The WashingtonExec Marcom Committee held its fourth dinner of the year and heard from Iridium chief financial officer (CFO) Tom Fitzpatrick about what creates a strategic and strong relationship between a company’s Marcoms/Communications leadership and the CFO.
While money is always a CFO focus, Fitzpatrick shared other insights. They included:
* Understand what makes the CFO tick. For most it centers on a laser-focus of executing the company plan;
* Create powerful and succinct company messages that resonate across various stakeholders – employees, media and investors. Messaging consistency is paramount;
* Marcoms/Communications needs a voice at the senior executive table to be in a position to build brand equity;
* Ensure the benefit of Marketing/Communications is clear to the enterprise; and
* Measure, measure, measure against pre-established metrics that map back to the company’s operating plan.
“As a company that has the furthest reaching network in the world, communicating that message is at the core of our strategy,” said Fitzpatrick. “A strong partnership between Marcoms/Communications and a financially-oriented C-Suite is key to collaborating on an aligned message track that reaches all audiences.”
“Hearing what my colleagues and their executives have to present at each WashingtonExec Marcoms/Comms event expands the strategic thinking I can bring back to my own organization,” said Liz DeCastro, corporate communications director, Iridium. “I believe Tom’s CFO tips for communicators will strengthen the value each of us can deliver as we drive our own corporate programing.”
Read Sheila Blackwell’s guest column about the importance of employee engagement here on WashingtonExec.
