Welcome to The 6 a.m. CFO, where finance chiefs share how they jump-start their days and engage with the tasks that are in front of them.
Today, Riveron’s CFO, Tony Ciotti, shares his morning routine.
Be sure to check out the entire 6 a.m. CFO series, and if you’d like to be featured in a future post, please email us here.
Riveron
- A business advisory firm that partners with the office of the CFO, private equity firms and other capital providers to elevate performance across the transaction and business cycle.
- Year founded: 2006
- Number of employees: 1,400
- Revenue: Projecting 20%+ revenue growth in 2025
MORNING ROUTINE
Walk us through your normal workday morning routine: It’s critical that I am up and at ‘em before my kids, and my son is an early riser. Riveron is part of an international workforce where our teams are serving clients all the time, so I like to try and nail down the top things that I need to prioritize each day as early as possible. More often than not, I’ll do it the night before.
Shortly after I wake up, I’ll quickly digest emails from overnight and then nail down the big items for the day. Anything critical from overnight, I’ll respond to while my second cup of cappuccino is kicking in. By then, my family is awake, and I’ll help my kids with their morning routines. For me, it’s good to take a step back and get my mind recalibrated from work to personal in the AM so it isn’t just “wake and work”; some of my best professional ideas arise when I’m doing something at home that isn’t directly work-related. By 8 a.m., if I am in town, I am squarely plopped at my desk, conquering the workday.
Can you share a recent morning where things didn’t go according to plan, and how you adapted? I have two young kids — no mornings ever go as planned! I learned a long time ago that “life happens,” so it’s important that leaders don’t get too attached to a plan, particularly when there are variables well outside of what you can control. The key is to be agile and ready to pivot no matter what comes your way. The worst thing you can do is let a change in plans ruin your day — life has so many other wild cards to throw at us, embrace them!
How do you structure your first few hours after you log on at work? What do you prioritize, and how do you engage with your teams? Understanding what needs to be accomplished each day, from the onset, is critical. In my role, I get pulled in so many different directions that it’s easy to get distracted and accomplish nothing. Going into each day, I tend to know which items need to be moved forward and which I can hit in the coming days or weeks. I’ll try to leave some space in my days to do more critical thinking versus just “hammering out items on the list.”
So much of the CFO role involves making critical decisions, which requires a good headspace and dedicated time for thought and reflection. And of course, there are always a few curve balls that are thrown my way unexpectedly, so I like to leave space for tackling those too. Across my immediate team and the broader company, we engage well by maintaining a collective drive to deliver impactful results for our clients and colleagues. My team at Riveron is exceptionally strong, experienced and able to work independently, so there’s no real need for daily check-ins. That being said, we value teamwork and are in regular contact and have no issue just picking up the phone, day or night.
INSPIRATION AND LEADERSHIP
Favorite quote or mantra: I like a few quotes. “Never let a crisis go to waste.” “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” And with my team, given finance serves as the headlights of the business and the first line of defense is: “See something, say something” — which really just means, if you don’t like what the numbers are telling you, speak up, because the math probably isn’t wrong!
Favorite leadership lesson: Not to be cliché, but I really live by some simple leadership principles: The team mirrors the leader; make hard decisions early versus delaying them in favor of easy ones; trust is built in small moments but lost in big ones; and true leaders create more leaders. The culture and solid team here at Riveron allows us to learn from each others’ leadership styles, and we regularly observe strong leadership from our clients and vice versa. Our team focuses heavily on serving CFOs, and many of us have sat in the CFO seat before, so we bring that shared perspective and professional empathy to our workplace and client interactions.
Most influential or famous person you’ve ever met: In business, there’s a huge difference between fame — being easily recognized — and influence, which is about making meaningful, lasting changes. I don’t spend much time thinking about fame, and I probably wouldn’t recognize a famous person if they were staring me in the face. But when I think about influence, we have a concept at Riveron about being a CFO’s ‘first call.’ That means you’re the first person a leader reaches out to when they need to solve a critical challenge or make a big impact under pressure.
Many of my colleagues are exactly that go-to person. I’m thinking of one of Riveron’s senior leaders in particular — she doesn’t seek the spotlight, but she’s highly effective and influential. When CFOs call her, she mobilizes teams quickly, not just solving the immediate problem, but strengthening the entire office of the CFO and the company overall. That reliable, behind-the-scenes ability to be the first call, respond strategically, and ensure a client’s lasting success — that’s true influence in the workplace.
Something important to know about you that you wouldn’t know from your business bio: I come from humble beginnings, and that helps motivate me every day not to take for granted the opportunities that I have and to do my best to create opportunities for others. When you love what you do, working hard isn’t hard.
What was the last job you did at your company that fell outside your traditional scope of work? I’ve done almost every operational function imaginable at professional services organizations: I’ve managed marketing and sales teams, led recruiting functions and I’ve even served as in-house legal (mostly contract negotiations and reviewing MSAs, SOWs, etc.) at a smaller firm. I’ve also played Santa Claus.
How have you learned to manage work-induced stress? When faced with pressures at work, it helps to control your reactions, take a breath, start conversations — even bad ones — from a position of curiosity and a desire to understand. Or get up and take a walk to clear your mind. If all else fails, yell “serenity now!”
Favorite number: My favorite number has always been 13, going back to when I was young. I suppose it’s because I enjoy being a contrarian!
What are the most noteworthy items in your workspace? My home office built-ins are full of interesting knick-knacks from my professional and personal past. Past deal toys, pictures and memories, a half-played chess board, even all of my old cell phones sit in places of prominence. But what keeps me company most, and what I’ll find myself staring at during those long Teams meetings, are the ever-changing sets of drawings from my kids, old hotel room keys from family trips we’ve taken and a painting of my grandfather’s old paint store on the North Side of Pittsburgh, where I worked while attending college. These are great reminders of what a journey it’s been thus far and what really matters!
What is the year, make and model of your first car? I had a beige 1989 Mercury Tracer hatchback that my uncle gave to me under hilarious circumstances (for another article). This thing had sub-100 horsepower. I remember driving up one of Pittsburgh’s many hills with the air conditioner on, pedal to the floor and the car not going more than 25 MPH. Other cars were laying on their horn, so I turned the A/C off, which meant I could get it up to 30 MPH. What a great car.
Favorite phone app that is unrelated to work: I spend modest time on all the classics: Spotify, grocery shopping on Instacart, using restaurant apps like Resy and OpenTable, reading WSJ/NYT/Google News — and I love a good Reddit rabbit hole.
