EP 003 - Focus on What You Can Control with KJ Tjon

Strategy of Finance

This episode of the SoF podcast features a discussion with the very dynamic, energetic, and always-smiling KJ Tjon - a seasoned senior finance executive with more than 25 years of experience in the technology and telecommunications sectors.

She currently serves as a Board of Director for Kaleyra, a Communications Platform as a Service provider; Nubia Brand International, a blank check company focused on the wireless telecom sector; and Volcon, a developer and manufacturer of electric off-road powersport vehicles.

Previously, KJ served as CFO of Alorica, Epiq Systems, and Hawker Beechcraft, and President & COO of Scientific Games. She also spent almost a decade at Alvarez & Marsal, as a business transformation and performance improvement specialist.

In this episode, we unpack KJ's professional journey from Europe to Asia to the USA as well as from an Assistant to Corporate Finance executive to a senior Consultant to CFO and now a Board member. Further, we deep dive into how to think about building diverse teams, understand the CEO <> CFO relationship dynamics, and get her advise on the first 100 days play for CFOs joining a new company.

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Quotes:

"Focus on what you can control."

"The first thing you got to do is understand from the CEO, what do they think are really the true business drivers and what is really the key for the company in the next six months for it to get done because finance needs to support that. Your goals have to align with whatever direction the CEO is going."

"You really got to know what to do and trust your instruments and have the experience. So I really felt like, I can spend the time to get certified, but I'll never be good enough to really do this without somebody sitting next to me who really knows what he's doing. So yeah, a little bit of knowledge is very dangerous when it comes to piloting planes. There's a lot more that can go wrong..."

"I always loved ops. Especially if you're at a company that actually makes stuff like airplanes or things like that, it's just really cool to just like see how things get made. So I've always kind of attracted to being in the kitchen and seeing what's going on."

"I think the one thing that is lacking in my background is I don't have any depth in any real industry because I've moved around so much. And, I love to learn. So when I went, for instance, to Wichita for Hawker Beechcraft, it was super cool to learn about aircraft, how the planes are made, the walks with in the factory. I loved it."

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Where to find KJ Tjon:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kj-tjon/

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Where to find Rohit:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitagarwal001/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcast_SoF

Email: [e-mail]

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Sponsor:

This show is brought to you by Krayo - the Unified Operating System for Corporate Spend. Krayo is bringing together the whole journey of Corp Spend - Buy > Pay > Manage - into one single platform in an intelligence-first and automated design. We promise to make you more profitable.

https://www.krayo.io/