Henrik Ekström's career has been defined by agility from the start, beginning as a Petty Officer on Swedish submarines before transitioning into postgraduate finance, working in Switzerland, and eventually moving to Australia in 2014 for senior executive finance roles.
For the past four years, Henrik has focused on interim executive assignments. In these roles, his ability to step into complex environments and deliver impact quickly has made him a highly sought-after interim CFO.
We caught up with Henrik to discuss his career journey and the realities of interim leadership. Having partnered with Anthony McKay, Head of Interim Management at Allura Partners, on several assignments, Henrik shares his views on the benefits of interim work, common misconceptions, and what it takes to succeed as an interim executive.
During COVID, I returned to Sweden for a year for family reasons and coming back to Australia, I was reluctant to rush into my next role. By coincidence, an interim opportunity came up with Lifeline, the crisis support charity. I quickly realised how well it brought together my finance and consulting experience; it felt like a consulting engagement, with a clear start and end date. However, instead of advising and stepping away, I was responsible for implementing the work myself.
Resigning from a permanent role to pursue interim work might have felt like a significant leap. In my case, the circumstances gave me the opportunity to start my interim career with no risk at all.
It can be tough on your ego because you’re essentially always new. You are usually the person who knows the least about the company you’re working in, and you’re surrounded by people who know a lot. They’ll be talking about products or services you don’t understand, using terminology you’ve never heard before. Combined with the need to ramp up quickly and start delivering value, it can be confronting.
I had to remind myself that my engagement was more about applying transferable skills: managing, finding issues, solving them, planning, and communicating.
I always go back to my first principle: Be honest.
The client generally knows you are not an expert in their products. Don’t pretend to be. As far as I am concerned, nothing creates trust and credibility faster than saying “I don’t know” when you simply don’t know. The same goes for admitting mistakes and giving people your honest opinion when they ask for it. I do my best to stay focused on the matter at hand and avoid politics.
Absolutely. Interim roles often arise when an organisation needs someone to step in quickly, perhaps due to a sudden departure or a specific problem to solve. You might be asked to start in a matter of days, for a timeframe that’s unclear at first. That’s where adaptability becomes critical.
Over time, short-term assignments become familiar. What starts as “three months and we’ll see” often extends to six, nine, or more, depending on the organisation’s needs. In the past four years, I’ve taken on around ten interim roles, with only a few weeks between contracts. Thriving in that environment requires both flexibility and confidence in your abilities. A certain dose of stoic mindset — focusing on what you can control — helps.
It’s leaving something in better shape than how you found it. As an interim executive, you tend to find yourself in unstable environments. When you’ve dealt with whatever was urgent and can feel the business rhythm becoming steadier, it gives you a real sense of achievement.
My favourite was an assignment I did at Deloitte, actually, where we managed to prevent over a hundred jobs being lost through a very short project.
Interim work isn’t about doing the same job you’ve done before, but for a shorter period. It requires a different skillset altogether. You’re working at a different pace, and there’s often a lot of ambiguity. You are not the person who knows the most — you’re usually the person who knows the least, and you have to be comfortable with that.
You also have to be comfortable making decisions within the first few days. There’s no time to sit back and get to know everyone and how everything works. You have to quickly understand how the business works, what’s a priority to change, and what can wait.
In my experience, many decisions (not all, obviously) can be made relatively quickly, if they’re reversible. At the same time, moving too fast can sometimes make things worse rather than better. Certain things take time to implement. The trick is figuring out which situation is which.
Success is when you walk away from the role knowing the business is more stable than when you arrived — and when you’ve handed over to a full-time hire, confident that everything will still be working after you’ve left.
The handover is a crucial part of an interim engagement. Your job is not to be the most successful person in the role. It is to get the place working as well as possible within the timeframe, and then make sure someone else is the most successful person in the role.
Interim executives are rarely needed three months in advance; roles can become available at any time, and sometimes I’m ready for them, other times I’m not. What makes the difference is your track record and the relationships you build along the way.
Over the past four years, consistently delivering results has helped me build a strong network across private equity firms, boards, and partners. Because of these relationships, they often approach me about new opportunities, but I also reach out proactively as assignments near their end. It can sometimes be daunting to feel like you’re always a few weeks from being unemployed. That’s the nature of the career, I guess. It comes with trade-offs.
As is often the case, it can be a bit of a catch-22: clients want interim experience, but you need to secure your first role before you can build it. That’s why reputation and relationships are so important.
I’d advise starting with roles where you know you can deliver results. You are essentially building your future pipeline through your track record. Be flexible with your day rate early on; it’s better to take on an assignment and prove yourself than to wait for the “perfect” role.
Then you need some luck. Timing is everything. Sometimes a role isn’t ideal, but if it’s available and you’re ready, it’s generally worth taking. This approach has served me well; I’ve enjoyed most assignments, and it keeps me in the flow for the next opportunity.
Allura Partners works closely with private equity and ASX-listed companies, as well as corporates, to place interim leaders with exceptional skills when and where they’re needed. We also work directly with interim leaders to help secure their next engagement. To discuss your next opportunity, contact us.