10 Qs: ZL Technologies' Kon Leong

CEO Kon Leong of ZL Technologies also has CFO responsibilities at the specialized provider of electronic content archiving software. But if being chief executive is Job One, he has strong views, too, about the finance function -- that CFOs must take charge of the way resources are applied, and be aware of the company's strategic mission.

It is such respect for the CFO function among combination CEO/CFOs, of course, that allows so many of those combo-executives to where the financial chief's mantle well.

We certainly find that in Kon Leong's interview.

• Age: 56
• Time with company: He co-founded the company in 1999
• Education: MBA with Distinction from the Wharton School; undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Concordia (Loyola) University, after completing a year at the Indian Institute of Technology
• Company headquarters: San Jose, Calif.
• Number of countries: U.S., Japan, Korea, E.U.
• Number of employees: High 60s, all overseen by the CEO

1. Where did you start in finance and what experiences led you to the job you have today?

The question can remain the same, but I think the answer may be somewhat different from the usual responses. I've done time on both sides of the fence, in finance and non-finance. I started off in IT, though it wasn't called IT then, it was called data processing, then it became MIS then it became IT. I started off in sales and took on varying roles and got my MBA. After my MBA, I went into finance for about a decade, most of it on Wall Street, then went full circle back to IT, and the switch was prompted by the need to produce something tangible -- the itch to produce something and point to it as a legacy. Doing deals on Wall Street is great and they're compensated quite well, but at the end of the day, you're always the midwife, never the mother.

2. Who was an influential boss for you and what lessons did they teach you about management and leadership?

There would be two. One was my first boss who taught me a lot about sales. This was in the enterprise sales sector and he was the branch manager and he taught me that everything stems from sales, and also he educated me as to the pivotal role that sales plays in most organizations. His name is Jim Jarvis. He then went on to senior roles in many companies, including Wang, EDS, and so forth. The second one was Stan O'Neal -- he was the assistant treasurer at General Motors in New York and then he went on to become CEO at Merrill Lynch. The one thing he taught me was that he bet on people and sometimes you take risks, but that's the whole point. That's the most critical bet you can make.

3. What are the biggest challenges facing CFOs today?

I think CFOs need to better understand the ecosystem, and they are instrumental in applying and influencing the way the resources are applied and as such have to be quite cognizant of the strategic mission all the way down to the tactics, and influence the way those resources are applied and then monitored and then readjusted. It's regulating and adjusting the flow of blood.

4. What is a good day at work like for you?

No fires left burning.

5. How would you characterize your management style?