What makes a good leader? For Tina Hørbye Christensen, CFO and Executive Vice President of NIRAS (a value-driven, multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy committed to sustainable progress and service delivery) she feels that it’s about achieving much more than financial results and being an innovative and ethical leader.
According to Deloitte, running sustainable as a business increases productivity and creates an inclusive culture, and this evident with a 27% higher profitability. Mckinsey & Company has also studied sustainability within businesses and organisations and shows operating costs are reduced by up to 60%
“Embedding sustainability in strategy is essential to meet evolving investor pressure, consumer demand, and regulatory requirements.” – The World Economic Forum
Here are three ways that the Copenhagen EMBA helped Tina Hørbye Christensen elevate her career and drive impactful change at NIRAS.
- Think like an Executive MBA
Executive MBA’s are taught to think and act like generalists. The CBS EMBA teaches participates to take a holistic view of a business. EMBA’s develop an understanding of all facets of their organisation so they are well-prepared to work across industries and multiple functions. This enables them to elevate their their current leadership roles or take on new projects that will innovate their businesses in the most ideal way.
To be a sustainable leader means that you must evaluate their management style and decisions with many factors in mind, whilst considering profit, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities.
Prior to Tina’s EMBA journey, she was a finance manager at WSP Danmark, an engineering consultancy. She enrolled in the EMBA programme to transition from a financial specialist to management generalist to reach a high level management position. The programme gives a thorough overview of the essential core functions fo a business which include marketing, finance, accounting – and essential topics for modern businesses like digitalisation, innovation, sustainability, and reflexive leadership.
Shortly after Tina graduated the programme she landed her current role at NIRAS – leading the team to meet the ambitious UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
NIRAS has piloted major projects globally which include, mobility and public transport projects in Scandinavia, built wind farms in Asia, designed sustainable food and beverage plants in Europe, and secured health, education, and clean drinking water in emerging markets.
Tina’s role is a dynamic role in which she is part of executive management and she has a specific responsibility within Finance, IT, HR, and Communication. Wearing many hats, she guides the organisation to make informed decisions that benefit the collective and stay on track to meet the company wide strategic goals.
2. Seek out and absorb diverse perspectives
For a business to success it must consider the diverse perspectives of different stakeholders. Since this is no easy feat, having a diverse and professional network to tap into is paramount. The CBS EMBA cohort studies across six cities spanning three continents in Copenhagen (the main campus), Frankfurt, London, Chicago, Mumbai, and Shanghai. Across the CBS MBA Programmes Alumni Society, more than 80 nationalities are represented and they work across 60 countries.
