Winners take advantage of opportunities that, to others, look only like risk. CFOs and other functional leaders must sharpen decision-making capabilities and manage resources strategically.
Investments, not cuts, are what differentiate lower-cost legal departments. Legal leaders can follow the lead of low-cost legal departments to streamline their departments.
Networked organizations of more decision makers operating in a quickly changing environment create new risks for misaligned efforts. Support from strategy leaders can make all the difference.
Ten years after the last recession, companies are enjoying a period of growth that will eventually end. Finance leaders must avoid three mistakes that could undermine their progress.
Most functional leaders are afraid of looking unsure in a world that rewards the appearance of certainty. But professional poker players are comfortable with great decisions that don’t always lead to great outcomes because they sharpen judgment over time.
Strategy leaders can no longer wait for a performance review to spot when outside forces derail execution; they must see trade-offs upfront and adjust behaviors in the business.
Companies may face increasing risk in a climate of low credit quality and economic uncertainty. CFOs must reintroduce scenario-based forecasting of capital market and economic conditions into planning, fair-value and impairment assessments.
Finance leaders and other functional leaders can help manage costs better by simplifying production rather than cutting overhead.
Getting better insight into cost drivers is difficult during times of uncertainty. Procurement leaders can boost their insight now to be ready to respond when changes hit.
The general counsel must help the business succeed by providing guidance that supports necessary risk taking. Yet many in-house lawyers say their guidance is still too conservative. That carries steep costs for the business — and for legal.
Legal leaders must make changes to support more M&A deals that are more complex and receive more scrutiny.
Leaders must incorporate scenario planning to keep up with corporate plans during times of change. This research helps leaders adapt enterprise-level scenario planning to their function.
Fi.r.st. is a journal designed to help your organization address challenges that require broad mobilization of the C-suite and executive teams. Published quarterly, the journal features the latest research, interviews, profiles and infographics. Complete the form to download the latest issue. Previous issues are also available for download.
