268. CFO 4.0 Revisited: Integration, automation and finding your niche with Cécile Parker
Episode Details
Transcript
For this CFO 4.0 Revisited episode, Hannah Munro is joined by Cécile Parker, Group CFO at Vital Energi Utilities, to explore how finance leaders can play a far more integrated and influential role across the business.
Cécile shares her journey to CFO and offers a clear view on how the function must evolve. This is not about finance sitting on the sidelines. It is about stepping forward, embedding into operations, and driving meaningful change across people, processes and sustainability.
What’s covered in this episode
- Why finance leaders must stop underestimating the impact of automation
- How to find and define your niche as a CFO
- The importance of embedding finance across the wider business
- Building the skills and capabilities within a modern finance team
- Understanding and influencing finance’s role in sustainability and carbon impact
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Explore other CFO 4.0 Podcast episodes here.
- Subscribe to our Podcast!
Speaker 0
Welcome to CFO four point o, the future of finance. The CFO role is changing rapidly, moving from cost controller to strategic visionary. And with every change comes opportunity. We are here to help you take advantage of this transition to win at work, drive your career forwards, and lead with confidence. Join Hannah Monroe, managing director of ITAS, a financial transformation consultancy, as she interviews key experts to give you real world advice and guidance on how to transform your processes, people, and data. Welcome to CFO four point o, the future of finance. Speaker 1
So hello, everybody, and welcome to this episode of CFO four point o. Also with me today is Cecile Parker. Now Cecile is the group CFO of Vital Energy, and we're gonna talk a little bit about her her journey to CFO. We're gonna talk about on a wide range of topics, everything from, carbon footprint through to integrating finance and to other business. So an exciting series of topics. So welcome, Cecile. Fabulous to have you on the show. Speaker 2
Thank you very much, Heather. Thank you. Speaker 1
So tell us a little bit about yourself, Cecile. That that, you know, that name sounds very French. So, Speaker 2
you know, tell us Speaker 1
about where you were on your journey. Speaker 2
I I was born in France, forty five years ago. And, to be fair, growing up, I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do, until I fell in love with horses. I decided to look at various jobs around horses. So I tried many sports and gave up after a few weeks. But I was still memorized mesmerized with, with horses, and still am today. So be quite best or, maybe also, going into the army as a mounted, horse guard. I know it's very different from an accountant. Life would be so different today. And, so I kind of knew that both option required very good grades, and degrees, and I was always a total geek when I grew up. Always worked really hard at school, to the point that, for example, when I was horse riding, I still had my revision cars and studied while I was on a horse. So that's, that's how geeky I was. My mom also reminded me, last week that, when came first of July, actually, which is when the school holiday started in France, I was straight to the supermarket buying holiday revision box, for the following year just to get ahead, basically. That's yeah. That's the geek. Hey. I can talk to you, man. Speaker 1
I remember my dad buying me maths books for train journeys because that that was my idea of fun. Right? Speaker 2
And you're in good company, right? Real geeks here. It's a real disease exactly being a nerd, you know. And I keep telling that to my son actually that even though I was a nerd back then, I'm kinda cool now. I haven't turned out too bad. So I think it was Paris always has a big bad boy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, I came the equivalent of ELA level because, obviously, we don't have that in France. And once I got the grade I needed, I'd also realized two things during that time. So I had issues with, authority, difficult childhood with, divorced parents and, yeah, aggressive father, I would say. So the army was looking less appealing. And that well, I'm actually quite a bit squeamish, so the, the option was also, slowly disappearing, to be honest. So I did more, soul searching, and thought a business degree actually could be, right up my street, kind of more general. And I did have, like, various business acumen, so I thought, yeah, that that could, start with that and then maybe specialize in one area. So in France, you have to do two years, at prep school, before you can get into the, the business school. So because of my nerdiness, I managed to do that in one year and get fast tracked, to business school. So off I went. And I ended up in Compiegne, which is an hour from Paris, and I did my first two years of business study there and really really enjoyed it. And for the third year, I had the opportunity to basically go abroad and to do a double business degree in another language. And at the time there were a different option, but actually the best one for me was to go to Holland. Now I'm not gonna lie to you, most people went to Holland so not for study. Yeah. They went there for the alcohol and for the drugs. It'll be no surprise to you, however, that being a geek, I actually studied to the deployment of most of my classmates, so and my roommates as well. So they were all becoming expert in some kind of chemistry whilst I was actually doing the, the curriculum, with a select few others. I was not the only one, but there was definitely a, you know, a reduced, population. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so whilst at business school, we had to do a placement at the end of every year, and which I think is really good, by the way, to have people coming in, you know, through their their use actually, or younger years to try and get an experience at work rather than just, you know, the studies trying to apply what they do. So, I was lucky enough to have a placement at Coca Cola in South of France in one of their manufacturing plants and with a secret recipe and all that. And I had the best time there. I really enjoy working in finance, and I think that's when I found my niche, basically. I met some really good people that kind of taught me to really like numbers, spreadsheets, and, you know, and be even more geeky. So, that was a defining moment for me. And they offered me a job whilst I was there, actually, but at very entry level, and I thought I want to finish my degree. So, obviously, I I kept in touch, but carried on with my degree. So So at the end of the double degree, after that year in Holland, I also had to do a longer placement. So this time I was here and, and to validate that I could speak English, which at the time I couldn't, the placement had to be in an English speaking country. So I got in touch with Kokoro again, because I thought there might be, an opportunity to go to some glamorous places like their headquarters in Atlanta, for example. But I was sent to Ireland. So in, in Drogheda, forty five minutes north of Dublin, and, at this stage, generally, my English was just not good at all. I was able to read and write, but I couldn't have that kind of conversation. But, off I went to Ireland, and again, you know, I just put myself into it, basically, and I had no choice but to speak English because nobody spoke French there, as you can imagine. So it was a bit of broken English initially with a very, very strong accent. But, you know, I got there. I got there in the end. And the Irish are super inclusive. Like, I really enjoyed my time at Coca Cola there, and, still have loads of friends there. And on a day to day, they really engage me. I must have been excruciating for them. I think when they were asking me a question, I had to kind of put sentences together. And, by the time I'd actually string a sentence together, they'd moved on subjects, really. So, but, you know, it just clicked and and I got on with it and I learned. I probably learned to swear a lot as well because they're Irish. Right? So so so Coca Cola Ireland was, the really start of my career, I would say. So I got a job in accounts payable, and I had the ingredient suppliers from a to f. And I just felt so important there. Have a good time. And you wanted to progress within finance, basically, and within your organization. And whilst I was there as well, I met one of my best mates, Imelda, twice my bride's maid. She has made me swear that if I get married again she will be my cheapest maid. If there's something wrong. And she was also in accounts payable. Unlike me she was very ambitious and we had, like, we had chats on what we wanted to do and we thought, you know what, We will do, our exams. And, at the time, Coca Cola was sponsoring the ACCA, so off we went and started on the journey. And it is a journey, especially when you're working, you know. Hands off to anybody or hats off to anybody who does it whilst working and with a family, because it was really, really hard. But, for me, I hadn't studied for a few months, so I had withdrawal syndrome. So I had to get back onto it, to be honest. So that was really really good. And whilst I was doing that I was also rolling SAP in, as a system and that gave me really good, experience in terms of rolling out ERP. And after that, basically, they rang me, back in south of France, and said, would I come over, basically, to, to roll out a new ERP? And they wanted somebody who spoke both English and and French, and at the time I was a bit better. So, not many candidates available for that. Just basically. So off I went, to South of France and I took the role of the financial controller. And that's been a theme, I guess, throughout my career, is just to put your hands up for various projects, outside of your normal day to day. Working accounts payable, it wasn't a straight path to doing ERP implementation, being involved in that. But, actually, at some point, somebody had said to myself and Melinda, do you guys want to be involved? And we went, yeah. You know, we'll learn tons doing that, so go for it. So, so I went back to South of France. I still studied for my ACCA because it takes a year, doesn't it? So I was studying at home, ordered the books and went to places to see the exams. And that worked really really well. But at the time my first husband came back with me to South of France but he couldn't find the job in South of France. So he was in Lyon which is about three hours So we were commuting, and that only worked for a number of months basically and we thought, no. We just need to move to a place where we can both get a job. So I moved to Paris, and I moved to Aston, Ariba. The sexy world of, transformation and distribution of power. So, again, you know, you go from Coca Cola to to this, but it's, our skills are very adaptable, and, I think it served me well to kind of move on to a different industry again. But, I think that that's one area where we'll touch on on on this in a bit, but the imposter syndrome, I think, is has been throughout my career something that I've really fought against, and, but to progress, you just have to, to get through it, basically, and, you know, where you've got that feeling of self doubt and, sort of personal incompetence that persists despite your education experience and accomplishments. You just have to fight through it and go for it. So working harder and holding yourself even higher, in terms of expectation, that's what I've been doing, basically. And every time kind of going for a new job and, something more challenging, stretching myself, basically. So, that's the time that I spent in, in Alston, did various kind of jobs and progressed internally, work on the, the cell of the, of of that division, which again was something new. And when I've done that, didn't really want to go back to kind of the, the old job. So I was able to go abroad, and I came back to, or I went to UK. I have other income back. I went to the UK, and that's eighteen years ago now. And, hopefully, by now I am actually fluent in English. It's still, you know, work in progress. Some of the words sometimes keep me. And, so when when I, moved to the UK, again, I was acting FD but I still had the the title of financial controller and, what I wanted was to really get to the next step in terms of, you know, getting a, an FDU role. So again I carried on, trying to get, you know, bigger and bigger role. I was head on to work for, Caldwell, John Caldwell, Caldwell Communication and, that was a fabulous experience. Many people, have said to me, oh, you know, that must have been really tough, and it was tough, because there was no we didn't carry any, any passenger, basically. You either worked really hard or you were kind of moving on. So, but really enjoyed that experience. Again, learned absolute lose. I'm working alongside very strong people. And I think that's, again, that's a thing to to work with people who really want to, do better for themselves but also do better for others. And that's what I want with my own team, really. So huge amount of work. Huge with mentors, mentor, sorry, along the way, and believe in yourself, and, you know, you kind of get there. And, what else? So then I had my son, Matthew, and so I went home maternity leave. And, when I went on maternity leave, actually, I I just I I was bored. So, I thought I'll do another finance degree, while someone's on that leave. And, people often look at me as though I was crazy at that point, but in my defense, I was sleeping a lot. So I just needed, you know, some time to get me going, something to get me going. So learning, I just think is the greater greatest wealth that you can have. And nobody can take ever take that away from you. So, you know, again, my advice to anyone is if you want to progress, just keep going and put your hands up for any project and learn, learn, learn. So I I did that. And I did the, international financial reporting, degree. Now it sounds really dry, and it actually is very dry. There's no other way about it. But, again, it just gave me another tool in my toolbox, in terms of, you know, things that I can apply at work and greater experience to to grow, basically, within their professional life. So, after that, I, I had my first, finance director role, and, it was it was hard. It is a shock when, you know, the you are signing off the numbers and you are finally kind of the, the first one in line in terms of, of finance. But, really embraced it, and I went from scratch to strength basically in in in those roles, and again in various industry, and finally in private equity. And, that's where I've definitely found, my specialism. I just love to come into a business, help it grow, and go through, private equity cycle, basically, and and see, you know, how we can make the business more attractive, and and sell it on, which is what I'm doing today. So that's my career. Speaker 1
That's a lot of career. And I've got honestly, I've got a list of questions as you go through. I was like, oh, that's fantastic. We need to get better. So I'm just gonna start. I'm a work my way backwards. So you said that, obviously, you found you or niche as a, as a CFO in private equity. So tell me a little bit about what it is that is different about private equity for you and what's so exciting and, you know, gets you interested? Speaker 2
So, usually, in in private equity, what I found what I've been exposed to is businesses that, will want to be sold at a later stage and, so the business needs to grow. Sometime, like, Vital, for example, it's a family business that has got so much potential And the, the attraction really is to to have something that you take from, two hundred million to, you know, five hundred, six hundred million and, in terms of value, really help create a much, more significant value of of the business, the enterprise value. And that comes with, implementing a lot of changes and working in better ways, and being more efficient. And that's really what drives me. I just I knew I couldn't work in a business that is just the same month after month, year after year, and just, you know, a bit of growth there and a bit of growth there. I really want to, be in businesses that have got that are undergoing some kind of significant transformation because I know I can really add value there. You know, that that's what kind of makes me get up in the morning, thinking, yeah, I can I can really add value rather than just produce numbers every month? The that's just not funny. Speaker 1
No. Absolutely. I can't imagine you staying still long enough to just produce Speaker 2
numbers every month. And we Speaker 1
talked a little bit about confidence and, you know, that that whole concept of imposter syndrome. And, actually, when I listened to the history, you you've you've really sort of stuck your hand up all the way through. It's kind of been a few big leaps and a big, big jumps into different roles and different responsibilities. So how do, you know, how do you balance out when you look back in those days, you know, that feeling of not being good enough, but also somehow finding the courage to step up and and and ask and take up those opportunities? Speaker 2
So I I think I must like scary stuff, basically. Because often I have said, I'll do this, not necessarily knowing how to do it. But, I guess it gives you a bit of, your confidence grows and grows, over the years knowing that you've not let anybody down, and, you just have to go for it and push yourself really. And I think that's where I try and supplement that with all the learning that I'm doing on the side. I'm constantly trying to, you know, learn new things. And also, you're you're only as good as your team. I know it's a cliche, but it's genuinely true. And and that's the team that you've built underneath you, but also the team, you know, around you, and your broader life team, I would say. You know, husbands and wives and, not that I've got one of those, but, and and children and, you know, everybody around you, your friends, etcetera. So I think, you know, it it is pushing yourself, supplementing with learning, and and constantly, yeah, going forward. Speaker 1
Absolutely. And and and I have to say, you know, listening to a lot of the people that are successful, they always have that mindset of I need to learn more. I need to know more. So Speaker 2
Yeah. Speaker 1
And I guess as you've got Speaker 2
And feel fast as well. Sometimes, you know, sometimes you will not get where you need to be, but you just have to recognize, yeah, that didn't work. Try something else, and and react quickly, basically. Speaker 1
Yeah. Not fearing failure. Speaker 2
No. No. Speaker 1
And as you've gone through, we've talked a lot obviously, you've talked a lot about sort of, obviously, the more formal qualifications, the degrees, and the ACCA. But I kinda get the feeling there's a lot more learning that goes on in your has gone on in your journey than those more formal co qualifications. So what else do you think has really set you up for success on your journey? Speaker 2
So I've been in various, in various organization. I've been on technical training as well. So engineer training, health and safety training. Just I think every business that you're in, you need to embrace what the business is doing. There there's no way you can understand numbers, explain numbers, set strategy, or, you know, help set set the strategy without understanding what the business does or what people in the business do. So, yeah, I've done various other courses in and around that. Also the more, kind of, HR management type courses and, you know, communication and, I've just got a real thirst to learn. It helps with my confidence, basically. The more thing I know, the the better, yeah, I feel. The the worst nightmare for me is going into a meeting, completely unprepared, for example. Like, that's just you know, it doesn't happen. Or when it when it does, it's really by accident. And I just have to know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, yeah, it's it's more difficult. So the the the knowledge and, you know, supplementing that that, with various courses has just been, yeah, throughout my life. Speaker 1
I still study now. There you go. Hey. I I'm on the same piece. I've never you know, I'm always I, you know, I wish I had more time to spend learning. That's my pieces, but I I sneak it in on all sorts of things. But I completely agree there is there is something incredible about learning so much, and I'm in a really lucky position. I get to learn, every con every project that I work on, every customer I work with, I I learn something. I'll either learn about a business, a type of business, a type of process. And for me, that's incredibly exciting. Speaker 2
So Mhmm. Speaker 1
And and I guess it's the same for you because you talked a lot about sort of as you go into a business, you wanna kind of understand the nuts and the bolts to really get integrated Speaker 2
Yeah. Speaker 1
Into the organization. So tell me a little bit about how you approach that. Speaker 2
So, for example, at Vital, I have joined only recently, so it's nine months. Although I think people think I've been here for quite some time given the the number of changes that we've we've gone through. But I think whilst we are accountants and, you know, we know numbers, like I said, you can't really help the business if you do not understand the business. So having this real partnership and going far beyond your accounting remit is really key. You just cannot add value without knowing that, basically. And there's a few things that we need to be able to do to achieve that. So first of all is being visible in the business. And I I like my people to, as in people in my team, to to go round the various teams, and work cross functionally, because I think that's really important. And I try and push that even beyond, just working. I think creating that collaborative approach and and friendship as well in the business is really important. And very recently, as in this week, we've, we've revamped our office for for the last four weeks, and we've moved into the same premises, but, just differently out of different desks, etcetera. And we've opened up a, a bit of a kitchen area, breakout area. And I'm I'm encouraging people to kind of move away from their desks, at lunchtime and, you know, go and chat and with other teams as well. So we're we're sat next to HR, for example, and, and we've got executive assistants as well that are coming with us and IT. And and I think, you know, creating that bond then helps you, then having conversation together in in various team meetings where you you kind of approach a prod a a problem, which is cross function. Many many problems are cross function. Right? Many issues that we try and resolve, you need help from other functions. And if you create that kind of bond and that partnership, then you're more likely to actually resolve this a lot more effectively and efficiently. So that that is one aspect. And the other aspect, of course, to, to enable that is, is to have, a lot more automation. So, again, looking at something cross function, something that we're trying to do at the moment is, automate more of the, purchase to pay process because, again, I just don't want to have people doing transaction non value added activity where, you know, at the moment, they do a lot of that. But if I free up their time, suddenly, they can do a lot more analysis and look at, again, rather than looking in the rear mirror, looking forward and going, right, you know, if we did this and this and this, this will help the business grow, or this will improve margin or, you know, this will improve cash. And you can only do that if you can get your head out of numbers and spreadsheets and copy and paste and, you know, doing the same thing twenty times over and over, and actually create the time to have the headspace to do those analysis and and, you know, really help the business, in terms of decision making and and growth and, yeah, margin improvement and and all of that, basically. We Speaker 1
find it's really amazing that people underestimate they look at, automation projects a lot of the time in terms of the hours saved versus the value added. And for me, that's the big shift that we need to Speaker 2
make in finance. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that that is that is my one thing, basically, you know, just, try and automate. And and we have automated already, and, you know, the team has really changed, in over the last nine months. And I think sometime they just say to me, coach, slow down. Speaker 1
We just need to breathe that. Give me one week. Speaker 2
Yeah. But the more we do these things, the more, you know, we become efficient at what we do and and less repeat, like, non the this non value adding stuff is really my bugbear, and just spend more time, you know, across multiple teams, just working together and and make things more efficient. And then suddenly, you've got the time to kind of go, right. This is how we're gonna do, you know, this piece of business, and it's gonna make more sense. Or we make more money or as I said, we get more cash and or quicker and, you know, all of that is just you can only do that if you automate and if you work with the business as well. So business partnering and, yeah, finance integration is really, really important to me. Speaker 1
And have you hit the snowball effect? So I talk about this a lot is that there's a point at automation where you start to roll downhill. You feel like you're shoving uphill for, like, the first little bit, and then all of a sudden you go, oh, and you start to get more and more. And then you start looking at other places to automate as well. Speaker 2
Yeah. Absolutely. So not in this business because I've only been here nine months, and, it needs a lot. You know, we've got lots of room for improvement, which is fabulous. You know, one of the reason why I joined. But I have had that in in other businesses and, yeah, it's just fantastic. And when you can when you can prove that concept as well, suddenly you get more people coming to see you from other teams going, seeing what you've done here, you know, can you do the same with us? You know? And, so yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Speaker 1
And how have your team because, obviously, it sounds like you've gone through a massive piece of change in that nine months in a very short space of time. How did how are your team managing that change and coping with that piece? You know, were there any, you know, areas where you're like, you've made a conscious effort to to help them on the journey? How did you approach? Speaker 2
Yeah. So I I am, I am checking very often with them, because I am I am conscious that, I am a hundred miles an hour. Go, go, go. Speaker 1
They do this. You know? Speaker 2
And I would work every hour over the day, I could say. And, you know, I can't expect that from everybody, and I shouldn't expect that from everybody. I need to check myself. So, so I do tell people, you know, please tell me if if we're going too fast. Also, you know, tell me if you need more training on this or more training on that and and and really try and work more, you know, collectively and collaboratively basically. And and be open and honest. I think it's really important and show people that, yeah, I'm not wonder women either. I am vulnerable and and I do need help. So I I reach out, you know, I can't do it on my own. I'm they can't either. So we need to work together and and and deliver that together. But they have seen I really feel that they have seen the changes, And, I do feel I have their full support, and we're working well together. And it is a change because we are my predecessor was very, very different. It was very good as well, but we're just very different people. And, so there's a lot more changes now. So, it's been a shock for them, for my team, both for the team, you know, on on the board, basically. They have seen, you know, something different, and, I have I have to, sit check myself and kind of go sometime. I need to be more patient. Not everything for tomorrow. But yeah. Speaker 1
No. I hundred percent can agree with that. So, I'm always looking to to drive that forward. So I feel your pain, but it's and it's exciting journey to be on, isn't it? And when you've got an amazing team, it's just so much more fun. And Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2
When you see the smile on their face when, you know, when you say to them, look, you no longer have have to do this thing every day. The the one thing that at the moment I'm trying to eradicate is, the stamp on invoices. I think when some of my team listen to this podcast, they will laugh because the first few weeks that I started, I was sat in the office, and suddenly I heard this noise. And I thought, I recognize that noise. That happened about twenty years ago when I was at Coca Cola doing it myself. You know? But we're in twenty twenty two. We shouldn't be stamping invoices to say received on that day. You know, that kind of stuff. And, so, yeah, there there is, there there is lots to do, but when you see people kind of going, yes. You know, we no longer will be doing this, and that means we can do this, this, and this because we've got so much more time now. And, yeah, it's gonna be amazing. Speaker 1
And and in terms of how your team, think about you know, we talked about the concepts of integrating finance, that whole business partnering piece. How are your team feeling about that shift? And and is there any support that you've put in place to obviously, from an automation perspective, you need to free up the time. But what about developing the skills for your team? Have you brought people in? Have you developed the existing team? Speaker 2
Yeah. What's your So so I think it's, it's been a bit of a, a shock for some people when I've said, can you go and speak to somebody? And they initially reverted back to sending an email. And I explained that is not what I mean by can go and speak to Mhmm. This person. I mean, actually, going up to speak to the person or ring them on video and have that interaction. And it it is mentoring. You you have to help people, coming out of the comfort zone, you know. Same for me. Networking and things like that is not necessarily my forte, but I push myself doing it. And, so I recognize that in myself and, and I think most people are like that, actually, quite shy. I'm not necessarily wanting the attraction. I think COVID doesn't help either. So I I do I do a lot, on that to, bring people. So we'll have lots of meetings, or just quick huddles and, as in huddles, not cuddle, huddles. Speaker 1
And, you know, a couple different HR problem that Speaker 2
I see here. Yeah. Yeah. And again, in this new office that we've got, we've now got, like, a high table with stools and stuff and we can just, you know, quickly get people around it and go, right, get on the screen or on the board and discuss something and bring people from other teams. And the more and more we do that, I think the more people go, actually, that's much quicker than sending an email. And I do realize you can't get you can't necessarily get everybody around the table, but, you know, we've got lots of tech now that you can actually just call somebody and have few people on video and, you know, into I'm carrying that interaction basically really, really key. And then the other thing that I do, which I started many years ago actually whilst I was at GLA, is this concept of quarterly finance meeting. And everywhere I've been where I've launched that, initially, people are just, like, really scared, because the idea is, on a quarterly basis, the whole of the finance team meets, and I've had bigger team and and smaller team. So here I've got about twenty odd people. So the twenty people meet, for about two, three hours, and we go through different subjects. And I'm not doing the talking, even not at the first one. I'm doing a bit of an intro, but then everybody in the team will take it in turn to present something. And they'll present something that they're working on, and it really helps people in many different ways. So for example, for the more junior people who've never done presentation, that, you know, that's a big leap. And I know like me, speaking in public, you know, will scare some people. So, I think the best environment to do it in is in front of your team. Right? Because it's people you know and, you're working with, so it's a lot easier. So they do that. It also help with the rest of the team understanding what other, team members are doing and, you know, sub teams because credit control doesn't necessarily know what the, accounts payable team is facing in terms of challenge or, you know, the financial controller or, we also use that forum to kind of bring updates, and and new training, new tax rules, new, you know, accounting rules. And then I also invite, what I call VIP, every quarter. So people from other functions, to, again, tell us about something that, we can learn from. So we've had, our head of IT that's told us about cybersecurity and, you know, anything to do with that. We've had our head of marketing, telling us about what they were doing in the marketing function and more specifically about, climate education, which is a big thing for us at Vital. So so bringing people on board, I've also had the CEO, Ian Whitlock, coming in at the very first one to inaugurate it and telling us about what the business is gonna do going forward and, you know, what's the future of the business, how we're gonna grow, and all of that. My guys would not have been, kind of exposed to any of that. And I just think it it's really good. It really works. That's why I keep doing it in every business. And I'm hoping, you know, whenever they move on, probably, they take the idea with them. But I I think that's that's a really important thing. It gives people the opportunity to, yeah, to learn how to do PowerPoints because I do ask them to do a few slides. Not, you know, not just by PowerPoint, but a few slides, which again, I think is a really critical skill actually, in finance because you can't just deal with Excel spreadsheets. You have to be able to, you know, provide information in a way that people can understand it and, you know, visually and all that. So I I coach people, on that and, I review I obviously don't lead them to their own device, you know, especially if they've never done it. So we sit together and, you know, they do drafts and then it's an iterative process. But at the end, you know, it really creates that bond as well in the team. And usually we have a bit of pizza or like, the next one is on the fifteenth of December. So obviously it'll be Christmas and we're doing food from around the world. I've end ended up with ocean air food. I don't know how because I clearly should have been French. Well, anyway, it was a draw, apparently. So so, yeah, we just, we try and and have that team bonding as well as learning and and making it fun. I'm I'm really keen to have fun at work. I spend a lot of hours working, and, you don't need to be sad to kind of work. Right? So I try and make it as enjoyable as possible while still working really hard. That is definitely what they would tell you if you meet them. Speaker 1
Absolutely. No. And I think, sometimes you can underestimate the the power of fun and humor in delivering productivity. Life is just so much better when you're enjoying it. Speaker 2
Yeah. Speaker 1
So I would be very remiss if I didn't use this as an opportunity, certainly at the end of this podcast, to talk about the con you know, what you guys do as an organization. So, in terms of the the climate conversation. Right? So Speaker 2
Yep. Speaker 1
I I think one of the things whilst I mentioned the name Vital Energy, we've never we haven't actually explained to to people what Vital Energy does. So tell us a little bit about your organization and and what you do. Speaker 2
Okay. So, well, everyone is talking about net zero, at the moment, and about, reducing carbon footprint, and it is the raison d'etre of vital, which is French. So we provide, basically sustainable energy generation, distribution, consumption management solution, through our expertise, basically, in design, in, building, and, operation of district heating system and energy centers. So we, we basically help many organization, many businesses, around the, the UK to start with, to, to reduce their carbon footprint, and make savings and and be more sustainable, which is really important, nowadays, Dinesh, because even in terms of investment, everything is around ESG and, you know, when you look at private equity, so many more, private equity now are making investments that are, all around ESG and and carbon footprint and, people that are that are running businesses that are more and more sustainable, which we can help with, both in terms of, you know, finance, and monitoring, measuring, and understanding what each business is doing, basically. I think as a CFO, you really need to do that. And then as vital, basically, that that is all about, the business in terms of, yeah, sustainable energy generation. So it's it's a fantastic business to be in, and so that was a really big attraction for me, when when I was approached for this job. I thought, yeah, actually, I want to be my next job, I would really like it to be in a business that is better for the environment, better for future generation. And so I was absolutely sold on on Vital from day one. Speaker 1
And how does Vital obviously, leading the way in terms of driving down carbon footprint, but how does Vital tie together finance and, you know, Clive you know, the ESG piece? How do you guys work internally as an organization to support? Speaker 2
Well, that's something that we, we are working more and more on, actually, because, we're very good at helping that's that's just like everybody. Speaker 1
Builders of their houses. I don't know if you have that phrase in France. Right? Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's so true. Slightly different. Well, yeah, that that's that's exactly that. So, we we we're doing tons, actually, internally, in terms of, reducing our own carport footprint, and by everything else that we're doing for other businesses as well. We just need to, be better at kind of, putting it out there. And I I'm meeting quite a lot of businesses at the moment, actually, through various, tender process for cost reduction, cost efficiency, margin improvement, etcetera. And everybody is coming at me with, this is how great we are at ESG. So you can tell that it's at the forefront of everyone. So we are doing loads in terms of, you know, electric vehicle and making sure that, we've got solar panel and all of that for us for our own carbon emission and reducing travel. We do the carbon offset as well. We're planting trees. You know, all of that we do. But we're just not so good yet at portraying that. But, you know, there's always room for improvement. Speaker 1
Absolutely. And, if, you know, if you're ever gonna be in a place to learn about how to do it and how to do it well. Speaker 2
Exactly. Yeah. Well, I've recently done a, a sustainability certificate actually with, with ACCA, which I found that interesting because it wasn't just pure accounting numbers. And, yeah, it's definitely something that is gonna be more and more needed for for us as finance. We we are gonna have to do a lot more and and bring more visibility to ASG and, we we discuss it at the board anyway. It is one of our, topic, every month. But, yeah, every organization and and every CFO or FD, out there will have to do more towards ESG and how we measure it, and and then there's gonna be more planting rules around it anyway. Speaker 1
So I'm I'm very aware that we're we're running out of time. And as I predict, I did promise guys that we're gonna lose a podcast. I was gonna cover a lot of topics, right, in in this time. And and, and I said, Cecil, it's just gonna disappear. Right? You're gonna have Speaker 2
to come back on at some point Speaker 1
just to finish up the topics. But, Les, if we if we take a step back and we go, one of the things that you keep telling me and you've told me throughout this podcast is all about how passionate you are about integrating finance with the business and making finance a part of the business. So for those in the CFOs, they're going, I agree, and that's where I want my team to be, and I want to be there. What top tips can you give them for making that leap and for supporting their team from driving that change? Speaker 2
So I would say, literally, encourage or force your people to go out into Carrot and stick. Yes. Exactly. You know, bring them along with you and, you know, go go into the stockroom, go into other departments, go and see sites, go and see you know, I've been if people are seeing me on LinkedIn, I've been to various, sites, throughout my career, you know, not not just this one. And, yeah, talk to other people, because as accountant, we don't have the best, you know, we're we're seen as nerdy. We're also seen as the police that implement lots of rules. Most of them we haven't made, by the way. You know? We we just have to, make sure that they're applied. So so, yeah, we don't have the publicity in in the business. And I think, you know, going out there and and actually creating those relationships, forging those bonds, by whichever way it is, that's really, really important. And that would be my number one tip basically, just to get people cross function working together, and, yeah, encourage your people internally to, to to talk to others, and not just in send an email. You know? Go and meet people, meet the business, understand what we do, learn about what it is we do, from engineers to, you know, marketing to whatever it is in the business, and, yeah, get on there. Speaker 1
There is so much value in that. The cross training capability and the understanding of the business and how the rest of, you know, the organization functions is so important. Speaker 2
Yeah. I don't think you can add value if you don't do that, basically. Yeah. Speaker 1
Absolutely. And for those that are listening, and obviously, we've talked a lot about integrated finance. We've touched on the concept of carbon footprint and driving that down, which we all know is something we need to do. If people want to learn more about what Vital Energy do and, how to get involved and how to look at that, where can they find you guys? Where's the best place to Speaker 2
go? So our website is is really good. Vital energy dot co dot u k. Sounds like a cell phone on there. Speaker 1
I would also be very keen. Don't worry. Speaker 2
We're also very present on on LinkedIn, actually. We post there's videos, and our customers will refer to us as well, with all the projects that we've done, and all the, yeah, carbon emission and cost reduction. So, LinkedIn and and the website is probably, the best. And then in various cities, you know, so I'm I'm near Manchester, and, in various cities, we've got various projects. So we've got the tower light in Manchester that I'm every time I go in Manchester and I see it, I'm really, really proud of it. So things like that, where you can find us. And Speaker 1
Fabulous. Well, next time, we're literally just, you know, down the road near Chester. So, next time we Speaker 2
Oh, there you go. Speaker 1
Pop into Manchester, I will definitely, pop down and have a look. Exciting times. Well, thank you so much, Cecile, for taking the time to talk, you know, and talk so passionately about, not only obviously, the concepts of, climate change, you know, British common footprint, but also the power of automation and transforming finance. So it's been wonderful to have you on the show. I really, really do appreciate you coming on. Speaker 2
Thank you very much for the opportunity. Speaker 3
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