“Show me the Money”

In the movie Jerry Maguire Cuba Gooding Jr. acts like every CFO I have known when he screams “Show me the money” over and over again at Tom Cruise. It works …eventually.

I have always worked to build high-performing teams. The support of what is now called the Chief People Officer has been necessary but when it comes to spending money and risk taking the Chief Financial Officer is the one who demanded that I “show him the money”.

This was often indirectly via the CTO or CEO.

Because dollars and cents were always more important than people I always hid my diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) behind an automation initiative that added bottom-line value to the business.

“Show me the money” examples

· In AT&T — I aligned people products and processes to customer needs with a 3-day residential forum costing in excess of $250k …. this was in conjunction with other initiatives such as 360 feedback to identify and eliminate toxic behaviours. The result was a greater increase in profitability than any AT&T company globally and eliminated all resistance to further change.

· In Gateway — I reduced the cost of integrating a new product by 30–100 times, there were 1500 products a month in 15 languages, and saved in excess of $100m. I had complete freedom of operations until Icarus like I flew too close to the sun and doubled productivity in Ireland much to the chagrin of the local team.

· In Western Wireless — I again aligned people, products, and processes reducing the cost of product introduction to far below our larger competitors, saving millions. This contributed to driving up business value. In Austria, a business bought for €10 which was losing money was sold for €1.3Bn 4 years later.

One expression I used with my manager was “If I save you $1m I need permission to make a $100k ‘mistake’ ” — this “mistake” was often supporting team members to do things that would not normally be approved.

Resistance is futile but inevitable

In every company and every group, there is the “in-group” and the “out-group”. I always joke that you will never know if you are in the “out-group” but will always know when you are in the “in-group”. These cliques are usually the movers and shakers in a business and are a key source of resistance to change.

The in-group usually consists of the CEO, CFO, CTO, and perhaps Sales and Marketing. The out-group is usually IT and HR (CPO) — the ones that don't do “real” work and who have small budgets.

Getting the CPO to share their small budget for DEI consulting is usually possible because you are going to keep the in-group out of gaol, however, it's a bit like taking the sweepings off the floor. IT(CIO) is the same, it has a small budget and is unimportant until the sky falls with a cyberattack. I found that when my IT teams partnered with global CFO teams to implement Sarbanes Oxley 404 regulations, the resistance to change disappeared and I was for once definitely in the in-group.

So partnering with the CFO or CEO to drive bottom-line change using DEI will eliminate resistance to the proposed change and drive company-wide functional engagement.

Hooking the in-group fish

DEI along with culture change is often seen as an attempt to cure world hunger — impossible and wasteful.

Seeking out and resolving the problems that are the focus of management's attention is where I have always started.

· Pain points (people, product, process) — alignment.

· Rework levels on services and products — quality.

· Global outsourcing gap between planned and actual benefits — process.

· Customer feedback — communication and quality.

· Organisation structure — vertical alignment but horizontal inefficiencies — KPI.

· Staff turnover and recruitment, retention, training, and operations costs — recognition and motivation.

Conclusion

I know this works because I have found it works in practice — so much so that some who have resisted change beyond that which was sensible now call me “The Equalizer”.

I suggest you adopt a Nike strategy and “Just Do It”…. after all you know the worst doesn't always happen and if you can show them the money you may even become their hero.