Post by Melda Yasar Cebe

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬! 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐅𝐎𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞? 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨. There’s a myth that Finance and Commercial are enemies. That CFOs are the serious gatekeepers standing between you and your big ideas. Budget police. The people who say no. I found the 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞. The best Finance leaders I’ve worked with Niraj B., Bahroz Abbas Hussain, Ozgur Zeren, Ilgi Calik, Murat Mutlu, CMA Akshat Khandelwal Umberto Giovanni Maccari, Hayal Gursoytrak and most recently Pieter Speksnijder at FrieslandCampina were never barriers. They were amplifiers. They didn’t just guard our P&L but helped me build a better one. We worked less like Finance vs. Commercial and more like two consultants obsessed with the same problem, stress-testing strategy together, challenging each other’s assumptions, filling each other’s blind spots. When a CFO truly partners with you, bold ideas don’t get killed. They get sharpened. I’ve been lucky enough to live it, many times over. Dear Pieter Speksnijder, your next team just got a serious upgrade. Thank you for everything. We’ll miss you more than we’ll ever admit. (P.S. Our first photo on the day we met: hopeful, full of questions. Last photo: same two people, significantly more battles survived. Some things age better than others.) 😄 #𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 #𝐂𝐅𝐎 #𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 #𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 #𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 #𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞 #𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩