I got called a treasury influencer last week…
It made my skin crawl.
Now I know they meant it as a compliment, but I still hate it.
Maybe it’s because when I hear the word influencer, I immediately think of people trying to get attention for attention’s sake.
- Look at me!
- Look what I’m doing!
- Look where I am!
But that’s never been what I’ve been trying to do.
In fact, if you go right back to why I started most of the things we do today, none of them began as some grand marketing plan.
I simply wanted to help treasury professionals.
17 years ago, when my daughter was eight.
She asked me;
“Dad, what do you do for a job?”
I started to try to explain about treasury, what corporate treasury was and how it fitted into the finance team, etc…
In response, I got a very blank-faced look from Emma, and another question: “So what do you do?”
After a bit more thought on how to help, it makes sense, I vividly remember saying;
“I get people jobs.”
And that’s still probably the best description.
Everything else has grown around that.
The podcast came from wanting treasury professionals to share their stories…
The salary survey came from wanting to help people understand what they were worth….
The live events came from wanting to help treasury professionals network in a constructive, education-filled environment…
This very newsletter you’re reading came from wanting to share the advice I found myself sharing each week.
None of it was designed to make me the centre of attention. Quite the opposite.
That’s why in our podcast, I’m never the star. The guest is.
I’ve spent over 25+ years talking to treasury professionals, and I find their careers and the stories of their careers fascinating.
- How did they get into corporate treasury?
- What mistakes did they make?
- How did they build their careers?
Those are the stories worth hearing. Not mine.
What happened over time was something I never really planned…
Our salary survey gained traction. Our events expanded. The newsletters were shared.
The Treasury Career Corner podcast has grown to over 430 episodes and over 280,000 downloads.
Eventually, they all started connecting together.
And it all helps me to help other people in different ways.
Some people come to us because they’re looking for a role, others want hiring advice.
Some people want networking opportunities, others want to benchmark their salary.
The funny thing is that recruitment itself comes down to two things:
- Are you looking for a new role? Or…
- Do you need to recruit someone for a treasury role?
That’s it.
Because for some recruiters, that’s where the relationship begins and ends.
A quick conversation. A transaction. Then silence until the next vacancy appears.
I’ve never wanted to work that way.
Treasury professionals deserve more than a recruiter who only appears every six months asking, “Got any jobs?” or “Ready to move yet?”
Sometimes they need advice about a career decision.
Sometimes they want to understand what the market is doing.
And sometimes they just want to connect with other treasury professionals facing the same challenges.
That’s why I’ve always believed the relationship should be bigger than the transaction itself.
Sometimes all you need is a conversation to help you avoid making a mistake.
So am I a treasury influencer?
I still don’t think so. I’d much rather be known as someone who helps treasury professionals.
The podcast, events, salary survey, newsletter, and the videos are all just different ways of doing that.
And if that occasionally influences people along the way…
Well, I can live with that.
Best regards,
Mike
