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CFO Insider is a weekly newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for chief financial officers and other finance experts.
Google's CFO quit his $5 million job to travel the world (Mashable)
Former Google finance chief Patrick Pichette made waves last year when he announced he was ditching his multimillion-dollar annual paycheck and retiring from the search giant to spend more time with his family. Today, according to Mashable's Seth Fiegerman, Pichette is traveling around the globe with his wife, having adventures like rock climbing in California's Yosemite National Park and hiking in Nepal. Compared to his former fast-paced Silicon Valley life, it's a nice change of pace. "Humans are animals of habit — they convince themselves they can't change. And that premise is wrong," he told Fiegerman.
Yahoo CFO doesn't understand why people seem so interested in his company (Business Insider)
Yahoo's been one of the most closely watched tech companies over the past two decades, but Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman, who's been in the position for the last four years, doesn't seem too excited about it, writes Business Insider's Eugene Kim. "I've never seen anything like the amount of attention we get given our size," Goldman said recently. Unprecedented as it may be, Kim cites a few good reasons for the public interest, including Yahoo's brand, unlocked value, and seemingly perpetual drama.
Common beliefs that lead to unprofitable pricing (CFO.com)
CFO.com addresses a highly important but often misunderstood area: how to price products and services. Common misconceptions that lead management astray, it reports, are believing you have control over the price and thinking the price must cover all costs. It's important to recognize that market conditions and competitive advantage typically determine price, not you.
A Patagonia VP explains the business decision that helped the company triple its profits (Business Insider)
Dean Carter, a VP at outdoor clothing company Patagonia, writes on Business Insider that family-friendly policies are good for employees and businesses. "Family-affirming policies reduce turnover costs, including lost productivity while a position is vacant, plus recruitment, relocation, and training time," Carter says. "This can range from 20% of annual salary for a non-managerial employee, to 150% for a director or vice president."
A Wharton professor says there's a counterintuitive way to get what you want (Business Insider)
According to Adam Grant, a professor of management at Wharton and author of the new book "Originals," sometimes being honest about why your idea may be a bad one can persuade people to support it. For example, when entrepreneur Rufus Griscom pitched his parenting site to Disney, he listed five reasons not to buy it — and Disney wound up buying the company for $40 million. Showing that you're self-critical and aware of an idea's weaknesses can be more appealing than unbridled enthusiasm.
