When the company just feels right
One of Kearney’s taglines signifies a focus on what the company deems its most important asset: its people. People, says Kearney—a long-standing CEMS Corporate Partner—should be at the front and centre of everything the firm does. It’s a sentiment that resonates with Janina Edberg, a Kearney principal and CEMS graduate. This year marks Janina’s tenth anniversary with the firm, a milestone, she says, that’s a measure of the feeling of kinship that the Kearney culture engenders.
"It’s the people that really differentiate the experience working here,” Janina says. “The work can be very complex, and the pace can differ with each project. What doesn’t change is the sense of belonging and feeling that you are part of a team.”
Janina is based in Berlin, and as a principal, a critical focus of hers is generating new business while responding to the needs of an established client portfolio. It’s a role she enjoys enormously, and one that in many ways she’s shaped for herself. Kearney is structured such that in joining the firm, newcomers are challenged and supported in building exposure to a broad diversity of customers, industries, and business problems. As consultants progress up through the ranks, they’re also encouraged to build and mould their careers around the industries and topics that best match their interests and capabilities.
“From the outside, consulting might appear to be a career that is constrained in some way,” Janina comments. “The reality here is that you’re encouraged to shape your career around what you find interesting. In most circumstances, you join as a generalist to build your foundations, and as you develop, you’re expected to go after your passion as you meet new people and new clients, expected to define, and shape your own objectives.”
In Janina’s own experience of ascending the ranks over the last decade, she has also been afforded immense flexibility in opportunities and challenges, all while starting a family and moving from Copenhagen to the German capital. “Kearney has consistently supported me as my personal life has evolved and even as we have moved from one location to another as a family, continually providing me with opportunities and challenging me to grow and learn as a leader,” she says.
Leadership built on relationships
At its core, consulting is built as much upon relationships as on problem-solving, says Janina. Clients not only expect consultants to find solutions to specific challenges they’re facing, but also to serve as trusted advisors who can provide inspiration, ideas, and a sense of what is happening beyond the team, the organisation, and even the industry. That kind of trust can only be forged by building strong and personal connections, by having what Janina calls an authentic “human touch.” The same is true of leadership, she says.
"I think it’s really important to understand that leadership here means leading your clients as well as your teams. Getting this right is all about seeing people, hearing them, and understanding or deciphering their needs. And it’s about showing up as your true, authentic self."
At Kearney, leadership is more diverse than one might think, she adds. There are fundamental qualities that remain consistent—problem-solving and communication capabilities, among them—but Kearney has worked hard over the years to ensure there’s a plethora of profiles, perspectives, outlooks, and leadership styles at play within the organisation.
“Kearney is a truly inclusive environment in this sense,” Janina notes. “We have very different leaders across the firm, and we consciously make room for all kinds of personal styles and practices. It’s important for us to create and foster diverse role models. Making room for everyone means being diverse as well as authentic.”
The CEMS connection
Connecting with diversity feels natural to Janina. Her experiences as a CEMS student helped her forge close, lifelong relationships with peers and friends all over the world. Yet diverse as they are, she says, there’s an important commonality that binds the CEMS network: curiosity.
“At CEMS, the learning is rigorous, but what really makes the difference is the people,” she observes. “We come from all over the world, yet we all have an appetite to learn, to challenge ourselves, and to be thrown in at the deep end. And that stems from curiosity and a capacity to take what may come. These are qualities that everyone should aim to nurture. To the next generation that’s coming into the workforce, I’d say this: don’t take things too seriously. I think it’s important to relax, to be open to experimentation and opportunities that might pivot from what you think is the right career for you. Be ready to try new stuff and remember it’s a journey.”
Flexibility is critical, she points out. And as we move into the future, increasingly we will be expected to have more variety and movement, less attachment to individual corporations, firms, or jobs. In this scenario, Janina says she would strenuously encourage anyone interested in consulting to pursue a career in the field.
“A career somewhere like Kearney gives you big exposure and a chance at a global career, while keeping the culture intimate and individual. Here, you won’t feel like just another brick in a wall,” she laughs. “And you will also be challenged and supported to accelerate your learning and find the things that excite you. And to have a real impact on organisations and people. At the end of the day, that’s what keeps me here.”
