Hello Reader 👋During my holidays, I reflected on my journey and thought about one of the first controversial posts I published on Linkedin. It was about not communicating everything when you were in front of your audience, just so you are efficient and communicate only what matters for them. While I admit this post was obviously exaggerated (yeah, I matured since then and didn't want to follow this "controversial posts just to generate engagement" technique), there are some important points that still need to be understood today. This is why, in this newsletter, we will try to understand the difference between transparency (not hiding from your audience) and saying-it-all (giving all details) So take a coffee (or a mojito if you're still on holidays), sit down and read FP&A Stories just like 30k other readers
This week in FP&A Stories ⚖️ The Balance Between Transparency and Over-Communicating
🧹 Cleaning up my mailing list
⚖️ The Balance Between Transparency and Over-CommunicatingWhen you prepare and deliver a presentation, there's a fine line between transparency and over-communicating. This is the post I published on linkedin Whether you're in FP&A, controlling, or accounting, not understanding the difference between being open and drowning your audience in unnecessary details will have a huge impact on whether people will listen and act...or not Transparency Isn’t TMI (Too Much Information) If you want to build trust, transparency is super important. But being transparent doesn’t mean dumping every single piece of data onto your your business partners. Instead, it's about delivering the right information at the right level of detail. Here's the thing: providing too much information, especially all at once, can backfire. It overwhelms people, dilutes your message, and makes it harder for them to understand what really matters and what they can do about it. The Art of Selective Transparency When you're transparent, you're sharing insights that matter and those that help guide decisions. Here's where selective transparency comes into play.
Why Saying It All Can Undermine Your Message While it might seem like saying it all will cover your bases, it can often do more harm than good.
Tips for Communicating Transparently Without Overloading I will only give you one tip: reverse the narrative. Find the business event behind the financial transaction and makes sure you have the
When you have it, this is your message. If you don't, maybe this does not need to be mentioned.
The Message
Transparency in finance communication is about clarity, not volume.
By focusing on what truly matters and delivering it in a digestible way, you maintain trust, drive decisions, and keep your audience engaged.
So next time you're preparing to communicate with your stakeholders, ask yourself: Am I being transparent, or am I just saying it all?
And don't forget the 3 What ;-)
🧹 Cleaning up my mailing listThis week, I realised that, although you are 30k subscribers to get FP&A Stories in your mailboxes, more than 7k never opened a mail in the last 6 months. So, because I don't want to keep sending mails that don't interest the ones receiving them, I sent a last mail this week to confirm the interest of these 7k subscribers. If you received it in your mailbox, and want to keep receiving FP&A Stories, make sure you react before this Friday. On Saturday, I will unsubscribe the subscribers who did not react. But no worries, we have spent a good time together and I don't hold any grudge 😉 You're always welcome to come back That's a wrap for this week See you next week! PS: Whenever you're ready to develop your financial storytelling skills and become the visible face of finance, join the Financial Storytelling Program |
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