I don’t know if you will agree, but I’m almost convinced that email is going to stick around for a while as a business tool. This being the case, I would like to make the bold suggestion to all of you who write emails (and hopefully that is everyone in The FENG) that you “get with the prog...
Aug 21, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
As you know, each week I publish a list of our new members and I ask each member of our august body to call at least one person from the list. I sometimes spend close to a full day out of my personal schedule to review new member candidates. I only ask that each of you call one person R...
Aug 19, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
Most of us CFO/Controller types find talking on the telephone one of the more difficult things we do. I believe one of the reasons is that most of our work is accomplished in written form. When we do present our work to the boss or to our peers, it is usually done face to face and to a ver...
Aug 12, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
I’m not sure why people go their own way, but the standard resume framework is very much the “gold” standard. If you accept the idea that most resumes only get 10 seconds, I think you can begin to appreciate why straying from the traditional structure can get you into trouble. Of course yo...
Aug 08, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
There is nothing worse in this world than to finally get an interview and to blow the opportunity because someone asked you a question you weren’t prepared to answer. I don’t know why some very obvious questions can take a seasoned financial professional by surprise, but they do. Perhaps w...
Aug 07, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
If I had to put my finger on the one issue that confuses senior financial professionals it is the subject above. Who is the customer for your services, and what is your product? When I have chatted with or had email exchanges with members who were going through outplacement, the bad advice...
Aug 05, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
Despite all the financial scandals that we have seen in the past few years, most of us financial types by our nature have a hard time lying. For the most part, it just isn’t part of our DNA. While we may be burdened with many secrets of the organization such as payroll, we get around the q...
Aug 02, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
Many years ago, my son and I were rowing out to our mooring to go sailing with my father-in-law. My son, who was probably 8 or 9 at the time, asked my father-in-law if he knew the EXACT difference between a rhinoceros and a piece of paper. After several totally wrong guesses, my son gave h...
Jul 29, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
I am sure you have heard it too, the at length explanations others give as to why they are looking for another job. Sometimes I forget to mention at the beginning of our meeting in Connecticut that I really don’t need to know and you don’t really need to tell anyone. No explanation is actu...
Jul 26, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
Perhaps because we fill in so many forms during the course of our careers, it seems that as financial types we are always looking for a fill in the blank approach to just about everything. Is there a formula for 90-second announcements, I am frequently asked? Well, there are some basic gui...
Jul 25, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
Ah, the great age of sail! For many hundreds of years, men built great numbers of wooden sailing vessels for commercial purposes and for the making of war. The truth, as hinted at by the saying above is that there was very little that was actually romantic or desirable about a life at sea....
Jul 19, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
There is a memorable scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in which Paul Newman is challenged for control of the Hole in the Wall Gang. They agree that the best way to settle their disagreement is with a knife fight. Paul suggests that before they get started that they should decide ...
Jul 17, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
Over the years, I have found that I keep certain CD’s in my car and I play them over and over again. I supposed I shouldn’t admit this to a wide audience, but one of my favorite music categories is sea shanties. (It goes along with my hobby of sailing). When I had cassette tapes, I actuall...
Jul 16, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
Tomorrow I will begin processing a rather large batch of new members. It is actually a two week batch as I was on vacation the past two weeks. I realize that new members are not totally indicative of how everyone is doing their resume, but I have to tell you that their resumes aren’t all t...
Jul 12, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
One of the comments I have heard from time to time is that the new job that someone just found isn’t as exciting as the one they lost. It seems at times that most of our members find themselves in a downward spiral as they change jobs. The companies are smaller and often the pay packages a...
Jul 11, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
To quote George Bernard Shaw: “The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” With respect to our power to communicate, we live in a remarkable period of time. I normally respond to 50-100 unique emails every day. I have been doing this for many years and ye...
Jul 09, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
There was mention of an article several years ago in The Wall Street Journal that Americans have fewer close friends. Intrigued at the time, I “Googled” and found a few press reports about the article. According to an article in American Sociological Review, in 1985, the average American h...
Jun 20, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
I spoke to one of our members of long standing a few years ago who joined when we only had 100 members. Yes, I know it is hard to believe that The FENG only had 100 members as recently as 1997, but it’s true. We have indeed come a long way! I guess I had one of my many flashbacks while I w...
Jun 07, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
If only those you interviewed with were legally able to tell you the truth about why you aren’t being considered for a particular job. Unfortunately, the things they are allowed to say to you are very limited. Lawyers do really run the world. If we lived in a Jerry Seinfeld world, they wou...
Jun 03, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
As it has been said, never put off until tomorrow that which you can do today. Of all the things one can buy with money, time is not one of them. For those who “walk among us” who are thinking that the time is not far off when they might have to look for another job, I would suggest that t...
May 30, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG
The resume has a long and established history in our country, and while from time to time I see “variations on the theme,” the standard resume format is the one I always recommend. I would hope that all of us have lamented as Chief Financial Officers about our crazy vendors. Why can’t ever...
May 29, 2018
By Matt Bud, The FENG