Do you want to keep up to date with the latest developments in finance, but you are short of time? Don’t worry. CFO South Africa weekly collects 10 of the most important articles from international media for your convenience.
1. The 1 Public Speaking Skill You Can Learn From Microsoft's Best Pre...
Microsoft vice president Panos Panay oversees the company's hardware products, from Surface to Xbox. After his keynotes and product demonstrations, audience members often post positive feedback on Twitter about the presentation itself. "Passion" is one of the most common words they use to describe him.
2. 22 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Said 1 Thing Separates People Who Achieve ...
Steve Jobs set extremely high expectations. He challenged other people to work harder, work longer, and do more -- sometimes more than they thought was possible. Jobs was ... well, let's just say that Steve Jobs was demanding. But he also believed in the power of asking. I've never found anybody that didn't want to help me [Jobs says in the video below] if I asked them for help ...
3. Rethinking the workplace: Flexibility, fairness, and enlightened au...
What sort of workplace should we expect in the future? How will automation affect jobs? How benign is the so-called gig economy? And what will it take for governments and companies to create "better" work? James Manyika, chair of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), sat down recently to discuss these and other issues with Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the London-based Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), following publication earlier this year of an independent review of employment practices in the modern economy, which Taylor led.
4. 4 Leadership Lessons You Should Learn Early
Leaders don't just think about the future, they think in it. Once they have a clear picture of what they want to see, where they want to beas an individual or as a team and why, they begin to mold the world around them to achieve it. I learned a lot in the military about leadership and continue learning today by helping others with their "molding process" as an executive coach. Here are four more leadership lessons to share with you:
5. Thinking Thin
A new book showcases 25 years of successful implementations of the strategy known as "lean." The idea of lean started with Sakichi Toyoda, a Japanese inventor and industrialist who pioneered the idea of "autonomation," otherwise known as "intelligent automation" or "automation with a human touch," according to Wikipedia. From there, the concept blossomed, eventually encompassing techniques like diagramming work processes, digging for root causes, developing standardized procedures, and adopting continuous improvement.
6. Leadership Is a Journey, Not a Destination
Every context requires different talents and skills, so leaders must stay deeply aware and learn to adjust themselves along the way. Whether you are a leader of today or tomorrow - and no matter your field - thinking consciously about leadership is essential, as this will affect your choices, decisions, and performance.
7. The Real Reason Why It's so Hard to Be Happy, According to Science
Why haven't our brains learnt to get rid of negative emotions? I have studied questions like this deeply and interviewed tons of experts from psychologists to neuroscientists (and much more) - and I think I can help shed some light on why this question is a bit misguided and also give you some simple and easy tools to help deal with negative emotions.
8. Good Strategy Execution Requires Balancing 4 Tensions
Putting strategy into practice is notoriously difficult. In our experience, the primary obstacle to strategy execution is a failure to balance the inherent tensions that characterize any major execution effort. Successful strategy execution calls for skillful orchestration of sometimes opposing forces and competing needs. In particular, there are four core tensions that leaders need to balance.
9. FDs need to change their financial modelling to stay ahead
At the speed that the world is changing, it seems hard to keep up with the latest trends in technologies, the newest software updates, and the must-have apps that make your life easier. For CFOs, this speed of change is making financial information outdated in a matter of minutes, not months. And as financial models and forecasts are being modified, adjusted and improved, the need for on-the-fly modeling (OTF) has become more apparent.
10. Must-Read Books Recommended by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Oth...
Many of the brightest minds in technology, entertainment, business, and philanthropy have said they owe their success to reading. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates reportedly reads 50 books a year. Oprah Winfrey has called reading "her personal path to freedom." Gates and Winfrey, along with a number of other successful people, have made book recommendations over the years. Here are some of the titles that could help mold the future generation of wildly successful moguls.
