Posted , in Opportunities for growth
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Ursula Morgenstern, CEO, Atos Germany
Posted , in Women in Professional Services
Wendy van Tol, Consulting leader PwC Netherlands, Member of...
Posted , in Women in Professional Services
Laura Hay, Global Head of Insurance, KPMG
Posted , in Women in Professional Services
Elizabeth Spaulding, Partner; Leader of Bain’s Digital Practice
Posted , in Women in Professional Services
Natascha Polderman, Group CIO, Control Risks
I recently did a presentation on the future of professional services for Dansk Industri (DI) at the latter’s beautiful building in the centre of Copenhagen. It was an apt place for such an event: Each floor of the building is named after a concept, and the top floor, with its expansive view across the city, is called “udsyn”.
The simplest meaning of udsyn is “view”, but its resonance is far subtler than that: “Ud” actually means “out” and “syn” means vision. “It means looking outside your world”, DI explained.
I can’t think of a better word to sum up what I think is the big, strategic opportunity for professional services firms in 2019 than udsyn. I’ve already written about the imperatives for consulting firms, but being able to action these and respond to other tactical challenges facing the broader professional services industry will depend on looking outside your world. Professional services firms are no different to their clients. They see the world through the lens of their heritage and, often, the services they offer: To someone with a hammer, every problem appears to be in need of a nail.
But the professional services industry faces unprecedented challenges. Clients are looking for innovative solutions—not necessarily blue-sky thinking, but grounded ideas and the pragmatic application of best practice from elsewhere. They’re looking for value to be delivered. Being an expert simply isn’t enough in today’s world: Clients find it increasingly difficult to differentiate between firms based on the quality of work they do—every established firm can boast good people doing good work. Indeed, while 71% of clients globally say that the quality of work done is good, only 47% say that it actually adds value. As we’ve discussed many times in this blog, the professional services world is splitting in two, with clients increasingly saying that a firm offering low-cost services can’t also be good at delivering high-value ones. However, at the same time, high-growth opportunities now almost always involve a combination of these types of services—professional services firms have to integrate the two, even as clients tell them it’s not possible to do so. Squaring this circle is putting the business model of most firms under intense pressure: Launching sub-brands only moves the problem from the way a firm positions itself in the market to its internal organisation. Clients complain that most of the teams put together by firms are multidisciplinary in name only. Not surprisingly, they’d like to see firms simplify the way they work.
To respond to these challenges, professional services firms are going to need to look at examples from elsewhere in the sector and beyond. They must challenge their assumptions and find ways to overcome the internal obstacles that make it hard to change.
In other words, they’re going to need more than a little bit of udsyn.
" ["post_title"]=> string(23) "The year of “udsyn”" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(17) "the-year-of-udsyn" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-10-31 10:41:20" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-10-31 10:41:20" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(59) "http://clients.tomorrowtth.com/sourceglobalresearch/?p=2807" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [1]=> object(WP_Post)#5631 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(2782) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "1" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:51:37" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:51:37" ["post_content"]=> string(7726) "Ursula Morgenstern is a role model for many women. In 2016, she won the prestigious title of “Woman of the Year” at the Women in IT Awards, in recognition of both her success and her dedication to promoting diversity in technology. Now, she is committed to helping others rise to similar heights.
Ignoring your fear
Like many of the female leaders we’ve spoken to, Morgenstern is disarmingly willing to mine the depths of her own back story for our conversation. She takes us back to her days growing up as a teenager, when she was a competitive swimmer. There’s one particular race that has stayed with her all these years: the 400m that she wasn’t able to finish.
But she learned her lesson. She remembers a time when she was preparing for an earlier CEO role at Atos and a huge incident threw everything into chaos. Her boss threw her in at the deep end: The crisis went on for 48 hours, and it was up to Morgenstern to manage the situation. Thankfully, her swimming days have an influence on how she handles situations like these: “How do I deal with a crisis, the really tough moments? One stroke at a time.”
Facing power
So, there’s resilience, but there’s also bravery: Summoning up the courage to face her fears has made a huge difference in Morgenstern’s career, and she is passionate about empowering other women to do the same. When an opportunity arises, she explains, women often shy away from taking it. “Most of us think we’re not ready for the role. I always think I’m not ready for the role.” To combat these anxieties, Morgenstern gives some brilliantly forthright advice: “Look at your peers. If they think they’re ready, you’re ready as well, aren’t you?’” It’s a case of “forcing yourself to ignore your fear.”
This willingness to go out on a limb has almost certainly been a part of what makes Morgenstern a natural leader in the eyes of her peers: “When I saw a problem I just got my peers together and said, ‘We have a problem here, let’s fix it’”, she says. “I never ask for permission.”
Behind that is an ability to see things in perspective. Despite the pressure that comes with working in a professional services firm, Morgenstern is able to take a step back: “Which decisions do we make in our industry which are life and death?” she asks. “I’m not a doctor, I’m not a surgeon. If it’s wrong, I can always say I made a wrong decision.” It’s refreshingly level-headed thinking in an industry that’s often guilty of taking itself far too seriously.
It’s probably part of what has driven Morgenstern’s rise to the top, too. Instead of following a rigid career plan, she’s simply met each challenge head on, before moving on to the next one, driven by a need to be challenged and a desire to keep learning. “I never had a career plan, which might be good or bad, I don’t know,” she laughs. “But I knew what I liked and what I wanted.”
Feeling safe
In fact, you get the sense that instinct might have actually served Morgenstern’s career far better than a plan: “One of my guiding principles,” she explains, “other than not wanting to be bored and always wanting to learn, was that I wanted to be where the power was.” She’s quick to point out that this was accompanied by strong mentors and well-aligned stars but it’s all part of a story that has seen Morgenstern continue to put herself in the centre of the action.
She is, however, quick to recognise that not having children has made this easier: “If you don’t have children, your career ends up on exactly the same path as men’s; I didn’t have the work/life balance issue which I think you have when you have children.” She references a fantastic lecture called ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling’, delivered by Professor Marianne Bertrand at LSE in 2017. Packed with fascinating statistics, Bertrand sheds some light on factors contributing to the gender penalty in professional services, and, as Morgenstern summarises, “the biggest single difference is the amount of time you’re not in work.”
She explains: “I had to travel. I was a consultant Monday to Friday in Paris - how can you do that if you have children? I went where I wanted to go. When I had to work late I could work late. When the guys said after work, ‘Let’s go out for a drink,’ I just went out for a drink.”
“The women I really, really admire have children,” she stresses. “I just always say ‘I don’t know how you do it.’”
Nevertheless, Morgenstern is well-versed in the challenges women face in professional services. She confesses that she found moving into consulting difficult: “The first four weeks were an utter shock,” she says, going on to describe the working environment as “white, male and hierarchical.” She recalls a specific time—thankfully an isolated period, when she had just moved into a new role—that she was made to feel really uncomfortable by the men on her new team.
But things have started to move on since then: The more women are at the top, the more things will change. But there remains a long way to go: “I sometimes have people say to me: ‘Ursula, you are our favourite woman in the Atos executive committee,’ and I just laugh—‘yeah, I’m the only one.’”
She stresses, however, that it’s necessary to be aware of all sides of the issue. “Yes, the system is flawed and yes, change is necessary.” In the meantime, though, there are ways for women to take advantage of these flaws. Often the only woman on a team of men, Morgenstern explains, “you walk in to any of these meetings, everybody knows you. You don’t have to introduce yourself, and they remember you. The other assumption is that because you’re in the position you are, you must be good.”
“Of course, I want to be promoted based on my skills, everybody wants that—but the reality is that being different, while it’s sometimes hard, has its advantages. I think you have to see both sides.”
Nevertheless, there’s a broader issue at play here, according to Morgenstern, that goes beyond gender and is about inclusion more generally: “It should be okay to be yourself. If I’m transgender, if I’m gay, if I’m from a different nationality, I should be able to be myself.”
For Morgenstern it comes down to this: “We should feel safe. We’re not talking sufficiently about the fact that even in Western Europe we don’t always feel safe. It’s a fundamental right.”
" ["post_title"]=> string(37) "Ursula Morgenstern, CEO, Atos Germany" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(35) "ursula-morgenstern-ceo-atos-germany" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:51:38" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:51:38" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(59) "http://clients.tomorrowtth.com/sourceglobalresearch/?p=2782" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [2]=> object(WP_Post)#5628 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(2780) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "1" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:48:24" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:48:24" ["post_content"]=> string(7220) "When you look at all that Wendy van Tol has achieved at PwC, it’s hard to believe that she never intended to have a long career in consulting. In fact, when she went for her interview, she was convinced that the firm wouldn’t be the right fit. “It’s probably too corporate; it won’t be hands on enough,” she remembers thinking on the drive to the office. “It’s probably too hierarchical.” The partners she met that day changed her mind: “They were telling me stories about the great transformational work they were doing with clients. I really felt like — this is going to be my dream job!”
It’s lucky her preconceptions about the company didn’t get in her way, because to hear her tell it, that initial impression was spot-on. Now, she’s keen for other young women to see that, while it may be intimidating from the outside, the consulting world offers incredibly exciting opportunities for everyone making the same daunting drive to the interview.
Whole fields of possibility
Van Tol has certainly embraced the many possibilities consulting has to offer and notes that those possibilities become all the more evident when one has an open mind and a positive attitude. Take, for example, her rigorous travel schedule. While many consultants will tell you this is the bane of their existence, van Tol describes it at as “something that makes life extremely interesting, and opens up whole fields of possibility.” For van Tol and her husband—also a consultant—those opportunities extended to the personal: “We were travelling anyway for work, so we’ve met up in very interesting places around the world. We have used the travel as an opportunity for us to see places.”
This knack for turning challenges on their ear is an obvious advantage when juggling a career with family life. Indeed, in van Tol’s case, this proved an asset from the earliest stages of parenthood. “There are some things you can’t really plan for,” she tells us. “When I got pregnant I was in the process of becoming a director in the firm. I had no idea how we were going to do this! But I just stepped in with an open mind, thinking that, in the end, children are the most important thing in our lives, so we would fold work around the family.”
Fold work around the family
This desire to prioritise family is not uncommon among young parents, but Van Tol observes many consultants selling themselves—and their firms—short by assuming this necessarily means an antagonistic relationship between home and work. “There are a lot of preconceived ideas in consulting that things like travel and hours are non-negotiable,” she says. “I’ve always experienced that they are negotiable.” Van Tol believes that a consultant who is honest, who understands her value, and who is ready to ask for what she needs, will likely find more flexibility than she assumed. “In the end, if you are there for a longer career, then you have to have a good dialogue around what is possible and what is not possible. Once I had put the issues on the table, there was a really good understanding that when you have a family and you and your husband are both consultants, it is sometimes a logistical nightmare, and the firm that you work for needs to be flexible.”
Indeed, the benefits of an open dialogue can extend beyond one’s firm. “Clients are often more flexible than we think,” van Tol explains. “In consulting we live by the client’s agenda, but I have always found in my career that you can have a dialogue with clients and say, ‘Actually, can we do this in London instead of Frankfurt, and can we move this to Friday instead of Wednesday?’” Those under similar pressures may be especially receptive: “I’ve worked with a lot of women on the client side, who will say, ‘I’m so happy you rearranged it because the Wednesday’s also a nightmare for me!’ It just shows – we’re all human beings, and we all have these struggles.”
Of course, flexibility is a two-way street, and van Tol stresses that she has not been able to achieve the balance she requires without a lot of hard work and a measure of sacrifice. “If you have a young family and you make the decision to get some hours with the children at the end of the day, to make sure you are there to put them to bed, don’t be frustrated that you have to open your laptop again at eight o’clock and finish your work. In the end, the work is not going away. This job is a tough job, especially when you’re in a leadership position.” Again, it’s an open mind and positive attitude that make it work: “If you are flexible, so much is possible.”
Nurturing this sense of possibility in young women is important to van Tol, perhaps because she did not start her career surrounded by female role models in leadership positions. “Traditionally, consulting has been a masculine environment,” she acknowledges. “I was the first female partner in Advisory in the Netherlands. Luckily, it’s different now, because we do have lots of women in the partnership. And we're still increasing the number as this is needed.”
An opportunity to create change
For this to change, van Tol believes women need to be ready to challenge their own expectations. “We still have so many women who just assume that things are not possible because the culture shows you that they’re difficult,” she explains. “But just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s not possible. I had two children in my career, during which time I got promoted to director and went through the partner process (when I was pregnant). Six years later, I was asked onto the board. So, it is possible. It’s not easy, but it is possible.” Simply not expecting the worst when opening a dialogue with a manager can be an important step in the right direction: “If you see this as a big fight, then it’s not going to work.”
Van Tol also encourages women to approach such conversations with an eye on the bigger picture. “See it as an opportunity to create change. You might pave the ground for lots of women to follow.” She stresses that this shift to a wider perspective can help women to become powerful advocates—for themselves and for others. “When you shift your mindset to seeing it as an opportunity to make a change, then it changes the conversation.”
" ["post_title"]=> string(97) "Wendy van Tol, Consulting leader PwC Netherlands, Member of the Advisory Board at PwC NL & Europe" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(93) "wendy-van-tol-consulting-leader-pwc-netherlands-member-of-the-advisory-board-at-pwc-nl-europe" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:48:25" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:48:25" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(59) "http://clients.tomorrowtth.com/sourceglobalresearch/?p=2780" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [3]=> object(WP_Post)#5627 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(2778) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "1" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:45:19" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:45:19" ["post_content"]=> string(11342) "As a champion for diversity and inclusion in business, Laura Hay is formidable. “My life’s work is to develop and promote women in leadership,” she tells us, “and I’m going to do it ’til I die.” She’s blazed a trail through KPMG herself, most recently becoming the first woman to lead the global insurance leadership practice — an experience, she says, that is very different and new for her, and about which she is very excited.
And as if her own example was not inspiration enough, Hay also gives free workshops to younger professionals, to give them the necessary tools to advance. “For me, there’s a real pay it forward aspect,” she explains.
You’ve got to raise your hand
Certainly, Hay has had her share of learning opportunities on the path to her new role, and, in the spirit of paying it forward, she’s more than happy to share them.
This path finds its beginning in the twin passions of her university days — mathematics and theatre — which led Hay to combine the technical focus of the actuarial student programme at MetLife in the US with opportunities to build connections with others and manage teams. Eight years later, she left MetLife and joined KPMG.
Make sure you’re heard
As she talks through the big moves in her career, it’s clear that they have, for the most part, been driven by this desire to follow her passions. A particularly formative example came just two years after joining KPMG: “I raised my hand and said, ‘I want to try something a little bit different. I really am very interested in adventure and travelling.’ I felt I wanted to try new and different things, and so I said, ‘if there’s anything global — I’d be interested.’”
Less than six months later, her wish was granted: “They said, ‘listen, there’s this big global project in London. Can you help out?’” It was the start of an exciting time, doing overseas work which Hay really loved, and in which she says she thrived.
Reflecting on that time, Hay says, “The first piece of advice I give when I talk to women is that you’ve got to raise your hand and let people know what you’re interested in. It might not be available right then, but it could be available later — you never know!”
It’s not always easy to summon up the confidence to put yourself forward in this way, but the ability to do so has allowed Hay to take control of her career, and drive it forward. “I think confidence is everything,” she explains. “There’s a lot of people that have tremendous skills — that’s table stakes — but confidence is important for gaining opportunities.”
Use your network – and don’t be afraid to reach out for help
It’s vital, therefore, that women in the workplace speak up for what they want and make sure they’re being heard. Hay suggests that there are many things, both big and small, that women can do to project the necessary confidence: “Speak up early and often in meetings. Get your personal point of view out there, even if not everybody’s going to agree with it.”
“I think women in general don’t appreciate conflict as much as men. I say, welcome deliberative conflict. Don’t shy away from it. It’s okay to express your point of view and take a stand. I think it’s also okay to flip your point of view if somebody else has one that moves you in a different direction — there’s confidence in that as well.”
But it isn’t necessarily the case that women are simply innately less inclined to put themselves, and their point of view, forward. “Being interrupted in meetings is the number one topic that comes up in every single one of my workshops around confidence and risk taking. It’s not just about it being frustrating. Women start to shut down and not speak as early because they’re sick of being interrupted, and so the negative impact is that they get quieter at meetings,” says Hay. “This interruption issue is something that needs to be corrected, so that women can get out there with their point of view and move forward. And getting their point of view out there is one step closer to moving towards a leadership position. ”
Hay’s own willingness to put herself out there and seize opportunities has led her into some incredibly exciting work, but her rigorous schedule of travelling became unsustainable when she found out in 2002, two years into her partnership at the firm, that she was pregnant with her son. “It was life-changing,” she tells us.
What’s the worst that can happen?
Career-wise, it was clear that a huge adjustment had to be made, and Hay reached something of a crisis point. “I actually couldn’t see a path forward given that I had made so much of my brand global,” she explains. “At the time I actually resigned from KPMG.”
The firm, however, was keen to work with Hay to find a way for her to change trajectory, rather than slow down and stop. “KPMG came back and said, ‘you’re going to have to have a major pivot here, but we want to work with you on this,’” she explains. They asked her what kind of role she would be interested in, and worked with her to create it, a solution that led ultimately to her decision to stay. “To stay was one of the best decisions of my career.” Hay says.
She learned an important lesson at that crossroads. “At the time, I was trying to work the problem out myself instead of working with my mentors and the people that I trust,” she admits. “My big lesson was that I should have gone to them when I was feeling that way from the start.”
Do it scared!
A reticence to reach out for support is a common problem, suggests Hay, and she has noticed a tendency among successful women to “feel like they have to do it themselves, to prove they can.” It’s destructive thinking. “Reach out for help,” Hay urges. “Build and then use your network.”
Hay stresses that it’s important to do so, not only at work, but at home, too, whether this network comprises family and friends who can provide emotional support, or people who are paid to keep the lights on when you’re out of town. Hay is clear that asking for help is not a weakness, but a strength: “I think gone are the days of feeling like you need to be Superwoman and prove to the world that you can do it all on your own. Use the superpower of your own, which is to collaborate with others to help you get what you want.”
Doing so can open up great possibilities. “In today’s society there are lots of things available that can help you be what you want to be,” says Hay, “but you have to take advantage of them.”
Collaborating with KPMG to find a way to manage things while starting a family was enormously rewarding. The role she created was a great fit, and Hay kept moving forward in several exciting jumps, becoming the actuarial services leader, and then, two years later, leader of the US insurance practice. “It was a massive change for me,” she says, “a very steep learning curve.”
While she was still adjusting to her new leadership position, Hay was thrown a curveball: She was asked to run for a position on the board. “I said no,” Hay remembers. “I said, I’m two months into this new role. I don’t think I could handle that, I have a lot to do here, I’m excited.”
But she was encouraged to take a risk. “One of our other female leaders said, ‘women always say that! Please reconsider. What’s the worst that can happen? We’ve got to push our women to say yes, and that starts with you Laura. You’ve got to move forward.’”
Hay recalls spending the next week thinking about it, talking to friends, and reaching out to her network. She also discussed it extensively with her husband: “We talked about the commitment and what it was going to mean for our family, and the fact that I did want to be on the board, I just felt that the timing wasn’t right.”
After careful deliberation, Hay decided to go for it — to move out of her comfort zone and take advantage of the opportunity. She never looked back: “I have to tell you that within the first hour of being exposed to some of the things that came to the board of directors at KPMG, I couldn’t believe I had ever debated it. It was such a magical experience, and a growing experience for me personally. I felt like I could make an impact on the firm. I really couldn’t believe I had almost turned it down because of timing!”
In light of her experience, Hay encourages other women to step back when considering taking on something new. “Don’t just immediately say no, and don’t just say it’s not the right time. Try to really think deeply. If the answer’s still no, then the answer’s no. But don’t stop.”
It’s a question of seizing an opportunity, regardless of your fear. As Hay puts it, “if we don’t take risks, we’re not going to progress.”
She remembers some incredibly important advice she was given, early in her career, that empowered her to do just that. “I asked one of my mentors about the key to her success, and she said, ‘I have many more failures than successes in my past.’ It sounds like a strange quote, but what she meant was, ‘I’ve taken risks and they haven’t all worked out, but I’ve learned from them and continued to take risks.’ And so we need to continue to try new things, and get comfortable with failure. The ultimate failure is only if we quit.”
" ["post_title"]=> string(41) "Laura Hay, Global Head of Insurance, KPMG" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(39) "laura-hay-global-head-of-insurance-kpmg" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:45:20" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:45:20" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(59) "http://clients.tomorrowtth.com/sourceglobalresearch/?p=2778" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [4]=> object(WP_Post)#5626 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(2776) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "1" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:34:52" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:34:52" ["post_content"]=> string(10928) "There’s a fascinating mix of continuity and dynamism about Elizabeth Spaulding. Continuity, because she’s been at Bain & Company for 20 years, joining the firm straight out of Stanford University. Dynamism, because she’s taken on a myriad of roles during her career and has risen to hold a place on the board as well as leading the firm’s global digital practice – advising clients on the fast-moving business of managing their digital transformations.
She certainly has no regrets about joining Bain all those years ago, being attracted to the firm by the rich variety it seemed to hold. As she reflects, “At the time, popular jobs coming out of school were investment banking, consulting, maybe to some extent more entrepreneurial things but that era hadn’t fully taken off yet. What appealed to me about Bain was the diversity of topics and projects. My own background studying engineering and French at Stanford probably demonstrates a passion for lots of different things, so that was really appealing to me. It was about the breadth and diversity, and the global nature of the firm.”
Female role models showed anybody could be in one of those jobs
This global nature was something she quickly experienced, being seconded to a client for six months within two years of joining, before transferring to Bain’s Paris office for a year and then taking on assignments everywhere from Silicon Valley and London to China and Singapore.
So, is she surprised that she is where she is today? “Yes and no,” Spaulding muses. “I probably didn’t expect to be playing the specific role at Bain that I am. But in terms of being both a partner and a general manager of a portion of Bain, I think that was probably my aspiration at the time.”
Drawing the boundaries – while also ‘leaning in’
If this makes everything sound like plain sailing, it becomes clear on talking to Spaulding that she’s had plenty of challenges to deal with along the way which she has overcome in a remarkably thoughtful and balanced way.
Interestingly, her story is not one of encountering gender bias or obstacles through her early career and onwards. Indeed, she makes it very clear that the culture at Bain is strongly rooted in meritocracy. “I had very little awareness or concern around things such as gender bias early in my career,” Spaulding recollects. “When I was promoted to manager and then partner, there were female role models that were in those positions and it showed that anybody could be in one of those jobs.”
For her, the challenges have been more around finding the right balance and ‘drawing boundaries’. With two young children, now aged 8 and 10, making the most of those special moments – even the simple things like dropping them off at the school bus in the morning, being at home with them for dinner in the evening – is precious.
“You’ve got to create really clear boundaries for yourself that create sustainability,” she says. “It’s about knowing what really matters to you and protecting it.”
Only change one big variable at a time!
But that definitely doesn’t mean not engaging with your career. On the contrary, Spaulding is a powerful advocate of “taking risks and leaning into opportunities”. If it’s about drawing boundaries, it’s just as much about pushing them too.
“People sometimes talk about imposter syndrome – the notion of being in a role and whether you’re really meant to be in it. Everybody probably naturally experiences that feeling sometimes. I think you’re probably much more likely to experience that if you really lean into something that is pushing your boundaries. If you haven’t experienced it, then you’re probably not pushing yourself,” she reflects.
And it’s here that we come to what Spaulding believes is one of the key differences between women and men in the workplace. Men are more likely to be comfortable improvising their way through unfamiliar situations, while women often think they need to be an expert before taking a seat at the table.
Or, in Spaulding’s words: “Younger men appear to be more open-minded about not having the expertise and figuring it out as they go. Whereas women really want to be able to say ‘I’m ready, I’m capable’ and actually sometimes it’s just the opposite; you should be leaning in and saying ‘You know what, I don’t know exactly how to do this but I’m going to figure it out and I’m going to surround myself with people who are going to help me do it.’”
You’ve got to keep a toe in
While there’s a lot to be said for getting comfortable with a certain level of discomfort, one of the most striking pieces of wisdom that Spaulding offers in our conversation is the frank advice that people should “only change one big variable in their life at a time.”
She expands: “If it’s the promotion window, really focus on that and create the space for it. If it’s having a child and taking good time off when a child is born or things change in your child’s life, create space for that. Moving any one of those things is just really all-consuming and trying to have two or three things going on at once is always going to be incredibly challenging!”
Another aspect of this measured approach is Spaulding’s view that there has to be a balance between partners at home.
“If you have a family and a career, I do think that the balance probably means one person at a time that is more focused on their career.”
Putting up the scaffolding
Spaulding has practised what she preaches here, with her own husband working full-time up until the time she became a senior partner – since then, he has dialled back and taken a position on a school board as well as being very involved in the local community. “It’s created a really great balance for us as a family,” Spaulding says.
What is also key, in Spaulding’s view, is that if a woman does decide to row back on her career for family or other personal reasons, she should try not to break off completely.
“You’ve got to keep a toe in,” she observes. “Whether you continue to work full-time, or whether you work a three-day week, that’s up to you, but there is just a barrier that tends to be created if you completely step out of the workforce that is quite challenging. I remember myself, just knowing how much I love having a job that’s really fulfilling and wanting to make sure I didn’t create a barrier for myself by taking so much time off that it actually made it harder to re-enter.”
Spaulding also speaks persuasively about the need to “have conviction” and not be afraid to hold back on points of view or opinions. Allies and mentors are important too – which for her range all the way from two senior (male) partners at Bain to her husband and her mother!
Beyond balancing the need to ‘lean in’ with having the home life you want, another aspect that Spaulding feels is essential for any career is to find a sense of purpose.
“A few instances have really re-invigorated this for me in the recent past,” she elaborates. “One was balancing the for-profit work that I do with not-for-profit work, and the answer is being active on a couple of start-up boards which are really mission-driven. Being able to ensure that you’re doing something with purpose is so important.”
While Spalding didn’t feel held back by gendered barriers in her earlier career, the lack of female representation at the highest levels of business is something she’s become more aware of as she’s become more senior. She gives the example of client board meetings she has been in where she has been the only woman in the room. “You have to reflect on what that means, what it means for my daughter, what it means for other women that I work with. This awareness has actually become more important the more senior I have become.”
While there is undoubtedly more to do, Spaulding is relatively sanguine that progress is being made.
“There’s a lot more explicit awareness and desire to create a really supportive environment,” she asserts. “For example, if a woman and her significant other choose to have a child, that first year afterwards is one of the most formative in where they head next. Creating the right scaffolding in that period is so important, vulnerability resources, all of those things have a huge impact on whether or not they are able to really thrive in what they are doing.”
This also extends, she says, to a greater awareness of the importance of diversity in leadership teams – such as at Bain, where it has become a big priority.
Overall, Spaulding says, she feels she has been “very lucky” in working at a firm like Bain that places strong cultural value around meritocracy.
At the same time, though, you feel that Spaulding is a brilliant professional who has very much created and worked for her own luck.
" ["post_title"]=> string(63) "Elizabeth Spaulding, Partner; Leader of Bain's Digital Practice" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(60) "elizabeth-spaulding-partner-leader-of-bains-digital-practice" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:35:05" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:35:05" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(59) "http://clients.tomorrowtth.com/sourceglobalresearch/?p=2776" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [5]=> object(WP_Post)#5498 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(2774) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "1" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:29:30" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-17 12:29:30" ["post_content"]=> string(11166) "It’s the early 1990s. Natascha Polderman is majoring in psychology and doing a few jobs to help pay the bills. But she’s still struggling to make ends meet, so she takes on an additional job as a file clerk in an office within a maritime company. “It was the most boring, mind-numbing job in the world,” Polderman admits.
But the job serves a purpose, to the point where it actually starts to look like a more attractive option than continuing to study. Eventually, Polderman switches to a full-time role, expanding her responsibilities beyond filing to include receptionist, typing and admin duties. Then, one day in 1992, an engineer arrives at the office to install Microsoft Office. “I took an interest in what this guy was doing and asked him about Microsoft Access, and he said to me ‘Oh don’t worry, you won’t need to use that.’ You want to bet?"
I like challenges
“I like challenges,” says Polderman, elegantly eschewing the opportunity to focus on her experience of patronising behaviour in favour of accentuating her own solution to it, “so I went away, and I learned Microsoft Access on my own.”
In fact, Polderman quickly found out that she had a knack for IT. Despite this, it took her about three years to switch from an admin position to a full IT role: “I’d worked in an admin job, and that’s kind of where I think everyone thought all the women should sit." But she kept pushing. “It took me working in quite a lot of different roles that weren’t related to IT, but also doing PC support on the side. I had to go above and beyond to get into that first IT role.”
My husband and I are equal partners in this and we try to balance it as best we can.
Still, unfair as it may be, the experience of having to do more than her male colleagues to make progress almost certainly hardened Polderman for the experiences that lay ahead. For instance, while she spent a lot of time and energy proving to others that she could cope with the workload and long hours, one of the realisations that hit her the hardest was that hard work alone wasn’t going to cut it. She had to network, to get noticed by senior people within her company, and around the region. She also had to understand company politics, something she had little idea about.
The lack of female role models in the IT industry at the time didn’t help either. “I was desperately searching for someone to give me some guidance about how to navigate through that world, and there just wasn’t anybody that stood out.”
What’s more, in those early years, gender challenges were compounded by age: Thinking back to her job at a maritime oil and gas company, Polderman suspects that she was passed over for a lot of roles for being a young woman. She recalls one incident when she was training a group of marine surveyors, and afterwards one of them asked her, “Can you re-book my flight for me?”
She has a clear message to those who make such assumptions: “I think that there was a perception that women couldn’t handle the challenges, and it was ridiculous because we were already handling the challenges. We were probably handling more because we had to face those barriers where we needed people to listen to us, and they didn’t even know who we were.”
I have a responsibility to make it work for working parents
Perhaps unsurprisingly, in an effort to over-compensate, Polderman ended up doing what many women in the workplace do: she became a perfectionist. It’s a pursuit, according to Polderman, that often ends in feelings of inadequacy and a tendency to self-blame, which are particularly common among women.
And that also applies to family life: “There are days when my daughter says ‘Oh I really wish that you could pick me up from school every day,’ and it’s heartbreaking to hear that. There are days when I think, ‘Yeah, that’d be nice,’ and then there are other days where there is something really important going on at work, or something really exciting, and I think ‘No, no, no, this is right.’”
What has helped Polderman deal with this is to recognise that she cannot be perfect, and that she doesn’t have to be. There is no perfect work/life balance; there is no right answer. “My husband and I are equal partners in this and we try to balance it as best we can.”
Thankfully, Control Risks—where she works now—has also become a part of the solution: “I feel different, because I’ve always been in a male-dominated environment. I’ve moved around the world so I’ve never quite felt at home, but Control Risks said, ‘We like you because you’re different, you give us a different perspective.’ That’s amazing, I never would have heard that before.”
I think it’s important to tell women: ‘Look, you’re doing a great job. This is where you’re doing well.’ They need to hear that.
The firm also provides a lot of support that allows Polderman to be flexible. But she makes an incisive comment: “To be honest, I feel very lucky. But I shouldn’t feel that way. This is the way it should be for working parents, or people who need flexibility, and I think that’s the way the workforce needs to go in order for more working parents to have an opportunity. The 9-5 working culture increasingly feels a bit old-fashioned.”
It’s getting better though, she says: “There’s been a lot of change in the last few years. I think there has been a big push, both from the corporate world and the media, to get more women into roles that aren’t traditionally female. We have a lot of women in the programme area or the service management area, but to see someone in the engineering side and the development side is brilliant. I love that.”
Keeping that momentum going, and building the number of women in leadership positions, will be about confidence and encouragement more than anything else, Polderman tells us. “I may be generalising here, but what I’m seeing quite a lot—and I’ve felt this myself—is that when there is a job that comes up that’s been advertised, women look at the job spec and decide not to apply because they can’t do everything on the list. By contrast, the men look at the job and think ‘great, I’m going to apply,’ whether or not they actually have the skills to do it. It’s that level of confidence that isn’t quite there in women, because they think they need to be better than everyone else in order to get the job.”
In order to break this mental barrier, Polderman thinks women need to be encouraged to give it a try and see what happens. “It’s not always necessary for companies to look for the perfect candidate who meets all the job requirements; people bring different experiences, skills, and perspectives even though they may not tick all the boxes.”
Polderman has seen this first-hand: “Control Risks has put women into roles when some of the men have thought they’re not ready for it, but they’ve gone on to do a great job, even though they may not tick all the boxes.”
Polderman also recognises her own role in shifting the needle. Having had no female role models in the early days of her career, she has been quick to recognise—and take advantage of—the fact that she’s become a role model herself. Of her recent appointment to the Executive Committee, she says: “I think my view about joining the Executive Committee is that I have a responsibility to make it work for working parents, to show other working parents that they can do it. I really need to make sure that I use my voice well.”
Part of that is about addressing the problem of women feeling as though they have to play by the rules of a role because they worked so hard to get it, rather than demanding the changes that are needed to allow them to perform at their best without sacrificing other commitments.
Polderman has also created a group at Control Risks called the Tech Innovation & Strategy Group, which brainstorms and discusses tech innovation and business models, and has made sure that there are women with consulting expertise in the group. “I was very, very clear that this group had to have women from the consultancy side because we needed balance on the group, and I did not want to sit round the room with ten men and me.”
Finally, she’s supporting women by encouraging them to apply for awards. “We submitted about eight nominations for the Women In Tech Excellence Awards, and I wrote a few of them. I think it was really important for them to hear what they were good at, and how they’ve contributed to the success of this company. Doing little things like that really helps; just getting them around the table and acknowledging that it’s really hard to write something amazing about yourself and how you’ve done well. I think it was really motivational for the women we put forward.”
Indeed, for all the growing societal awareness of the challenges facing women in the workplace, you sense that it’s here, at the sharp end, that real change is happening. It’s about the work being done by real role models in positions of influence: “It’s okay to make mistakes. You don’t have to be perfect, you’re learning. That’s the message I keep telling everybody. I think it’s important to tell women: ‘Look, you’re doing a great job. This is where you’re doing well.’ They need to hear that.” Doubts still creep into Polderman’s mind from time to time. But her message is clear: “You’re here for a reason. You’re no less than anyone else.”
I recently did a presentation on the future of professional services for Dansk Industri (DI) at the latter’s beautiful building in the centre of Copenhagen. It was an apt place for such an event: Each floor of the building is named after a concept, and the top floor, with its expansive view across the city, is called “udsyn”.
The simplest meaning of udsyn is “view”, but its resonance is far subtler than that: “Ud” actually means “out” and “syn” means vision. “It means looking outside your world”, DI explained.
I can’t think of a better word to sum up what I think is the big, strategic opportunity for professional services firms in 2019 than udsyn. I’ve already written about the imperatives for consulting firms, but being able to action these and respond to other tactical challenges facing the broader professional services industry will depend on looking outside your world. Professional services firms are no different to their clients. They see the world through the lens of their heritage and, often, the services they offer: To someone with a hammer, every problem appears to be in need of a nail.
But the professional services industry faces unprecedented challenges. Clients are looking for innovative solutions—not necessarily blue-sky thinking, but grounded ideas and the pragmatic application of best practice from elsewhere. They’re looking for value to be delivered. Being an expert simply isn’t enough in today’s world: Clients find it increasingly difficult to differentiate between firms based on the quality of work they do—every established firm can boast good people doing good work. Indeed, while 71% of clients globally say that the quality of work done is good, only 47% say that it actually adds value. As we’ve discussed many times in this blog, the professional services world is splitting in two, with clients increasingly saying that a firm offering low-cost services can’t also be good at delivering high-value ones. However, at the same time, high-growth opportunities now almost always involve a combination of these types of services—professional services firms have to integrate the two, even as clients tell them it’s not possible to do so. Squaring this circle is putting the business model of most firms under intense pressure: Launching sub-brands only moves the problem from the way a firm positions itself in the market to its internal organisation. Clients complain that most of the teams put together by firms are multidisciplinary in name only. Not surprisingly, they’d like to see firms simplify the way they work.
To respond to these challenges, professional services firms are going to need to look at examples from elsewhere in the sector and beyond. They must challenge their assumptions and find ways to overcome the internal obstacles that make it hard to change.
In other words, they’re going to need more than a little bit of udsyn.
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