• Understand why Marketing is treating your CFO like the fun police
• Learn how a partnership mentality between Marketing and Finance will change the game for you
• Discover how we empower CFOs to operate as enterprise leaders
A question that came up on the podcast recently has stayed with me:
How do I get Marketing to stop treating Finance like the fun police?
It came from a CEO describing a familiar scene: Marketing is presenting an ambitious plan to the SLT, and the story is compelling. But the CFO knows the budget won't stretch to meet the ambition, and that they'll have to be the one to say no (again).
When this - or a version of this - plays out regularly, the CFO becomes positioned as the blocker. And when they're seen this way, they can't operate as an enterprise partner. The cost of this is tangible: the CEO wastes energy playing referee, and carries more decision load than they should.
But when Marketing and the CFO come to each other from a place of shared understanding, the dynamic changes. The CFO no longer needs the CEO to step in. And the CEO gets what they actually want: a leadership team that can work through these conversations themselves.
Nobody likes to be the fun police
Nobody becomes a CFO because they enjoy saying no.
That's particularly true of the growth-minded CFOs we develop in The CFO Boardroom. We turn them into enterprise leaders and help them cultivate good relationships cross functionally, so the CEO doesn't have to be brought into everything.
These are leaders who care deeply about growth and understand the central role Sales and Marketing play in it. The CFO often wants to support the initiative. They want to stay aligned with the rest of the leadership team. But the reality is that budgets are finite, and someone has to introduce constraint. When that happens late, the CFO is almost guaranteed to be seen as blocking progress, regardless of intent.
What Marketing is actually responding to
The 2025 Gartner CMO Spend Survey shows that marketing budgets, as a percentage of revenue, have been declining steadily over the past decade. Marketing leaders are being asked to deliver growth with fewer resources, under increasing scrutiny.
When the CFO understands this position, they can be more sympathetic to the pressure Marketing is under. Coming from this place of empathy helps strengthen the relationship and avoids being seen as resistant for resistance-sake.
The same Gartner research shows that 94% of CMOs struggle to translate high-level enterprise directives into actionable marketing plans, often due to short-term pressures and competing priorities across the business.
This is precisely where a playmaker CFO adds disproportionate value. They can help turn broad objectives into clear commercial parameters that Marketing can work within. When the partnership happens early, the CFO isn't policing decisions; they're shaping them while there's still room to adjust (and winning Marketing over in the process).
From saying no to saying "yes... and"
One of the most useful ideas I've borrowed over the years comes from an unexpected place: improvisational theatre.
Dr Cale Bain, a friend of mine who has a PhD in comedy (truly!) and teaches improvisation, once explained that the key to improv is "yes... and." You don't shut an idea down. You accept what's been offered and build on it.
I've found this principle translates well into strategic discussions.
When a CFO repeatedly shows their support for Marketing - even in tiny ways - a partnership mentality develops. So discussions begin to look like "yes, that's a great plan... and I think we can get there by doing X."
The importance of trust
So, today I invite you to consider:
How is your CFO currently experienced by the rest of the leadership team?
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!
