The lessons of leadership

Over the course of a successful 30-year career in international business, Shane Fitzsimons has refined a tried-and-tested approach to hitting the ground running in any new role. Now CFO and Executive Vice President at AIG Inc in the US, he talks us through the most important professional lessons he has learned over the years.

“Keep your ears open, talk to people, pay attention to how things are done around you and adapt.” 

For Shane Fitzsimons, the recently appointed Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at American International Group (AIG) Inc, showing curiosity, trustworthiness and commitment to the business’ success really matters in any new role. 

Over the course of a highly successful 30-year career in global business, Fitzsimons has refined a ‘go-to’ approach to hitting the ground running in a new position—no matter the business, industry or location.

“In a lot of ways, you could say that getting off to the right start comes down to being a good listener. It’s important to go into any new situation with an open mind and be willing to learn about what’s around you,” he says.

“Preconceptions will only ever get in the way and, when it boils down to it, people the world over generally share the same motivations. They want to know that they can trust you, that you can get things done, and that the success of the business is your number one priority.”

Born in Belfast and raised in Cork, Fitzsimons has risen through the ranks at global companies like General Electric, Tata Group and now AIG over the course of a career that has taken him from Ireland to Europe, and on to the US, and Asia.

Profound advice

Every step of the way, he has continued to heed the “profound” advice he received at a pivotal point in his early years at General Electric while he was an analyst at the company’s headquarters in Connecticut.

“I was about four months into this one-year assignment in Financial Planning and Analysis and I was gung-ho about the role, working 14- to 16-hour days, because here I was at the company’s corporate headquarters with the opportunity to be noticed by Jack Welch (then Chair and CEO of General Electric) and other senior people,” he says.

“I wanted to demonstrate my commitment and my work ethic. Then, one day, the head of FP&A called me into his office. He’d noticed the long hours I’d been working. I was expecting praise. 

“Instead, he sat me down and said: ‘I see you’re working these long hours and I’ve got to tell you: if you can’t manage the job I’ve given you in less than the working day, I can’t give you anything bigger to do.’”

This advice has since become Fitzsimons’ guiding philosophy, he explains: “If you can’t take a job – even the most difficult job – boil it down, simplify it, and improve how it’s done, you’re not ready to move to a more senior role because you haven’t demonstrated a capacity to grow.”

Productivity & performance

That conversation prompted Fitzsimons to re-think his approach to productivity and performance. 

“I had to reflect on how I could use my working time more effectively to do the job at hand while also getting to know other parts of the business. From that point onwards, I started to look at everything from the point-of-view of efficiency,” he says.

“It was really quite profound. Even now with my team here at AIG, we have a major focus on supporting efficiency in the wider business. 

“We obviously focus on the numbers—on traditional activities like accounting, treasury and tax—but we also see ourselves as an operational partner to the wider business with an important role to play in driving efficiency and supporting strategy and process improvement.”

In this respect, Fitzsimons sees finance as an operational ‘enabler’ in business. “We play a very important role in control and governance, obviously, but we don’t see ourselves as the ‘checkers’,” he says. 

“That’s why words like ‘expediting’ are so important to me – because finance is an enabler. Our role is really to help the wider business to be successful in the markets in which we operate.”

Even at the earliest point in his career, Fitzsimons was already aware of the need to gain hands-on experience in the cut and thrust of the commercial world. 

While completing his training with Chartered Accountants Ireland, he worked with Fitzsimons Flynn & Co., the practice run by his late father Garry, also a Chartered Accountant, from three locations in Cork city, Kinsale and Bandon.

“I left Ireland pretty quickly. At the time, there weren’t many options to progress your career unless you were willing to travel and accountancy seemed like a very good career to take on the road with you.”

From practice to industry

Fitzsimons first moved to the Netherlands in 1990 for a six-month assignment with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) and would go on to spend a decade in the country, moving out of audit practice in 1994 to join GE Plastics in Bergen op Zoom. 

“My father had always said that, to be a really good accountant, I would need experience in industry. He encouraged me to make the move early in my career, so, when I came across a finance role with GE, I decided to take it,” he said.

Then a $5 billion subsidiary of General Electric, the US-headquartered multinational, GE Plastics had opened a manufacturing plant in Bergen op Zoom in 1971. By 1994, the site had become a key part of GE’s global operations, serving customers internationally.
“I started in general accounting, consolidation, things like that, and quickly realised that, to progress my career, I would need to relocate to GE headquarters in the US and gain experience in areas like FP&A and commercial finance,” Fitzsimons says.

He made the move in 2000, spending a year at GE’s Fairfield headquarters in Connecticut before heading southwest to Ohio to take up the role of Group FP&A Leader for Aviation.

“That was a huge step up for me in terms of role and responsibility. It was a very formative period in aviation. The industry was heavily impacted by 9/11 and I learned a lot working with leaders like Dave Calhoun (now CEO and President of Boeing),” says Fitzsimons.

“I worked very closely with Dave and other great leaders for four years, learning from them, and I was then asked to return to GE’s Connecticut headquarters as FP&A leader for the company. I stayed there for seven years.”

Having weathered the worst of the financial crisis helming GE’s FP&A function, Fitzsimons was ready for “something new.” Now aged 44, he had already forged a successful career spanning industry and practice in Europe and the US. 

So, what next? “Asia,” says Fitzsimons. “It was missing on my resume.” 

When an opportunity came up with GE in Hong Kong, he decided to take it and, in all, spent six years in Hong Kong, initially as GE’s Chief Financial Officer for Global Growth and Operations, followed by Senior Vice-President of Global Operations. 

“Then I turned 50 and decided to do what I’d always advised people never to do. I took time off. I’d been working since I was 18. I kind of needed a break. It was the right choice for me,” he says.

After his sabbatical, Fitzsimons was on the move again—this time to Mumbai on India’s west coast. 

There, he took up the position of Chief Synergy Officer at Tata Sons, the private principal investment holding company for Tata Group, India’s diversified “coffee-to-cars” conglomerate with operations in more than 100 countries.

“I’ve moved around a lot over the years and what I’ve found is that there are more similarities between businesses and people around the world than you might expect,” Fitzsimons says. 

“Often, you’ll find that the overriding priority for most people is to create a better future for their kids. That’s a very unifying motivation.

“Another unifier is that you will always find people in a new company or situation who are willing to help you. Sometimes these folks will be buried in the organisation. They are the people who really want to help the company succeed. They’re willing to accept you early on and help you find your way.”

This experience has taught Fitzsimons the importance of getting to know people in any new organisation he joins “at all levels.”

“I don’t just want to get to know my direct reports, I want to get to know the people who work for them. I want to get to know people working in other parts of the business. Demonstrating your interest, your curiosity, is really important – and really valuable. People notice it.”

An early win

An early win can also help to create the right impression in a new role. “It’s important to be able to make a visible difference at the outset,” Fitzsimons says. 

“It doesn’t have to be a big win, but it matters that people see it. It lets them know that you have the right intentions; that you’re here to execute and make the company better.”

Fitzsimons spent 18 months with Tata Group, leading efforts to create synergies across the group’s diverse set of businesses. “At that stage, it was time to go back to the States. My family wanted to be in the US. The opportunity to join AIG came up in July 2019 and I jumped at it,” he says.

Fitzsimons’ first role with AIG was as Global Head of Shared Services, based in New York. At the time, AIG’s Global Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of General Insurance was Peter Zaffino, who is now the company’s Chair and CEO.

“The shared services role attracted me, but, more than that, I really wanted to work with Peter,” Fitzsimons says. 

Global Head of Shared Services was a newly created role at AIG, established to act as a single point of accountability for all key operational and financial capabilities across the organisation.

“My biggest motivator right the way through my career has been the opportunity to just dig in and solve complex operational problems as part of a team, and I knew this role would be very operational, which would allow me to get involved in a lot of different aspects of the business,” says Fitzsimons. 

“I enjoy breaking problems down into little pieces, finding the right operating cadences and rhythms, and the pure satisfaction you get when you find a solution—especially when you’re working at a pace that’s not necessarily comfortable, but it works.”

The value of joining AIG in the shared services role and working with Peter Zaffino as a leader became quickly apparent. 

Within five months, Fitzsimons took on the additional role of Global Head of Financial Planning and Analysis and three months after that, he joined the highest ranks of AIG senior management when he became Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer in March 2021—and a member of the company’s 12-strong executive leadership team. 

In October 2021, AIG announced that Fitzsimons would transition to the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer by January 2022.

In his new role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, he leads hundreds of financial professionals across the globe who are supporting AIG’s priorities—from delivery on AIG’s financial performance objectives, to the separation of the Life and Retirement business from AIG, the execution of AIG’s budget and capital plans, and proactive engagement with investors and other stakeholders.

Future plans & priorities

“My biggest career goal now with AIG is to be the best CFO I can be; to cultivate and lead our diverse finance team in a way that allows each member to meet their own aspirations; and support the leaders who have placed their trust in me to be successful,” says Fitzsimons.

A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland since 1993 and a fellow since 2003, Fitzsimons’ career has taken him from Ireland to Europe, and on to the US and Asia. Despite his success in different industries, however, he didn’t have a “concrete” career plan starting out.

“I always had ideas about the experiences I wanted to collect along the way, but I don’t think I ever had a set plan,” he says. 

“My father had taught me the importance of gaining industry experience as an accountant, so you would have domain knowledge as a business advisor working in practice, but I found my niche in industry and that’s shaped my career.

“Now, ultimately, my priority in my current role with AIG is to eventually leave the business better than I found it. It’s also very important for me personally to build a diverse and high-performing team within the finance function. 

“My team is about 60 percent gender-diverse already, which is a high figure for leadership teams in financial services. The goal now is to build on all diversity within the finance team and right the way through the organisation.”

Team dynamics

For Fitzsimons, a healthy, diverse, and balanced team dynamic is essential to achieving successful outcomes – and there is no place for ‘hands-off’ leadership in this respect. 
“Everything is about the team and how the team works together. I actually never use the word ‘manager’ in the sense that colleagues need to be constantly instructed,” he says.
“Everyone needs to play an active role. Everybody’s got to have defined responsibilities. They must see themselves and their role as part of the team.”

As Fitzsimons sees it, the ideal team should comprise a group of people with diverse experience and backgrounds. “They need to be able to communicate well with each other to be successful and ambitious,” he says. 

“I always say that a perfect team has five people on it who think they can do my job and two who probably can. What’s important is the belief that they’re not working in silos and that they’re paying attention to the big picture. It’s a good dynamic.”