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When Kabir Ahmed Shakir first arrived inside the CFO office at Tata Communications, the former Microsoft India CFO quickly determined that there was one person above all others who held sway over the company\u2019s maturing transformation plans.

\u201cThe person who is actually giving pricing to our customers needs to know how much cash we make on Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3,\u201d explains Shakir, whose 2-year CFO tenure has spanned a period in which the company\u2019s free cash flow has grown twentyfold. \xa0\xa0

\u201cWe had to bring our \u2018cash thinking\u2019 down to the deal profitability level,\u201d reports Shakir, whose choice of words at first makes it sound as though his finance team had become tasked with running an errand.

However, Shakir quickly clarifies the magnitude of what he was looking to achieve: \u201cI wanted there to be an undying focus on cash. It\u2019s not the most profitable companies that survive\u2014it\u2019s the liquid ones.\u201d

While this is certainly an organizational mind-set that many CFOs eventually reach, not that many do so within a span of time comparable to that of Shakir\u2019s short ascent. For those who succeed in implementing the emphasis, as he appears to have done, leadership style is often the key contributing factor.

Shakir, who spent 23 years climbing the finance career ladder at packaged goods giant Unilever, cites the scathing results of a 360-degree review that he once received as an aspiring future leader as the experience that most helped to shape his leadership skills: \u201cIt was the worst feedback of my life. Some of my friends even reported that I was a real pain to work with. They said, \u2018When we come to you, you always have to show us how much smarter you are than all of the rest of us.\u2019\u201d

In truth, a chastened Shakir tell us, he was indeed \u201cnosy\u201d by nature and would at times second-guess the work of others.\xa0Even faced with such cutting feedback, though, and as \u201cextremely difficult\u201d Shakir found it to change, nevertheless, change did come.

\u201cI have let go. And I now spend my time thinking, not doing, because that is what I\u2019m paid to do,\u201d observes Shakir, who says that Tata\u2019s undying focus on cash took root with the help of many rather than just one.

Adds Shakir: \u201cWhen I first walked into Tata Communications, I told my team that I knew nothing of telecommunications. I said, \u2018Help me learn.\u2019\u201d\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney