Janne Bonde

PwC

“Never compromise on the character of the people you work with. I would rather have a little less perfect job description or lower salary if I can work with the right people in an organization with a healthy culture. I have held a number of career positions over the years, and it has never failed that when you work with good people you thrive and develop. I believe in it so much that in interview processes, I have asked for the personality profiles of potential new bosses to make sure that our values align.”

Name: Janne Bonde
Title: Director of CFO Service
Company: PwC
Degree: MSc Applied Economics & Finance

Introduce yourself: Tell us your name, your age, your degree/university, and the fun fact that makes you unique!
My name is Janne Bonde and I’m 41 years old.
I have a Masters Degree from Copenhagen Business School in Applied Economics and Finance.
From a career perspective, my uniqueness is the financial background that I have combined with more commercial experiences. I work in a financial environment where I bring the broader and more commercial aspect.
Personally, I have all the cool consultant clothes and look very corporate, but privately I’m very relaxed and much more rock and roll. Often, I have to turn down Guns’n Roses or Metallica before I turn into the parking basement at PwC, so my colleagues don’t think I’m crazy!

What does a day in your life look like at PwC?

My day varies a lot to be honest. Sometimes it’s back-to-back meetings with clients and our various teams in PwC. Other times, I’m much more at a desk in the office moving from various things. I can safely say that not a lot of days are the same.
When I’m with clients, I work as an Interim Project Manager and typically support larger projects with reference to the CEO or CFO. During a day or week, I’m in contact with a lot of different people to make sure the project moves ahead.
In PwC, I’m part of the leadership team in our department of nearly 130 consultants. I’m responsible for communications, culture and strategy and business development. So, my time is mostly spent on driving my areas of responsibility and coordinating with all our consultants to make sure we execute on our priorities.

What motivates and excites you the most about your career path and the leadership position you hold?

I love that I get to work with different clients on different projects. The toolbox is the same, but the problems and nature of projects vary, and I like that challenge. From a career perspective, I know that with this position I will find continuous challenges both with clients and with my company and leadership role.
We have an amazing team in my department and to see how skilled and motivated they all are, really excites me. I learn a lot from my colleagues! But you can find skilled consultants anywhere. I think for me the most important part is our culture. As a team and department, we have been growing, but the culture and attitude that we as leaders love and have tried to nurse stays and that for me is key.

Share with us the biggest lessons you learned on your journey to where you are today.

Never compromise on the character of the people you work with. I would rather have a little less perfect job description or lower salary if I can work with the right people in an organization with a healthy culture. I have held a number of career positions over the years, and it has never failed that when you work with good people you thrive and develop. I believe in it so much that in interview processes, I have asked for the personality profiles of potential new bosses to make sure that our values align.
Patience. We have long careers and there are times where positions or assignments are maybe not right or perfect, but over a long career, things won’t be equally thrilling at all times. Young people are also often eager to have more responsibility and leadership opportunities as soon as possible. But if you do well that will come naturally so enjoy the journey instead of forcing things before time.
Be honest with yourself and others. I found that honesty toward myself, clients, fellow leaders, and team is very powerful. It builds trust and when you go through tough assignments that trust is key to pulling through.

Tell us about a (female) role model who inspired you to become the leader you are today, and how (s)he impacted you personally or professionally.

I don’t know if there is anyone specific, but in Denmark there has always been strong female leaders in both politics and business. I think having those public role models has inspired not only me, but a whole generation of women because we see that in Denmark women can hold powerful positions.

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, or to other young female students today, what would it be?

Find two sets of community that supports you whole as a person.
You need a community of female professionals that can support and/or share with you. For me, those friends who are also in a career job or leadership role have been important to support me in my ambitions, but also to spare with when I have found myself in dilemmas or faced tough situations.
Find a community and/or actively that is about something completely else than your career. I have great friendships where I’m just a private person where my career is almost never discussed. It is really important to have that time and balance where you find energy from something else than work. And when work is really tough or you are not that inspired, but putting in a lot of hours, you have something else that gives you fulfilment. For most people this is family, but since I don’t have a family of my own, it has been important to me to build another and equally important community.