CFO s CONQUERING MOUNTAINS

Not everyone can climb Kilimanjaro or trek to the Everest Base Camp. But Sandi de Souza and Carla Seppings are not just everyone. They are both CFOs, and they have successfully completed these mountainous challenges! They take us with them on their journeys.

Often, great leaders are those who have shown exceptional resilience during tough times and managed to go to great lengths to ensure the success of their people and organisation. It’s no wonder then that these leaders want to test their skills in navigating complex and difficult situations on real mountains.

“A big part of my life is to travel and to embark on new adventures,” says SAP Africa CFO Sandi de Souza.

In fact, before taking on a major professional move from finance to sales earlier in her career, Sandi went on an Everest Base Camp trek in 2014. “Moving from the relative safety of a back office finance role to the cut-throat world of sales, where your salary depends on commissions, was scary. But I knew that, if I could finish the trek, I could take on the move.”

This wasn’t her first trek either, as Sandi had climbed Kilimanjaro in 2013. “Someone said to me on the trail, the pleasure of the climb increases proportionately with the distance away from the mountain. I guess that was a big part of it.”

After that first success, she wanted more, and immediately started looking for her next adventure. She ended up choosing the Everest Base Camp trek.

“It was some of the most incredible scenic places,” she explains. “I also met such incredible people, both locals and fellow hikers.”

Bidvest Automotive group CFO Carla Seppings’ “never say no” attitude is the reason why she took up the challenge to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, which she completed in 2017, with a good friend.

“My friend jokingly suggested that we climb Kilimanjaro, and I said why not? I’m keen to give anything a bash,” she says. Because of this, Carla’s very average sporting capabilities have been tested time and time again, including when she agreed to complete a couple of Amashova and 94.7 cycle races, run a few Two Oceans half marathons, and the London Marathon in 2015.

Carla found that the way up Kilimanjaro made for a very good bonding experience. “It also teaches you to just enjoy life a little bit.”

She explains that, just like in finance, putting in the hard work was absolutely critical, and there were some really tough moments, but the destination was worth it.

Carla admits that some nights during her climb were just awful.“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.” However, it wasn’t because they were unfit, but because of the unpredictable impact the oxygen and altitude can have on a person’s body. “At a certain altitude, your body either copes, or it doesn’t.”

Unfortunately, Carla experienced the latter. “At the top, it was really hard. I couldn’t breathe, it was extremely cold, and that last day is very long,” she says. “We were in a small group of 10 people, and for most of us, it was the first time we were doing something like this.”

She adds that, perhaps if they had done oxygen therapy training and tried other advanced survival techniques, it would have been easier. But with only a couple of 5km walks of preparation, they just winged it. And they made it!

Sandi’s trek also had some challenges. On her final push to the Everest Base Camp, there was a cyclone over India and the weather was awful. “There were icicles hanging inside our huts, we walked through whiteout blizzards on slippery rocks with a sheer drop to the glaciers below. There were some terrifying moments.”

One of the people in their group got altitude sickness and couldn’t complete the climb, Sandi adds. “After we came back, we found out that someone else we had met en-route to the trek had died on their way up.”

She explains that these moments were incredibly life-changing for her, and made the success at the end so much bigger of an achievement. “Perseverance and grit are key. Any challenge can be overcome if you have the end goal in mind and take it just one step at a time.”

Not only do the leaders that take on these tough climbs take their best tools and their world-class skills along with them on the hike, but they gain valuable new ones on the way.

“During those tough moments, it was interesting to see how everyone reacted to the stress. We learnt a lot about providing support to our teams, and I took a lot of those learnings back to work with me,” Carla says.

Sandi explains that: “Success definitely breeds success. Finding small victories is the key to making big changes. Whether it’s a process transformation project or strategic structural decisions, tackling each micro-topic one step at a time and celebrating each milestone along the way will ensure success.”

She adds that planning the path, understanding the potential obstacles and risks, and having a diverse and resilient team of experts who can help you navigate through the storm is also critical for success.

These women have gone above and beyond to test their skills. Like true leaders, they have taken on great challenges and successfully navigated through some quite literal storms. l