This document outlines 7 key characteristics of an effective financial leader: 1. Communication - Financial leaders must be able to communicate effectively with their team, shareholders, and all stakeholders when delivering good or bad news. 2. Results-oriented - Financial leaders should set measurable and achievable targets and goals and be driven to meet them. 3. Vision - Financial leaders must have vision for the future finances of the company and be able to effectively communicate that vision. 4. Good business sense - Financial leaders need to have strong relationships and understanding across all business areas to best allocate funds.

1. +
7 Characteristics
of a good financial
leader
By David Kiger
Image Courtesy of Michigan Municipal League at Flickr.com

2. + Being in the financial management sector or being a
financial manager or leader is just not an easy task because
we are dealing with money and things can get very delicate
for everybody. We are not trying to diminish other types of
leadership because they are just as important, on the
contrary, we are trying to put the focus on the fact that
being a leader within a financial mindset requires certain
skills that maybe are not that normal on other teams or
areas.
Financial leaders are often seen as the bad guy of the movie
because they are the ones that are designated to take all the
ideas and dreams back to earth and see them in a financial
and realistic way. Many ideas see their budgets cut down
because of these guys and many people within companies
must adjust to their way of seeing the corporation because
that is the only way projects are going to get financed.

3. +In this same way, we have gathered 7 characteristics of these
amazing leaders and how they work and how they should be
to have a fluent relationship with all the areas of the
organization.
Communication
This characteristic is essential to everyone everywhere, not
only financial leaders. But financial leaders are the ones that
have to understand this the most because they are the ones
that carry bad news or they are the ones that support almost
all the vision of any company. Finance professionals must
really be good communicators with their team, shareholders
and almost every single stakeholder of the company because
even if we have a marketing team or a communications team
that can handle critical situations, it is still the finance leader
that can give a green light to anything and then tell the ones
involved how to financially proceed.

4. +Results on his or her mind
Of course, if you are part of a company you have to
understand how setting goals and meeting them are a very
important part of your job and how this will measure your
performance and effectiveness within the company’s
setting. Finance leaders are no different, and they should
be really used to setting targets and meeting them. In fact,
the best finance leaders know how to set measurable and
achievable targets. The board of directors always needs C
level jobs that are naturally driven towards goals and that
know how to handle such pressure.

5. +Vision
When it comes to money and finances, even in a domestic
setting, you always have to keep an eye on the future.
When this is combined with a good communication skill,
this vision will be transmitted to the staff and team. And
here is where the finance leader needs to be involved
because if you see that the money man has no idea where
we are going, there is a high chance the company will
crash. Also, a vision is supported by real forecasts, and
here is where the finance leader and his or her team come
into play.

6. +Good business sense.
Finance leaders should have this business sense not in the
way of looking for new deals or closing them. On the
contrary, his or her business sense comes from the fact
that they have to have the best of relationships with all the
areas and have a good business sense on where to allocate
which funds. This means that the financial director needs
to know more about the company than the president.

7. +Confident
Would you trust your money to someone that does not
look trustworthy? Well, companies act the same and they
need to know that their money is safe and in good hands.
Financial leaders need to be confident because they need
to inspire that same trust and confidence to the staff and
team. The financial leader cannot do everything on his or
her own so he needs to be confident in his or her
decisions and inspire others to take risks but not risk it all.

8. +Numerate
It almost looks like a joke that a financial leader has to be
good with numbers. It is obvious. Financial leaders need to
be good and like numbers and be able to deduct important
information out of such numbers and leverage important
insights from them. It is not about putting together big
chunks of numbers, but it is about how they can look at all
the information and extract the most important parts that
will make the organization grow.

9. +Honesty
Everybody must be honest and the guy that manages the
money even more. Things happen and projects sometimes
get out of control. Finance leaders make mistakes like any
other person. The thing is that when they aren’t honest
about fixing those mistakes problems can quickly arise.
The important thing here is to always be honest and
approach the problems in an honest and ethical manner.
Be sure to also read this post about things a good project
manager does