Meet Charlotte Houben, who worked as a restructuring and insolvency lawyer for five years before she quit her job and decided she was going to quit law - cold turkey style. After working with a coach and speaking to many different people, she secured an offer to join House of Performance, one of the best management consulting firms in the Netherlands, as a consultant.
1. If a publisher handed you a contract to write any book of your choice, what would you write about?
I love to read and wouldn’t mind doing it all day. I always carry a book around. I love novels based on historical events. I have a few favourites but if I had to name an all-time favourite, it would be Earth’s Children by Jean M. Auel (which happens to be prehistorical). If I’d have to write a book, I’d love to write a book for teenagers in this genre. Growing up, these kinds of books taught me a lot about history and these books made it so much easier to remember historical facts than my school history books!
2. Introduce yourself using a list of 11 words (adjectives, nouns, etc.). Who are you, what do you love? Braindump style.
I’d say cheerful, laughing, love, growing (personal & professional development), family, philosophising, sports, self-mockery, nature, outdoors, working (for the things you want).
3. What do people need to know about what your work and responsibilities look like? Any myths you’d like to debunk?
For me the main goal is to help organisations fulfil the reason for their existence, the reason they were set up, in the best way possible. Our clients span a wide range of businesses, including but not limited to banks, insurers, municipalities, transport operators and production/manufacturing businesses.
My work is mainly focused on transformations, for example digital transformations or agility transformations. What is a “transformation”? It’s the process of optimising the way an organisation works and operates to become more effective & meet changing the business’ and stakeholders’ (e.g. customers, employees & the market) needs. We help determine what the organisation’s reason for existence requires, from the board, behaviour, processes & leadership - each of which are buttons you can push to effectuate change (and typically you need all four!). And then we intervene on those four elements to help the organisation make the required transformation. Our consulting work spans the entire organisation, from the teams on the floor to the board.
Companies or organisations approach us when results aren’t being met, employees aren’t particularly satisfied, or the anticipated return on investment does not realise. They have a question or problem and ask us whether we can solve it. We always start a project with a deep dive into the organisation. We assess how everything works from A-Z, interviewing lots of people, observing people and processes, reviewing (strategic) documents, and often also shadowing team members, customers, or products through the journey to really get a thorough understanding of how it all works. Based on that deep dive, we map out areas of improvement and get to the root cause of the issue, which more often than not is not what everyone started out thinking it was. Based on that root cause, we prepare the transformation plan and we work hand in hand with the organisation to effectuate the transformation. Often there’s also a lot of things that go well, and we work actively with the organisation to try and maximise the impact of the things that are going well during a transformation as well.
As a firm, our goal is to make sure we can leave the organisation, so obviously as much as possible of the implementation of the transformation needs to be in the hands of the organisation itself. They need to be empowered to make the transformation. Often, this means that there’s a team specifically dedicated to helping implement the transformation at the organisation. During the implementation, we train, observe, give back and repeat - until the new way of working or behaviour is embedded.
From the start to the finish of a project, we make it a priority to constantly circle back to all our stakeholders at the company to keep them up to date on our progress and most importantly keep everyone engaged and create the buy-in needed from everyone involved to actually make the transformation. This is key because implementation of a transformation demands a lot on an emotional level (change is hard for many people!) and also requires a vast amount of resources which need to be made available.
As to workload: I love where I work. Basically, you can get involved in anything you’d like. I’m quite active because I’m enthusiastic about a lot of things (building new propositions, business development, organising events etc.), but that also means that I work more hours than in my contract. It’s a conscious choice, I love what I do. At the same time, I’m always at home with the kids during their dinner time. I’m happy with the set-up!
Lastly, there are two myths I’d like to debunk:
That consultants are people that come in with a bit of paper and a bunch of post-its and that all we do is talk “blabla”. I can understand why people think that sometimes; we do carry around a lot of paper and post-its! However, what people often don’t realise is that the objectivity and energy you bring as a consultant, that that in itself is already incredibly valuable. A fresh perspective and critical view, as well as a constructive and solution oriented one. As to energy: a lot of young people work at HoP, the people around here are real energy bombs who can create a lot of (positive) buzz. It works very well.
That all consultants think all organisations should become agile (or lean, or another kind of model). Consultants come in, and the conclusion is “we need to work agile”, as if “agile” is the holy grail. That’s not the way it works, we would never come in and tell an organisation “you need to work agile” straight off the bat. What matters is an organisation’s reason for existence, what they do, how they do it and what it wants & what is required to get to that point. We approach the question differently, it’s not one size fits all.
4. When you’re working, what puts a genuine smile on your face or makes you feel (super) proud? And what aspects or things at work are less great, can feel tedious or energy draining?
I love working on the development of an organisation, helping them achieve their strategic goals. Investigating where things aren’t running smoothly and working together to improve things, make things just a little bit better. Having the conversations that matter with everyone from different teams on the floor right up to the board. This is also the part that can be less great, because when consultants come in and start speaking to everyone we often also face a lot of resistance, making it harder to make a real, sustainable impact. As a consultant, you need everyone in the organisation on board to be able to effectuate change and make sustainable impact - the company and the people are the ones that need to support & drive the change to be made.
5. What triggered you to make the move to House of Performance and transition out of law?
Before I answer that, let me briefly give you some context. The institute of law as codification of a society’s norms & values is what I found - and find - very interesting. That’s why I decided to study law. After law school, a career in law practice seemed to be the most logical step. Deep down, I knew it wasn’t my dream job, but something inside me thought it would be the best thing to do and I wasn’t really seriously considering other options. I did believe a career in law practice would provide a solid foundation for the rest of my career - and I still think that’s the case. I’m very happy I spent those years in private practice and I got out of it what I wanted to get out of it.
When I was in private practice, at a certain point, however, I realised that I was sitting at the wrong table. As an insolvency & restructuring lawyer, I was always involved at a very late stage (often too late) and we were often perceived as some sort of a necessary evil. We just got the case file with the instruction to “fix it”. A lot of the discussions revolved around principles & not necessarily the essence of the law. The fact that you’re always looking for loopholes & interpreting the law in the most positive way possible for your client (rather than assessing a situation in the context of the rationale of the underlying law) was also something that I started struggling with at a certain point. That approach wasn’t in line with my own values.
At that point, I quit my job and decided to think consciously about my next step. To help do that, I got a coach. I thought an advisory role and working with lots of different organisations suits me well, but that I wanted to do it from a different angle. We talked about organisations, their purpose, how that translates into the goals they formulate & what that requires from management and the teams. That triggered me to try and pursue a career in management consulting, thinking that would be the perfect match. Looking back, even though I was very confident about the choice, at the same time, I also had no idea of what I was getting myself into.
6. How did you manage to make the change? For others looking to make a similar transition, what do you consider the top 3 best tips or strategies?
I’m not sure I can give general advice because it went fairly smoothly for me, probably because it suits me so well. I got the coach and also had lots of coffee with consultants at various management consulting firms to get a good feel about the work they do and their culture.
Trained as a lawyer and thinking you need to get a degree to be able to do something, I actually also started a Master’s programme in Business Management (which I decided not to finish because I gave birth to my oldest daughter on the day I had to start writing my thesis). I did end up completing all the courses of the degree programme and it helped me get a much better understanding of the profession.
As to how I got my role at House of Performance: I wrote my letter, submitted it on a Friday and got an email back on the Monday afterwards. The HR manager liked my - very enthusiastic - letter and said it would probably be a stretch and the interview process would be quite a challenge but that she wanted to have a first round interview with me. I didn’t know anyone at the firm at the time (and I definitely think that is very useful), but did pass by HoP’s offices every day on my way to work and had started following them on LinkedIn so I was pretty up to date on the kind of work they did and the type of firm they were.
We really clicked and she literally told me she could imagine me working there, but did again emphasise that the process may be quite difficult). Many people tend to be prejudiced about lawyers, thinking they have blinders on, are not particularly creative or able to think outside the box and that they are quite rigid in their way of thinking. I also had to “deal” with those prejudices and prove them wrong.
After the first round interview with HR, I had to complete an online assessment and after that I was invited to an assessment day with a group of other potential candidates. During the assessment day, we walked through a client case - addressing a variety of quantitative and qualitative questions. If you achieved a certain score, you passed. And I passed! What I remember well, though, is that I went into that assessment day very much a newbie. Didn’t have much of an idea what to expect, I’d read a few practice cases but that was it. I was quite relaxed about the whole situation and wasn’t super tough on myself, thinking if I didn’t get the job I’d move to London with my boyfriend (now husband). I ended up getting the job!
My first piece of advice: find something that suits you. And if something doesn’t feel good during the application process or during interviews, it probably isn’t a good match.
My second piece of advice: I very consciously made the decision to really leave law behind. I figured if I transitioned in-house first, that I’d become even more “boxed” in so I literally “cut” the umbilical cord to law. I think it’s also important to realise that I left law after 5 years, at a time when I wasn’t completely “formed” by law practice. I think the longer you stay, the harder it becomes.
7. What do you consider the most valuable transferable skills that you developed as a corporate lawyer? Name as many or be as concise as you’d like.
Analytical thinking & logical reasoning from A - Z is definitely one of the most valuable skills - in other professions and outside of work in life! Being able to get to the core of something complex. Other extremely valuable skills are being able to tell a story and truly capture and keep your audience’s attention, being able to explain something very complex in very simple terms - and making sure you don’t lose your audience on content or on what it means for them). What’s also hugely helpful - and it may sound stupid but it’s still true - is the seal of approval you get as a qualified lawyer.
8. What habits or “skills”, if anything, did you have to unlearn? What “new” or slightly underdeveloped skills did you have to develop rapidly as management consultant?
What I had to unlearn was the urge to document absolutely everything in writing. As a lawyer, this is what you’re trained to do - but it’s disastrous in this line of work. You need to talk to people, continuously. Also, what I had to unlearn was always wanting to be proven to be right. Management consulting is much more about the process. It’s something I had to definitely get used to.
The difference between law practice & my current work is also that when you’re practising law, you know what you’re working towards. The outcome is predetermined and specific: you close a deal or transaction, or you go to court and win. It’s not like that in management consultancy, it’s much more fluid. You’re continuously talking to your client about what you hope to achieve in a year’s time, but throughout that year things change as well because the world is constantly changing. Basically: your deliverable is set in stone from day 1 when you’re a lawyer, it’s not when you’re a management consultant.
What I had to work on hard was to think much more in terms of the big picture and in a more all-round way. I’m still learning how to improve that every day. If you want to partner with a company on a strategic level, you need that big picture, general oversight & insight. As a legal professional, you’re very focused on the legal issues.
9. What - if anything - do you miss from your time working as a corporate lawyer in private practice, and what are you most happy about having left behind?
Since leaving the law, I haven’t missed the civil code & case law a single day! What I do miss is the culture in private practice. Lawyers often really love their work and can be quite passionate about the substance. It’s a true profession. Many people choose to become lawyers consciously and are able to really connect on that substantive level. That I miss, not the title lawyer.
9. If you weren’t doing what you’re doing, what would be your dream job?
It would be a dream come true to do something related to foster children, underprivileged children or children that have otherwise been dealt a bad hand in life. Maybe also something to do with the gap between the rich and the poor. And author - I’d write that book I mentioned earlier!
10. You can choose, work or life or both. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given, read or heard?
“It’s not always fun and games.” Life isn’t always fun, but sometimes you just have to get through it. Nothing is perfect. If something is 70% good, consider yourself lucky!
*Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the interviewee alone and not their employer.
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