You are not alone if you do not truly understand your financials, and you should not feel ashamed. CEOs often have strengths in many different areas of their business, and it is those strengths that got them to where they are. They often have come into the position relying on others like their accountant or CFO to support them when it comes to their company’s financials.
However, really understanding the numbers of your business is one area that is extremely important for you to know. In fact, the Harvard Business School has said that it is the most important area for a CEO to know and understand. The good news is that it is not very hard to learn. The difficulty is only in admitting that, as a CEO, you don’t understand and need help learning. As a Black CEO, it may be even harder, as you may think that you are the only CEO out there who never learned this, which can seem embarrassing and even shameful, and you want to hide it or fake it. Not only is It not true, but it doesn’t matter even if it was.
You are the leader of your company. To admit not really understanding something and wanting to learn it can be a very powerful message to all your employees. It is OK not to perfect, and it is important to keep learning and improving. It is also not a requirement to make a public declaration that you need to strengthen a skill like your financial acumen. Either way, a CEO coach can really help. We keep everything we work on with you confidential. It is also a no judgment zone. As our coaches are also CEOs, we totally understand that every CEO comes with different strengths and weaknesses. Some CEOs have absolutely no background and understanding of their financials. Once we know that, we help teach you. Our role is help you grow and succeed, and we hold you accountable to make sure you are doing the things necessary to succeed.
Once you learn the financial language and understand things like the formulas in the Excel spreadsheets are mostly just adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing; you realize that the tools in your toolbelt to grow your company is so much more powerful. We will then help you take those tools, expand them, and apply them across your business.
