The CFO Playbook: Becky Hall on her Path to CFO, and Why Comfort Zones are Meant to be Left Behind

When Becky Hall was 22 years old, becoming a CFO was not on her radar. Today, as a sitting CFO with experience spanning continents and complex transformations, she credits keeping her mind open to opportunities she might otherwise have dismissed.

“My path to CFO is definitely not something I planned, or ever thought I would become,” Becky reflects. “Slowly my aspiration and ambition grew over time as I focused on doing roles where I am constantly out of my comfort zone and learning something big and different every time.”

Hall points to three career moves that fundamentally shaped her trajectory, each one pushing her well beyond familiar territory. The first came when she relocated from London to Singapore, trading her focus on Europe and commercial finance for an emerging markets supply chain finance role.

“This role was not only my first international move, but it was also working in emerging markets and supply chain, which I really didn’t know anything about to be honest,” she explains. Leading a geographically dispersed team across Latin America, Asia Pacific, China, India and Africa, Hall found herself in the deep end professionally and personally. “The amount I grew and learnt in those three years was exponential.”

The second pivotal moment came immediately after, when she became Chief of Staff to the CFO at GSK. The position pulled her out of operations and into enterprise strategy, through a time of major change and transformation at the company.

“That role taught me so much. One of my biggest learnings was what great looks like when defining and communicating strategy, in a compelling way, both inside the company at scale across an enterprise of 100,000 people, as well as outside to analysts and investors”.

Her move to the United States marked the third transformational moment. Being the Head of Finance for a large and growing part of the company, navigating high complexity and major product launches, Hall found herself in one of those roles where success brings recognition, but the risk of failure looms large.

“I absolutely loved it. And again, professionally and personally grew enormously, which I think is a big part of becoming a CFO because the resilience you need to be a CFO is high.”

Asked whether she would do anything differently looking back, Hall is emphatic. “The answer is no. It’s best to just keep looking forwards, learning everything you can, working for and with amazing people and looking forward to the next big opportunity for growth.”

She notes that had she set her sights on the CFO role early in her career, she might have narrowed her path prematurely. “I think I may have decided for myself what I thought the right next role was, and not have been as open to wise, experienced leaders saying, “I think you’d be great at this, would you consider it?””

When it comes to essential skills for aspiring CFOs, Hall highlights four areas. First is resilience, which she acknowledges can carry particular weight for women who might feel pressure to be perfect.

Second is curiosity paired with confidence. “I think sometimes as women, we can be a little apologetic, but we need to step more into confident curiosity; asking our questions and trusting our instincts.”

Third is what she calls a critical mindset: the ability to connect disparate dots across the business. “Sometimes you’re the only one besides the CEO who is able to connect all the dots. None of which, by the way, may be financial, but they will have financial consequences.”

Finally, she emphasises being unrelenting about building an exceptional team. This requires self-awareness about personal strengths and gaps, then surrounding yourself with people who complement each other.

Hall recognises the obstacles women can still face today. Firstly, confidence remains a challenge at all levels, including needing more external validation of their potential. Secondly, she recalls reading Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In at 30, when external pressures about marriage and children were mounting. “For women, that can be hard to juggle with your career aspirations,” she says. One of the book’s central messages resonated: lean in until there is something to lean out for.

Hall also notes that women can tend to seek complete information or analysis before making a decision. “I have seen in myself and in other women, that we can seek comfort in having what we perceive to be all of the information or analysis – but this slows us, our teams and ultimately the company down – and of course information is never perfect,” she observes.

Support networks through mentors and sponsors, both internal and external, as well as having inspiring role models to look up to has been crucial and hugely valued throughout Becky’s journey; importantly not always in finance. She has drawn inspiration and guidance from across her personal and professional networks.

“Even if there are not female role models in finance at your company, actively seek women elsewhere to talk to.”

Hall also recommends actively seeking out male mentors and sponsors. “Some of the best sponsors and mentors I’ve had have been men. It is so important to hear from a diverse range of people.”

On work-life balance, Hall notes: “We have many periods in our careers where this is challenging, and women need to go into this with our eyes open. But there are ways we can create a balance that works”.

Her advice centres on “asking for what you need to be successful and to be the best you can be. Being open and transparent about this enables your manager to know how they can help and support you. For example, you may need a coach for a period of time, or certain flexibilities. Critically, establish your boundaries and maintain them. For example, if you have booked dinner with your best friend, do the school pick up each night or have scheduled an exercise class, protect that wherever possible.”

Looking ahead, Hall sees the CFO role continuing to broaden dramatically, increasingly encompassing functions like tech, digital transformation and procurement that extend well beyond traditional finance.

“The CFO role has evolved over time from strength in technical controlling to strategic leadership of a business. In fact, the technical finance piece is now almost assumed. It’s a given you bring strength and rigour there.”

She emphasises two emerging critical skills. The first is experience leading transformation in a rapidly evolving world. The second is embracing clarity over certainty. “You can create clarity, even if you can never create certainty – this should allow you to adjust and adapt at pace and bring your team with you.”

On AI specifically, Hall is unequivocal: CFOs must be leaders in this space. “We have to be leaders or else you’ll get left behind. How do you set the company up for growth without embracing the opportunities AI presents?”

Becky’s guidance for women aiming for the CFO role centres on three priorities. First, ensure you gain the right breadth and depth of experience across controllership, business partnering and transformation leadership.

Second, prioritise working for incredible leaders over impressive-sounding roles. “Pick roles where you are working for an incredible leader because you’ll develop so much more and they’ll give you many more opportunities to grow and learn than what a role looks like on paper.”

Finally, remain open to what life presents both professionally and personally. “You may think you want to be a CFO and then you get there and you don’t. You’ve got to be open to the greatest opportunities that are in front of you, be the best you can be and balance that with what you want for your life.”

As for opportunities for women to shape the future of finance leadership, Hall is emphatic: “We need more diversity in senior Finance roles, there is so much research and evidence that shows this makes a company better.”

• Leave comfort zones early and often: Becky chose international moves and unfamiliar roles to accelerate growth, both personally and professionally.
• Stay open and curious rather than over-planning: Stay open and receptive to stretch opportunities you may not have thought of.
• Resilience, curiosity and confidence are critical: be confident and curious to ask questions and trust your judgment; be prepared to act even without all the information you might like.
• Build and leverage diverse mentorship and sponsorship
• The modern CFO is a transformation leader: combining deep technical finance expertise with strategic business leadership, digital transformation for long term value creation and clear communication that brings the organisation with you.