The Role of a CFO: motivating people, managing assets and hedging risks - страница 9

Adapting to modern demands in today’s professional landscape, possessing deep expertise and experience in a single field is no longer sufficient for maintaining long-term competitiveness in the job market. Versatile professionals are sought after almost universally. This shift is largely driven by the acceleration of business processes, widespread automation, digitalization across industries, and the heightened need for businesses to conduct rapid, high-quality analysis of vast datasets.

In the post-COVID digitalization era, characterized by dwindling investments and the imperative for businesses to achieve financial independence in a globally fragmented economy amid ongoing military conflicts, modern professionals must embrace T-specialization. This entails having expert knowledge and experience in a primary responsibility area, along with general skills and varying levels of understanding in related complementary fields, all while continually learning and enhancing existing skills.

For instance, a financial analyst should excel in financial analysis, demonstrate proficiency in professional-level Excel and PowerPoint, possess strong information search and analysis abilities, and effectively present information in both textual and visual formats. This forms the foundational skill set.

Furthermore, complementary skills might include the ability to create SQL queries to access database information for report preparation and conducting statistical analysis of large datasets (commonly referred to as big data).

An additional specialization could (and should) involve proficiency in utilizing common visualization interfaces such as Power BI and Tableau. It’s not only about utilizing these interfaces, but also configuring complex graphical visualizations and analytics dashboards, establishing auxiliary databases, and designing the overall analytics system architecture.

Without doubt, any modern financial professional intending to thrive in their field for the next 10–20 years should possess a high level of English proficiency (if not their native language), even if their immediate role does not require oral or written communication in English. English serves as the international language of business and science. I firmly believe that daily self-study, analyzing current changes and innovations, and maintaining a forward-thinking and strategic mindset are impossible without independently studying relevant presentations, books (such as this one), lectures, articles, and other sources in English.

Continuous learning is imperative, with professionals autonomously identifying the directions and courses necessary to maintain competitiveness while considering their own strengths, weaknesses, and career development plans. In my opinion, taking professional and personality tests to understand one’s inclinations and shortcomings is beneficial. Additionally, having a career development plan and regularly reviewing and analyzing it is essential for long-term career planning. Modern business evolves so rapidly that «retraining» into a new specialty may be necessary not just once, but multiple times. Therefore, continual learning, retraining, and ongoing education are indispensable throughout one’s professional journey.

Allow me to share my own career track as an example. As I completed my school education at the close of the previous century, banking, international economics and legal studies were considered the most prestigious higher education paths. With guidance from my parents, I chose a specialty that integrated legal and financial aspects, crisis management, which was deemed relevant after the 1998 crisis.