Victor’s 10 Reflections on Leadership - 1. Lead with your heart (3:41)
Steve Rosvold 00:05
Welcome to CFO talk. I’m your host, Steve Rosvold, Chief Learning Officer at CFO.University. Joining us from Wichita, Kansas today is Victor Ojeleye to discuss one of his 10 Reflections on Leadership.
I left this last reflection, which was actually the first one on your list, because I find the dynamics really interesting. This reflection marries the rigor of FP&A with a key leadership quality, empathy. You profess it’s not all about the number crunching and analysis - it’s all about Leading With Your Heart. Tell us more about that.
Victor Ojeleye 00:47
Yeah, Steve, this one, I think of a few things. In a sense, when I think about Lead With Your Heart that the phrase actually came from one of the parents of a player I coached. They observed that leading with your heart is part of my style, or part of something that I’ve kind of made my approach to coaching. I reflected a little bit on it. And I thought, What does that mean? To me, it means care. It means discipline, it means joy, it means encouragement.
And while we talk about the rigor of the numbers in FP&A and business, we’re always dealing with solving really challenging problems. But I come from a family of doctors. They are saving lives every day. They are fixing things that are much more important than what I do. But what I’ve found is that if, if I can take a step back, and lead with what I believe is doing the right thing, putting people first and reaching for the best that we can achieve as a team, meaning excellence.
I think that that is the core of how to how want to lead. Ultimately, I’m not a perfect person. What your heart says is to treat people the right way and be a good person and do right by people; that will enable you to solve the most challenging problems. Because if you don’t have the people, then you can’t solve anything. So it’s something that I’ve continued to give my passion to. And I think the sweet spot is finding what that purpose is and you have a why you do things and what you enjoy.
I’ve really found great energy and reward in being around people and solving great problems. Contributing to my company, contributing to the community I live in. That’s really where I am at. It anchors me. So I continue to pursue things that fill me up so I can continue to impact people.
Steve Rosvold 03:01
Victor, I have a feeling you and your teams are going to solve a lot of problems, not just business problems, but other problems as well. That wraps up this video short taken from our longer interview with Victor, Reflections on Leadership. CFO.University is a community of member scholars, companies and trusted advisors committed to the professional development of chief financial officers. Learn more about us at CFO.University.
Until next time, Enjoy. Learn. Engage.
Find Victor’s Reflections on Leadership Part I and Part II HERE
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