Landing the CEO seat is a lot harder for CFOs ‘pigeonholed as a finance chief.’ But there are ways to overcome the hurdle

Good morning. I’ve been writing about CFOs who have reached the chief executive seat. However, many finance chiefs are still experiencing some obstacles along the way to the top spot, including one that’s fueled by an image issue.

I had a conversation with James Stark, consultant in the CFO and audit chair practice at Egon Zehnder, a leadership advisory firm. Sixty percent of CFOs want to be CEOs, and seven in 10 say they are ready to become a chief executive now, according to the firm's recent survey of 581 CFOs worldwide. But just wanting the position is not enough, of course. CFOs must also overcome some real obstacles to make it to the top job. The most cited of these was networking and visibility (46%), followed by customer and market knowledge (30%), and operational experience (25%).

The broad concern over networking and visibility is an interesting finding, Stark observed, since CFOs already have a fairly visible role on earnings calls and in board meetings. "Some stakeholders may pigeonhole them as finance chiefs only," he said. And they may not have insight into their operational and broader leadership capabilities, he added.

“About 20 or 15 years ago, the archetype of the standard CFO was much more of the accounting leader,” Stark said. “While there's still that element of the role now, it's much more kind of a forward-looking business partner.” But you could have an audit committee chair, for example, who was the former CFO archetype during their career, so they view the company’s finance chief in that same manner, he explained. “As that role evolves, perceptions may not catch up as quickly,” Stark said.

Last week, I talked with Tony Grimminck, who joined the tech company Scribd, Inc., as a CFO in 2019, and he’s now the CEO. “The CFO role has been transitioning to becoming more like a strategic leader versus you’re just the numbers person,” he told me. Along with understanding the financials and devising paths for growth, CFOs nowadays are more involved in operations and managing talent, which helps when they move into CEO spots, he said.

Stark also said CFOs who “manage by walking around” and not staying in the office can make a difference in perception. But it also comes down to having an advocate—the current CEO.

“I've talked to some pretty big CFOs in the last few weeks, who discussed how their CEO is helping them along that path,” Stark said. They're giving them additional responsibilities outside of finance like procurement, supply chain, or even IT. Or the CFO takes on the P&L. “These are ways to make the board more aware of the CFO’s potential as a CEO succession candidate,” he added.

CFOs can’t change how their job is perceived overnight. “You’re not going to go around tooting your own horn,” Stark said. “You have to be smart and diplomatic about it.” But take the opportunities to make sure people “do see you as that operational co-pilot of the organization along with the CEO,” he said.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

María Soledad Davila Calero curated the Leaderboard and Overheard sections of today’s newsletter.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com