Chicago CFO Inner Circle

Leading Into the Future – The Evolving CFO 

Financial leaders face endless challenges to sustained growth and success. Disruptive technologies, a tightening labor market, and an uncertain regulatory landscape amplify risk and create a heavier strategic burden than ever before. To mitigate these risks and navigate a complicated growth environment, CFOs must effectively leverage technology, forge a strong culture, and build stronger teams and partnerships in and out of finance. During this dinner conversation, CFOs will share successes and failures that have had the greatest impact on their organizations and professional growth and examine their evolving role at a time of accelerating change.

Topic 1: Evolving Enterprise Capabilities through Innovation and Emerging Technologies 

• Given the rate of technological/digital change, how do you build a durable, effective technology roadmap for the future? How do you define and measure “success” for your technology journey?
• What measures are you taking to properly evaluate newer technologies in the absence of proven case studies? Similarly, what rubric are you using to evaluate the vendor landscape as emerging-technology service providers proliferate?
• What technologies/tools pose the biggest disruption/threat to your industry/business? How can you best anticipate these trends and become more proactive?
• What is the CFOs role in creating a culture of innovation? How do you best prepare your organization for the constant change that technological adaptation requires?

Topic 2: Creating Strategy at a Time of Regulatory & Policy Uncertainty

• What are the most substantive changes you anticipate for your organization as a result of the new tax plan? In what ways are you adapting your investment/capital/compensation strategies accordingly?
• Given the potential unpredictability of the current policy and regulatory environments, how are you building agility into your 1-2 year strategy? How do you most effectively communicate this strategic flexibility to stakeholders, senior leadership and the board?
• How have GDPR regulation and general consumer privacy concerns impacted your approach to data management? Risk management?
• How do the Fed’s promised interest rate hikes impact your capital/borrowing/investment strategies and timelines?

Topic 3: Building and Developing Tomorrow’s Workforce

• As the competitive landscape continuously evolves, what are the greatest changes you’ve encountered regarding your organization’s talent needs? What are the most coveted new skills your organizations require?
• How have the shifting expectations of the next-generation workforce impacted your approach to compensation, engagement and career development? What have you seen as key differentiators for talent attraction in this competitive marketplace?
• What measures are you taking to retrain your existing talent and align them with new, necessary skills?
• What can you do to better promote and benefit from diversity across the organization?
• What is the role of the CFO in driving talent management strategy – in finance and beyond? How do you best collaborate with peers across the C-suite to raise the overall talent level of the organization?