Amrish Shah is the Amsterdam-based CFO at Metabolic, a company on a mission to build a sustainable economy by helping organisations and policy makers tackle sustainability challenges by addressing underlying systems and scalability.

Previously, Amrish worked for more than a decade with FMCG multinational Unilever, as well as O’Neill and Staples. He completed interim assignments at organisations including Kao Corporation, Royal Wessanen and Endemol Shine.

What has been the biggest challenge for you since leaving Unilever?

I left in 2008, so 15 years ago. I would say the biggest challenge at that point was just the fear of leaving something that was very comfortable, that I had really grown up with for the first 13 years of my career, and then taking a step into the unknown.

Also, imposter syndrome – are you going to be good enough? It's easy to benchmark yourself against people that you know very well somewhere like Unilever or any organisation, but - when you're outside - you don't know what you’re going to be confronted with.

I think you have to have a lot of resilience and the confidence to just go for it, but you will have doubts… The biggest one was the move to O'Neill, which was the first move I made after Unilever; it was a huge amount of change for me personally and professionally, and I didn't realise it until I looked back a few years later.

After that, one of the big challenges is to just go with the flow, because many of these things are not a controlled process; sometimes opportunities come up and life is not planned. So, it was really about being clear about the career path I wanted to craft and where I wanted to build deep expertise.

I found that in Business Control, around the most strategic Finance side, and I had the opportunity at places like Kao, Endemol Shine, and Staples to do that.

Two other big challenges that were impactful in different ways surround the fit with people. You're so used to a certain type of person at Unilever, in terms of sparring partners, people who are quite creative with good ideas and ambitious, etc. When you go outside, you just don't know what kind of people and culture you are joining. That was one of the things I faced when I was at Staples; it was a very different group of people who worked there, yet you get used to that.

The last thing I would mention is Unilever was very professional. But then, when you go to smaller organisations like O'Neill, Metabolic, and Climate-KIC, these are less resource-rich environments.

You have to get used to the lack of professional structures and that's a challenge. But there's a flip side, because you can contribute to doing something really impactful and helping build that.  So, I think that freedom is the other side of the coin, which is quite energising - it's a challenge to first understand and then embrace that.

You've implemented a lot of change. How have you managed the changes in your career and the diversity in the sectors that you've worked in as a leader?

When I started my career, people thought they were going to change employers maybe two or three times in their career and the idea of staying for quite a while with one employer or one organisation was more normal.

Things have changed so much now; the idea of having these portfolio careers - where you might end up working for ten different organisations, maybe for yourself for part of your career - is a lot more normal and people are a lot more comfortable with that.

I have moved quite a lot. I started my career back in the ‘90s and I've had a lot of exposure in different sectors, but also different types of organisations, not just the size, but different ownership.

I always ask myself three things when I'm making a change: What is the organisation like? Thinking about whether I am going to fit there, and whether I am going to add something culturally. I think that becomes more important with senior roles.

Secondly: What am I curious to learn?

The other thing is the role itself - the last bit of the triangle. Will the role that I'm going into continue to stretch me professionally and will it have an impact on the organisation?

I've managed my moves by looking at those three things every time I've been in the position to choose where to go and that's really important.

But I come back to what I mentioned earlier - sometimes life isn't all planned. Sometimes things come to a natural end. Unilever was a natural end for me after 13 years to say, “I don't think I'm going to get what I'm looking for, the stretch in the role, I need to go out and face the unknown.”

I think Endemol came to a natural end simply because it got sold, and that also means that sometimes what you're doing - especially as an interim - comes to an end.

Metabolic, where I'm now CFO, wasn't something that was planned. It just happened out of an opportunity that came up because of Climate-KIC, where I was working. You have to be in the right place, at the right time, to talk to the right people - then suddenly good things can happen.

I'm sure we’ll talk or touch upon it later, but I went from a permanent phase to the interim phase out of curiosity. So, there are always a few things that drive you to work, but I always come back and ask myself: Is it the right organisation? Is it the right role? And what's in it for me as a person?

How do you retain and develop talent?

What’s important when you talk about talent development is being clear about the job that you've been brought in to do and what that means in terms of growing the talent that you have. It's about framing your goals and the objectives of the thing you're doing.

One of the examples I can give is about making sure you have the right people in the right place. At O'Neill, we were going through a lot of change and there was a big team that I inherited right at the beginning. You have to look at the challenges that we have with the things that the business expects us to do. Do I feel we have the right people in the right seats, and, if not, how do we shuffle that around to ensure that we do?

Sometimes, that also means you have to look externally, as we don't have the talent inside. But that's an opportunity for people internally to learn from those who come externally; it shouldn't be seen as a bad sign if you're bringing people in from the outside.

The other example is always motivating people, certainly in Finance, by creating a very motivating agenda. If you take the example of smaller organisations, like Climate-KIC, these are small teams, and I have people who don't necessarily come from a Finance background. They've just ended up in those positions coming from an administrative perspective; they don't necessarily know a lot about broader Finance.

But creating an agenda allows them to learn about that, exposes them to that, plus demands that they become interested in that as part of their core financial role.

I think retention is important. As a leader, you have the responsibility to stand up for your team. As an example, at Staples, there were a number of people who wanted to reduce the size of the team I was responsible for.

You have a position where you can say whether you believe that is the right thing to do in the long term for the business. If you don't believe in it, then you have to propose a different solution and not just accept things.

You have to fight for it as long as you can, because you're talking about people. People need to have a good experience in that organisation and feel valued.

Over the last few years, we've had the pandemic and a culture change with remote working. How do you motivate your Finance professionals with all those changes coming through?

These changes have been big, and they don't just impact Finance - they impact everybody. Ukraine is something we've been living with for a while - almost two years - and there is also what is happening now in the Middle East. It's just stuff that creates a lot of distress for many people.

To that, I will add climate anxiety, which is something close to my heart, because people increasingly feeling anxious about having a planet that's habitable moving forward.

There is also artificial intelligence (AI). Technology has always been there in different forms, but AI is causing a lot of stress now as to what that means.

Additionally, the examples I have just given are causing a lot of disruption and that can be destabilising.

I have a Ukrainian in my team now at Metabolic. She was living in the Netherlands and she's now in Italy, but she's from Ukraine and her family is in Ukraine. Seeing how that affects her is quite eye-opening, and I think it made me realise how resilient the human soul is - people still get on with things and try to bring their best selves to work every day.

As a leader, it's about creating an environment where people feel okay to be emotional and have an environment where they can voice their frustrations about the things that they are going through, because there is nothing anybody as an individual can do to control some of these big events.

When you're in the pandemic, you can't change as an individual. But it comes into your mind quite deeply. So, it's about really creating an environment where there is empathy and support for people.

COVID was an interesting one, because I have been used to working remotely and managing teams remotely before then. COVID made people assess or reassess their priorities. In general, I think it's been good for people feeling more comfortable about what they're bringing back into work.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think still having enough physical time together in an office environment is important for connection, for giving both positive and constructive feedback. Personally, I find those things are much easier when you're in the same physical space as somebody, compared to virtually.

Also, managing wellbeing – which is a very big topic now right – is harder when you're only virtual, so I think you need to have some space where you can come together, sense if somebody's going through something that's challenging; that’s easier to do in person than on Teams.

The other day, there was a report published that stated the percentage of people in the working population that are burned out. In the Netherlands, it is 16%. Firstly, that is an insanely high number. That is difficult to manage, whether virtual or not and under any circumstances.

So, I think remote working in general has been good, but it's changed the way we talk with people about how to set healthy boundaries, how to be vulnerable, and how to reach out.

In the end, I think motivating Finance professionals is still around the impact that they're having - why is the work they're doing important? It doesn't matter so much whether you're doing that in an office environment or if you're sitting at home - you need to always come back to that connection of what you are doing and why it is important.

What risks have you taken throughout your career and how did that help you get to this level?

Sometimes, you don't feel you're taking a risk, because it just seems normal. It's only when you look back and think it’s crazy!

I want to differentiate people who take real risks in their careers and those who haven’t. For example, people working in physical danger, people starting their own businesses, people who work in exposed working conditions, people who flirt with fraud or try to do something at the margins of the law… These are real risks that people can take in their careers.

I haven't done any of that, so I always ask from a risk perspective “what is at stake? What am I really risking here?” And “what if it doesn't work out?”

What's also important for me is to always think about whether it is just me that it impacts professionally or personally. Does it impact other people around me? I think that's a really nuanced one, because normally you can't focus on your career without it bringing in other people who are the closest to you.  

The last thing I always look at is your appetite for risk or the level of change you're willing to accept. That's a very personal thing; for you, it may be a very different calculation of what you’re willing to accept versus for me.

If I look back at what I have done and how I've managed that throughout my career, there are not many things I would say were very risky. That is because there was always some kind of safety net in the event that a particular decision didn’t work out well.

One risk was when I went from permanent to interim, because people say if you're one, you can't do the other. It's the same if you move from a commercial organisation to one that is not commercial or not fully commercial. Most of my life has been spent working in fully commercial organisations, except for the role that I'm in now and the one prior.

Sometimes, people say, if you've been in that space for a long time, you're not ruthless enough to make tough decisions, which is what you need in commercial organisations. That is not true, but it's a perspective and a belief people can have. So, that compounds the risk when you move sectors.

The biggest risk I took was probably at O'Neill, because I didn't realise then how much change I had taken on and how much could have gone wrong.  

The other risk was probably the Climate-KIC role, where I was Group Controller. That wasn't developmentally stretching for me - but this comes back to the point that every role doesn't always need to be a promotion. Life isn't always a straight line; sometimes you do a zigzag, you go sideways, etc. But you're always thinking about what you’re learning from it and the impact it has on the organisation.

In the future, the biggest risk I probably could take is if I decided to change and move out of Finance and do something else. So far, I haven't been forced to do that or had to face doing that, but that could feel quite risky.

Let's talk about how you've managed risk and governance in these interim roles that you've worked in.

People think risk and governance is a boring topic, but I love it, because it's important for the role of Finance.

The first time I had real exposure to this was at O'Neill, because I was responsible for the entire risk and control framework. In the end, it comes down to change again. Most organisations don't really appreciate risk, governance, or control for different reasons; they don't like risk, because the moment people start to address risk, they think it's a constraint on opportunity.

What I have tried to always do in my roles is say there are two sides of the same coin. You want to start by thinking about risk to avoid doing stupid things, because - if you do stupid things - you won't be able to take opportunities.

Whereas, if you take smart risks, you'll know you are in a better position to be able to take opportunities, as well. That's a big mindset change for many people who are responsible for selling things and making things.

The moment you mention the word control, everybody goes, “I think it is time to clock off.” People miss the point about control, but it's up to us in Finance to reframe it. Control is something positive; we pay attention to the things that can help us and prevent things from breaking that could hurt us.

Again, this is about the storytelling; building the narrative about how control can help people achieve their objectives and their targets in a better and smarter way than if you were to totally ignore it - I think that's really important.

For example, at Staples, we were bolder with pricing, trying to not be afraid of increases. That’s quite scary, as you don't know what the customers are going to do, and you always worry.

You have to put some controls in place. Some customers might walk away - there's not a lot you can do, as you can't control their behaviour. We can - at least be satisfied that we have done all the things we wanted to do, but you've got to monitor and control that.

Governance is more interesting and different, because it’s about decision making, transparency, and the culture you want to create. It’s about having some oversight that is helpful in making sure we stay on the right course.

But governance is very tricky for many organisations, because there are some politics involved. Also, for smaller organisations, it's something they tend not to think about, because they’re very busy hustling.

At the same time, people mistake governance as control, and it isn't. When you’re in smaller organisations and they're experimenting with different forms of organisation, any form of governance which is oversight can be seen as a form of control, but it's not. It's about transparency and giving people the clarity of where they need to go.

How do you manage business partnering and performance management within that?

Coming back to the previous question, I think everything around risk, control and governance is related to one thing: performance.

It's about trying to get the organisation to perform in a way that meets its objectives. Business partnering really gets to the heart of how we, as Finance, help the organisation to perform.

In the end, we are providing a service, and that service is based on information. We're trying to influence people to make the right decisions. Those decisions are going to lead to a financial outcome in the future, so they're either going to create an asset in the future, which will be the good thing, or they'll create a liability.

Ultimately, everything we do or don't do has an impact financially, one way or the other.

Performance management can be uncomfortable. I have been in situations where I’m partnering with senior leaders and you see how uncomfortable trying to become more performance-oriented is, because it's confrontational; it forces you to admit sometimes that maybe you've done the wrong thing.

We're all human beings and there's one thing we don't like. It's not actually failing itself, it's the thought of failing that makes us nervous. I think that's why it's a story of change and how we do it.

That's why finding good business partners in Finance is not that easy, because there's a different set of skills that they all need to have. For example, if you're dealing with data and information, you need to have good data management skills. You also need to be passionate about things that seem boring. You need to be able to construct good analytical models, have a clear logical way of thinking, and be able to structure that.

Finally, when you are at the table, you need strong facilitation skills to bring people towards a decision. In some cases, also conflict management.

These are very different skill sets and finding them in a single person is not that easy.

What’s the most memorable moment from your career and why?

There’s been a few. One of the most memorable moments was when we got into the process of selling the frozen food business in Unilever.

It was about a year-and-a-half from beginning to end - April 2005 to November 2006 - when we finally completed the deal. There were many different phases, but that whole thing was memorable for me, because you have to work very hard.

You’re doing two jobs. One is your operational role as a Finance Director for the business, because business goes on. But, on the other hand, you are supporting the entire process, which is a lot of work.

But that gives energy back, because you are exposed to things you may never be before in your life. You're dealing with vendors, due diligence, lawyers, investment bankers, trying to create the information memorandum and the business case.

You get involved with completion accounts, doing the P&L on disposal, you’re responsible for working capital settlement… You get involved in many different work streams and you are the point person in many of those. That gives amazing energy, but it’s a lot of hard work.

In the end, it was a successful disposal; we sold it for a good price, which led to a big profit for Unilever. That was the cherry on top, away from just the process.

The second memorable bit was I got the call one day after my first boy was born.

I was at home just relaxing a bit, waiting for the midwife to come in and help us with how we should deal with the baby at home. I got a call saying, “The decision has been taken, enjoy the next few days, but next week it's full on, we have to start preparing stuff.” That made it a little bit more memorable.

What's your favourite quote?

I have a list of a lot of quotes. When we were talking about motivating Finance people there were two, I thought were quite appropriate. The first is by Joseph Conrad. He wrote Apocalypse Now and said: “I don't like work, no man does, but I like what is in the work - the chance to find yourself.”

The second is by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous American poet, essayist, philosopher and social reformer. He said, “the reward of a thing well done is to have done it”.

When you really get immersed in challenging yourself, you take pride in the quality of what you're doing and the impact you're delivering.

We've talked about change a lot and that's something I am very passionate about in my roles. There are a couple of things around change that are quite relevant for us to bear in mind. There's a guy, James Baldwin, a well-known American writer and civil rights activist, and he said: “Not everything that you face can be changed, but nothing can be changed until you face it.”

I think that's important when we talk about Finance and its role in supporting any kind of transformation or material change.

The last one around change is from Tolstoy, the famous Russian author. He’s a bit cynical here, but what he says feels very relevant to the space I am in now, because we deal with organisations formulating their approach climate change. He said: Everyone thinks about changing the world, but no one thinks about changing himself.”

That really made me stop when I read that for the first time, because he’s asking, what are you prepared to do to change yourself, to help other people change also? This quote really made me think.

Lastly, we touched upon how our professional journey can mirror that of life itself – in that despite all the planning and positioning, it is - more often than not - unpredictable. Things happen. So, I really like a quote by Dale Carnegie, a famous American writer and lecturer focused on self-improvement who said, “success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get”. Something that can help a lot with maintaining perspective and sanity!

As a business, we support Operation Smile, a charity that helps children with cleft lip and palate. So, what was the last thing that made you smile?

There's a lot of funny things that make me smile. I think we don't use humour enough at work, because sometimes we take ourselves too seriously and we shouldn't - unless you're a firefighter.

In general, what we do matters, but we should sometimes also be able to laugh at ourselves, because we are human beings and we do stupid things.

We have two retreats in Metabolic: a big Spring retreat around March, focussed on strategy coming together and aligning our plans.

Then a Summer retreat, which is more social, and takes place around the end of August when the new school year starts.

I went for my first one a few months ago. It's three days of camping out and, apart from the Dutch weather, it’s good. The last evening is always a big fancy dress party, and you have to dress up. I had a prisoner outfit, a wig, and a necklace and stuff. I was just hanging around, and people were quite impressed, because it was quite ‘in your face’.

I had a gold necklace with the word “freak” on it, and somebody said, “I finally understand what the abbreviation CFO stands for: Chief Freak Officer.” That made me double up with laughter, thinking somebody really gets the kind of stresses of the job. I'm literally freaking out every minute!  

We had a lot of laughs about that, and we spread the word and the gospel of the Chief Freak Officer. So, that made me smile.

Thank you to Amrish for speaking to Michael Bentil, Senior Consultant in our Finance & Accountancy recruitment team in the Netherlands.

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

Ola Thomson is the Head of Treasury at Oatly, headquartered in Malmö, Sweden. He has over 20 years of experience in senior Financial Services and Commercial roles.

In his current role, Ola is responsible for Treasury transformation at Oatly, and created a Treasury function from scratch, taking it through an IPO with a focus on lean and digitalisation.

What would you say is a memorable moment from your career and why?

When you impact a decision and realise what you do makes a difference, such as a recent funding in the debt capital markets last year.

It was memorable, because it was at the beginning of the year, when we had all these macroeconomic challenges and when we decided to go to the debt capital markets.

It was really a moment where we had to work with different levels of stakeholders; it was a multi-party negotiation. We had to work with banks, investors, the board, shareholders, and those internally, of course, so it was a classic example of where collaboration matters.

What have you learned as a leader over the past 12 months specifically?

For me, balance. No matter how interesting and fun work is, you need a balanced life, meaning work-life balance.

It’s important to take good care of your sleep, exercise, and eat healthy food. So, that is what I've learned this year. I was almost on the wrong path, but I managed to get back on track.

How do you ensure that you have the time to do that?

I have signed up for things to make it easier, such as signing up to a gym and having a small home gym. Also, I make sure that I plan ahead for healthy foods so that I don't end up without them in the fridge, etc.

Sleep has been a big focus for me. No matter what, I try to ensure I get a good sleep. One way to do that is to either take a walk outside or go to a pool to swim, or similar.

I focus on making sure that I don't work too many hours and try to ensure that I allow myself time for the private side of life.

When you reflect on your career, are there any risks that you've taken that have helped you get to the level that you're at?

I think the change we fear most is the one that we should face to develop - it's easy to take the easy way out and not face that fear.

For me, since the start of my career, I really wanted to move to a new country and learn about a new culture and a new language; to live and work in a country where I had no previous experience.

I've always been curious about different cultures and people and how to improve business or processes. So, having the opportunity to live and work abroad in an international business was my number one priority while studying at university.

Being open-minded and taking the risk to work in countries where you must learn something new can be scary, but - at the same time - it can accelerate your personal development. So, those are probably the biggest risks that I have taken during my career.

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

To have the benefit of working with the nicest and kindest people that you can find, and having the opportunity to see different people profiles work together and complement each other. That is the most rewarding part.

Do you have a personal highlight from your career so far?

There are probably several, but one recent highlight is to have built a Treasury function from scratch and take it through an IPO back in 2021.

From scratch, I had to understand the vision I had for the Treasury function, looking ahead three years from the start, because there was nothing in place to look at regarding what should be within the mandate of the Treasury function.

That started with the Treasury policy, designing the end-to-end processes, and looking at hiring the right people with the vision to build that team. And the function should be based on lean and digitalisation or automation as much as possible.

It also included investing and implementing a Treasury Management System. So, all of that together was how this process was done. At the same time, of course, looking at establishing an FX strategy, establishing a banking strategy, and implementing a set-up based on several core banks, etc.

What would you say are three to five key drivers for success in Oatly and what are the things that you look for specifically in employees?

I would say being fearless, getting in the game, and feeling at home.

To expand on those three, being fearless is daring to challenge each other and daring to speak up when you don't agree.

If we look at getting in the game, it's about having a mindset of there's always a way - a solution-driven mentality - and helping and supporting each other.

Feeling at home is saying, “Let’s talk about it” - bringing issues, if any, to the table sooner rather than later. Along with making sure that all team members are given the same space to talk and voice their opinions and always remember that we value each other equally.

Besides that, Treasury is built not only as a traditional back-office/middle-office but more as a financial advisor; we need strong analytical skills paired with the ability to see the big picture.

What does your organisation do to raise awareness around mental health and wellbeing? Is there anything that you specifically do to raise awareness about that?

Since I joined back in 2019, I have realised this is a high priority for our organisation. Everything from encouraging managers to start meetings with check-ins with the team members and for other cross-functional meetings, as well.

Everything from that to offered sessions on meditation and other company initiatives on leadership. At Oatly, leadership also includes the empathy side of things, as well.

We apply check-ins at most of our weekly meetings. I have also tried out some meditation sessions, because I've been curious. I'm not fully there yet, but it's on my list to develop further as part of the learnings we discussed earlier.

What would you say excites you about working for Oatly?

This may sound naive to some, but most of us working at Oatly believe that we contribute to something good for the planet and that purpose excites me.

What is the culture like at Oatly? How would you describe it?

We believe in the importance of openness, transparency, integrity, and trust in everything that we do - and again, to link back to what I look for in the team, we should feel at home, we are fearless, and we get into the game.

Looking at recruitment, what would you say your onboarding or hiring process looks like generally?

It focuses a lot on company culture and expectations from the company. Meeting with other colleagues is very important in the beginning and having an introduction to various stakeholders.

Then we have the traditional e-learning and internal training courses coupled with that.

In general, it's been quite a difficult market in Sweden. Are there any specific recruitment challenges that you're facing currently?

For us, specifically - and this is my opinion - having a fast-growing organisation with a large number of newcomers at the same time can present some interesting challenges for the company culture. That is where I think leadership at all levels is key.

That is the main difference and a challenge for a company like Oatly versus others, as we have been growing very fast.

Looking at Sweden as a whole, would you say that Sweden is a good place to live? If so, why?

I think we are very fortunate to live in Sweden; everything from freedom to the level of democracy to social security… And also simple things taken for granted, such as being able to drink tap water, but also our environment and nature.

2023 was quite a turbulent and challenging year. Do you see the Swedish economy evolving over the next five or so years?

It’s difficult to say. Sweden faced challenges for sure, and, unfortunately, I think the situational risks will get worse, not only for the Swedish economy, but over the next few years because of what is happening around the world with macroeconomics and geopolitical situations.

What would you say is the secret to building a strong network?

Curiosity and listening skills, together with a transparent, authentic approach to understanding and communicating value propositions. To improve those skills, I would encourage participating in cross-functional projects.

If you are studying, then try to seek an internship at the same time - those are probably the things that can open your view to other angles, other functions, and other profiles that will help you to develop your listening skills. Also, just be curious to work from other functions and other inputs.

For a job seeker trying to stand out in quite a competitive market, what advice would you give them?

What I look at is if someone can express not only why you are the right candidate, but also the other way around - why the hiring firm is the right one for you. If you can express both of those, then usually there is a very easy click, so you know if you are the right candidate.

Looking back on your career, is there any advice that you'd go back and give your younger self?

Yes, I would say take better care of my work-life balance.

When you have a very interesting job, it's so easy to forget the things outside of work. Work is part of your life, but it's not your full life. You have to remember that work is not everything.

Did you plan out your career development path?

I planned out a part of it and adjusted along the way, but it really started with the vision. It links back to what I said about curiosity and wanting to learn about different cultures.

I had a vision when I was at university that I wanted to work abroad. I wanted to work in international business, and I wanted to learn about different cultures. That vision took me along the path to work with different international organisations.

Of course, along the way, you can adjust the career development targets that you have, but I happened to stumble onto the right path from the first few steps.

Speaking to aspiring leaders or people who want to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give them?

My advice would be to always be kind and always remember that everyone has a story. Taking risks is part of developing yourself and the business.

Also, an authentic path may take longer, but the moves and the impact are what make a difference and creates the magic in the daily work.

What is the best compliment you've ever received?

Apparently, my perseverance and my smile are contagious, even during challenging situations. I received that compliment from one of my main stakeholders, an executive.

We've spoken about memorable moments, but what has been the most surprising thing that has happened during your career?

How something is presented can make all the difference for the audience. So, it's about finding out what makes it tick for the counterparty - you can basically present the same thing, but the way and how you present it can have a completely different result.

In business, or maybe outside of business, is there a person that inspires you?

Warren Buffett, because he has a delegate, hands-free leadership style, and he surrounded himself with a very skilled and trusted team. His vision turned into reality, and he inspired his employees to see the same vision and strive towards it.

Having an engaging style is what I try to always pass on to people I work with. The hands-free leadership style is what I value from my managers, and what I try to pass on to my team, as well.

How would you define the role of Head of Treasury?

I would define it as making financing available, securing the money logistics, and defining financial risks and how they are to be managed.

When it comes to digital transformation, what are your guesses on how it would change the role of Head of Treasury?

It's an opportunity to strengthen internal controls. At the same time, it supports a lean, effective function - this is how we built our Treasury function from the start. Again, it's an opportunity.

Thank you to Ola for speaking to Hanna Gibson, Senior Consultant in our Nordics division.

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

Laura Montagu is the Senior Director Human Resources EMEA at Under Armour, based in Amsterdam. She started her Human Resources career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, before moving to the Netherlands. Laura has since worked for various organizations in the FMCG, High Technology and Logistics spaces.

What does your onboarding/hiring process look like at Under Armour?

At Under Armour (or UA as we call it!), we are passionate about empowering those who strive for more because we are a team striving to make athletes better as part of their journey to compete. We challenge convention, and we challenge each other to learn and grow. We play to win. We celebrate the wins, learn from our mistakes and always fight on together. For the new teammates who are going to join our sqUAd, we look for the curious and innovative, those who want to have an impact and believe that sport can be the ultimate unifier. To find the right talent we use a competency-based interview technique and identify eight core competencies for each position (to make sure we stay consistent in our selection process) and review applicants against those to find the best talent.

We have really defined processes with interview panels, which include three rounds for most roles and a maximum of four for more senior positions. Plus, and this is something I’m really passionate about, we always make sure to have diverse interview panels, as well as a variety of stakeholders from other departments to provide a more holistic view of the candidate, while also providing them with a broader insight into our organisation.

We see interviews very much a two-way process. Our priority is to identify a mutual match: what is the candidate looking for, does this match with what we have to offer and do they live and breathe the UA values.

Regarding the onboarding process, this begins for our teammates already before their first day. They are in close contact with our HR function and their manager to receive all the support they need. This includes a 50% discount code to buy UA products to best equip them for their first day and feel like a real UA teammate before joining.

Once they join our sqUAd, Teammates receive a 90-day onboarding program from their manager, which they work through over their first few months. That program includes meeting their team and key stakeholders, face-to-face and virtual training, and building their development plans. We feel that’s important from day one, because everyone can develop and grow and have that clearly mapped out. A buddy is also allocated by managers for each new teammate to kickstart their time at UA.

Within their first month (and usually on their first day), our new Teammates also attend our pre-season training, which gives them the chance to immerse themselves into UA by learning about the brand’s values and our history, as well as an opportunity to get to know other teammates – they also get to visit a retail store to meet more of the team and get to know our consumers better. During this time, Teammates who are joining us from other locations across the region get the chance to come join us at the Amsterdam hub and get to know our teams here.

Finally, as part of our quest for continuous improvement – a core component of our culture – new teammates receive surveys where they will have a chance to share their feedback on their hiring experience so we can celebrate the wins and keep striving for more to improve for future teammates.

The sports terminology we use is a big part of who we are and why we exist. It’s for people who have that same mindset and how we look at things from an organisational perspective. That red thread runs through all we do.  

How can leaders create diverse teams?

One of our key philosophies at Under Armour is ‘the power of sport can unite, inspire, and change the world’. We stand for equality, which remains central to everything we do.

Although this provides a really strong foundation, we know that just creating diverse teams is not enough. It’s about building diverse teams and helping them thrive by creating a strong sense of belonging, while – at the same time – allowing our teammate to feel appreciated for their own uniqueness.

To do this, we have made bold commitments to our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) approach in EMEA, and leaders have a pivotal role to play in executing those plans. A fundamental starting point is that our leaders act as role models - they recognise and embrace the benefits DE&I brings and show courage and conviction to stand behind our strategy and culture.

We therefore roll out regular training for our leaders to build cultural competency and create inclusive environments, including some specifically created content for the EMEA landscape (because how we operate in the region is quite different), but also for our retail team, recognising they may have different needs.

New leaders, both external or new to internal teams, undergo what we call Leader Assimilation sessions to fully integrate them into the culture and relationships of their new team, helping to further drive inclusion and a sense of understanding of one another.

We also believe in the power of nurturing diversity of thought: building an inclusive and collaborative community across the entire business where we seek out different teammate voices and encourage input and ideas from all levels.

Both our teammates and our leaders strongly believe that we have a responsibility to not only build a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace for our teammates, but also show support for the communities where we live and work. It doesn’t just stop with us; it’s about how we create that environment where we operate too.

We acknowledge that DE&I is bigger than us. Therefore, we provide all our teammates with 40 hours of paid time off to give back to causes they are passionate about. The team have clocked up more than 6000 hours in 2023 which is awesome. We also gather as a region at least once a year during Armour Day to prioritise volunteer work and our philanthropy efforts as a team.

Sure, there is so much research and data to show the impact that DE&I teams can have on business, people’s sense of belonging, and communities, but for us it’s also just the right thing to do. Our authentic belief in that makes it easier to deliver, as it’s something we truly believe in, rather than just doing it from a business perspective.

How is Under Armour reducing bias in the hiring process?

The first step is to acknowledge that bias exists, and it is therefore critical to create awareness and tools for effectively managing it during the hiring process. 

For hiring managers, there is mandatory training before every hiring process to build the skills and capabilities to recognise and mitigate potential biases. The competency-based interview model helps us further reduce bias, while our framework on how to provide feedback is focused on constructive commentary versus assumptions.

Then we recruit from a range of sources, including internal referrals, job boards, recruitment fairs, recruitment agencies, etc., which ensures we are hiring from a variety of locations and backgrounds – helping to diversify our talent pools.

We also insist on diverse interview panels to help ensure a broad range of perspectives and ensure feedback is available. It helps mitigate bias if you are hearing ideas, thoughts, and challenges from different sources The fact our interviewers determine a score for each candidate against set competencies using a numerical system also helps us keep our feedback more fact-based, balanced, and fair.

By following a structured process, being clear on what we are looking for, and having an evaluation process based on facts rather than assumptions, we can hire the best talent for the role and the team they are joining. That also helps us sense check what we think against what the scores and the feedback were.

By having competency-based and value-based interviewing and focusing on diversity, we have a very international and culturally diverse group of teammates. With diverse interview panels, candidates get a deeper and more transparent insight into our culture and feel a greater sense of belonging.

What are the three to five key drivers to success in Under Armour that you watch the most?

At Under Armour, our purpose is to empower those who strive for more. These are not just words – they are a core part of our organisational culture and a mindset we are fundamentally committed to. This mission is at the heart of our People and Culture strategy, fuelling how we inspire our teams, build transformational leadership, and invest in the growth and development of our teammates. 

Our philosophy is to do our best to make tomorrow better than today, for both our athletes and for our teammates - a key driver to our success.

We’re not the type of organisation where we believe that everything is set in stone. Like athletes, we thrive on being challenged. We don’t stand still. We challenge the status quo. But we are humble, too – acknowledging that we don’t always get it right and there is always an opportunity to learn. It’s also important to enjoy the adventure, have some fun, and be grateful for the team you have around you - that’s the real game changer.

Teammates also have the freedom and opportunity to make their mark, improve things, change things, and suggest enhancements – bringing their own ideas to life and making a tangible impact. That’s something we value deeply and that’s what sets our teammates apart.

As a brand, people and culture drive our business, so we are constantly looking ahead to how best we can support our teammates grow, be better, and how we can better create an engaging place to work for them.

What strategies do you use for developing innovative, diverse teams?

Currently, our EMEA team consists of more than 80 nationalities from all over the world, located across nine countries, with more than 50% of our corporate population being female. Over 45% of that female talent is at Senior Manager level and above, which is more than 14% higher than the industry benchmark.

In EMEA, our current Managing Director is Kara Trent and she has recently been promoted to relocate and be the President of our Americas business which is super exciting. Our Global CEO, Stephanie Linnartz, is female, too, so Under Armour’s clear commitment to diversity goes right to the top. 

I think these achievements stem from Under Armour setting ambitious KPIs around diverse representation, which we monitor on a quarterly basis and stand firmly behind as a leadership team. So, it’s about role modelling and believing that diversity is what creates the power in our teams.

It’s also about incorporating a DE&I lens into everything we do to really drive impact, including policies and processes like flex working, hiring, promotions, and pay equity – so it really influences everything we do.

We believe in being purposeful about how we create and leverage moments to build unity. For example, in EMEA, we developed an annual teammate engagement and cultural calendar where we celebrate the rich diversity across the region. This provides opportunities for better awareness, understanding and respect of differences, and drives deeper connection amongst our teammates.

We’re really passionate about active engagement with our Under Armour Teammate Resource and Give Back Groups, who play a significant role in driving our DE&I culture and goals in the region, promoting underrepresented groups, driving sustainability, giving back to our communities as well as supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our teammates.

In terms of the workplace, it’s fundamental that you make your environment as safe and inclusive as possible for all teammates. To help achieve this, we build DE&I competence and awareness through regular training and development programs, recently launching a training series to facilitate anti-racism and engagement on racial justice issues across the entire organisation.

We know at Under Armour that DE&I is a continuous and relentless journey, so we are extremely committed to learning and being purposeful about creating more diversity of thought in our teams and within the communities we are a part of. This includes some really exciting, progressive initiatives we brought to life last year to create better visibility and representation of all forms of diversity, both internal to Under Armour, as well as in external partnerships with our vendors and suppliers. We believe this will help drive our DE&I journey within Under Armour and have an impact on the sector as a whole. 

I think it’s that sense of belonging, welcoming ideas and inputs, helping people feel safe and connected, celebrating uniqueness, and creating KPIs that really help the team be innovative together.

What excites you about working for Under Armour?

First of all, I am hugely inspired and energised by the genuine commitment to our teammates and team culture. Being in HR for more than 20 years, I have been part of many different organisations. All of them would say that people are their best asset.

With the leadership committed to people and culture just as much as I am, we waste no time moving forward and making things happen for the teams and business. We acknowledge what we can do better and work towards improving things every day.

Secondly, I am excited by the wealth of opportunity we have as a brand. Although we are well respected and globally recognised, many people forget that Under Armour is only 27 years old and was started in Kevin Plank’s (our Founder) grandmother’s basement.

This means that we have a solid organisational foundation in place, but there remain a lot of opportunities for growth and improvement. All this makes Under Armour an exciting place to be - finding opportunities and solving problems is inherent in my nature and I thrive on it.

Also, from a business perspective, EMEA has tremendous momentum in the region right now, having doubled our business and growing our team year on year. It’s exciting to see the brand winning more market share, as well as expanding in countries with our retail footprint.

Lastly, if I haven’t said it enough, I just love the Under Armour culture. Being a sports brand, we believe in the power to inspire through sports and to have a positive impact on the lives of others, including our athletes, consumers, and teammates.

Change and agility are key to our success, resulting in a culture that is fast paced, dynamic and never boring. I am constantly inspired by the talent we have – our teammates show such grit, resilience, and desire for progress.

We also have a very open, non-hierarchical approach and very little bureaucracy; you can come up with an idea, watch it come to life and see its impact. It’s a great blend of professional and fun – we definitely work hard, but having a laugh as a team is definitely what makes it special for me!

Thank you to Laura for speaking to Katie Insley, Associate Director in our Human Resources recruitment team in the Netherlands.

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

Tiia Ranta is the CFO at Lantmännen Cerealia in Stockholm, where she’s been for over three years. She previously spent seven years with VAASAN in Helsinki. Tiia started her Finance career as an Accounting Assistant, before becoming a Financial Controller, Finance Director, and CFO.

What does the future of sustainability look like in your sector?

We are in the food business and Lantmännen as a company has sustainability close to heart as we are owned by Swedish farmers. We have a lot of actions on going in that and we try to take action throughout the whole value chain.

In Cerealia, we want to make sure that our business models are very sustainable, and that we have sustainable production and sustainable logistics. For example, we want to be fossil-free in our production.

Lantmännen has a program called Climate and Nature. We make sure that we can have sustainably produced grain on the farms and throughout the value chain.

For us in Cerealia, we can use it for creating strategic partnerships. When we have customers who are high on the sustainability agenda, for example Paulig, we can provide them with sustainable flour for their production. That’s really the benefit we have seen.

Now we have launched the program in Finland. Hopefully, the consumers will see the benefit from that because it is a bit more expensive obviously to have fossil-free farming.

What would you say is the future of Finance?

I think we are the right hand for the business, being true business partners to the CEOs, so that we actively can impact the business decisions.

We are actively involved in building the strategies and making the strategies happen. Of course, artificial intelligence is also helping in this a lot as you can use the systems to do things that you couldn't do manually, because it's too time-consuming or there’s too much data.

But you should never forget that Finance always has this other side of having control of the business, having the compliance, and ensuring that everything is in order. You need to balance those aspects in Finance.

How do you see the Swedish economy evolving in the next five years?

It’s not a very good time at the moment, which will probably continue for some time, but anything can happen in five years.

Sweden has some of the basics still there. I think Sweden will bounce back when we get inflation in order and interest rates are going to start to balance and stabilise.

At the moment, it is very difficult for people, and you can see it in consumption; they are very careful about how they are consuming – and maybe that's good at this stage.

It's similar to COVID-19, if you think two years back to how different the world was compared to today. It went back to normal, and I think that's what will happen in the economy in the long term. Or maybe you get out a bit stronger.

The businesses that really have a strong balance sheet can come out of this very much stronger because if they are wise, they can use this time to really make sure that they have all the basics in place, working with the core, when things start to open up again, they can just fly. However, the smaller businesses might struggle a bit more.

What is the most memorable moment in your career and why?

There are many memorable moments, but I would say my latest career move because I got the chance to relocate from Helsinki to Stockholm and that was something that we as a family had discussed. Our daughter was going to an English-speaking school, so we were preparing for that already.

When you get the chance to relocate, it is really great. Stockholm and Helsinki aren’t that far away, so it is easy to fly back and forth to see family and friends.

It's the recognition when you get that opportunity inside the company that you already work for. That is most memorable for obvious reasons.

What has been the most rewarding moment in your career?

In general terms, it's usually when you get a task where you feel, “I have no clue how to do this,” and then you push yourself and deliver on the task. Those are very rewarding times.

When you finalise really big projects that you're working on and see the end result. It's really rewarding to accomplish something new.

The past 12 months have been quite turbulent in the market. What have you learned as a leader during this time?

The market has been extremely turbulent, and you have to learn to live in a new world. As a leader, you need to have a completely different kind of focus.

For example, we at Cerealia were in the middle of a growth phase and then everything happened. You turn your focus from growth back to cost control, savings, and those kinds of things, which are maybe not so motivating, nice, or fun, but it's something you have to do. That’s your personal focus.

As a leader, you need the rest of the organisation and your team to follow you, and you need to make them understand the importance and take responsibility, as well. That has been my learning as a leader - how to really involve the whole organisation in that task and make them understand the seriousness of the situation.

What do you do to retain high-potential employees?

Lantmännen has a programme and a structure in place to look for and retain talents.

First of all, we do talent mapping or update on a yearly basis, and we always go through that mapping in different layers in the group management team. Also, HR has quarterly meetings to talk about it, because we also want to compare across the businesses in Lantmännen.

With the high potentials, we have leadership programmes, but we can also provide mentoring and other solutions. On top of daily communication, we always try to have individual discussions two times a year; that's where we do the development discussion. We are very active in their career planning.

What advice would you give to those who want to stand out in the job market?

The CV needs to have the relevant competence. It is about being active, being proactive, being interested in what is happening, and being open to different things.

If you are very narrow, then that might be challenging, or if you don't have any flexibility.

Did you plan out your career path and what was that development like?

No, that's the funny thing - I don't think I have ever planned for it. I can say that I have always been in certain positions where I have felt that this might be a cool next step, but I have never really done any formal planning around it.

I have always said that I have high ambitions. I can still remember, 15 years back, I was thinking that this position would be great and would be challenging for me. Now, you look back and you're like, “Yeah, it was challenging, but it was fun.”

Do you have any advice for those who may want to become a CFO or CEO?

To me, what has always been number one is to always do good work. Sometimes you get very interesting tasks and sometimes you get really rubbish tasks but doing all of that with high quality is always a prerequisite because that's how you can start to show that you actually want to take responsibility and that you have the competence to do your work.

On the other hand, being curious, stepping in, and being proactive shows that you are carrying your current position well, and then you can always get your next chance.

You may get a task where you don’t really know if you are competent enough to do it, but just be brave and try. That will show that you are up for the next challenge.

In your words, how would you define the role of a CFO?

When I think of modern CFOs, of course we have to have a financial background, but what we want to be is a strategic partner for the business, bringing in the numbers to support business decisions.

We are the ones who have a holistic view of the business and what is happening. I try to have my ears everywhere. I say that if there's something happening in this company that I don't know about, then we are in trouble because I need to know. I need to understand how it impacts my three-year perspective. I need to be the spider in the web that has connections everywhere.

I describe myself as a storyteller because I know the numbers, but we need to be able to explain how the business is doing.

What would you say are the effects of business intelligence and data on the function?

That is the core when we want to provide proper insights because we want businesses to be able to make fact-based decisions. We need to provide them with the data, the analysis, and the tools to be able to do that.

Finance will push this, because they are self-serving tools. People should be able to log in and see the data; if they want the sales report, they can go into the system and look at the sales, and do a bit of drilling and different analysis.

That changes the role of a Business Controller, because then you are not only reporting or printing reports for the business, but you can actually be the true business partner that you want to be, because then you should have more time for that, instead of doing manual things that are not really adding value.

Is there a specific person in business that has been really inspiring for you and why?

I'm not sure if I can name just one person. But when I have changed my position, for me, it's very important to know who the senior management is because you can always learn a lot from the people you work with and your manager.

I always want to make sure that it's a person where I really feel that, OK, they have this experience that I can learn from and that is very inspirational for me. I have been lucky enough to have a lot of those people during my career.

Thank you to Tiia for speaking to Hanna Gibson, Senior Consultant in our Nordics division.

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

Colin Delahay is the Chief Financial Officer at Banijay Benelux in Amsterdam, where he’s been for over three years. He spent the first 20 years of his career with PwC, before joining VEON, LafargeHolcim, and Endemol Shine Group.

What excites you about working for Banijay Benelux?

Banijay Benelux is part of Banijay Group, an independent global media house, mainly focused on the development, production, and distribution of TV-related content. In Benelux, we have 12 production companies and develop content for all linear channels and streamer platforms. We make interesting and exciting content with a highly motivated and diverse team.

On the strategic and operational side, we have a great deal of freedom to implement change, experiment with new ideas, and broaden our scope.

Also, the media industry is changing fast; there's a declining trend in linear viewing rates, viewing behaviour is changing, and also the content needs and the talent market is changing. On top of that, we have the impact of artificial intelligence and fast-changing technologies. This makes my role within Banijay Benelux and the broader media industry exciting, diverse, and interesting.

Given the fast-moving environment both from a customer and a technology side, it is an industry that never has a dull moment.

What changes have you seen to the employment market in the Netherlands over the years? What, in your opinion, have been the drivers for these changes?

Generically, in the Dutch market, you see a big change compared to the early stages of my career. The drivers of the talents/employees have clearly shifted. Elements such as the purpose of the company, sustainability, work-life balance, and flexibility are now far more relevant decision criteria than they used to be – a generational shift we do not only see in viewing behaviour, but also in employer choice.

We spend a lot of effort in creating a good working environment to facilitate the needs of our employees and try to keep up with the current drivers. For example, we do a broad annual survey amongst all our employees, both permanent and temporary, via Great Place to Work (GPTW) to see where we do well and what we can improve. I’m proud that we – as the first media company - have the official certification as an excellent workplace.

Next to this is the media industry, an industry where a lot of freelancers work; we are very project-based, specifically on tv-productions. So, at Banijay, it is important to create ambassadors for our organisation to keep our access to the best talent.

All production companies are targeting production-related talent. Creating a pool of highly qualified, good people was of the greatest importance. So, focusing on retraining and training people became more relevant than before.

Also since COVID, there has been a shift towards working from home, and COVID proved it works. Some had to do a mindset shift and manage on output rather than availability. You skip the commute, and it gives you freedom. In my view, output is increasing.

Also now, when the market is back to - let’s say - normal, the relevance of retaining the best talent remains, as we are a project organisation with, to a certain extent, a seasonal pattern and a changing demand pattern during the year. One of the advantages of Banijay Benelux is our diverse array of production companies, each specializing in various genres. This allows talent the flexibility to transition between different companies within our organization without leaving the company.

What is a memorable moment from your career and why?

There have been several memorable moments during my career. However, the common denominator is change, and working with people from different cultures and in different cultures. I started at PwC as a Consultant and worked there for 20 years. Throughout my time at PwC, other than becoming a partner, I had international experiences and worked abroad in different cultures, which is a memorable element.

Then I switched to corporate work. During my time with VEON and LafargeHolcim, we initiated and implemented large transformational projects, with a focus on efficiency (work smarter, not harder), effectiveness (increasing the relevance of Finance), and attractiveness of the Finance function (proud to be part of Finance).

Revamping those Finance organisations on a global and local scale, getting people on board, changing mindsets, and seeing the transformational impact in the positive sense of the word are moments that made me proud.

Specifically, on the transformational journeys, I had quite a steep learning curve. I learned the impact of good communication and stakeholder management, which gave me great insights and learnings on a personal level. Good communication and stakeholder management are the key drivers of creating change and embracing change.

If you could change one thing in your career, what would it be?

I take life and career as it comes; regret is a meaningless emotion from that perspective. It’s the learning you take from events or situations that, with hindsight, you would have done differently.

Of course, there are several situations that, with hindsight, I would have done differently today, so if I need to name one thing, it would be to act faster on what my feelings tell me. Don’t stall difficult situations too long; if the chemistry is not there, make a decision, and act on it.

Overall, I’m happy with the career path I have taken.

What is the most surprising thing that has happened during your career?

It is not so much one event, but more about what I have noticed during my career: How people work together in corporate environments.

I’ve been an auditor for the first 20 years of my career, which was very project-driven, after which I went to large, corporate organisations. The role and impact you have in the corporate environment are very different; you are directly confronted with the impact and the consequences of decisions you make – you are more in the driver’s seat. That took a while to get used to.

What surprised me in some of the organisations I have worked in is the siloed way of working, where different functions work next to each other instead of with each other. Also, within a function, you sometimes see this siloed working.

In every company I worked for, I tried to implement structures in which all relevant functions take combined ownership of important decisions. For example, a refinancing or a legal restructuring does not only require an Accounting and Reporting impact analysis, but also an analysis from a Tax, Treasury, Legal and Operational perspective.

Getting these functions together, discussing the risks and consequences, challenging each other, and deciding on the best way forward together brings you not only to the likely best possible solution, but also towards a solution that is supported by a broader scope.

Furthermore, I’m a strong believer in giving people end-to-end process ownership and giving them insight into the relevance of their role within the bigger picture, so people feel included and talk to each other. That is still the Consultant in me.  

Who are the main stakeholders that you deal with internally?

Within Banijay Benelux, we have a small managing board in which we make most decisions together or at least in mutual consultation. I am involved in most areas of the business.

From a direct stakeholder perspective, key stakeholders are obviously our employees, the management teams of our production companies, operations (we have several production studios), my colleagues on the management board, and our shareholders at Banijay Group.

What are the key challenges your business faces regarding sustainability?

Within the media industry, sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance had - compared to production industries - a rather late start. Social and governance have been top priorities over the last years, specifically after certain MeToo affairs in the Dutch media industry, which was one of the turning points when it comes to subjects such as safety and integrity.

On the environmental sustainability side, the industry is still in a rather early stage. We have a growing, clear focus on sustainability, which is broader than measuring the carbon footprint of our productions, not because we have to (being part of a global group), as a reporting obligation, but because we intrinsically feel that we have to make it an integral part of our DNA.

That is because I see it as a strategic necessity towards our partners, clients and, above all, our people. Our people look for purpose; you see slowly but surely a change from profit-driven to a more purpose-driven mindset. You also see that in the content we make and the requirements of our employees and other stakeholders.

On ESG the challenge for us, like most companies, is to find a balance between fulfilling the limited European and local regulations currently available, which are subject to change and not yet set in stone, incorporating these and our requirements throughout the whole chain from suppliers to customers, as well as keep this a priority within our broad employee base – ensuring it is incorporated into everything they do.

That is a journey that will take time, but it is a must for us and future generations to survive in this world. Also, from an economic perspective, I think it can be a strategic benefit to be on the front end of this era.

What are the three challenges ahead for you as a CFO?

As mentioned, the media industry is changing fast, specifically in the last few years, and will continue changing in the years to come. Viewing behaviour is changing and new business models are required to sustain our profitability. Further, we see an accelerated impact from new technologies and AI, which brings us both threats and opportunities.

We then have the paradigm shifts within our society that are happening, which lead to the necessity to keep and build value in different ways. One example is integrating sustainability in all we do, as well as the shift from a profit-driven business environment to a more purpose-driven environment. All with the right balance in mind. This all interacts with the challenges ahead.

One is retention, keeping hold of and attracting talent in our team. The changing environment requires also a change mindset from our teams so retaining, training, and maintaining the team is key.

Another challenge is daring to develop and implement new business models - stepping out of the old-fashioned way and walking new paths. Some of them will fail and some will be successful, so we have to dare to do that. Also, incorporating AI into our processes and way of working, and looking for new and different cooperation models. Changing markets incorporate risks, but also opportunities.

The other big challenge from a CFO perspective is the shift we make from the financial to the non-financial space - not only in reporting, but in everything we do. That is still rather new for us - value-based reporting and sustainability reporting; it is not only numbers. Value creation is broader.

These are all good challenges to have though, and as with any change, we’ll learn, we’ll adapt, and we’ll become stronger for doing so.

Thank you to Colin for speaking to Emma Marshall, Senior Consultant, in our Finance & Accountancy recruitment team in the Netherlands.

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

Axel Benjaminson is the Group Controller at Scania Group in Sweden. He started his career at Scania as a Global Champion Trainee, before becoming a Financial Controller. He now manages his own team of Junior Controllers.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

I smile a lot every day and when I am working. On my way here via the metro, there was a young child in a stroller pulling funny faces and that made me genuinely smile - children always help.

Why did you decide to take your career in the direction of Finance?

In high school, I was always interested in Business and Finance, but I didn’t know what I wanted to study or work with. I was sure that I wanted to go to university and get a career, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

I was 100% sure I didn’t want to work in Finance, as my dad works in Finance, and I wanted to break out and do something else. I thought about Psychology and working in Law or something similar.

After I graduated high school, I started working and I moved to Norway - like a lot of Swedes do - to earn some money for a year. As a lot of young people do, once I started to earn some cash, I started to think about investing and I did that with my friends and read some books about it. Then I realised that maybe this Finance thing wasn’t so bad.

Also, I shared a flat with a friend in Oslo who started to study after our year in Norway and I had a few conversations with him, and he loved it.

A year later, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I applied to different schools and to Law school. I had a Finance school as my first choice and Law school as my second. I got into my first choice at Gothenburg and that was that. When I got in, I knew it was what I wanted to do.

Luckily, when you study Business, you do some courses in Law, as well, and I found that it wasn’t for me; I am better with numbers, and I was really happy with putting Finance education as my number one choice instead of Law.

In high school, there was a teacher who said it doesn’t matter what you study - whatever you study, you will become an expert in it, you’ll become interested in it, and you’ll enjoy it. I think that is true for a lot of people.

What does your father think about all this now?

We talk a lot about work and Finance. It is a good way to stay in touch, as well; if I studied Psychology, I probably wouldn’t have much to talk about with him.

What does it feel like in your role as Group Controller at Scania?

It feels good. I have been in my role for three years. My whole professional career so far has been at Scania, and I really like it – I wouldn’t stay in a company or in this position for three years if I didn’t enjoy it.

But, for me, Group Controller is a vague description of what you do, and it can mean what you want it to mean. What I work with mainly is M&A (merger & acquisition) activities at Scania, investment decisions, divestment, and more strategic Finance-related questions, like how the capital structure should look in certain entities and how much we will pay out as dividends.

It’s very interesting and you get to see a lot of different business cases. In order to do the acquisition and the evaluation of the company you are going to acquire, you need to really understand the business and understand the financials and accounting at a very detailed level.

For example, Scania made a number of investments into the battery company Northvolt in Sweden. We also have small workshops we acquire – so it’s very broad and different.

The main thing I find so interesting is you get to dig down on the details and get a totally different understanding of the business. You learn to think like an owner – that I really enjoy.

What was the reason for the quick move into this position where you’re seen as a strong business partner?

I started at Scania as part of the graduate programme, so as a trainee. For the first 18 months, I didn’t have a fixed position. I worked in four different positions, both at HQ, subsidiaries within Scania, the sister company in Munich, I also worked in the Netherlands in our Sales organisation for three months, so I got to see a large part of the organisation.

I got an insight into the issues those locally were focused on. When working in HQ, you always have the view from the HQ perspective and make decisions based on a broad sense. But, once you get out to the local entities, they have a much more practical view of things, such as how we handle taxes or the local authorities.

We have subsidiaries in Asia and Africa, and it’s much more difficult to handle administration and the authorities, etc. So, I got a broader view that doesn’t just reflect the view given at HQ.

The reason I made the step into this current position is mostly down to luck. I was maybe too inexperienced to take on the role at first, but - during COVID - there was a vacancy and there were limits on recruiting externally. I had a talk with my previous manager about moving positions and this chance came up. It probably wouldn’t have gone that way if it wasn’t for COVID, so, career-wise, I have something to thank COVID for.

What is your advice for people starting a career in Finance and emulating what you have achieved?

I manage a small team of Junior Controllers and have this discussion with them regularly. My advice in some sense is a bit controversial, but I think a lot of people today want to work in consulting, strategy, investment banking, etc.

My recommendation that I give to the people I manage here is, early on in your career, you shouldn’t neglect Accounting. That is because, if you were to go to Japan, live in Japan and want to understand Japan, you need to learn Japanese – it’s the same if you want to really understand business; you need to learn the language, and that is Accounting.

Accounting can be quite dry - I understand that and agree in some sense – but, to lay the foundation for your future career, it’s really good to build up that fundamental Accounting understanding, because it’s difficult to build that knowledge up at a later stage.

You can always go from working in Finance to strategy, but it’s really difficult to build that knowledge at a later stage. I took that route, but I think with all the discussions I am having now, it’s super crucial to understand Accounting.

You need to understand if an acquisition is a good or bad one, you need to understand the figures and not just look at the financial statements, and, if you see profit, you need to understand what is generating those profits. There are a lot of different quirks in Accounting, which is why you need to build that knowledge early on.

Secondly, as my second tip, a lot of people focus on building a network, adding people on LinkedIn, etc. The main priority, once you start working, should be to do really good work, because the networking will come, and people will want to work with you and recommend you.

If you focus on the network, you may miss out on the work that you have the potential to do, and I think some people do it the wrong way round; you should put 95% into doing really good work and building up your knowledge, and 5% to the network.

I can make a comparison to learning the piano. You can go down two routes. You can either practise songs, and you’ll be good at playing those songs and be able to impress people early on, or you learn the theory and basics, and build on that. One way is more efficient in the short term, but - in the long term - the one who practised the theory will be the better player.

When you start a career, it’s the same way. You can know a lot of things, but - if you understand it - you can build on it for the future. You shouldn’t be happy about just knowing the answer; focus on understanding it.  

What’s it like working for Scania?

It’s really good with one of the strongest cultures in Sweden. When I started, I had four weeks of introductions and lectures. They drill the culture into you, showing you the values and how strong the culture is. When you have meetings in international settings, they share the same values and that makes the organisation function much better.

People also stay for a long time. When I talk with people at meetings, a lot of people introduce themselves with, “I have only been at Scania for ten years and I’m still new.” When people leave externally, we usually say, “We know people are going to leave, but we also know you’re going to come back,” and people do.

It helps with the company being so large. We have 55,000 people all over the world. You can be in a lot of different positions, do a lot of different things, and see a lot of different things. I think that would be much more difficult in a smaller company, where you can’t take the next step.

What was the best decision you have made during your career?

I would have to say joining Scania, because it was a good choice. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what my best decision would be. My current position was by chance. I applied to a lot of different companies and was offered a chance at Scania.

I knew I wanted to be part of a large, international Swedish company, but it was by chance. It was never a question of accept or not – just being lucky and getting the job done.

What advice would you give to the 18-year-old Axel?

My 18-year-old self was probably more confident and knew more answers than I do today. I would go back and ask him for some recommendations and life-changing advice, rather than give him some.

Any tips for starting university and what to study?

When I went to university, I had a discussion with a family friend, who graduated five to ten years prior; he had a really good job after he finished university and he did Finance, as well, so I asked him for tips.

He said there are two different ways to go about it. One is to study on the school side of things and get good grades, as that’s a way to land a really good job. Or focus on doing things outside of school, at the students’ union, or doing things that build up your CV.

I took the second option and tried to be really active. I was part of the student union board, and I did one of the biggest student fairs in Sweden, which was a one-year project – I basically worked full time, which took time from studying. I also started a company with a friend and ran that for two years outside of school, as well. I probably learned more from those two experiences than from the course.

Once you start going to interviews, you can show what you have done and built, instead of just a list of grades. I was able to show that I built this and was driven to start my own company, etc. So, I think that is good advice for people starting university.

Thank you to Axel for speaking to Paul Toms, Founder and head of our Nordics recruitment division. 

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