Dr. Ayo Adepoju is currently the Group Chief Financial Officer of Ecobank, a pan-African bank.
In the world of finance, numbers don’t speak for themselves. You must speak for them.
The further up the ladder you climb in your finance career, the less it’s about technical mastery and the more it’s about narrative intelligence. The transition from a data-crunching analyst to a boardroom-savvy finance executive hinges not on your ability to know, but your ability to tell, to influence, to inspire and to align others through the power of story.
This reminds me of Marshall Goldsmith’s classic: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. At the early stage of your career, technical skills are king. But at the top? They’re simply expected as table stakes. What sets apart the truly influential CFOs, finance directors and business leaders is their ability to turn data into direction and insights into impact.
Here are five mindset shifts and communication strategies every finance executive must adopt:
1. Ditch the jargon.
Clarity is king. The goal of communication is not to sound intelligent. It’s to be understood.
Finance leaders often fall into the trap of overloading conversations and reports with technical terms that alienate the very stakeholders they’re meant to influence. Simplify. Break down complex concepts such as return on equity or capital allocation into language that drives action. Use your decomposition skills to break down items into simplistic terms. If your audience can’t grasp the message, they won’t act, and that’s a missed opportunity.
2. Focus on what really matters.
Don’t confuse precision with relevance. Align your insights with the organization’s strategy. You need to major in what is important and minor in what is less important.
Are you helping the business win? Do you understand the true drivers of value and the leading indicators that predict future outcomes? Or are you overly focused on lagging indicators that just speak to the past? Numbers matter, but context matters more. Know what keeps the CEO, investors and customers up at night. Speak to that.
3. Deliver balanced feedback—like a human.
Not every message needs to be a tough audit. Nobody likes 100% negative feedback. The best finance leaders know how to give constructive, not destructive, feedback. Use the sandwich approach: Lead with what’s working, then address what needs attention, and close with encouragement or a path forward. Why? Because influence requires emotional intelligence, not just financial intelligence. Don’t attack personalities. Focus on the message.
4. Look beyond the four walls.
Too often, finance becomes inward-looking, buried in dashboards and spreadsheets. But the real power comes from contextual intelligence. What’s happening in your market? What trends, risks and disruptors are shaping your industry? Speak the language of external relevance. Your insights should be both introspective and outward-facing. In fact, this perhaps is the biggest value you might be bringing to your business.
5. Adopt a ‘we’re in this together’ mindset.
Finance shouldn’t operate like an isolated referee. It should function as a strategic partner. Great finance leaders embrace a collaborative mindset. They recognize the helicopter view they possess and use it to empower others, not control them. It’s not finance versus everyone else. It’s one team. One mission. One outcome. Win or lose, we are in this together.
Final Thoughts
Your greatest asset as a finance leader isn’t technical mastery or GAAP knowledge. It’s your ability to connect. Through words. Through influence. Through stories that spark action.
So, what’s the one small communication habit you’ll change this week or month or year to become a better storyteller?
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