The Knot's worldwide CFO says 'I do'

"A CFO, of course, can't expect a long honeymoon period. Pickrum's rule for his first days to weeks as a new CFO is "don't break anything." He focuses on getting to know the finance and accounting team, his executive peers, and others in the organization "to get a feel for the culture and how things really work and just build that rapport with people.""

"The former CFO of Maximum Effort, a digital marketing, film production, and investment company co-founded by Ryan Reynolds, and a 17-year veteran of BET/Viacom, Pickrum said that on his first day of meeting new colleagues in the office, he had all the emotions most people hope to have on their wedding day-"energized, enthusiastic"-and that it "exceeded expectations.""

"Before starting at The Knot Worldwide, Pickrum "was basically my own little research analyst," he said, "to see what information was out there" about the company "and start to review that, synthesize it, and get a POV.""

Michael Pickrum joined The Knot Worldwide as CFO and immediately prioritized learning the business, people, and culture. He approached his early days with enthusiasm but limited intervention, adopting the rule "don't break anything." He emphasized meeting finance, accounting, and executive peers to understand how work actually gets done and to build rapport. He prepared by researching publicly available information, reviewing and synthesizing it to form a point of view. He noted that The Knot functions as a marketplace connecting many vendors, which he likens to multiple lines of business within a single platform.

Read at CFO Brew