6 | Global CFO Excellence Awards 2025 To ensure that everyone moves in the same direction, Alessandro dedicates time to communicating transparency, explaining both strategic priorities and the rationale behind each decision. He reinforces this communication through continuous alignment tools, including regular meetings, shared reports, and open discussions that allow every team member to see how their work connects to overall goals. Another key element of Alessandro’s approach is refusing to accept “no” as an answer. He leads his team with the steadfast belief that any problem or initiative, if addressed and analysed correctly, can be achieved or resolved. Central to Alessandro’s leadership is an absolute intolerance for downtime and poor performance. While some may view it as rigid, Alessandro considers a meritocratic system essential in such a fastpaced environment – where his team must move quickly and deliver concrete results. In this environment, only those who achieve their objectives are rewarded, not only with monetary recognition but also with greater organisational involvement, increasing responsibilities, and participation in strategic projects. To sum up this approach, Alessandro stated: “With me, you work hard, but you learn and grow even more.” To sustain this model, Alessandro pairs work activities with moments dedicated to personal and team development, which he calls “moments for group culture.” In these sessions, participants are guided by predefined themes and can exchange ideas, create synergies, and strengthen cohesion. In the long-term, this approach plays a crucial role in building a consolidated and autonomous team, one ready to handle growing responsibilities and enables delegation to be truly effective. “Creating a meritocratic environment has encouraged my colleagues not to limit themselves in their daily tasks, but constantly seek out new opportunities, projects, and improvements,” Alessandro shared, “in the knowledge that every significant result will bring tangible and motivating recognition. I also make it a priority to minimise inefficiencies in interactions and cross-team organisation, avoiding both downtime and boredom. To this end, I regularly assign projects to my department by structuring them into small, cross-functional mini-teams, ensuring they remain as flexible as possible, avoid routine fatigue, and have continuous opportunities to challenge and develop themselves.” Alessandro’s strategic approach to leadership has enabled Finarte to thrive in the auction house sector, a shifting landscape that is increasingly adopting an international outlook enriched by lean and dynamic players, within an ever more complex regulatory framework. In this transformatory phase, the greatest challenges are being presented to long-established companies, who must now rethink management approaches and move towards a more structured, managerial model. In this scenario, Alessandro’s role as CFO becomes crucial; to ensure competitiveness in a more agile and flexible market, it is essential to build a structured organisation that can simultaneously preserve agility and speed in decision-making. In Finarte’s case, the team worked on two main fronts: analysing and redesigning processes to identify waste and inefficiencies; and reviewing costs line-by-line, eliminating duplications and renegotiating contracts and suppliers to achieve significant savings. At the same time, the team adapted Finarte to the new regulatory environment, placing a particular focus on anti-money laundering. The entire process was redesigned, defining new roles and structures, in order to protect the commercial network without stifling the business. This forward-thinking approach made it possible for Finarte to avoid risks related to dealing with non-compliant parties, which would have represented more of a threat than an opportunity in the longer-term. Of course, revisiting established processes and structures that employees are attached to is never a simple task; resistance is common, and it can be easy to fall into organisational entropy. In these cases, communication becomes an indispensable tool. Alessandro asserts that the CFO must clearly articulate the benefits of change and build genuine buy-in across the team. Yet, he told us, communication alone is not enough; leadership and charisma are equally vital to steer the team in the right direction and keep energy focused on shared goals. Looking ahead, Alessandro’s vision for the future is rooted in building increasingly solid foundations – both for Finarte and for his own leadership. His focus lies in strengthening what has already been built: consolidating processes, tools, and internal competencies so they become stable, shared assets. At the same time, he is committed to developing new opportunities for growth, both strategically and personally. For the company, this means continuing to evolve a managerial structure that is agile yet robust, capable of anticipating market shifts, enhancing regulatory oversight, and driving innovation through sustainable business models and improved financial planning. On a personal level, Alessandro aims to cultivate a leadership style that places people at the centre, investing in their development and building autonomous teams. He believes that true success lies not only in financial results, but in leaving the organisation stronger than it was before. “In short, he said, “my project for the future is to transform today’s success into a stable, innovative, and long-term model, ensuring that what we are building now becomes the foundation for tomorrow’s achievements.” There is no universal formula to becoming a CFO – a fact that Alessandro places great emphasis on. Instead, he promotes the importance of building solid technical foundations – mastering accounting, having a deep understanding of taxation, and navigating management control with confidence. These are skills that require constant updating, which is why a CFO must be driven by relentless curiosity and a commitment to continuous learning and improvement. This role is one that demands complete focus and dedication, with no limits on time or energy when it comes to achieving a goal. It is a role that evolves everyday because today’s CFO, he believes, must go beyond technical rigour to embrace an increasingly strong strategic dimension. A CFO today is not only a custodian of numbers, but also someone who can read the industry, interpret its signals, and transform them into decisions that shape the future of their company. To those pursuing this path, Alessandro offered clear advice: “Study, study, and study. Never stop questioning yourself and striving to improve. And then, work, work, and work with genuine passion – because only by loving what you do will you stop seeing time and effort as a sacrifice and instead recognise them as a precious resource that enriches you and keeps moving you forward. Stay curious and never fully satisfied, because it is only with this mindset that you will keep improving and growing.” Contact: Alessandro Consoli Company: Finarte s.p.a. Web Address: www.finarte.it
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