Can a CHRO maximise shareholder return?

Sharing my thoughts and reflections that came live talking in a panel with Arun and Shriram, as Arun raised some very relevant questions:

• Why are CFOs paid more than CHROs?
• How can CHROs get a seat on the table?

Answers were easy, however worth reflecting over. CFOs are closer business and strategy partners to the CEO. Boards find it easy to lay responsibility and accountability with them, but can a CEO and a CFO deliver what is needed without a strong CHRO, without a strong HR system in place. Absolutely no.

If I was to go back in time, and redo my innings at any of the two start ups I headed, or businesses where I wore the CFO hat, the biggest change I would make is - getting a strong HR lead on board fairly quickly vs. wait till business scales up, and then get some one only to look after the hygiene and compliances.

A leadership team cannot deliver the best possible ROI, returns, shareholder value without the right talent pool and people mechanism in place.

Quoting P&G's philosophy "You take away all our brands and leave back our people, and we will recreate the company" any business whether product lead or service lead is built and delivered by people.

A CEO and CFO are not equipped with knowledge and tools , nor will have the bandwidth to ensure the right talent is hired at each level, and review mechanism are in place to ensure capability and retention and sort out any issues before attrition starts.

The single most metrics as a Business Leader or a CFO that hits me is the revenue loss, productivity loss, whenever an employee exits due to issues that could have been addressed if the right over sight was in place.A company not investing in HR capabilities, is simply missing out on capturing additional share holder value or worst still going down the path of eroding shareholder value.

Companies are evolving, and embracing this concept of bringing the three together, or the "Troika" as in MARS; where CEO, CFO, CHRO are not just functional leads, but jointly review , debate and convince each other on key business decisions, to ensure the organisation is moving in the right direction , nurturing its most priced assets "the people" as it walks the path of creating shareholder value.

It's time business leaders and CFOs invite CHROs into strategy discussions and time CHROs speak up, drive transparency and objectivity and embrace digital tools to highlight value they bring onboard.