By Cheryl A. Lickfeld, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
I am the Chief Financial Officer, or as my colleagues like to call me the “numbers person” here at TCC. And let me tell you, it isn’t the best feeling to have the PR and creative folks cringe every time they see me coming. But hey, it’s my job.
I can only imagine the thoughts running through their heads: “What question is she going to ask me this time? Do I have my timesheets in? Did I process my billing packets?” The list goes on and on. I’m here to tell all you communication pros that you really can be friends with your finance department. After all, it’s just about communication.
As I write this, I am sitting in my office in the Larkin at Exchange building, one of the buildings formerly part of the Larkin Company. Darwin D. Martin spent his entire career (1879 – 1925) at the Larkin Company, working his way up from soap slinger, to bookkeeper, to eventually Secretary (equivalent to the CFO). Darwin Martin was my kind of guy: sensible, practical, the “numbers guy.”
Elbert Hubbard was the swashbuckling marketing guru at the Larkin Company. He pioneered mail order merchandising and the use of premiums. Hubbard’s clever marketing propelled the Larkin Company into a mail order powerhouse. To keep up with the company’s growth, Darwin Martin invented a card ledger system to track sales and maintain customer accounts. With Martin’s card ledger system, the increased sales driven by Hubbard’s brilliant marketing tactics were easily accounted for.
Darwin Martin and Elbert Hubbard, the numbers guy and marketing guru, became friends. When Hubbard left the Larkin Company to start the Roycroft in East Aurora, N.Y., Martin was devastated.
So, what’s the moral of my history lesson? Finance and Marketing aren’t enemies. We are working toward a common goal. So don’t cringe when you see the “numbers person” walking down the hall!
Oh, on my weekends I volunteer with the Graycliff Conservancy, the organization that is restoring the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Graycliff Estate in Derby, N.Y. Graycliff was the summer estate of Darwin and Isabelle Martin. It was a gift from Darwin Martin to his wife, Isabelle. So, during the week I work in the same building where Darwin Martin worked, and on the weekends I enjoy the fruits of his labors.
