Elite leadership...CFO- Chief Figure it Out-er
Last week my podcast guest was Jason Penry (link below). During our conversation he talks about the best leaders being CFO's.
This is not Chief Financial Officer but rather Chief Figure-it-Out-er.
The best leaders problem solve, are resourceful, and...you guessed it...figure things out.
- Recruiting budget is low- "We'll figure it out!"
- Want to improve facilities but are short on funds- "We'll figure it out!"
- Need a better game plan against a familiar foe- "We'll figure it out!"
- Want to better develop the younger administrators in your department- "We'll figure it out!"
I have spent a lot of time since we recorded our podcast thinking about this. I am in the process of trying to break down what does being a CFO practically look like.
It is easy to tell someone "Hey, you need to be a CFO to be an elite leader." It is another thing to arm this leader with some tools that help them grow into the CFO role/mindset.
Three Categories
Over the next three weeks I am going to break down the tools of a CFO into three categories:
+ The Mind
+ The Actions
+ The Heart.
[I would love hear any feedback from you as you read the next three weeks. What am I missing? What, in your opinion, am I nailing? Or any other thoughts you have.]
The Mind (Mental Models for being a CFO)
Challenges exist in every job. No job is perfect. So, as Jason Penry said, the leaders that succeed are those who are CFO's.
Below are four mental models that can help you navigate and figure out how to overcome the challenges that are happening in your job or industry.
1. Reframe the Problem
Disney was receiving a high volume of complaints about their long lines. They first started to ask themselves “How do we move people faster through the lines.”
They came up with several ideas but none of them were feasible. Things like expanding the seating capacity on rides were thrown out as ideas. The engineers killed that idea immediately because of safety issues.
So they tried to reframe the problem and asked “How do we make people happier while they wait in line?” This led to having more and more Disney characters engaging people as they stood in line. They also started to place signs periodically in those lines that told them how long until they reached the front of the line.
Both led to significantly fewer complaints.
Good framing of problems often requires rotating your perspective or making sure you are asking the right question.
Disney's ideas might have never come to light if someone didn't decide to reframe the problem.
2. Free Thinking
Steven Sample used this terminology in his fantastic book titled The Contrarians Guide to Leadership.
This is essentially creating freedom in yourself and your staff/team to throw off all restrictions when brainstorming ideas.
For example, if you are thinking of different ways to raise money, everyone in the room must feel the freedom to think totally outside the box.
"What if we rented a small prop plane to fly a banner around our stadium on Saturdays with the names of our newest members of our Bear Club welcoming them to the club? The goal would be to honor our newest members...who doesn't like to be honored, especially in front of 76,000 people?"
Coming up with an insane idea has to be accepted. The more you practice this, the more ideas you come up with, and the greater chance an outside the box idea sticks. The goal is not necessarily great ideas, the goal is coming up with a lot of ideas...and often they lead you to a great idea.
Innovation is usually finding one or two things that work after having thrown out a ton of bad ideas.
As you brainstorm, have one rule: No idea is stupid and nothing is off limits.
This also has an element of contrarian thinking. Being a contrarian is the willingness to do things that go against the norms or industry standards...not to be a contrarian for contrarian's sake, but because after much thought and deliberation, the right move is to do something that goes against the grain.
3. Think from first principles
Thinking from first principles is essentially stripping everything down to the studs and then building it back up.
Thinking (or reasoning) from first principles is thinking like a chef vs. thinking like a cook.
A chef creates, a cook follows a recipe. If we just follow the 'recipe' we will stay stuck doing things we have always done in an ever-changing world that requires adaptability.
One famous example is Elon Musk building a rocket. When he started Space X he found out the price to buy a rocket was astronomical.
So Elon thought from first principles.
He started by asking what are all the materials and parts that make up a rocket. Once they had clarity on all that made up a rocket, they decided to buy those elements individually and put the rocket together themselves. The cost to do this was a fraction of the cost to buy the rocket.
4. Second Order Thinking
Once you have some ideas that you think might stick, you will need to test and/or poke holes in those ideas.
One mental model to help you do that is second order thinking. This is thinking past the initial outcome and thinking two, three, four, or even five steps down the road.
Simple example: Lets say someone is down on their luck has just enough money to buy food or gas for the next couple of days. So they have the idea to go to a convenience store and slide some food into their pocket and walk out. If you just use first order thinking you could surmise "Now I have food and can also get gas. It's win win!"
However, if you use second order thinking you could play out the possible (and likely) scenario this way: "I get caught stealing. Get arrested. I am sure to have either a fine or legal fees, neither of which I can afford. I will also have this criminal activity on my record most likely preventing me from getting another job in the near future."
Now, I know that seems obvious, but when we are in the fire of leadership the most obvious isn't always to most obvious. So we must use second order thinking.
A lot of the time, using second order thinking might not prevent you from doing something. It might just help you be prepared for and able to navigate the issues that could possibly arise after making a decision. So ask yourself "If we do this, what are the other dominoes that could fall?"
Being a CFO requires you to think differently!
Side note: The wisest people I know use these mental models in their personal life and professional life. These tools that help you think better are marks of wisdom.
CLICK here to order my book The Leadership Greenhouse
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One of my weekly disciplines is scouring the internet for articles/tweets I can learn from and/or use with those I work with. Below are two that I hope help encourage and equip you.
Article 1- What the best tennis players can teach us about being ourselves.
Article 2- Experts vs Imitators
Podcast: Jason Penry. Founder of Penry Advisors and Surefire. Stud!
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