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ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM CFO MILLER: Lessons for aspiring CFOs

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Home 9 Articles 9 ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM CFO MILLER: Lessons for aspiring CFOs
ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM CFO MILLER: Lessons for aspiring CFOs
ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM CFO MILLER: Lessons for aspiring CFOs

Anglo American Platinum’s Craig remembers a popular saying of his mom that ‘what is for you will not go past you’. In light of this, he advises young professionals to grab every opportunity that comes their way and to develop resilience and confidence as early as possible in their careers. It is more important to focus on broadening your knowledge and horizons than to aim to climb the corporate ladder. The latter happens as a natural consequence of the former.

Hard work pays off but for Craig it is also important to find a balance between work and family life. As Jesse Jackson once said, children need your presence much more than your presents.

‘If there is one aspect of my career I would change, it would be how much time I previously spent with my family. I often wonder what kind of childhood my sons would remember. Would they think of dad as someone who was around a lot or as a figure consumed by his job with little time to spare for them?’

One of the few positive corollaries of the pandemic is that working from home has become the norm. This has enabled Craig to spend much more time with Nina and the boys who recently turned eleven.

At the time of our interview in June 2021 he is at their holiday home in Knysna and it is the day after Youth Day. He mentions how the day before he and his wife had a conversation with their boys about the meaning of Youth Day.

‘We also reflected on the book To Kill a Mockingbird. It shares a major theme with my favourite read, Born A Crime, by Trevor Noah, namely that we should not judge a book by its cover. I have found this lesson to be very valuable in my career. We should all have an appreciation for people’s background and experiences before making decisions about them.’

As we near the end of the interview, I ask Craig whether he sees himself as CEO of Anglo-American Platinum one day. ‘Our current CEO Natascha Viljoen asked me the same question a couple of weeks ago. I usually fill in for her when she is on leave. Sometimes I think it would be great to be appointed to the role but other times I think to myself, “Goodness! Are you kidding me!?”. I oscillate between the two.

‘For now, I feel very blessed to be the CFO of a JSE Top 10 company. I believe my current role gives me the best of both worlds because I get to participate in critical strategic business decisions while having a firm hand on the financial pulse of the company.’

This article is an extract from the Masters of Money book by KC Rottok Chesaina (JONATHAN BALL PUBLISHERS)

 

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