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The following is an edited abstract from CFO Thought Leader’s “Ask Ethan” podcast featuring Ethan Carlson, CEO, Carlson Management Consulting, and Jack Sweeney, co-host of CFO Thought Leader.

CFOTL Hello. We’re pleased to have Ethan Carlson of Carlson Management Consulting joining us once again. Last time, we explored the area of corporate performance management with Ethan. And near the end of our discussion we sort of bumped up against another topic—about communication—that we called “the CFO as storyteller.” Ethan, first of all: Welcome, good to have you back.

Ethan Oh, thanks, CFOTL. It’s great to be back with you here.

CFOTL It was interesting last time that when you were sharing with us some insights into effective corporate performance management, more than once we came back to communication as a primary driver. Can you help give this subject area some context? Effective communication has always been important, so why is this such a worthy topic today?

Ethan I think that it’s a really important topic for financial executives and one that’s becoming increasingly so. As a function, we’re being asked to be ever broader leaders throughout the organization. Financial information, metrics analysis, is not something that on face value is common for everyone to understand. If you’re a financial executive accountant, a CPA, financial metrics numbers, balance sheets, income statements, we look at them and we immediately know what everything means. Outside of this close-knit group, it becomes less obvious to people.

I think that as financial executives are looking to engage a broader group inside and outside of their company, their ability to translate these metrics and performance elements of the company and what it all means to everyone else becomes increasingly important. I also think that it’s important, as well, to demonstrate that as a financial executive you’re more than just a numbers person. Yes, you understand the integrity of the financials, but you also can translate them into what it means for the business. This sort of demonstrates to people in other functions, as well, that you are a fully well-rounded business leader.

This has both a communication component and a credibility one. I think that as financial executives are looking to broaden their role—broaden their participation throughout their organizations—communication, storytelling, and engagement, and how they can do this, is really very important.

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