Steve Rowan, Executive Coach & LHH ICEO Senior Advisor
It’s no surprise that our guest on this episode of Leaders With Ambition has thrived as an executive coach. Steve Rowan brings a truly unique mix of professional bona fides, personal learnings and spot-on intuition.
A highly successful former Chief Financial Officer, Steve shares with Host Nicky Acuna Ocana his journey through a broad range of professional services jobs, including high-stakes stints helping legal firms manage fast-paced mergers as well as reorganization and expansion.
You’ll find out why this seasoned mentor, a Senior Advisor at LHH’s International Center for Executive Options (ICEO), believes that the healthiest workplace cultures provide the heftiest bottom line results – not to mention sustained employee satisfaction and retention.
Steve also lets us in on why Impostor Syndrome isn’t all bad and how intentional work-life choices equate to long-term career success.
“I think the world of work now is way harder and less forgiving than when I started,” says our guest. “It's really important now for people to be pretty focused on their career and goals as early as possible.” Don’t miss a rare window into this expert’s recommended strategic first steps!
If you enjoyed this discussion, please click here to find previous episodes of Leaders with Ambition.
Key Takeaways
Starting out
How Steve’s career trajectory has been shaped by equal parts luck and intent – from the opportunity to be first in his family to attend university to a focus on law that proved fortunate.
Try, try again
Why stumbling in his first effort to pass the Chartered Accountant exam and missing out on a promotion were productive speed bumps for a young professional in London.
Creative mentoring
What an early boss did to help Steve shift his mindset towards problem-solving and evolving solutions rather than focusing on impediments.
Strategic pivot
About Steve’s deliberate mid-career move towards finance and operations, focused on merging and reorganizing law firms, aligning personnel and supporting global expansion.
Playing conductor
How Steve came to understand the nuanced role he had to play, providing leadership that highlighted and orchestrated the talents his team brought to bear.
Redundancy happens
About seeking a new senior role – a challenging experience Steve chose to use as an opportunity to regroup and spend time with family before jumping back into a new CFO role.
Leaning in
Why Impostor Syndrome can be helpful in taming arrogance, but cannot be allowed to stand in the way of confidence or a clear leadership vision.
Key networking
About the Managing Partners Forum and how it promotes growth and productivity in professional services by bringing sectors together and sharing strategic leadership ideas.
Out-front on inclusion
What sparked Steve’s early understanding (and embrace) of diversity as a critical component for healthy workplaces deserving of serious, measurable corporate policy commitment.
A natural fit
How the transition to corporate coaching has felt for Steve, who brings prodigious networking skills along with a breadth of experience navigating across multiple sectors.
Practical focus
About Steve’s approach to coaching – from conceptualising to executing an achievable plan. It’s a process he believes can’t start too early in a career.
Personal investment
Why personal fitness, mental and emotional health as well as work-life balance are all key elements of Steve’s formula for long-term career and personal success.
Biggest professional services challenges
Cash flow and prioritisation; bolstering staff and enabling teams to shine as well as develop; and keeping an eye out for challenges on the horizon.
Words of wisdom
Be strategic about your goals; identify core values and purpose early in your career; engage a career coach at critical junctures; be honest and true to yourself; treat people properly; be flexible and be yourself
Key Quotes
“I think lots of people in our industry are basically (mentoring) all the time, unconsciously … and seeking out somebody like that is incredibly valuable. I was lucky to have that person.”
“As a leader, I'm working with people who are way more talented or interested in parts of the work and my job actually is to help them benefit of the organization.”
“So everyone goes through (Impostor Syndrome) and arguably it's a good thing to have. It's a bit like sort of a strategy not to become arrogant.”
“If you're at the C-suite level, you can't afford to be unconfident or not give the right signals in terms of your competence. You have to have confidence without arrogance.”
“Networking sometimes can sound like this big scary word … (but) actually, networking is talking to people and building relationships and, if you think of it like that, it’s enjoyable.” (Nicky)
“Culture is key. There are a lot of firms out there and if you can get the culture right, you're going to be able to bring and retain your talent. And that's incredibly important.” (Nicky)
“I think the world of work now is way harder and less forgiving than when I started. It's really important now for people to be pretty focused on their career as early as possible.”
“The value of a coach is firstly to identify goals and then … help people make a plan to achieve whatever they want to achieve. And I don't think you can start too young on that.”
“The difference I think between leadership and management (is) being able to look forward to the challenges ahead, collaborate, communicate … and address those problems.”
About Steve
A senior advisor and mentor at LHH's International Centre for Executive Options (ICEO), Steve is an Accredited Executive Coach (EMCC Global) and CFO/Advisor/Mentor with over 30 years’ management experience primarily at UK or US headquartered international law firms, including wide experience working in the US, HK and Singapore, Turkey, Kazakhstan.
LHH's ICEO is a global strategic partner to organisations and leaders offering executive career advisory services. Steve is also an Executive Career Coach/Mentor at Mountain Ash Coaching & Advisory Limited.
About Nicky
With over 25 years of experience leading high-performing recruitment teams, Nicky is a dynamic leader in the recruitment industry. As Regional Managing Director for the US, UK, and Europe at Ambition, she oversees a team of specialist recruiters dedicated to connecting top talent with professional services firms.
Her teams focus on niche areas: the US division specialises in Legal Marketing & Business Development recruitment, while the UK & Europe team excels in placing professionals within Business Services functions within Legal, Practice and Consultancy.
Passionate about leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and talent retention, Nicky is a sought-after keynote speaker. She frequently presents at industry conferences, sharing insights on recruitment trends, hiring strategies, retention best practices, and DEI in the workplace.
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