Peering into the CFO's Mind III - Final

Day two ended with tearing down the Operations Associates booth in the exhibit hall and going to dinner with the competition.

Day three began with a slow exit from bed and a change of clothes. I had worn our chosen uniform for the last two days and it was time for a change. By the time I got showered and downstairs, my subjects were already being enthralled by another morning keynote speech from another academic. From the lineup of presentations, day three appeared to be addressing softer issues for CFO's such as decision making, human resources, and how to talk to your board and bankers during these turbulent times.

The first presentation was by Sydney Finklestein, Professor of Business at Dartmouth's Tuck School. Again, it seemed like anyone with an MBA would have already had this presentation of biases in decision making and understanding how no decision is ever made with perfect information and that decisions, despite logic, are more emotional than logical. So much for free and efficient market theory. Unfortunately, like most academic evaluations, a large portion of it seemed like Monday morning quarterbacking - hindsight is always 20/20. But he did recap why it is important to avoid making purely gut decisions - because you use shortcuts to decisions and the world is much more complex than that. Here's a recap of the major points from his new book Think Again:
1. People base decisions on emotion - even those complex decisions by groups come down to emotion
2. Redflag conditions are early warning signs of suboptimal decisions including: your past experience base misleads you; self interest (conflicts); misreading situations due to pre-judgements; and having inappropriate attachments.
3. In order to safeguard to reduce vulnerability of biases in decision making you can: Avoid yes man trap by seeking out dissenters and engaging them; monitor decisions in real time and change the decision as the situation changes; and ensure there is proper oversight and governance designed into the decision process

While I was filling out the paperwork for the evaluation of the conference, I noticed a particular name on the list. It was the CFO I had been looking for the entire meeting. She appeared on a panel right after the Think Again presentation. Her name is Eileen and she is the CFO for a Rollup of roofing contractors called Tecta America. Once I saw this I thought, ok, she must be here somewhere. Keep in mind that the auditorium seats over 300 people, but my keen eyesight and determination to find her in the mass of people ensured that I spotted her quicker than an owl on a mouse. Just like the owl, I wasted no time in rushing over - business card in hand - to say hi, mention that I had done strategic planning with one of their firms and got to know their CEO. She responded politely, said a few words, then took my card, and was whisked away onto the stage for her panel discussion. Mission accomplished, sort of, although I really wanted a few minutes to talk with her about how the firm was doing. She did mention that they were heavily into the green roofing movement and they were looking forward to the stimulus package and federal green roofing projects. That's one of the few firms I have heard looking forward to the stimulus package actually meaning anything.

Then it was off to the airport, not to head home but to head to New Orleans to meet with a utility company. Somebody has to be spending money in this economy and I will find them.