A Sustainable Career in Finance in Switzerland
A guest blog by Leonardo Mencucci
What makes a career in Finance sustainable? This question has been on my mind a lot over the last months. Like many mid-career professionals, I have built a solid track record in controlling and business partnering. Still, I want a career that is not only successful, but also sustainable over the next 20-30 years.
To explore this, I spoke with five senior professionals whose careers span banking, risk management, tax, consulting, and leadership roles in different industries. Their stories echoed many themes I had seen in career research and books such as Adam Grant’s Give and Take or Herminia Ibarra’s Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader: non-linear careers, relationships that matter, and the shift from pure expertise to business partnership. But hearing these ideas from real people, in concrete situations, made them much more tangible.
Here are the key lessons I took away.
1 – Turn numbers into a story that matters
Mark Kunac taught me that in Finance, “numbers are maybe 20% of the job, the other 80% is the story behind them.” The real work is understanding where the figures come from, what is fixed and what is variable, how they compare to competitors, what went wrong, and how to prevent the same red flags from appearing again.
Finance creates value when this story is built together with operations and other stakeholders, by asking the right questions, letting them tell their side, and turning data into a shared view that leads to better decisions. The spreadsheet is only the starting point; the real impact happens in the conversations around it.
2 – Support the people who actually drive performance
Paul van Melis reminded me that Finance rarely “owns” performance alone; it supports the people who do: sales, operations, product, and service teams. In today’s environment, where every company talks about performance and cost-cutting, the real added value of Finance is to make performance transparent, challenge unhealthy costs, and at the same time protect the investments that keep the business competitive.
This means acting as a sparring partner: helping leaders see which costs create value, which ones only add complexity, and how to reach targets without destroying the capabilities that generate future growth. Sustainable careers in Finance are built by being helpful to the people who are out there every day, creating revenue and value.
3 – Think like a business advisor, not just a finance expert
Bernd Krajnik taught me that reading balance sheets and building models is taken for granted in senior finance roles; that is simply the entry ticket. What really differentiates people is how well they understand how others think and visualise problems, and how they use that insight to build stable relationships and reduce the “noise” around the numbers.
For him, the key shift is moving from “I’m the controller” to “I’m a business advisor”: developing business skills, staying on top of what happens in the market, educating and listening to stakeholders, and having the resilience to stand up again when plans change, with plan B, C, and D ready. The more Finance is seen as a thoughtful advisor rather than just a policing function, the more doors open over a long career.
4 – Ask better questions and really listen
Tabea Nyfeler showed me that careers move forward less through giving clever answers and much more through asking good questions and truly listening. Instead of jumping straight to solutions, she focuses first on understanding what people struggle with: clients, managers, or colleagues. Only when you really hear their story, their constraints and fears, can your technical expertise make a difference.
In Finance, this means spending time asking “why?”, “What is hard for you?” and “What are you trying to achieve?” before presenting numbers or recommendations. It sounds simple, but in practice, it requires patience, curiosity, and the willingness to slow down. Over time, this habit builds trust – and trust is the real currency of a sustainable career.
5 – Take smart detours and say yes to global mobility
Klaus Halfmann showed me that a sustainable career in Finance does not necessarily need to follow a straight line. Moving across Paris, London, Geneva, and New York, often taking on roles such as risk and compliance or operations, can be useful, and every international assignment adds a new layer of experience, confidence, and visibility, not to mention intercultural competence and language skills.
What does not work, in his view, is sitting in the same company and role for twenty years while the world changes around you. If a large organisation offers an international assignment or a move into a neighbouring field, he believes you should seriously consider it. These “detours” broaden your perspective, make your profile more interesting for senior roles, and, when combined with time spent in headquarters, help you build the kind of global network that supports you throughout your career.
What I learned about sustainable careers in Finance
Across these five voices, a common thread emerged: a sustainable career in Finance is not built only on technical excellence. It depends on three deeper abilities:
* to create meaning – turning numbers into stories that help the business act
* to create partnerships – supporting the people who drive performance and thinking like a business advisor
* to create movement – in conversations, in roles, and sometimes across borders
For me personally, these expert interviews triggered a mindset shift. Instead of asking “How do I protect my current role?”, I am starting to ask “How do I keep learning, connecting, and adapting so that my career stays alive?”
Concretely, this has led me to:
* invest further in my own learning and certifications
* be more open to role changes that stretch me, even if they are not perfect on paper
* focus on listening and understanding stakeholders before I try to “fix” anything
* and treat networking, including these conversations, as an ongoing practice, not a side project
Sustainable careers in Finance, I realised, are not given by organisations. They are designed, one decision and one relationship at a time. I am deeply grateful to Mark Kunac, Paul Van Melis, Bernd Krajnik, Tabea Nyfeler, and Klaus Halfmann for generously sharing their time and experience, and to Angie Weinberger for encouraging me to turn these conversations into learning.
About the author
Leonardo Mencucci is a Zurich-based Business Controller and Finance Business Partner with 10+ years of international experience across FMCG, industrial, pharmaceutical, and service industries. He holds an MBA and several master’s degrees in economics and management and is currently completing the CMA certification.
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