The following is a guest post from Jasmine Ahmed, a global finance transformational leader. Opinions are the author’s own.
CFOs’ roles are expanding to drive top-line and bottom-line growth, from making faster business decisions to maintaining competitive advantage. Serving this role effectively is increasingly challenging as CFOs are expected to reduce the cost of the function by leveraging technological advancements to automate 50-80% of finance activities. To make matters worse, the evolving role of finance demands skills traditionally not present among finance professions – digital literacy, business acumen, problem-solving, storytelling and emotional intelligence for uplifting strategic business decision-making.
Every forward-thinking CFO has a responsibility to take a step back, redefine priorities, and focus on these five skills that are essential for building a future-proof, high-performing finance team.
1. Digital literacy
With the breakneck speed at which technology is advancing, it is vital for CFOs to build finance teams with a digital-first mindset. A digital-first mindset starts with digital literacy, which continuously innovates the way we operate. For finance professionals, digital literacy comprises staying informed on emerging digital trends that impact the way we work, mastering essential tools and effectively integrating new technologies into daily operations.
Finance teams with an intrinsic digital-first mindset are empowered to streamline processes, automate tasks and deliver real-time, dynamic data insights from financial and operational data.
Jasmine Ahmed, global finance transformational leader
Permission granted by Jasmine Ahmed
Continuous investment in theoretical learning, hands-on practice and practical applications is essential to ensure digital literacy remains relevant. This ongoing commitment enables finance teams to adapt quickly to technological shifts and maximize the impact of advanced tools.
2. Business acumen
Understanding an organization’s customer dynamics, operating environments and internal and external factors impacting the organization and driving the best business decisions makes up business acumen. In the past, finance professionals organically built their business acumen as they progressed from entry-level to management positions within an organization.
Unfortunately, this dynamic is no longer the norm due to two primary drivers. First, the entry point into an organization is shifting from junior level to middle management due to the greater use of offshoring and automating finance operations. Second, average tenure within a given organization has been progressively declining over the years as finance professionals seek to diversify experiences. These two factors have been making it increasingly challenging for CFOs to build a finance team with solid business acumen.
In response to this evolving environment, investments are needed to help teams continually strengthen their business acumen. Strengthening business acumen paves the way for financial teams to analyze finance and nonfinancial data, connecting the dots in meaningful ways necessary for informing optimal business decisions.
3. Problem solving
Even with technology automating tasks such as analyzing data and delivering predictive insights, finance teams must build on their competencies for innovation to create and implement original and sustainable solutions that drive measurable value. Developing practical solutions starts with a comprehensive understanding of the crux of the problem — informed by diverse perspectives and collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders.
Once the problem is fully understood, finance teams can design solutions by leveraging available resources and systematically addressing trade-offs without compromising feasibility. Effective problem-solving enables teams to implement agile solutions that adapt to the changing needs of the business.
4. Storytelling
In the prevalent data-rich environments, storytelling has become an indispensable skill for finance teams. Translating complex financial information into compelling narratives allows teams to effectively communicate insights and recommendations to a wider audience with varying levels of comprehension.
The ability to build a strong narrative allows finance professionals to shift from merely reporting predictive data analyses to driving decision-making with cross-functional stakeholders. The narrative makes it possible for finance professionals to secure alignment commitment, accelerate execution, and deliver expected benefits — a prerequisite for achieving competitive advantage. A straightforward narrative resonates with key stakeholders, helping them focus on actionable solutions and proposed business decisions, thereby avoiding the unnecessary distractions complex financial data can bring.
5. Emotional intelligence
More and more, the evolving role of finance involves collaboration with diverse stakeholders, and with a landscape growingly influenced by artificial intelligence, human relationships remain irreplaceable — making emotional intelligence (EI) a critical skill for finance professionals. EI — the ability to recognize, understand and manage emotions, coupled with self-awareness and self-regulation — is crucial in helping finance teams collaborate and influence to drive progress.
Finance teams with high EI build credibility, trust and empathy with key stakeholders at a faster pace, unlocking the pathway toward more rapid decision-making and conflict resolution. By cultivating empathy, self-awareness and interpersonal skills, finance teams become effective communicators and trusted advisors who influence positive outcomes. As technology advances, EI ensures the finance profession retains the human touch.
Arm finance teams with the skills to meet business needs
Despite the hype surrounding automating finance activities, finance talent remains the CFO’s most valuable asset beyond the balance sheet. CFOs must pivot from relying on traditional finance models to investing in building future-ready teams that no longer depend on institutional or deep-domain expertise.
To meet growing business demands and create sustainable value, CFOs should equip their teams with these five essential skills — digital literacy, business acumen, problem-solving, storytelling, and emotional intelligence. These capabilities can help finance talent shift from ‘number crunching’ and ‘linear thinking’ to a more dynamic team driving financially sound decision-making.
Equipping teams with these skills not only addresses the talent shortages facing the finance profession but also positions CFOs to attract top-tier talent capable of thriving beyond traditional finance roles. Across industries, regardless of size or scale, CFOs must act now to build stronger, more versatile finance teams capable of driving growth, achieving productivity targets, and advancing innovation agendas to propel their organizations forward.
