After a progressive, international career with Syngenta, you have recently moved into a new position with Thermo Fisher Scientific. What excites you about working for the business?

Two factors played in role in my joining Thermo Fisher Scientific. The first was our mission, which is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. As the world leader in serving science, with revenues of more than $20 billion and approximately 70,000 employees globally, we are fulfilling that mission everyday which really excites me. Second, the role as CFO Europe for the Clinical Trial business was the right step for me in my career as I have full financial accountability. We have three major sites in Switzerland, Germany and England with over 50 finance and purchasing professionals in those sites, and with that comes all the general financial responsibilities including the monthly closing, the budget process, statutory and tax filing and much more. Furthermore, in this role I am heavily engaged in the strategic development of the European business and it’s exciting and challenging to play a part in growing and facilitating that growth.

Can you identify how your organisation stands out from the market and your competitors, particularly in Switzerland where there are many life sciences businesses?

In Switzerland the Clinical Trial business of Thermo Fisher Scientific has the biggest footprint and is a service provider to the Pharma and Biotech industry. We are a global leader in the areas of clinical supply chain management and clinical supplies for patients worldwide. With approximately 500 employees in Allschwil, Basel, we manufacture, package, label, store and ship different medicines to locations globally. We are well placed in Basel with the proximity many Pharmaceutical companies.

With the recent acquisition of Patheon we now are one of the only companies that can offer the full end to end service for clinical trials. By adding Patheon's highly complementary contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) capabilities to our leading clinical trials services and bioproduction technologies, we are an even stronger partner for our pharmaceutical and biotech customers.

What other challenges are awaiting Thermo Fisher, and how do you hope to overcome them?

Like any other company or industry there are many challenges to tackle. The research and development of new medicine is becoming much more expensive than it was just 15 years ago. In addition, there is a shift in medicine where you won’t need many tablets any more than one, but it will be a much higher price. Hence Innovation is key in the industry and we need to transform and think differently for the future. Digitalisation will change how clinical studies will be executed and we want to be at the forefront of that development. For example, one of the more difficult aspects of a clinical trial is to find the people to test the medicine with. They need to get to a specific location that is licensed to hand out the medicine, and for some of the patients it will require them to travel for several hours every week to get there. A concept like delivering directly to patients, as opposed to them having to travel, would make this much easier for a clinical trial patient who may already be going through other health challenges. 

How did you get to the level you are at? What great decisions do you believe you have made throughout your career and have you had to take risks?

I had the opportunity to have different roles in many areas of finance at Syngenta which helped to round out my finance experience and positioned me well for my current role as CFO Europe, clinical trials business at Thermo Fisher Scientific. I have gathered practical experience as well as technical finance knowledge that is necessary to be a successful CFO. From an education standpoint, I added CIMA and other courses, including business strategy from Insead, to my master diploma which I was able to successfully complete in England (London School of Economics) and Switzerland (University of Zurich). This required a lot of discipline, endurance and interest. It showed me that life-long learning is a key ingredient for advancement.

There are, however, many other elements that played into this. First, you need to have dedication, hard work and show that you want to grow – but most importantly, you also need to deliver. This is key throughout any career. You must know your aspiration and where you want to get to and think about how you can get there. It is important to change roles every two to three years early in your career (also within a corporation) to gain a wide breadth of experience in different areas of finance. This provides the opportunity to see what areas of finance you like and want to focus on. If opportunities arise, take them. Be proactive, take on extra work and responsibility and a new role if there is an opportunity to do so.

Second, working abroad is still one of the best decisions I made in my career. It opened my perspective and I learned to adapt and manage in a different environment and culture. Those are crititcal skills to possess to succeed later in your career. Of course there is risk associated with moving and working abroad. In my first four years with Syngenta, I gained a lot of information on processes, systems and people, which allowed me to be ready to go out and use my knowledge. Luck also plays a part in the sense that sometimes it’s just being in the right place at the right time. However, you can influence your luck by doing a supereb job and being first in line when an opportunity arises. Don’t be shy, let people know what you want to achieve and work step by step towards it. You need to be realistic and not think you will be a CFO with just a few years of experience. 

Last, leading people is another milestone in a progressive career. I am a person that likes to manage, challenge, motivate and develop finance careers and ensure people learn and are set up for success. There is a risk involved if, for example, there is a need to manage people with more experience, but without people management skills they won’t progress far regardless of your technical skills. Hence, try to earn the opportunity to lead one or two colleagues early on.

What made you decide to pursue a career in finance?

I always had an interest in numbers and hence deliberately chose to study economics at the university. I have a business mindset and set up a small trading company while studying and realized early on that it is crucial to understand the finance. Only with solid profit and loss (P&L) and balance sheet comprehension can you steer a business in a professional and sophisticated way. Hence finance is a good base to build your career on, and it also opens many doors for career changes. Finance also provides a lot of career options and plenty of room for growth.

I grew up internationally and a background in finance makes it easier to be able to secure work opportunities globally. This can be more difficult with other careers like law, for example, which is more customized to specific regions. As I was glad to experience international mobility early on (I was born in Hong Kong and lived my first few years there, as well in Japan for two years. I saw the benefits of experiencing a different culture and saw how this broadened my horizon. 

What recruitment challenges do you face?

Talent is scarce and one needs to rely on their own network. It is also a motivating sign if somebody from the existing team can be promoted. However, if you have to go outside your organization, there are several recruiting challenges. First, time to hire. You are always late while you are recruiting as you normally start the process when somebody has resigned. To minimize the gap, and the extra efforts of current team members, establishing a bridge is key. Second, avoid making a bad hire. It is important to find the right fit long term that fits into the company values and culture but is also a fit with the current team. Thermo Fisher is a fast paced company with many projects happening simultaneously, which require management. Last, reduce costs. Recruiting can be costly as it requires the time of the HR department, business people for interviews, agencies and many others.

What books / blogs are you currently reading? What book could you recommend to accountants that are wanting to progress?

I like to read business books and magazines and I do that as much as I can, especially while traveling on a plane. It is vital to keep yourself up to date on what is going on, both in the industry and broader environment, to ensure you can ask the right questions for your company and department. A good book I read some time ago is called ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins. Another is ‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’ by Marshall Goldsmith. The first is about how companies need to transform to be successful and the second is more about yourself and what are the hurdles to overcome at different career levels to further progress.

You have been working as CFO at C.H. Robinson in Europe since Sep 2017. What are the main differences between the responsibilities of this role and your previous role as Director Corporate Controlling at FrieslandCampina?

The largest differences are that, in my previous role at FrieslandCampina, my team and I worked often with a longer-term vision - we were dealing with strategic planning and projects that were driving the longer-term finance and the reporting functions to higher standards. We could only be successful if we managed well the broad range of stakeholders, which you naturally have in corporate environments, to come to solutions that could work for all. This means that bringing new ways of working to implementation took longer. Furthermore, we were responsible for complex planning processes and monitoring the overall company performances versus the targets that were set and were challenging senior management to continuously improve their results. Most of the time we were not dealing directly with the responsible managers in the commercial or supply chain businesses.  It is a big multinational company with a lot of operating companies and divisions with different dynamics; you have to find common ground and have good stakeholder management but because of the number of stakeholders, decision making can be delayed. It was a great place to learn about strategy, direction and dealing with senior leadership on a daily basis.

However, I get the most energy from working with teams close to the business – this is what I was looking for after 4 years working in headquarters.

In my role here at C.H. Robinson, I oversee accounting and reporting, tax, treasury, shared services (AP/AR) in Poland (80 people) and business controlling – I am also involved in strategic planning and M&A. Being part of the European leadership team I can directly influence management, so I am also close to the business again. And actually that is what gives me energy in my role to work with management and to drive business performances towards our strategic targets. I saw this as a nice opportunity to bring together the experience I gained at both Sara Lee and FrieslandCampina, to then deploy it here.

The organisation is very hands-on, success driven, young, and diverse. At C.H. Robinson, as a non- asset based company, we provide supply chain services and solutions to thousands of customers across Europe. We organise these services through thousands of carriers and service providers. We have a clear strategy for organic growth, acquisitions and to further digitalise our business model. I believe that with the entrepreneurial mind-set, and the internally developed, single global technology platform that we have, we are well positioned to increase added value to our customers, meaning competitive prices, with good service levels. Through our model we increase the utilisation of logistical capacity in Europe. As a consequence, we grow faster than the markets we operate within in Europe. The logistics services industry is big and globally growing, highly competitive and therefor very dynamic. Here we are challenged to think strategically and translate this to the right targets and live up to them, use the data and insights, leverage and make use of it; to set the right KPIs, data sets, and predictive analytics – this is an area we are currently developing. The environment is fast-paced with many decisions to make on a daily basis - regarding deals, volume and prices/margins. It is interesting for me as a finance person to influence the team to make the right decisions every minute of the day.

What differences have you noticed between working for a Dutch company and a US company?

The first 15 years of my career I worked for Sara Lee. The international divisions I worked for were managed out of Utrecht in the Netherlands, with the overall head office in the US. It was a good mix of Dutch, Europeans and Americans - similar to here, at C.H. Robinson Europe. What I like about these US companies, and as both are stock-listed, there is a cycle of quarters and delivering results. The environments are fast-paced, results driven and fast in decision making. If you make mistakes you learn from them, but you have to deliver.

In US companies they have a leader who ultimately makes the decision. In Dutch culture every individual is challenged and opinions count. The power of teams is that you can share and build on each other’s ideas, capabilities and knowledge – it can be very powerful.

A combination of Dutch environment and a focus on delivery of results and action suits me well. That’s what I liked at Sara Lee, where I grew up, in a way.

What do you see as the current challenges for finance departments in multinational businesses?

We’ve recently set up our finance strategy for our finance organisation in Europe. What is crucial is having robust and standardised financial processes (transactional activity) and to run them as efficiently as possible at the lowest cost - this is a prerequisite. It’s our challenge to standardise, simplify the financial processes and as an organisation stick to that. The second thing is compliancy – with statutory accounts, tax regulations, how to deal with optimised funding (banks, loans, etc) and internal control. All of these areas are changing so we need to be up to date to ensure we do the right things for the company.

Efficient and effective reporting needs to be in place – to review business results on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and take actions accordingly to drive continuously business performances.

Also, more data analytics and data science. Here we work closely with the Business Analytics team. C.H. Robinson invest substantial amounts per year in IT, as technology is at the heart of our business model. We are aiming to get the right insights daily, weekly and monthly to the relevant people in the organisation. A forward-looking attitude is needed, with good forecasting in place which is used in management meetings to look at trends and how they translate to weeks and months to come. All insights, forecasting, reports, etc should lead to better decisions. This is where finance can, and does, add value and contributes to the overall strategy.

What changes have you seen in the employment market in the Netherlands over the years?

I think that education, particularly post graduate qualifications, have improved. We have quite a talented workforce in Europe within finance. In the area of business partnering/business controlling I believe we can further improve and we are investing in this. It requires good communication skills, understanding of how businesses make money and how they set strategic directions and targets and to be an active player in realising these; review what works well and what doesn’t, hold a mirror to the management and challenge them. You need to be self-confident, to know the numbers and translate in the right way, forcing managers to take the rights action. I see that younger generations in finance are seeing this as well, they want to use technology and data, create insights and have interaction with management. This is a good development.

The fight for talent is huge and the economy is booming, so a lot of companies are looking for the best people. Leadership and general capabilities that finance can develop within a business are really important and people who are effective in this way are sparse.

Something else I noticed is that years ago most people wanted to work for large multi-nationals, but now talented people also like to work for a start- up/tech-driven/entrepreneurial growing business, to make an impact. They sometimes need to be convinced that working for a multinational can be great for them as well; multinationals where standards are high, a lot of effort and investment on leadership development is provided and where talents are given nice opportunities. It’s interesting because I actually wonder if they have influenced me, as I’m now in a tech-driven, young, more entrepreneurial company with a flatter structure, where people can make a difference, and everyone can have an impact every day.

International experience is also really important so that you learn to adapt, have a broader outlook and be open minded. It’s important to approach things from a different angle – this is really a prerequisite in business today, as we operate in very international environment in which versatile approaches are required.

C.H. Robinson has consistently been recognized for it’s workplace and employee benefits – why is this?

For us to be successful it’s all about people, process and technology. We’re a non-asset-based business in logistical services, so all these three things are crucial. It’s a great place to work as we have a relatively young workforce of highly energetic, well-educated people. To be successful and to deliver, makes it a great place to work. Also, we are very diverse in backgrounds and have good investment in people, learning, development and ongoing opportunities for people. If good employees leave after 5 good years, that’s also fine. We hire new people every year, train them and bring them up to speed as soon as possible and put them in the workplace where they take full ownership and contribute to the overall company goals. People are really the core of our business.

What challenges does your business face and how do you hope to overcome them?

Hope is not enough! We’re in a highly competitive market with high volume and relatively low margin – service level is crucial and will become more and more important in a market that grows rapidly, not only because of the economic cycle, but because of increasing internet sales, customers and consumers expect to get their products delivered in time and fast; the need for logistical services is getting bigger.

The technology is crucial, so that our system can communicate with the systems of both our customers and carriers, lots of data needs to be processed in an automated way. It enables us to manage data, take fast and better decisions and to coordinate the value chain better. Our strategic plan is looking at all these areas. We’re doing a good job and growing faster than the market in Europe, experiencing sound growth and, through acquisition, we will accelerate our growth and become a very relevant player in Europe in the coming years.

What great decisions do you believe you have made throughout your career and can you tell us about any risks you had to take?

I always enjoyed my roles working with Sara Lee and with FrieslandCampina. Being in the FMCG business that long has brought me broad experience but I have always wanted to make a decision for myself to make a move into a new industry and/or a new role when the time was right – I enjoy working every day now with new energy and enthusiasm. Obviously, there is risk in these moves, but I have never been afraid to take some risks, I strongly believe by taking the opportunity you will learn. And experiencing new environments and people is great anyway.

How do you relax from such a senior role?

Quite often when I’m driving home from work (where I have a wife, three children and two dogs!) it’s a good time to put things in perspective and reflect, to see the bigger picture. It’s also good to have fun with colleagues at work, even in meetings. In my own time, I like sailing, running, being outdoors and enjoying time with friends and family. I started sailing when I was 6 and now sail every week in a Catamaran - it’s a great way to forget about everything, and relax.

Looking back through your career, what would you identify as a personal highlight?

For me, the highlight is being in the right team where something special is going to happen; a good mix of people with energy and ambition and you know something good will be achieved – to be part of that and be able to contribute - that’s a highlight.

In terms of achievements I’m proud of, in my second role at Douwe Egberts I was managing a bigger finance team and we were in the process of closing factories – I was relatively young and in-experienced, so this was a big challenge and to come through it a big achievement. I also ran a SAP implementation, which is a real team effort - through blood, sweat and tears you achieve your goals. Great experience as well.

You will have interviewed a lot of Accountants in your career! What interview advice would you give?

What I like about people is if they have clear view of their strengths and their areas of development and how they deal with that – be honest & open; it shows good self-knowledge and confidence and shows you have ability to learn and to be relevant in an organisation. Be open, but have clear view on where you stand, what you want; your energy, drive and ambition.

Who was your most admired person when you were in your childhood and why?

In hindsight I don’t think as a kid I realised I was admiring people but looking back it has been people very close to me – showing me values and the importance of having ambition and joy in life. Family such as my father, grandfather and close family friends, who had great energy and ambition.

Others like President Macron, Margaret Thatcher – people who have a clear view of what is needed for their country. I think they are right to have a clear view on what needs to change, they have strong belief in possibilities – it’s almost a mission impossible, but they still get it done as they keep going and don’t give up, they stick to their goals and can bring it back to what is relevant to their country; having a clear vision and keeping it simple; be true to your convictions.

What was it that tempted you to work and live in Switzerland?

The decision was career driven, as have been all of my moves.  Nissan had just moved its’ European Headquarters from Paris to just outside Geneva in Rolle. At the time I was the CFO for the Nordic Regional Hub based in Helsinki and had been there for 3 years. I had achieved what I wanted to, everything was running smoothly and I felt that career-wise I needed to get back into headquarters, where the career opportunities were. I was offered a role that was attractive and so took it……also Geneva is a very nice place to live and bring up a family. We had enjoyed the outdoor lifestyle living in Helsinki and so moved to a similar lifestyle in Geneva, but with better weather!

What similarities & differences have you seen between living in Netherlands & Switzerland? And in working?

In the Netherlands I lived in Amsterdam, so it was very much a city lifestyle. In Geneva, you travel not too far out of the centre and you are in the countryside, with mountains, woods and the lake close by. Netherlands is densely populated and Switzerland less so; you can really feel a difference there, it’s just not as crowded. In Amsterdam, you have everything on your doorstep, the city is open 24 hours a day, full of energy, vibrancy and an easygoing spirt. In Geneva the pace of the city is much slower and much more conservative. The Swiss have lots of rules about everything from washing your car on a Sunday, how high your hedge has to be (minimum and maximum height!) and what time in the evening you are allowed to flush a toilet! In Amsterdam people are very open and they don’t like rules and regulations; try and tell a Dutch person when they can flush their toilet at night…….it just wouldn’t work.

Workwise the countries have a lot of similarities – both with very outward looking and international environments, a mix of nationalities in the cities, large organisations headquartered there and a large expat community in both. Also, both the Netherlands and Switzerland appreciate a healthy work / life balance. Thus workwise I would say they are very similar.

After a strong performance in 2017, we notice that IATA have forecast 4.5% FTK (a measure of worldwide aviation freight business) growth in 2018 – what do you think are the contributory factors to this growth?

2017 saw growth of 9% in demand (which was exceptional in the industry) and only 3% in capacity – so demand growth was outstripping capacity growth. The outlook for air freight in 2018 is optimistic, but cautious. The two main positive drivers are the strength in international e-commerce, with companies such as Amazon, eBay and Alibaba continuing to go from strength to strength, and the increase in transport of time-and-temperature-sensitive goods (e.g. flowers and pharmaceuticals). 

However, overall the pace of growth is expected to slow, from the exceptional 9.0% of 2017, due to tariff introductions and uncertainty in the geopolitical and global economic environment. Despite this, we still expect a very healthy 4.5% expansion of demand in 2018.

What is the culture of the business?

That’s a good question, which is quite difficult to answer. There is not one overruling culture in IATA, so I would say it’s mixed. Coming from automotive industry, which is very commercial with lots of competition and rooted in a strong engineering and production capability; it was all about delivering, delivering to budget, delivering a new product, delivering a new marketing plan - very much action-orientated with clear targets so consequently they attracted employees who could thrive in that environment. Consequently, the culture was driven by action and meeting targets.

IATA, on the other-hand, is a non-profit organisation which has three distinct activities. The first is advocacy; negotiating with governments, legislators and the United Nations. Ensuring they see the positive sides of aviation that they should be encouraging and trying to prevent them seeing the aviation industry as a cash cow which can be taxed heavily. The second is the commercial team, who sell products and services e.g. the system the airlines use when checking you in to verify that you have the correct visas etc. for your destination (which is an IATA product).

The final one is Remittance and Settlement. - the collection of funds from airline ticket sales made by travel agents all over the world, which are then settled back to the relevant airline. This is a massive activity for us and we see approximately $400 billion annually being processed through our systems. That is the size of the GDP of Switzerland being collected and passed back to the airlines!

As a result of these diverse activities, each area of the business has its own culture, because the people in there are quite different and have different objectives. What I can say is that IATA is filled with experts on a wide range of topics all serving the aviation industry in different ways. It’s really quite unique globally; there’s no-one else doing what we do at this level.

What do you like about working for IATA?

When I started to find out about IATA, I realized that they’re extremely well respected in the industry. The rules and regulations we put in place really do impact the industry directly. I enjoy working for an organization that can make real, impactful changes globally and industry wide.

For example, one of the projects we are currently looking into is to do with Meteorological Data – collecting data from aircraft and relaying it back to a central hub, so that if they experience turbulence, for example, aircraft following them can be re-routed to avoid it. We are in a unique position to do this and thus increase the safety of aviation.

In addition, the organisation is very international and the business and the industry are constantly evolving, which I like a lot.

After having worked in the automotive industry for 22 years, what differences have you noticed in dealing with the finances of an Airline/Aviation company? Have there been any learning curves?

Fundamentally, they’re not so different. In both we look to maximize revenue, control costs and make wise investments with cash – so no difference there. Also, there is a cyclical nature to automotive and aviation; when economies are good people buy cars and go on holidays, when times are bad they stop doing that. The learning curve has really been about the technical aspects of the industry; how a ticket purchase works, how an airport functions, the safety and security aspects for aircraft on and off the ground…….IATA touches all of these and lots more. I’ve been here for 3 years and I’m still learning.

If you could go back and give your younger (graduate) self some career advice, what would it be?

Know what you want! Take time to think about that so that when you are in a meeting, a negotiation or having to make a decision about career options, you know what your preferred outcome is…then work towards that. I was given that advice a long time ago, it’s stood me in good stead.

I was fortunate in that I worked for a large multinational with a graduate program and fast track career opportunities. I took every opportunity that was put in front of me, because I’d said to myself early on that I wanted an international career…and it worked out well. Nowadays these programs are few and far between, thus you need to know what you want, be bold and go out and get it!

What is the best and worst experience of interviewing you have had?

I was in Helsinki setting up the Nordic hub from scratch, looking for a Purchasing Manager. I interviewed a guy who was too interested in telling me who he went to University with and who his golf club friends were, trying to impress me with politicians and lawmakers in Helsinki that I’d never heard of. He would have lasted two minutes in Nissan and the interview didn’t last much longer…..

A better experience was when I was in the UK looking to hire a Controlling Manager and received the CV of an Engineer who had become an Accountant. His CV was perfect and I hoped that he would be as good in interview. I asked him to name some Nissan products. Most people can name 3 or 4……this guy named about 20! Old ones, new ones…. he was a car enthusiast, with excellent product knowledge. The interview had started well and continued the same way. Needless to say, he got the job!

What have you found to be the biggest challenges in recruiting?

Finding good caliber candidates is not a problem – working for big, international organisations attracts good people. The trick is sifting through the huge number of applications you get (especially nowadays with LinkedIn), and picking the best of the bunch based on the CV. You hope that you’ve made a good match between their expertise with the job requirements. Finally, the key for me is the interview. Making a check on their experience and, more importantly, whether their personality will fit into the team and organisation, as well as whether they have potential to flourish.

What advice would you give to a young finance professional approaching the job market in Geneva?

There are lots of good young professionals out there with similar educations and similar experience. So, you need to differentiate yourself either professionally or privately (on your CV or in your interview). A good example is a French candidate I interviewed who had previously wanted to work in India, as he wanted to experience a completely different culture. He achieved this on his own, by getting on a plane and going to India, knocking on doors. Consequently, he found a job when he got there. This showed real strength of character, determination, drive and goal orientation. I’m not suggesting to go to India, but to do or explain something you have done that is out of the ordinary that also demonstrates something about your character.

Describe yourself in 3 words

Honest, Open and Determined.

If you could choose to have the career of a famous Artistic/Musical/Sporting celebrity, whose would it be and why?

Without a doubt, Will Carling, who captained the England rugby team in the nineties. I was still playing rugby then and he did a fantastic job with the team at that time - 3 Grand Slams, a World Cup final and wins against all major Rugby Nations. He was a good captain and deserved all the success he got through hard work and preparation. He was also very charismatic off the pitch.

What led you to pursue a career in finance?

First of all I completed my studies, both my Undergraduate degree and my MBA, in Economics and Finance, so the foundation of it was done through academia. Then the reason I continued to pursue a career in finance was that I was really lucky to always be in companies that valued finance. When you get into a finance environment, you realize from a functional point of view it is probably one of the best areas, where you are really involved in everything. You have the opportunity to positively influence growth and performance across all elements of the business. My studies are how I initially got into finance, but my experiences are really why I stayed there, as I always found it really engaging. This could be different from company to company, but I have been lucky with the ones I have worked in.

Being a sparring partner to the business head is a prerequisite for a CFO. What do you feel makes an effective sparring partner?

You have to be able to speak business, not just the natural areas of finance, but understand the competitive landscape, the product, manufacturing and the go-to market strategies. It’s not just the ability to talk about, but also to make informed decisions on, those topics. When you are in the finance function you get an enormous amount of information, data and transactions and you have to be able to see the wood through all the trees. You might have hundreds of trees, but you have to be able to stand up and tell your manager for example, ” It’s these three areas which you need to be engaged in and I’ll take care of the rest”?. You need to help focus the engagement and understanding of the leader so he/she can really push in the right areas. 
Then of course there has to be a trust. If you do not trust the business head and they do not trust you, not only financially but also in discussing people and organisational issues, then you can not be an effective sparring partner.

Lastly, I would say that it’s fundamental that as well as the business head viewing you as a strong technical finance expert, he/she needs to look at you as a strong leader. If you do all these things, but you are not looked upon as a strong leader, you can not be an effective sparring partner.

Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be particularly significant in your career?

It is more of a process that has been significant for me. First of all, I spent the majority of my early career in GE and this has really helped me to achieve many accomplishments. I was fortunate to work for a company which supported my growth and gave me opportunities to move into new financial areas where I needed development. This gave me a much deeper financial base and meant that I have the knowledge and experience to advise on a real breadth of topics.

GE always supported my career and instead of saying ” You are strong in this, so let’s grow you in that area”?, they said ‘”?You are very strong in this, perfect, now where do you have your gaps?”?  For example, I had a gap in the area of tax and so I was moved into that area. 
Of course the further into your career you are and the more senior you become the less you can do that, but my biggest accomplishment was to have that challenge and opportunity. For the first 10-15 years of my career everytime I went into a job I could generally say it was a tremendous learning curve. You need to have the personality, which means you are willing to learn quickly. GE is not a very forgiving culture, so you learn fast otherwise it does not work. For me it took me from being in accounting to going into tax, manufacturing, commercial and corporate finance, as well as integrations and a lot of other technical areas.  For me, I feel very happy that the company provided the opportunities for me, but prouder that I took those opportunities and never shied away from taking the tough jobs. You have to be in the right company culture, but also willing to step up. 
Whilst I knew that I did not want to become an expert in some of the roles I took on, these have served me well in my later career and have been some of the roles I have appreciated the most.

Now there are very few times where I am in a discussion where I can’t say that I can speak about this topic because I spent 2-3 years of my career in this area. This really framed me, the way I think and my leadership approach.

You recently joined ABB, what attracted you to the organisation?

Many things - first of all I was really engaged by the job. If the job itself does not excite you it doesn’t matter which company it is, but on the flip side if you like the job, but not the company, then it does not work either!  

There are many things that excite me specifically about ABB. Firstly, it is a true global player. It is really operating in every single angle in the world and it is really conducting itself in a very global manner. Many companies will say they are global because they have sent a few expats somewhere, but ABB is truly global in its culture and its way of conducting business. This is very fundamental for me and really excites me about ABB. 

Also, when I was about to join the company I gained a very good understanding of the leadership that I spent time interviewing with. And I was very impressed by the capability,  the strength and the diverse mindset. I also like the industry, I like what they are doing, the fact it is manufacturing and the breadth of industries we work in across ABB, but specifically throughout my division. 

Finally as a financial person it is important to me that ABB is a company that really values the financials. It is not a purely financially driven business, but it is a company that puts financial considerations in all the decisions we make and demands a lot of strengths from its finance leadership team.

ABB recently announced the acquisition of GE Industrial Solutions, what do you see as being the key advantages of this acquisition for the EP division?

First I have to say we have announced the acquisition, but the completion of the deal is not expected until the first half of 2018, so it is not a part of ABB yet. 
We believe that the integration into ABB’s Electrification Products (EP) division will result in a unique global portfolio and very comprehensive offering for North American and global customers. They will benefit from ABB’s innovative technologies and the ABB AbilityTM digital offering coupled with GE Industrial Solutions’ complementary solutions and market access.
 
In the ‘war for talent’ what do you feel are the key factors for recruiting and retaining high calibre finance professionals?

It is always a give and take situation. When you are interviewing candidates, good candidates are also interviewing you. It should be and has to be like that. For me, what is imperative to get the highest calibre talent, is that we offer continuous challenges and learning. High calibre people want to be able to come in and be challenged in what they do and learn new things. I look for candidates who are really willing to make that commitment and it is also up to us to be able to offer that. 

Secondly, that ABB offers a very diverse and open environment. I think that is important, especially for the younger talent, to work for a company which offers global opportunities within a diverse yet inclusive culture.  You always need to offer jobs where employees feel they can really drive value. Are employees able to drive change and improvements all of the time and are they allowed to challenge the status quo and make an impact? At ABB I really believe that is something that we can say is a strength that we offer. 

Finally, I think for me that I always want to be viewed as an individual in a company. Of course in ABB with over 140,000 people, or in any big organisation, the business leader can not know every person’s name.  Neither can I, in the EP division of 44,000 people, but you should interact with your teams and colleagues, by building an individual approach. I think it is important how you act as a leader. There is not one approach which works for everybody, you have to be agile and change your leadership style and approach. Different cultures and levels within an organisation demand different things. It is important for me to treat people as individuals, respect and recognise cultural differences and social structures and this is also really important to ABB.

What would be your advice to someone aspiring to be where you are now?
 
For me this ties back to the way I developed my own career. One piece of advice is definitely to take the tough job, not the one you feel comfortable with, as this means you will be underselling yourself and you will not get challenged enough. When I say tough, I am not talking about the number of hours you work; it could be a cultural angle that makes it difficult, or a functional area that you do not have much experience in. Take the job where you feel a bit excited and at the same time a bit afraid!

The other part that is very important to me is when someone has energy and passion. You can teach most things in finance and learn different functions. What you can not teach is that you as a person, when you come into work, are energised and passionate about what you are doing. If I am not passionate about what I am doing I will lose interest.

It is also important to continually look for ways to improve yourself and the job you are doing. Whatever you are doing, never come in and just treat the job as the status quo, you should always improve what the person did before you. I expect when someone takes over my role in the future they will come in and say there are a few areas which I feel Christian did not do as well in. Your responsibility is for continuous improvement while you are there, whether it is doing something simpler, faster or simply better.

The last point I believe is fundamental, to take accountability. If you don’t take ownership of your mistakes then to me that it is even more of an issue. I respect people the most when they actually stand up and say ” You know what, I made that mistake”?. Then the question is, how do you fix it? True accountability is not only taking ownership when you do a great job, but when you make mistakes. As a finance person you own your financials; the business delivers them but you are part of the business and you own your commitments. I think it is particularly important in finance, but also across the company. For me this was a career enhancer, when you recognise that you made a mistake, as long as you fix it and do not make the same mistake again!

What would you say is the most rewarding part of your role?

Fundamentally there are two things. Firstly, I get motivated and inspired in my job if I make an impact on my colleague or team member.  If someone in my team gets promoted, that is probably the most energising and rewarding part of the job. Secondly, it is when I feel I can add shareholder value to the ABB company. 

If I can do these two things, that really excites me. When I wake up in the morning I think, ” How can I improve the results that deliver shareholder value? How can I impact one of my colleagues at work?”?  Relatively simple, but this is what really energises me at work.

The manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) produced by Credit Suisse and procure.ch rose to 60.9 points in July, what do you think are the major challenges that lie ahead for Switzerland’s continued growth?
Switzerland currently faces a lack of highly qualified staff despite a good dual educational system balanced with immigration and it will face even a bigger problems when the ‘baby boom’ generation retires. Probably the skill shortage will be partially compensated through digitalisation, but the other part will definitely remain a challenge. Furthermore, Switzerland should increase its productivity. Especially the domestic economy as it is less productive than some international companies. There are several small and medium sized companies that took up this challenge and are highly productive and competitive, but the majority of small and medium sized companies still needs to make this first step.

As someone who has had over 17 years’ experience working within the Swiss market-place, how have you found the Swiss market & working environment has changed over these years, and what in your opinion, have been the drivers for these changes?
Major changes have characterised the past seventeen years, the strong internationalisation transferred the more simple and repetitive jobs abroad, especially to China and other low cost countries. The shift from the commercial-industrial sector to the service sector increased the need for a highly qualified work force. To cover this need immigration shifted from a blue collar workforce to white collar, a highly qualified employee. I saw this in ABB, too. Several production units were closed and moved to Asia and foreign academic colleagues increased in number throughout the company. When the economic crises of 2007 hit, it emphasised the importance of higher efficiencies and effectivity along the entire value chain, which in turn drove the need for capable and specialised staff even further.   

How attractive do you feel that Switzerland remains as a location for international businesses?
Switzerland has an excellent educational system, is a non-bureaucratic state (founding a company is very easy), politically stable, offers great logistic connections, has no unions (as in the rest of Europe), and offers to companies good conditions and low taxes. Definitely, Switzerland is not cheap; however, the conditions offered give it excellent â € value for money”?. Furthermore, Switzerland is number one worldwide for register patents. For the reasons above mentioned, I firmly believe Switzerland is a very competitive and attractive country now, and in the future, if the country is able to solve the major issues discussed in point number one.

What are the organisations growth plans?
ABB is working on several collaborations and acquisitions in order to fill strategic gaps in the geographic, product and end-market portfolio. Industry 4.0 is clearly a goal of ABB that should not be missed. Therefore, this year, ABB acquired KEYMILE’s to strengthen digital grid portfolio and software. With the acquisition of Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik GmbH automation the know how was increased and with the collaboration signed with Microsoft access to digitalisation has been secured.

What challenges are await your business and how do you hope to overcome them?
In Product Group Gas Insulated Switchgear in the last fifteen years, competitors have tripled and the product moved from a highly engineered product to a commodity. To overcome the challenges given by this new market situation, products must be modularised and standardised, processes simplified and high intensive labour moved to low cost countries.

What does your organisation currently do to contribute towards the corporate social responsibility?
The corporate socially responsible portrait is linked to seven major themes: operational efficiency, maximum safety, environmental protection, quality & innovation, open dialogue, skill development and responsible citizenship. ABB is working on all seven themes, although during the past five years major focus was given to health & safety and integrity.

What recruitment challenges do you face?
Finding people with a wide hands-on experience in different fields or specialists with long term experience is always a challenge.

What attributes do you look for when choosing a recruitment partner?
The recruitment partner should be very professional and personal chemistry should fit. If I like the company and the recruiters, I am confident they will find the right candidates.

When interviewing candidates at an earlier stage in their career, what common mistakes do you see and what advice would you give?
Many of the young candidates ask first about the money and not about the content and challenges of the job. We look for people with an outstanding enthusiasm for the job.

In what circumstances do you think an external recruiter can add value?
Usually recruiters add great value when you are looking for specific, not common experiences of a candidate or if you are looking for managers with a bright experience.

If you could go back and give your younger (graduate) self some career advice, what would it be?
Usually, I advise younger colleagues to make as diverse experiences as possible during their first ten years of their career. A wide experience in different fields allows an understanding of the end to end process and the company as whole. 

What makes you relax  from working in such a pressured role?
Running, I run 40-60 Km per week. Otherwise, I read books and enjoy the big art offer in Zürich.

What are your personal motivators?
An interesting and challenging job in the right environment is definitely a motivator and great fun, too.

How important was it for you to develop relationships outside of your department for career development?
Every person I worked with during my career was important for my own career development, regardless of whether he/she was within ABB or external. Colleagues in ABB, especially if working at a global level, have a huge network as I have after 17 years. So, if you are looking for somebody, feedbacks and inputs of colleagues are very important and helpful.

What would you say is the most rewarding part of your role?
Managing complex tasks and projects at a global level with very different cultures is definitely one of the most rewarding part of my role.
If you could change one thing in your career what would it be?
I would have tried more different roles to build a 360° experience. For example, sales could have been an interesting option, too. Time will tell.

Looking back through your established career, what would you identify as a personal highlight?
Certainly, it was the period in the Generator Circuit Breaker business as operations manager. The environment was great, high empowerment, with huge freedom in acting and taking decision. With these perfect conditions, I learned most about change management and managing people.  

What do you think makes a good leader in Operations Management?
A good leader should enable collaboration, reduce internal transaction, decide goal conflicts, have a disturbance mandate (create new problems for the company) and make people successful.

What advice would you give to future aspiring leaders, and why?
To a future aspiring leader I would advise that they deeply understand the five leadership principle listed in the previous point. I firmly believe extraordinary leaders are characterised by these five principles.

What would be your advice to someone aspiring to be where you are now?
My advice would be to work in the first part of their career in an operative unit and work as close as possible with their subordinates in order to understand their work and the processes they are working in. To do this later in the career and especially at a global level this will no longer  be possible.

Who was your most admired person when you were in your childhood and why?
In my childhood I admired, as many boys, my father for his joy, curiosity and deep passion for life.

Who is your most inspirational person in business and why?
David Kelly and his company IDEO were extremely inspiring for me. The systematic creativity process he developed and the way he managed IDEO gave me great ideas for my own management style.

What books / blogs are you currently reading?
Currently I’m reading two books:
” Passion running”? from Rafael Fuchsgruber and ultra-marathon runner who talks about his experience of the last ten years
” Excellent company”? a book of two German consultant about change management.

Describe yourself in 3 words
Curious, structured and perseverant.

If you could choose an Artistic/Musical/Sporting career, who would it be and why?
At age of seven I photographed my first black and white picture and afterwards I learned from my father how to develop the film and print the pictures in the dark room. I was and I am still very passionate about photography, probably I would have chosen this career path. 

Do you have any hidden talents?
If I have hidden talents, then they are very well hidden. However, as already mentioned, I am very passionate about photography. Furthermore, I like painting and in sports running. If I am talented in these hobbies I do not know, but I have a lot of fun.

*Views and opinions contained within our Executive Interviews are those of the Interviewee and not views shared by EMEA Recruitment

Having worked very much in an international arena and lived in various countries, how did the move to Switzerland come about?
Actually my previous employer was the cause for moving to Switzerland.  At the time I was working for BAT (British American Tobacco) and received the opportunity to become a Global Head of HR for one of its business units. After 3 years I have already been living in Switzerland, I was approached by MET that they were looking for a Group HR Director. I felt it was the time to move on to new challenges and accepted the position.

What advice would you offer to someone moving to Switzerland?
If you like beautiful nature, predictability, safe environment and chocolate and food which quality would be difficult to top, then Switzerland will be a country for you to live. As for a tip, I would say come for a pre-visit and look around to see and feel various places. Think about what are the key factors that are important for you to be able to select the best place for your new home where you would feel comfortable. Try to get as much information as possible from various sources; from friends you know who already live here, from publicly available information and then make your choice.

Earlier this year you left British American Tobacco after 10 years’ service to become Group HR Director at MET Group, what appealed to you about joining MET Group?
First and foremost; the people with whom I met. They were exceptional and inspirational. Additionally, the impressive growth and innovative culture of the company. All the time there are new market entries, lots of M&A activities and everyone has the freedom to bring and implement his/her own ideas. The company is also at a very interesting stage coming from a start-up to a medium-sized European company which gives a lot of opportunity to build the business for the future and a professional HR function.

MET Group has undergone huge growth and relocated their HQ’s to Switzerland, how attractive do you feel that Switzerland remains as a location for international businesses?
Switzerland is a very attractive place for international businesses and it is not only based on the ranking of the World Economic Forum on the most competitive countries in the world. My bet is that it will stay like that also in the near future. It has a strong international reputation, as well as infrastructure, good access to financial services, and the values the Swiss uphold in business life. So the country has a predictable regulatory environment which is favourable for companies as it gives reliability. It’s also very supportive from the canton side; Canton Zug particularly gives it’s best to support businesses here which eases the daily operation. There is good access to international top talents as well and it’s an attractive place for people to live. 

Further growth for Met Group is reliant on bringing in top talent, what challenges do you face when recruiting?
Growing into a major company did change life at MET. Today we have colleagues from 28 different countries, coming from a diverse set of corporate environments, so an open, inclusive company culture is self-evident. The company’s continuous growth offers several benefits. A basic principle of any growing company is that the success of somebody else will make other team members successful as well. Successful growth provides ambition and perspective.
Overall, I think we manage to attract top talent to our business, which is crucial for our further growth and successes. The company has only a ten-year history and has gone from a company of 7 people to over 500 in that time. We are competing with big brands like GE, Shell, Glencore, Axpo etc so we need to focus more and more on employer branding activities to keep up with the competition and to keep attracting the best ones.

What attributes do you look for when choosing a recruitment partner?
A recruitment partner needs to understand our business and organisational business needs. And they also need understand the whole commodity sector’s characteristics. We expect them to provide a reliable and discreet service as quickly as possible without compromising on the quality of the candidates. For me, less is more and what I mean is that I would rather see less candidates, but really high quality ones. Our ideal recruitment partner is who does a very good pre-selection and sends us only the top 2-3 candidates.

If you could give advice to an aspirational HR professional starting out in their career, what would that be?
Put most of your efforts into understanding your business and business managers, establish a good working relationship with them and turn your solutions into their needs to be able to support them in achieving their goals. Do your best every day and deliver on your promises. Be very open on your learning journey and therefore for new opportunities. If you combine a positive approach and willingness to learn then these opportunities of progression will come. This is true for every professional not just HR.

Who has inspired you the most in business and why?
Throughout my whole career I was lucky because I have been surrounded by outstanding people who reached both exceptional business results and were great people leaders. There were always role models to look up to or to turn to for advice.  At MET Group it is paired up with an unconventional approach and passion from our business managers who challenge the way that things have always been done which is really amazing and inspirational – that is inspiring me the most at the moment.

It’s an exciting time at the moment within Met Group by the sounds of it, with lots still to achieve, how do you relax outside of work?
Exercise, sleep and spending quality time with my family. If it is about exercise I try to spend time outside the office as much as possible, but going to the gym can keep me balanced too. I used to be a table tennis player too, but it’s been a while since I have participated in my last tournament. So Swiss mountains are rather my best friends nowadays lately.

*Views and opinions contained within our Executive Interviews are those of the Interviewee and not views shared by EMEA Recruitment