“Leading with Unwavering Confidence to Achieve New Heights”

Charlene DiGiuseppe, CFO, Achievers, leads with many years of diverse experience under her belt, but it was specifically her time in the technology space that made her realize how quickly the world is changing, and with it, the evolving role of the CFO.

Traditional finance expertise is no longer enough for today’s CFO, as they now manage many functions and drive substantive change for their companies. For DiGiuseppe, she is more than familiar with this responsibility and the challenges that come with setting the pace of change. “Every day I am looking to the horizon and asking, ‘Are we ready? What does great look like, and are we there?’ The obvious conclusion is that we’ve still got work to do and my bias is action.”

DiGiuseppe’s goal is to break down the legacy barriers in accounting and finance to develop professionals who are valued as equal business partners to the operation and bring value to shareholders. “The modern CFO sees the path forward and supports the organization on the road to success. On a tactical level, people, processes and systems are the key variables to successfully enable change in that journey,” she explains. “We are only as strong as our weakest link, and I boldly address all three key variables in my role at Achievers. My fellow C-suite team and colleagues will attest that I ask the hard questions, fearlessly tackle difficult topics and hold the bar high for excellence.”

As a strong woman leader, DiGiuseppe advises women in similar positions to not only lead by example but with empathy. “I am human, I am vulnerable, I admit challenges and mistakes all while allowing others to make them through my transparency. I lead with raw passion and energy and that emotion is not a weakness; it allows me to be understood, be relatable, be connected and therefore trusted.” For DiGiuseppe, one of the key ingredients to success is people. Regardless of gender, she encourages everyone to be the leader people want to follow and learn from. “In my career, I have chased great leadership and chosen my personal journey based on the ‘who’ I would support, partner with, learn from, and go to battle with. It starts with the choices you make and the choices you’ve earned.” Armed with this ideology, Charlene has taken the company to new heights.

In 2021, Achievers made the Great Place to Work ® list for Best Workplaces in Canada, UK, Australia, and a Great Place to Work ® for Inclusion and Women. When an organization and its leadership genuinely celebrate diversity and inclusion, success and growth are exponential. “At Achievers, we practice what we preach, and we have proven — with data — that employee engagement drives results. With our employee experience platform, you can enable a culture that celebrates performance and elevates engagement through recognition, reward, and the employee voice,” explains DiGiuseppe. “To truly create a meaningful culture of recognition, the Achievers Workforce Institute — our research and science arm — has found that recognition has to have particular qualities to be effective and drive behavior change. You will find the highest impact when a recognition is timely, specific, and values-based.”

While data is the key to modern employee engagement technology, the insights organizations can gain from that data and how leaders act on those insights are where they move the dial on delivering a better employee experience, according to DiGiuseppe. Most organizations have so much data at their fingertips but there needs to be a bridge between measurement and action for this data to be impactful.

Achievers provides real-time feedback that helps leaders understand where there needs to be change and how to start. Specifically, with the Achievers Listen™ product, multiple voices of employee functions are consolidated within one suite to engage employees and empower their managers. Achievers removes the roadblocks that prevent managers from acting on feedback with a toolset that guides them to take meaningful action with structured outcomes with targeted analytics and automated action functionalities.

Reflecting on her career journey and where the CFO role is headed, DiGiuseppe is optimistic about the value diversity is starting to bring to the table. “I encourage women to make their voices heard – know that what you have to say is important, and say it with the unwavering confidence that you can solve any problem and those who surround you know it.” IEWL