INSIGHTS

At the Virtual CFO Retreat 2020, a picture emerged of organisations under cost pressure, frequently shifting targets and a changing workforce. At the same time, there was a sense of excitement from senior executives about how to be more competitive through greater agility and faster decision-making, often underpinned by digitisation. 
 

Here, business leaders tell Emma Carroll how they are juggling day-to-day challenges with preparing the business for new opportunities.

Featuring Commentary From:
 

Richard Pennycook, Chair, Howden Joinery Group: A good question to ask is: ‘If we weren’t already in existence, would we be created today?
 

Matthew Blagg, CEO, Criticaleye: Alignment has fractured on many Boards as fatigue has set in, pressure has increased, and leaders have started to disagree about the route ahead.
 

Ismail Amla, Chief Growth, Officer Capita: CFOs need to be the executive focused on driving every part of the business to reinvent themselves by concentrating on the three North Stars of digital, data and talent.

Declan Guerin, Former Group Chief Restructuring Officer, Rolls-Royce: You want to carry each stakeholder with you along the way, but you can’t always do that in sync with the aggressive timelines.

Michele Faull, Former CFO, Coventry Building Society: We need to get increasingly comfortable with ‘living in the grey’. As far as we can see, there is going to be significant uncertainty over the next 18 months.