, Director of Finance and a Finance Consultant. Non-Finance roles include Program Manager, Director of Operations and Teaching Fellow.
Susan loves to learn and has completed courses and studies in areas as diverse as Political Science, Mental Health First Aid, Coaching, Science of Well-Being, Brain & Behaviour, Social Impact Strategy, Effective Negotiation, Women’s Studies and more.
Susan is an active volunteer and sits on the Boards of Asylum Welcome and Movement to Inspire
Shruti Kapoor is a global finance professional with extensive commercial finance, business partnering and consulting experiences. She currently works with Sodexo, leading the global transformation project for the order to invoice and cash processes.
Shruti is a Singaporean, currently lives in Paris, France.
Key Points From the Episode:
- The art of finance professionals building relationships.
- Finding the commonalities such as food to build connections across continents
- How to engage with other departments.
- Why LinkedIn is a great place to build relationships.
- The value of being the gofer
Time Stamped Show Notes
#128: Building Confidence, Trust & Credibility with Shruti Kapoor
[03:33] Shruti shared her experiences as a minority, i.e. Asian woman working in Europe/ Paris. She finds Europe as a continent that is fairly diverse, and people are receptive to different perspectives and view. Having grown up in Singapore as a minority race- Indian, she is used to be the odd one out. First is to find the commonality, and then connect on universal business principles and concept. There is also possibility to venture into something more personal, one of it being topic of food, which is universal. Differences she bring to a team, if is in a physical meeting, she is a visual representation of diversity. She has learnt to be comfortable and not take it personally.
#234: A Case Study on Transforming Controllers into Better Business Partners with Mohamed El Rouby
[05:04] Being new to the company and spotting problems
Feedback he got from the engagement with other departments;
Setting the right direction for finance from a controlling department to business partnering.
Need quick win solutions? Understand the business first.
Benefits of having outside of work meetings;
#038: Progressing Your Career in the Right Way in Accounting & Finance with Angela Ho
[11:35] How to be put forward to high profile assignments.
The value of being the gofer.
#044: Leveraging Financial Modelling & Investment Banking Skills in Finance with Lance Rubin
[16:35] Why it’s important to get out of the model and build relationships with stakeholders.
#230: An Image Make-over for Finance and Accounting with Susan Ní Chríodáin
[19:05] – Tips for Finance and Accounting Professional to move from backseat to the front row;
connect with others in a non-technical manner
Eat with or have lunch with somebody new
Volunteer to be part of a committee at work
Build good working relationships
#010: Industry 4.0, Cognitive Computing And What It All Means For Accounting & Finance with Peter Chisambara
[21:20] Why LinkedIn is a great place to build relationships.
Good first steps to take in contributing thoughts, comments or articles on platforms like LinkedIn.
Why quality of connections matters more than the volume of them.
