How flexible are you? When we talk about flexibility – outside of the yoga kind – it could mean any number of things.

Are you flexible on salary? Can you shift your working commitments around? What about your skill-set – can that change? Finance is often a catch-all function – so can you inject flexibility into your team? Do you quickly pick up critical aspects of a new business?

I must be flexible in my line of work, too. That might mean taking on a search for a very diverse role. Or it might be flexing my own approach to an assignment.

Take a recent position I was asked to help fill for an investment company that manages metal-bashing and digging firms. The CFO I met alongside the CEO, to plan the search brief, turned out to be much more energised and engaged when we spoke one on one. He flexed his demeanour in the CEO’s company. (I got much more from meeting him solo.)

We’d zeroed in on a strong candidate – but the CEO wanted to see a lot more people, “just in case”. At the heart of the issue was the relationship between the top pair. I always ask, “is there anything I can do to help people get to where they need to be,” but in this case it was me who needed to be flexible. This was a situation with a lot of background they needed to resolve first; the CEO needed to work through his uncertainty. But we got there in the end!

It's often the case that one group (candidates) buy in to a potential commitment, while another (board members, usually) are still unsure. Both are being “flexible”. But one is bending to a role and committing, while the other wants flexibility from others.

In the best cases, clients know that the brief needs to feature flexibility as a quality in candidates – but remains crystal clear on how they would like that to manifest. Knowing what kind of flexibility candidates need to demonstrate makes our job of finding the right people easier; and their job of taking the plunge to hire, too.

Being flexible is also about “meeting people where they are”. When we talk to candidates, we're building a long-term relationship. It was disappointing to hear at my workshop at the FDs’ Forum recently so many finance heads complain of being ghosted by headhunters. They relish feedback from interviews, especially if they didn’t get the job. They’re flexible enough to take on board advice afterwards – if only the headhunters would offer it (or even just stay in touch).

That’s the basis of a fruitful relationship: being flexible about your commitment, knowing when to engage – and going the extra mile to help people get what they need.

- Ray Nicholls

Things to do...

***Now...***
**Get tax advice**
We thought Budget changes kicking off in April would be worst of it. But the public finances still need juice, and with further urgent spending (plus tariff fun), that’s going to mean more change. Plan ahead.

***Next...***
**Get in touch**
The big contacts book refresh we did at the end of 2024 has triggered so many conversations and updates, and opened up lots of opportunities – both sought and offered. If we haven't yet, we should talk...

***Later...***
**Get ready to buy**
The data for PE-backed business remains dicey. Persistent low fund churn, assets marked too high and potential changes to tax rules in the US could see a scramble for sales – at good prices?

Lies, damned lies, and...

Third-third-third

European CFOs are split almost evenly on their outlook for 2025, according to an end-of-year survey by management consultancy Horváth. A third expected their businesses to perform positively this year, while another 32% foresee stable growth. The remainder? “Depressed” performance or things deteriorating.

Unsurprisingly for a management consultancy, the report identifies “performance management” as a key enabler of growth (with a bit of AI thrown into the mix). But closer to home, the “thirds” in a CIPD survey paint a more mixed picture. A third of employers, for example, say they “plan to reduce their headcount through redundancies or recruiting fewer workers.” Confidence is down, and the upcoming employer’s NI rise is denting sentiment further.

But wait! One final third: 33% of organisations are facing hard-to-fill vacancies. “This rises to half of employers in compulsory education and 46% of employers in construction – a key sector for fulfilling the Government's large-scale infrastructure plans.,” says the CIPD.

In other words, there are clear hot-spots (and not-spots) in the economy. But getting the right people into key roles and sectors is the must-have. It’s not enough to throw bodies at business growth, even if you can afford to; they have to be the right people, too.

On trend

AI: seriously, this again?

Just over two months into the Trump administration – and nine into Kier Starmer’s – and the froth is coming off the election boasts. Here in the UK, attention has focused on welfare and admin cuts to government. In the US, there’s still a full-blown culture war with no end in sight. But while the attacks by the White House on corporate DEI and ESG continue, we might be seeing a backlash to the anti-woke backlash.

Part of this is timing. Trump didn’t invent corporate back-pedalling on ESG and DEI – it was in full flow as early as 2023. Last year, US states starting test prosecutions of funds and companies with ESG policies for “failures of fiduciary duty”. And well before Trump’s win, the number of US jobs advertised with a DEI component had dropped back to 2019 levels (above). George Floyd's murder rightly triggered a bout of corporate soul-searching; but the real work of DEI is genuinely inclusive workplaces where any talent and hard work can flourish.

Although Trump has validated some of the nastier roll-back messages (even in the UK, voices such as Kemi Badenoch are trying to carve a niche by saying climate change is a lost cause), for many businesses this has been a chance to harden, not abandon, ESG and DEI.

There are material benefits to more inclusive work practices and taking a long-term view of business. (Argue it the other way: “our business is a better bet for investors when we create a hostile atmosphere for certain kinds of employee, and poison the local rivers.” Doesn’t work.)

And smart managers are realising: by recasting sensible practices like energy saving and equitable employment practices as not “woke” but just part of good governance – good fiduciary behaviour – they become properly embedded in everyday operations. (Some might even use the backlash as cover for getting rid of any ESG and DEI activities that were always more about PR than good management.)

People want to work for good companies with solid strategic vision, open and supportive workplaces, and a commitment to their communities. Call it what you want: long-term strategic value creation needs sustainable practices by equitable companies.

Words from the wise

Alan Greenberg: memo man

Lots of people know about Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders – a reliably folksy, down-to-earth summary of what the Sage of Omaha thought about his company, Berkshire Hathaway, and the world in which it operates. Fewer people know about the 1996 collection of annual memos from the CEO-then-chairman of Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns, Alan “Ace” Greenberg. I love it.

Called, in typically straightforward fashion, Memos From the Chairman, it's not long – about 160 pages – and covers his missives to associates from 1978 (when Greenberg became CEO after rising through the ranks at the bank) to 1995, two years after surrendering the post – although he remained chairman until 2001.

Its beauty is in the simplicity and consistency of the messaging. The golden thread is financial discipline. Every dollar counts, according to Greenberg, right down to reusing paper clips and rubber bands. Don’t be casual with expenses. Stay humble and kind – always return phone calls. Don’t follow the herd. And hire PSDs (that’s people who are Poor, Smart and have the Desire to build wealth).

These are all reminders that however fancy we think our businesses are, whatever edge we’re looking to exploit, the basics remain the same. (No wonder Buffett wrote a glowing foreword for the book.) Do a simple job well, it’s saying, and look after your clients. It’s certainly something I’ve tried to live by – especially returning phone calls!

In the financial crisis in 2008, of course, Bear Stearns sits alongside Lehman Bros. – a bank that collapsed and had to be bailed out and sold off as junk (to JPMorgan). Like Lehman, dabbling in derivatives and over-leveraging the balance sheet were the cause – concepts I think Greenberg might have avoided had he still had executive power at the bank. (Bear Stearns had been one of the few firms to survive the 1929 Wall Street Crash without even making any layoffs.) It’s a lesson in discarding old, safe ideas at your peril.

Passé meme of the month

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