Dealing with an unreasonable request from your CEO

Many finance leaders experience career situations where they are asked to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable.  Unfortunately, the chances are that this could also happen to you at some stage.  It can be particularly challenging to deal with during the early stages of your career where you are trying desperately hard to impress everybody, or where you may feel threatened within your role.

During this extract video from a GrowCFO finance leader workshop, experienced CFO and professional mentor Paul McKoen shares some perspectives on this difficult topic:

There are many different examples of an unreasonable CEO request.  For instance, many CEOs put pressure on finance leaders to present overly optimistic financials during Board meetings.

If your CEO is asking you to support something that is unethical, illegal or immoral then you must make it clear that this is wrong.

Try to sort it out directly with your CEO by explaining that you feel uncomfortable about what you are being asked to present.

When presenting numbers, you could present a range of outcomes to illustrate the financial impact of different scenarios whilst clearly highlighting your assumptions and probability assessments.

You will need to use your judgement to satisfy your own integrity without undermining your career aspirations.

If you are unable to resolve it directly with your CEO then your Chairperson is normally the first person who you would raise this with.

Assess your skills

Have you ever been subjected to an unreasonable request from your CEO?

How did it make you feel and how did you react?

Did you feel comfortable pushing back on the request?

How well did you deal with it and what would you do differently next time?

Were you able to find a solution that satisfied your integrity without destroying your CEO relationship?