Bringing solutions is an area where I believe everyone has an opportunity to self-develop, build confidence, and frankly, add value to the entire team.
-Bill Huber
Episode Summary
Feeling unsure how to approach financial discussions with your CFO? The latest episode of White Board Wisdom offers valuable insights!
In today’s episode, host Scott Luton welcomes Bill Huber, a former CFO himself, to the show, to teach you what to do and what not to do in a conversation with your CFO.
Huber shares top tips about what CFOs really want: someone who listens, gets the situation, and comes to the table with creative solutions. He even says it’s okay to take some calculated risks! But remember, honesty and respect are key throughout.
By the end of the episode, you’ll be ready to confidently chat finance with your CFO. So, tune in and avoid any future money misunderstandings!
Episode Transcript
Scott Luton (03:15):
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and my special guest, my dear friend, bill Huber with you here on supply chain now. Bill, how are you doing today?
Bill Huber (03:31):
Doing great, Scott. Thanks again for inviting me. It’s always a pleasure following you the whole supply chain now team, all of your LinkedIn posts and YouTube content, it’s really fantastic.
Scott Luton (03:45):
Well thank you so much and I’m really excited for our global audience to benefit from your expertise here today because we’re going to be featuring an efficient and actionable practical discussion on five ways to effectively communicate with the CFO. What an important, whether you like it or not, many discussions, especially fiscal ones where they go through the office of the C ffo and we could all of us get better in our communication there. Right? And who better to learn it from than a former longtime and very successful CFO and Bill Huber. So before we move forward, I think federal regulations kidding require me to ask you the like and comment on this episode. And if you enjoy the conversation, hey, share it with a friend. They’ll be glad you did. And I want to introduce a little bit, and some of y’all, some you longtime listeners may remember Bill’s last appearance.
(04:40):
I bet it was about three or four years ago, back when we were in person and joined our company in Atlanta. But for new members of our audience, bill Huber brings a ton of senior leadership experience to the table, including 13 years recently in his former role of vice president and chief financial officer for V LX Group, USA Inc. A subsidiary of V LX as now some of you may be asking, you may already be customers of V lx, I don’t know, but it’s a Danish probably held global leader in skylights and roof window systems. Now Bill in that role spent 13 years leading innovation in finance, risk management, and serving as a trusted business partner to CEOs across other divisions around the world. So Bill leveraging all of that, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what you’ve done in your career. Again, it’s great to have you back. It’s truly been way too long, huh?
Bill Huber (05:36):
It has Scott, but it’s great to be back with you.
Scott Luton (05:39):
So let’s give folks a snapshot here of what you’re going to be covering here today as we walk through five ways to effectively communicate with the CF.
Bill Huber (05:49):
Sure, Scott, there’s volumes written about effective communication today, both with your individual teams, with the C-suite board and all of your stakeholders. I think some of the practical experience that I’ve had has really helped me lead teams and frankly be able to bring business results to the company in a more effective way. When I look at this and think about what are the top five areas that we really have to focus on, the must haves in business today are really the skills of listening, assessing what’s the situation, what’s the problem? Bringing solutions, being creative, taking risks and having no major surprises, right? We’ll talk a little bit more about all of these, including the final, be honest and respect each other during all of the communications that we have every day.
Scott Luton (06:48):
I love it. I love the framework. So folks, stay tuned for been there, done it, move Mountains, global Success that you’re going to hear and some practical tools and tips you’re going to hear from Bill Huber. So listen, assess, bring solutions. No surprises. That’s a good one. And honesty. I love that. So if we think about the first area that we’re going to dive into because none of us do it enough, that’s listening. Bill, tell us more.
Bill Huber (07:16):
Sure. Scott here again, listening is everything in a communication. Communication is literally defined as share and exchange information, news or ideas. And without an open-minded exchange, without really having undivided attention to the speaker, we can never really get to a good solution through any communication. I have an acronym that I built and have shared with my team over the years, and I like to call it my effective communication ladder. It’s an L-A-D-R-R. The first L is to listen. And again, active listening requires undivided attention. You have to avoid distractions from cell phones and iPads and computers while we’re in meetings. And come on, how many meetings have we been in When you really are standing up there talking and you sometimes want to throw the old eraser at somebody and say, are you listening?
Scott Luton (08:16):
Right? That’s happened to me, bill. That’s happened to me. I’ve been hit by numerous erasers and pencils and other things.
Bill Huber (08:22):
Yeah, or rolled up paper. But the next point for the A is really to acknowledge what you heard, be clear and concise and remain very impartial at this point. Don’t come to an immediate conclusion, be unbiased and then be aware of your tone and what you’re saying and how you’re saying it. And always remember the body language speaks louder than words and then digest what you heard. Sometimes this means finding a quiet space. Go off to take down some notes. Think about did everyone understand the most important why of the situation? And then reflect on the message, reflect on the issue. Is this a repeat issue? Is this a brand new issue? Is this an issue where an individual you can delegate to an individual for developmental purposes throughout all of our solutions? We don’t have to be immediate, we need to be really thoughtful in what our response will be. And then finally it is to respond. Be constructive again. Try to avoid bias and give everybody a chance to really share their own understanding and what are the expectations of coming out of this problem resolution.
Scott Luton (09:47):
Yeah, I love this framework, bill. The latter framework. Listen, acknowledge, digest, reflect, and respond. And one of the things I just want to share, one of my favorite parts of the framework is that reflect part, I don’t think I can speak from my personal experience, I don’t reflect enough. I think humanity does not reflect enough. I think I’ve spoken a lot about the immense importance of calling time out to just reflect on what has truly transpired and think about what you’re going to be doing next. So hey folks, if five part framework, this latter framework is just too much, at least really pay attention to that fourth step, which is reflect your comments there, bill.
Bill Huber (10:35):
Oh again, I fully agree Scott, and this is where I really, in every situation I want to see developmental opportunities for people. And it is not all of this about effective communication with the CFO is not about because the CFO has to take the action or make the decision. It’s because you want your team to have your back and you always have your team’s back.
Scott Luton (11:01):
Yeah, well said Bill. Well said. Alright, so all of that is just the first of five ways. All that falls under the listening part of five ways to better communicate with the cfo. So let’s get into the assess bill, tell us more.
Bill Huber (11:16):
Yeah, assess is really where I believe we have to quickly understand the criticality of the issue. Again, is this a low priority, low payback issue, such as a change in business process where once again, you have experts who may be able to take the time delegate so that they can put new processes in place, or is this a really critical issue with an impact on the business reputation or the profitability of the business? Then in that, as we’re assessing what is problem, be curious, ask really probing questions, gain clarity and alignment to avoid wasted time on ambiguous efforts. And then I talk about in an interview, you can use the star approach and that’s very simply what is the situation? What are likely tasks that can be delegated and who might be the task managers? And then what are the actions that are necessary to take and what are the desired results in every communication we have to make sure we’re all clear on those. Finally, within this whole assess of criticality, I think it’s absolutely important that we assess quickly, do others such as your c-suite members or your board or other stakeholders need to be informed quickly. This is going to come back when I talk about no surprises, but if we need to involve other individuals, we have to get them on board quickly.
Scott Luton (12:57):
Well, so I want to go back to one of the first things you mentioned as we went into the assess parts of the five ways, and that is be curious, ask great questions, deep probing questions. There’s a quote somewhere, bill, and I’m going to butcher it here, but the mark of true intelligence isn’t necessarily what you say, but it’s the questions that you ask your thoughts, bill,
Bill Huber (13:21):
I fully agree. And it comes all the way back to in the latter when you’re listening, the very next one isn’t respond. In fact it’s the very last one because in between you’ve got to gather insights and only through probing questions through again, having no fear of the, I don’t know or I need help. Are you going to really get to a successful result?
Scott Luton (13:48):
Well said, well said. Alright, so this next section we’re getting into the third way could be perhaps my favorite. I don’t know if many of y’all listening out there may always go to solutions. I’m bad about that sometime trying to solve it in the moment. And that’s not usually a great best practice. But hey Bill, tell us more about the third way.
Bill Huber (14:10):
Sure. And again, bringing solutions is an area where I believe everyone has an opportunity to both self-develop, build confidence, and frankly add value to the entire team. So with this, you also have to demonstrate the storytelling capabilities where you’ve literally taken time to understand the problem, you’ve taken time to think about solutions and then bring those. The worst thing in the world is for somebody to come into anybody’s office, let alone the CFO and just say, we have a problem. The very first thing I would always say is, well, we probably have an opportunity and what do you think are the alternatives or solutions to this opportunity and how can you play a role in the results?
Scott Luton (15:06):
Well said, and blessed are those that bring solutions that bring a serenity to days when everything seems to be on fire that helps the team act with more measure and act in a way that we make better decisions when we can find ways to kind of ratchet down to pressure. Would you agree, bill?
Bill Huber (15:30):
Well I do, and I’m going to just build on that very point about sometimes it’s ratcheting down the effort or it’s the sparring. And I have to admit that at V Lux, the Danish culture, they talked a lot about sparring and they really mean it in the effective communication way of don’t be a yes man. Don’t just take every comment that somebody makes as gospel, but have your own point of view and be confident in your approach to a solution and sell it. And again, it’s intellectual risk taking. It’s one of the other things I’ve talked about is no harm, no foul. You can make mistakes, just don’t make ’em twice.
Scott Luton (16:18):
Bill, I got to also go back one more time to your emphasis on storytelling folks out there. No matter where you are, no matter what role you’re in, the better you can story tell, the better you can do just about anything. Alright, so Bill, that was a good one. That was the third way. Again, we’re focused on five ways to more effectively communicate with the CFO. Number four, no surprises. Tell us more, bill.
Bill Huber (16:43):
Well, I like to put this into the analogy of your CFOs just come into the office. He hasn’t his cup of coffee yet. He or she has not had a cup of coffee yet. And the first thing you should never do is walk in and say shock and all. We just had a problem. Planet once again with what happened, prepare for the conversation, bring in all of the elements of the surprise. There will be surprises, there will be things that happen in everyday life and the course of business that just have to be raised up the flagpole very quickly. But again, with this, come in with your own point of view, bring solutions. So it’s again, the only good surprise is no surprise, but come in with a clear explanation of what’s happened. And again, full disclosure, upfront is the best. But I’ll give you an analogy.
(17:47):
I had a situation one morning, I did come in very early and unfortunately somebody said, we’ve succumbed to a phishing attack and we’ve sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to a scammer’s account. But the very next thing they said was, but we immediately got on the phone with our bank and we’ve been able to freeze all transfers today. And so disaster was averted. And of course there’s a long story behind it. Yes, some internal controls were overlooked, but the individual took ownership. We’re going to get into that in the next one. But again, the individual learned from it. We all learned from it. We used it as an example of not a great story to tell, but a story to share among the whole team to make sure that those things don’t happen again.
Scott Luton (18:39):
I love that, love that story and that scenario and what your emphasis on the no surprises on the front end of your response there made me think of is one of my favorite mantras that I uncovered. Robert j Lasek, he didn’t found Lasek, it was his father that found that Titanic food company, but he was a long standing CEO and chairman of the board and unfortunately he passed away in 2022. But as I was reading about him, he had this mantra, Hey, bring me good news fast, but bad news faster. And I love that. That’s very good point, very practical,
Bill Huber (19:14):
Very good point.
Scott Luton (19:16):
So as we move more into the fifth and final effective way to increase and become more effective in your communication with the CFO, we’re talking about honesty and integrity. Your thoughts Bill
Bill Huber (19:29):
Here Again, there’s absolutely no reason not to be honest in business, not to be respectful of others. In every communication I think about respecting others’ opinions and allowing those ideas, no matter how different they may be from our own, because you have to have that, again, ability to absorb, to digest what’s being said, and it may very well sway your own opinion in any situation. I think it’s also critical that we own our own actions, never deflect blame just to try to not look as the person who frankly has a responsibility. If we think about one of the most recent realities, Lift’s results were first released in a press release and then their CFO came on with the communication to the analysts and there was literally one zero missing in the communication. We know it, it just happened last week. And then Lift’s CEO, David Richer came on and immediately said, my bad, on the margin error, there was one zero that was left off, but it made all the difference. Of course, the market reacted quickly, but the market recovered and I think in his own actions very quickly taking ownership for a very unfortunate typo frankly. And so it just comes back to by owning your own actions, they of course will get you through every bad situation, challenging situation.
Scott Luton (21:15):
Yeah, I love that story, bill. And just for folks out there that are falling along, lift meaning the car, the ride share, ride sharing company company. That’s right. And who wouldn’t want to work for someone or with someone that will own up to the times when they make a mistake? I mean, that just attracts people to leaders like that. Wouldn’t you agree, bill?
Bill Huber (21:37):
Totally agree. Totally agree. And I think to sort of close this one off as far as respectfulness, I think it’s really important in every communication that we’re cautious in how we commend people, which should be in public and how we critique people or if we have any corrections that we want to share with others, do that in private, especially if you’re going up with that correction. If I’m going to a CEO and saying, well, what you just said in that presentation wasn’t right, I’ll never do that in a public forum. Do it in private and then let them make the correction as they see necessary.
Scott Luton (22:19):
Good stuff there, bill. I love how practical and truly been there, done that all of this advice has coming from love, the stories you’re mixing in. And I love also as effective as all of these tips and these frameworks are for communicating with the cfo. There’s also univers, universality, I’m going to make a word here. There’s a universal application to what you’re sharing no matter who you’re working with, working for or communicating to. So I love both sides of the coin here. Alright, so Bill, we should do, I think the best practices to make sure we tell ’em what we told them. So in that respect, what do we cover here today?
Bill Huber (23:00):
Well, again, I think the very basics is to start with the underlying communication needs of being an active listener and then taking the time to ensure that we understand the situation, everybody’s on the same page. If not, how do we get there? And then that we have pragmatic, practical solutions that we can implement and quickly that we avoid. Again, shock and awe of every day, oh my gosh, the building’s on fire. But if it is, then you’re going to have to make some very, very quick decisions. And then the honesty and integrity and this honesty and respectfulness goes in all forms of communication, not just verbal, but in our emails. How do we write to avoid the unintended consequences of somebody reading tone into an email? Avoid the huge capitalizations, which sometimes just come out as screamers. And then again, it’s all about having fun with your team through communications. Take the time to have healthy dialogue with your teams. I did something for years, which was just the Monday morning, what’s up? And it’s literally a five minute gathering in the hallway pre covid. I think we sort of slowed down after Covid and just said, five minutes. A, how was your weekend? B, does anybody have a critical help area this week? Or C, hey, the business has a great event coming up this week, or we have a client event or we have a great result to share. But just making sure that everybody’s engaged.
Scott Luton (24:46):
I love that. I love how practical and how brief that can be. The in-person opportunities we have now, thankfully, we’re in a post pandemic environment to share information and share that we care and more importantly show that we’re really interested in what folks are doing, where they spent their time, what’s on their plate today. I love that quick huddle as it sounds like to me as you described it. Okay, so Bill, this 25 minutes or so that you’re spinning here, that’s just the tip of the very iceberg of the wealth of expertise you can share with folks out there. If folks want to connect with you, they want you to come in and speak to ’em, or I think you’re still doing some healthy consulting I bet. Given your wealth of knowledge, I’m sure lots of organizations need your help. How can folks connect with you, bill?
Bill Huber (25:41):
Well, I’ve always welcomed them to reach out by email, reach out on my LinkedIn. We probably should have put my LinkedIn there, but it’s again, huber dot b@comcast.net is my email. And Bill Huber, Atlanta is my handle for LinkedIn.
Scott Luton (25:58):
Love it. And you know what, we will absolutely make it easier for folks to connect with you on LinkedIn. We’ll include the link in the show notes. So folks, you’ll be one click away to connecting with Bill. And by the way, I’m partial. I’ve known Bill for quite some time. I’ve seen him in action, seen the impact he’s had. But I promise you your network and your knowledge will be better off by connecting with the one and only Bill Huber. Alright, bill,
Bill Huber (26:25):
Ditto, Scott Luton and your beautiful family. It’s been such a pleasure watching you guys grow.
Scott Luton (26:32):
Oh man, I tell you, it is been an incredible, very fulfilling, rewarding journey. Driven and fueled by relationships with great people. Alright, so big thanks to Bill Huber. I look forward to reconnecting with you again soon. Bill,
Bill Huber (26:46):
Thank you Scott. Again, it’s always a pleasure and frankly rewarding for me just to be able to have this time.
Scott Luton (26:54):
I appreciate that. I look forward to getting together and breaking bread in person. But hey folks, in the meantime, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this conversation with Bill Huber as much as I have the frameworks, the ideas, the stories, the best practices, Hey, be sure to connect with Bill after today’s episode. But hey folks, the onus is on you to take at least one thing from today’s conversation, put it into practice deeds, not words. Your colleagues, including your CFO and of whole financial team will all be thrilled for sure. So with that said, Scott Luton here on behalf of the supply chain now team challenge you to do good, to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. And we’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.
Bill Huber (27:34):
Thank you guys.
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Featured Guests
Bill Huber, Former VP and Chief Financial Officer for VELUX Group USA Inc., a subsidiary of VELUX A/S, a Danish privately held global leader in Skylights and Roof Window Systems. Bill spent 13 years leading innovation in finance, risk management and CSuite collaboration for multiple complex legal entities in the US, plus being a trusted business partner to CEOs across the Americas and Asia Pacific businesses, with FP&A teams in diverse cultures. His leadership focus on strategic and financial operating initiatives plus infrastructure optimization at VELUX Group delivered a 2.5X operating profit margin and free cash flow improvement early in his tenure. He currently serves as Chair of the American Friends of Nyenrode University, a 501c3 fundraising arm for Nyenrode Business University. He also served as a Director of Columbus Insurance Ltd., a captive insurance leader serving 150+ heterogeneous businesses.
Bill is a CPA with extensive experience in emerging markets, profit growth, continuous improvement and M&A in public and private enterprises having held global finance roles in the USA, Germany, The Netherlands, Malaysia, and South America. Prior to VELUX, Bill served in senior-level finance and operations leadership roles with The Coca-Cola Company, Zyman Marketing Group, SJ Pharmaceuticals, and Omnicom Group Inc. He enjoys speaking and writing on international business and finance and he is passionate about the community having served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Georgia, Board of Trustees for the Atlanta Ballet, and a leader in Boy Scouts of America.
Bill graduated from The University of Georgia Terry College of Business with a BBA and MACC. Additionally, he received an International Business and Economics diploma from the Nyenrode Business University, the only private business university in the Netherlands. Bill remains active with both of his alma maters. Bill is married to Steffi, a Dutch national, and they have a son and daughter who both live and work in New York City. The family enjoys international traveling, arts and entertainment, cooking, city, and lake life. They split their time between home in the US and The Netherlands.
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