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Podcast: Samuel Dergel with Matthew Cooley on Upside/Downside

January 12, 2021 by Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

Matthew Cooley interviews Samuel Dergel on his Podcast – Upside/Downside – Listen in below

Filed Under: Careers, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Careers, Executive coaching, Executive Leadership Blog, Executive Search, Matthew Cooley, Podcast, Upside Downside

PODCAST: The Hiring Triangle – CEO, CFO and the Board

May 10, 2018 by Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

Samuel Dergel was recently interviewed by Jack Sweeney for his podcast series called CFO Thought Leader. This was the fourth time I was interviewed by Sweeney, and I enjoyed our conversation once again. I believe you will find the conversation interesting and relevant.

Here are some of the questions addressed in this podcast. (You can listen via the Youtube window on this page, you can download the file or find the iTunes link below)

  • How involved is the Board when hiring a CFO?
  • How can a CFO hire go wrong?
  • How can a CFO going through a hiring process work through the CEO/Board dynamics?
  • What advice do you offer CFO candidates before their first interview?
  • If a CFO hire is going to happen, what is the time frame to make it happen?
  • How do you help CFOs with executive coaching?
  • What advice would you give a CEO trying to evaluate a CFO candidate?
  • What part do part-time CFOs play in the market today?
  • When is the right time for a company to hire their first real CFO?
  • Who engages an executive search firm for a CFO hire?
  • What advice do you have for senior finance executives that want to build relationships outside their business?

If any of these topics are of interest to you, you will find this podcast to be worth listening to. (29 minutes)

Which comments resonate most with you? Let me know what you think below, or email us.

Download | Subscribe to CFO Thought Leader Podcast series on iTunes | Link to the CFO Thought Leader web page with more details about this podcast

Filed Under: Executive coaching, Executive Search, Podcast

The One Perk Every Executive Needs

May 25, 2016 by Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

Any executive who has negotiated their own compensation appreciates that it can be stressful to make the case to be appropriately compensated. Whether they are being offered a new career opportunity or they are taking steps to ensure they continue to be paid fairly for the value they are delivering, knowing what to ask for (and accept) is a challenge.

‎Base salary, bonus, equity based compensation, vacation, medical benefits and the other standard executive compensation issues, while very important, are not what will be discussed here.

‎Your career is more than just about your ability to get the job done. You have grown throughout your career because you have continued to invest in improving yourself. Think about all the opportunities you had for growth throughout your career – conferences, training and others. All these things allowed you to not only improve yourself, but deliver significantly improved value to your employer.

Ask most executives, and they will admit that they have been beneficiaries of professional development expenses paid for by their current and previous employers. ‎However, in 4 out of 5 times when I ask executives to go to their employer and ask them to pay for executive coaching, they balk. Why?

The reasons I am given, at first, is about budget. They almost always say “I don’t know if I can get that approved.”‎ This response continues to concern me. Why would a strong, valuable executive be reluctant to ask for an investment in improving the value to their employer?

The real reasons I see are consistent across all types and sizes of companies. Asking for something can be stressful. Getting to yes, even with people you work for, can be a challenge, especially if it is not only about the company, but about you as well.

Fears of rejection, being looked at as being inadequate or not knowing what you should already know, as well as other fears, founded and unfounded, play into the difficulty of asking for approval of a professional development expense.

The answer to this challenge, which progressive companies are providing up front for their executives, is a Professional Development Spending Account(PDSA). The additional cost for such a program is usually negligible, since almost all companies, in theory, budget for training and development costs as a percentage of salaries.

A Professional Development Spending Account (PDSA) gives the choice to the executive. This allows them to choose the most appropriate professional development activities for their needs without having to ask for approval for each activity. Even better, companies can incorporate an assessment of the use of the PDSA in executive performance reviews. This process can assess how effective and relevant the executives were in spending these allocated dollars.

Retaining executives continues to be a challenge for a number of companies. Those organizations that invest smartly in the continued development of their executives will benefit greatly.

A PDSA (Professional Development Spending Account) is one perk that no executive should be without. If you don’t have one, ask for it. Let me know how it works out for you.

Samuel

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Samuel Dergel is a Principal with Dergel Executive Search. He is an executive search consultant, executive coach, blogger, speaker, trainer and author.

This blog originally appeared in LinkedIn Pulse

Filed Under: Base salary, Cash bonus, Executive coaching, Executive Compensation, Executive Leadership Blog, Long-term incentives, PDSA, Perks, Personal Development Spending Account, Short -term incentives, Training and development

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