Wanted: a CFO who can go toe-to-toe with a CEO in a confident, constructive way.
One who sees compatibility between long-term profit…and kindness…. “When I
say I’ve got a cool idea, the CFO latches on and helps me work it through.”
These requirements, along with more-standard items such as previous industry
experience and titles, came straight out of the job description King Arthur
Flour sent out in its recent search for a new CFO. Heavy on prose but tight on
time, the unorthodox search resembled an accelerated MBA course for those who
made it through to the first round. In return for an unusually detailed
description of the business, candidates were asked to write essays about why
they should get the job, with just days to complete their assignments.
Leading the search was Jim Johnston, a contract CFO who started on the
executive-recruiting path when he hired his own replacement at a New England
soup company. King Arthur was the fourth client for Johnston, who prides himself
on his method and considers a search assignment first and foremost as a
consulting engagement. An executive search, he says, should be “a strategic
catalyst in the life of the company, to reassess where you’ve been and where
you’re going.”
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