Professional Women Power: Just do it. Choose your own path.

published on 2. May 2023

In the context of our career blog “professional women power”, female colleagues introduce themselves,

talk about their career paths and day to day work at Rödl & Partner.

In this way, we would like to raise awareness of women as well as motivate female applicants and colleagues

to bravely pursue their individual career paths at Rödl & Partner.

"Be yourself and go for it. There is no one size fits all career."

Anna Ereth-Wilhelm

Anna Ereth-Wilhelm joined Rödl & Partner in 2016 and has since held several positions within the company. She is Associate Partner in the audit and consulting practice Sustainability Services. In addition, she is the head of the Business Development & Marketing team for audit and advisory.

Anna, how did your professional career start and how did you get to where you are now?

I started my career almost 10 years ago in management consulting at Accenture. I eventually came to Rödl & Partner as an experienced hire. Since then, I feel like I've switched companies several times, because I've always pursued new topics and tasks and also changed teams once. I started at the China Desk, where I dealt with German-Chinese M&A transactions and also built up business development around China outbound from scratch. I quickly realized that I was most interested in what happens to the organization and the employees after the acquisition, hence I decided to focus on post-merger integration and did some upskilling in this area of expertise. Looking back at my professional path, there was another topic that I always pursued: sustainability.

When I joined Rödl & Partner, the sustainability audit and consulting practice was at an early stage and I was fortunate to be able to contribute with my prior experience in management consulting, where I had already done projects related to sustainability / ESG reporting as a junior consultant. In my current role as a consultant, I am conducting client projects advising companies on their path to sustainability focusing mainly on ESG reporting. I also do ESG audits. As co-lead of the Sustainability Services team, I also have a lot of management responsibilities. Looking back to the beginnings of my career, my first manager was female and she really had a great impact on what kind of leader I am today.

What do you particularly enjoy about your work? What, on the other hand, are challenges and how do you deal with them?

What I enjoy the most is that I get the chance to work with our clients and also pursue internal projects. Especially in the area of sustainability / ESG, a lot is happening right now and it is incredibly exciting to accompany companies on their road to sustainability reporting. In Business Development & Marketing, I have the chance to build up a great team from scratch and lead an internal transformation project. What I particularly enjoy as a leader is to accompany and help shape the professional and personal paths and careers of my team. For me, there is no greater appreciation than being taken into confidence. Sometimes I feel as if I am confronted with my "younger me". It is the change of perspective that makes it so exciting and enriching for both sides.

What I find challenging is my greatest strength and weakness at the same time: I wear my heart on my sleeve. Thanks to my empathy, I am able to win people’s minds and hearts in order to drive change and initiatives, which is crucial for transformation projects. It is also very easy and natural for me to build trusting and authentic relationships with my team. The challenge: I quickly take things personally and am often confronted with my negative emotions. A partner colleague once said to me "It's not personal, it's business" and it's simply true. I try to keep this in mind every day.

What advice can you give to young women?

Just be yourself and go for it. There is no one size fits all career. From my point of view, a career doesn't always have to mean further or higher, it can be many ways. What I find most important is that you shape you own career and choose the professional path that is right for you. Sounds easier than it is, of course. Finding out what you really want is, after all, is a life-long challenge. Having the right people by your side and working in an environment that allows personal development and individuality are definitely key factors. My advice is to look for a mentor with whom you can openly discuss your personal and professional development. My experience is that there is no right or wrong. Whenever I thought I had taken a wrong turn or had to cope with resistance, it turned out to be one of the best decisions. So just do it, be bold and most importantly: don't let the boys club scare you off.

Thank you so much for your personal insights Anna! Your career path is very impressive.