From P&L Police to Partner-in-Crime
How I turned skeptics into champions without forcing the issue
During my time heading up Strategic Finance for various groups at Riot Games, being the finance guy to a lot of creatives made me feel like the “P&L police.”
My analyses were sometimes met with crossed arms and skeptical glances. My meticulously designed strategies, no matter how brilliant on paper, weren’t being implemented as readily as I had hoped.
I knew I needed to change my approach to accomplish anything.
So, before unveiling any new initiative, I started by building relationships with those creative teams. I spent time understanding their challenges, constraints, and aspirations.
Most importantly, I reframed every conversation to make it clear that what I was doing could help them achieve what mattered most to them, whether that was saving them time or making things more efficient.
When team leaders saw how financial discipline could actually protect their creative autonomy in the long run, implementation happened naturally, without anyone telling them what to do.
Before long, the creative teams became champions of those very systems they'd previously resisted.
I learned that people don't resist change - they resist being changed. When strategy is something done with them rather than to them, they’re a lot more willing to embrace something new.
When it comes to rolling out new strategies, the how is important, but the who is essential. And without buy-in, even the best-laid plans will just be expensive documents.