Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group CFO Chen Li Ching reflects on how professional growth extends beyond promotions, highlighting the value of cross-functional experience, sound judgement and empowering others.
Observed on 25 August, Malaysia’s National Women’s Day provides an opportunity to recognise the contributions of women throughout their working lives.
Career progression is often measured through visible milestones such as promotions, expanded responsibilities and leadership appointments. While these remain important, they represent only one dimension of professional development.
Over 16 years with Coca-Cola, Chen Li Ching, Chief Financial Officer of Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, said some of her most valuable periods of growth took place between formal career milestones.
These periods involved strengthening professional judgement, applying established expertise to unfamiliar situations and developing a broader understanding of how different parts of a business influence one another.
Building a Career on Financial Expertise
Finance formed the foundation of Chen’s career, with technical accuracy, discipline and sound analysis proving fundamental to building professional credibility.
However, as the scope of business decisions expanded, she found it increasingly important to consider factors that could not be determined through financial analysis alone.
Financial numbers may establish whether a proposal is viable, but they cannot independently determine whether it addresses customer needs, can be implemented effectively or remains appropriate as market conditions change.
This reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of modern business decision-making.
Commercial priorities can have implications for investment, production and supply chains, while regional strategies must account for the operating realities of individual markets.
As a result, identifying the most financially attractive option is only part of the assessment. Equal consideration needs to be given to whether an organisation can execute and sustain that option.
The Value of Lateral Career Moves
Early in her career, Chen’s mentors encouraged her to build experience across different areas of finance.
Their view was that progressing towards senior finance roles required not only depth in a particular specialism, but also a broad understanding of how the function operates as a whole.
This encouraged Chen to remain open to rotations, including lateral moves, that could deepen her knowledge and prepare her for wider responsibilities.
As her responsibilities expanded, this breadth of perspective became increasingly important in understanding how decisions would work in practice.
Input from commercial, operations, manufacturing and supply chain teams can provide insight into constraints, dependencies and consequences that may not be apparent in an initial financial assessment.
Strengthening Business Decisions Through Collaboration
These experiences have influenced how Chen assesses business decisions today.
Technical rigour is strengthened when assumptions are examined against operational and commercial realities. Revising a recommendation in response to stronger information does not diminish the original analysis; instead, it demonstrates the judgement required to arrive at a more complete assessment.
This is particularly relevant when working across Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.
Although the three markets share broader business priorities, their operating conditions, customer requirements and commercial considerations can differ.
Common frameworks provide valuable consistency, but they must be applied with sufficient judgement to reflect local circumstances.
Regional decision-making therefore involves a series of trade-offs. The most financially efficient solution may not be the most practical for a particular market, while a locally preferred approach may create implications for the wider business.
The responsibility is to assess these considerations transparently, establish which priorities should remain consistent and determine where a more responsive approach is justified.
Career Growth Also Means Developing Others
Professional growth is also reflected in how an individual’s contribution develops over time.
At a senior level, producing high-quality work remains essential, but so does enabling others to interpret financial information with confidence, understand the reasoning behind decisions and contribute informed perspectives.
Experience creates greater organisational value when it strengthens collective judgement rather than remaining concentrated within one function or individual.
Organisations can support this development by providing employees with meaningful exposure to responsibilities beyond their immediate discipline.
Formal learning remains important, but cross-functional experience and proximity to execution provide an understanding of business constraints that cannot always be developed through training alone.
Redefining What Professional Progress Looks Like
National Women’s Day provides an opportunity to recognise women across different roles and stages of their working lives.
Titles and appointments remain important markers of progress, but they do not fully represent how a career develops.
Professional growth can also be seen in the quality of decisions made, the breadth of perspective developed and the ability to strengthen the contribution of others.
For Chen, these less visible forms of development have been central to her own career and continue to shape how she contributes today.
