• Learn how to assess a CFO's strategic impact using the Strategic Visibility Matrix™
• Discover how CFO visibility can have a direct commercial impact on your organisation
• Uncover how to spot the hidden costs of under-leveraged CFOs
Back in the late 90s, when most CFOs were busy being very expensive accountants, the CFO of Disney Thomas Staggs was pushing Bob Iger to acquire Pixar. Then Marvel.
To say those bets paid off would be a multi-billion dollar understatement.
His personal brand was only strengthened when he took over as COO and doubled profits in a few short years.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that when he left the business in 2016 amidst a cloud of leadership uncertainty, company shares nosedived.
But it did. We weren't used to the personal brand of a CFO having such a huge commercial impact on a business.
Then, in 2023 during a period of ESPN related turmoil at Disney, the board brought Staggs back. The share price soared.
All off the back of one bean counter updating his LinkedIn profile.
That's the power of a visible CFO. They aren't just an asset in the figurative sense, but in the commercial sense too.
A good CFO has a high degree of internal visibility and credibility, combined with strong external presence and influence.
Get this balance wrong however, and not only are you missing out on opportunity, you're exposing the business to genuine risk.
Just like Staggs proved that a great CFO can have a positive commercial impact on a business, there is a conga line of CFOs proving that a failure to front up to stakeholders and provide a clear and consistent financial narrative can have an equally large negative impact on a business.
Just ask former Facebook CFO David Ebersman, whose failure to explain his last minute decision to increase the offering size just days before IPO will go down as one of Silicon Valley's great miscalculations.
So what does this mean for the average CEO? And how much visibility is enough?
That's where The CFO Strategic Visibility Matrix™ comes in.
This model helps you quickly diagnose where your CFO is positioned right now. It's a simple 2x2 grid. One axis measures internal visibility. The other, external. Where your CFO lands reveals their strategic impact, and helps you identify the associated risks.
How to Use the Matrix
Start by plotting your CFO's current visibility across two dimensions:
1. Internal Visibility: How visible is your CFO within the business? Do the CEO, Board, and senior leaders see them as indispensable? Do cross-functional teams proactively seek their input?
2. External Visibility: How often is your CFO representing the business externally? Are they active in investor briefings, media engagements, industry events, or conversations with strategic partners?
Where they land tells you something important about their strategic influence. And your business risk.
What Your Results Mean
1. Compliance Officer (Low Internal, Low External Visibility)
This CFO is competent, but peripheral. They're operationally fine but they aren't adding much value beyond the basics.
• The CFO is reactive and seen as administrative. They're not influencing internal decisions or external perceptions.
• Lack of strategic input increases the risk of financial, operational, and reputational blind spots.
• Signals a risk-averse or outdated organisational culture where finance is siloed.
• Market may undervalue the business due to lack of visible strategic leadership in finance.
CEO Insight: If your CFO is stuck here, it's not just their problem, it's yours. This quadrant often reflects a deeper issue in the organisation's leadership culture: one that sidelines finance and avoids challenging the status quo.
From time to time, a CFO may need to sit in this quadrant. But if they linger here, the real question is about your organisation's risk culture.
As risk management expert David Gunn recently told me on the podcast;
"Risk isn't a compliance activity. It's an attribute that needs to sit in the DNA of every staff member and leader."
If your CFO is pulled too often into compliance mode, it could be a signal that your organisation treats risk as a box-ticking exercise rather than a shared leadership responsibility. And that leaves you exposed to blind spots the business can't afford.
2. Internal Advisor (High Internal, Low External Visibility)
This CFO is a trusted voice inside the business. They shape decisions, lead well, and have deep organisational influence. But externally, they're a ghost.
• CFO is influential internally but invisible to external stakeholders.
• Misses the chance to actively shape investor perceptions or position the company strategically in the market.
• The business may be undervalued due to a lack of narrative alignment between internal strategy and external perception.
• May cause the CEO to become a bottleneck for external engagement, overburdened with being the sole strategic voice.
CEO Insight: You can fix this. Lend your CFO visibility. Share the stage. Send them to be the face of the company at industry events. Give them the mic at investor days or media briefings. This is the easiest one for CEOs to influence because typically the CEO is the one whose calendar is full of external opportunities. Just give one to your CFO!
3. External Influencer (Low Internal, High External Visibility)
This CFO looks impressive on the surface. The CFO is well-regarded in the market, but behind closed doors, their influence is thin.
• The CFO may be great with stakeholders and media but lacks influence within the business.
• Risks being seen internally as an 'empire builder' or superficial operator.
• Without strong internal relationships, execution suffers. The strategy may sound good outside but fall flat inside. Execution and compliance is therefore likely to be poor.
• May struggle with emotional intelligence or peer alignment, which undermines credibility with the CEO and senior team.
CEO Insight: External polish without internal influence is a red flag. Invest in rebuilding internal trust and cohesion before scale magnifies the disconnect.
4. Strategic Catalyst (High Internal, High External Visibility)
This is the CFO who helps you sleep at night (and scale during the day).
Expect them to:
• Challenge and sharpen strategic decisions at the highest level
• Inspire confidence among investors, analysts and customers
• Build high-performing finance teams that scale with the business
This is the CFO who gives the CEO leverage. And creates genuine commercial value. Just like Thomas Staggs.
How to Use This in Your Business
Start by identifying where your CFO currently sits. Then map where they need to be based on your business goals. This is a tool for alignment, not blame. Use it to start a real conversation about leadership visibility and influence with your CFO.
And if you need any help in shaping these conversations, reach out for an obligation free discovery call with me.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
This is the trusted guide for CFOs to lead with IMPACT and create VALUE.
It's time for women in finance to find power in their purpose!
