Cathy Ross, senior vice president and CFO of Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Express, excels by focusing on facts, analyzing opportunities, and surrounding herself with bright people.
Laurie Brannen: How important is it for people in finance to have a good understanding of the overall business, and what do you do to help educate them about the big picture?
Cathy Ross: At FedEx, finance people have always been very involved in how the business is run. I personally believe that unless a finance person understands the business, they cannot be very effective in their role. So, we make sure new people understand operations. We also devote quite a bit of time to understanding the environment that we operate in -- we call it baselining -- to better understand the competitive environment, regulatory, or any other key issues that may come into play. And, from that involvement, then hopefully we can help to better shape the decisions that are made in the company.
LB: What does finance do to further the culture of high performance at FedEx?
CR: We have a strategic long-range and short-term planning process. We are in the midst of developing dashboards and making sure that we have clearly defined the metrics for each of the critical levers involved, both for the long-range plan and the short-term plan. That is one of the ways we help to drive the high performance of FedEx Express. Our processes are geared toward ensuring that we are driving performance with full ownership by the operational groups.
LB: FedEx is on a path of international growth. What is your individual role and the role of the overall finance function in growth initiatives?
CR: My role is geared toward evaluating opportunities. One of the key roles that the CFO plays is to understand where we may have potential opportunities around the world, where we might have emerging markets and how we can play to those markets; [to evaluate] how we could enter into those areas, what opportunities they might present for us; and then to help set some priorities. In terms of our staff around the world, we are very much involved in making sure that there is a correct control environment, and also playing that critical role of evaluating opportunities and helping set priorities on a lower, local level. As a result of that, we have undertaken, over the last three years, a project that we call our Finance Best in Class Initiative. It's basically taking financial processes from 52 countries and consolidating them into three financial service centers around the world.
LB: How do you perceive the CFO's role in internal controls and governance, and how hands-on can the CFO be without sacrificing attention to other areas of responsibility?
CR: The CFO's role in internal controls and governance issues is extremely important, even without Sarbanes-Oxley. But I fully believe that the CFO is not in that role alone. The tone at the top is very important, and the CFO has to set that tone, but the senior management team also has to set that tone. We have to ensure that there is a clear understanding of ethics and what is ethical behavior throughout the organization. We have to set an environment where we reward people for doing what is right. In fact, we have to reward courage.
LB: Are any new initiatives taking up a significant amount of your time?
CR: I spend a lot of time on our growth and profit opportunities. I also spend a lot of time on our strategic plan, that long-range roadmap, because the short-term generally will take care of itself. As an executive team, we have to look beyond the short-term, so I'm spending more time on where we should be three years from now, or five years from now. Or, looking toward what opportunities we can capture now that will really help position the company in a different way in the future. On the finance side of the house, I'm spending a lot of time streamlining and standardizing all of our financial platforms. And my third focus area is on the people side. We've got to make sure that we're continuously developing people, as they are our greatest resource.
LB: What aspects of your job do you get the most satisfaction from?
CR: I really get a lot of satisfaction from dealing with the business issues or opportunities; they're the things that make you think outside of the box. I also get a lot of satisfaction working on the leadership side. People are looking for a vision, and they're also looking for recognition of what their capabilities could be. And as finance managers, we have to recognize that we are only as good as the people we have.
LB: What skills do you believe have most contributed to your professional advancement?
CR: I think I'm good at putting aside emotionalism and dealing with the facts. I have been told very often by the team at FedEx Express that I'm very fact-driven. I have good analytical skills, and I'm able to dissect problems and situations quickly. I also think that having good interpersonal skills and being able to build and sustain relationships is very important. Within finance, we do more by influence than we actually do ourselves. And I recognized at some point long ago that I am not the smartest person in the room, that there are a lot of smarter people out there that will generally provide a much better answer when they are consulted. So I have tried to surround myself with high talent and also with the kind of people who are not afraid to speak up, and actually to encourage them to speak up.
LB: What kind of advice would you give to someone starting out in a finance career who hopes to get to the level you have reached?
CR: Learn as much about the business and the business environment that their company operates within as possible. Also, I encourage people not to get tied to a pure finance career path. I actually left finance a couple of times for a short period of time. That kind of experience really broadens the individual's perspective.
LB: Financial Executives International just published a survey about the differences in leadership styles between men and women in finance. The survey suggested that women leaders are more persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done, and are more willing to take risks than their male counterparts. What, if any, are the characteristics that you think distinguish women leaders in finance from their male counterparts?
CR: Well, gender differences exist in all fields, not just in finance. We are what we are; we are women, or we are minorities, or we have different cultural views. The fact that we all bring different ways of operating to the table is one of the reasons that diversity is so important. It really helps us to ensure that all of the different approaches and thought patterns that fully surround a particular issue come out. About the point about women having a strong need to get things done: I do believe that's true. The way we go about getting things done may be different from men, but we are very getting-it-done, getting-it-over-with, getting-a-decision-made driven, and we will find ways to make sure that that happens.