SAN DIEGO, Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Launching your own outsourced CFO practice can be a way to check all your career boxes: work with a values-driven company, earn a salary on the higher end of the pay scale, eliminate the daily commute and have work time that flexes with your interests outside of work.
This is the message at the core of a new book written by highly respected CFO Art Zylstra, The Noble CFO: How To Start And Grow A Flourishing CFO Business (2021, Indie Books International).
Zylstra wrote, “Are you still being nagged by the thought in your mind that asks, ‘What am I missing? Why am I not more satisfied with my career?’ I have heard it said that the right career creates a state of mind that transforms your life. Having a deep connection with your career motivates you to higher levels of success and satisfaction.”
Zylstra is the founder of CFO Business Partner, a company that works with owners of for-profit and non-profit organizations to help them flourish and grow. His MBA in organizational leadership and doctorate in transformational leadership leave him well-equipped to collaborate with key members of an executive team to develop and implement key strategies across the organization.
While knowing the technical aspects of being a controller or CFO as well as understanding financial reports, cash flow statements, KPIs and metrics have been important as Zylstra built his business, he says the secret to his success is living the six values he identified as mission-critical:
Develop authentic relationships. Enable people to connect personally with you and your business to lead to a more fruitful relationship.
Operate in integrity. Be honest and have moral principles, essential ingredients for sustainable, long-term business growth and success.
Follow extraordinary stewardship. Give away power to allow lower-level employees to make important decisions, creating a healthy ecosystem.
Pursue an attitude of service. Have a people-focused culture, which ensures meaningful stability during times of rapid change.
Value the individual. Treat every person the business interacts with in a way that values their dignity and worth to fill the workplace with joy.
Operate in grace. This encapsulates the other five core values, as it’s about extraordinary stewardship of authentic relationships developed and operating in integrity, with an attitude of service, placing value on the individual.
“These six core values have guided CFO Business Partner for the past eight years,” Zylstra noted, “with the outcome being growth every year, as we continue to serve existing clients and develop new clients from business associates who see CFO Business Partner as a trusted partner.
“There is a widening gap between the rich and the poor and a resulting business trend of creating value-driven companies,” he added. “Companies that establish and live out the values that are people- and community-friendly are going to be the businesses that will flourish in this environment.”