Voices of Experience: Laura Hinton, Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London
by Jane Lucken
How do you make partner not once, but twice, before reaching age 35? To find out, The Glass Hammer spoke to Laura Hinton, Tax Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) in London.
Upon graduation from university, uncertain of her direction, Hinton applied to accountancy firms to boost her qualifications and gain exposure to a range of businesses. With an eye toward some day having a business or consulting career, she started her career in 1994 at BDO Stoy Hayward, an accountancy firm in London.
After qualifying, she worked with a variety of small businesses and ultimately managed a team of auditors, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Through that experience, she realized that she enjoyed the people side much more than the auditing side. In an audacious move, she put forth a proposal to BDO for the creation of an HR consulting practice. Although she fully expected the proposal to be rejected, BDO supported the idea and gave her a year to set it up. They even sent her to a three-month executive development program at Harvard Business School, and made her partner upon her return. She was 29. Hinton says, “I was in the right place at the right time. BDO was very supportive and let me do what I wanted to do. I have always been aware that it’s just a job and not the be all and end all. So I was able to be quite cheeky and ask for things even if I thought the answer would be no.”
After three years building a successful practice she took another daring risk, leaving to join a larger firm. In March 2005, she joined PwC as a Director level, running in the firm’s Human Resource Services practice, which provides HR consultancy services to the government and public sector, large multinationals, mid sized, public and private companies across all sectors.
Prior to her arrival, PwC had acquired Saratoga, a company that benchmarks and measures human capital. The acquisition allowed PwC to marry the principles of accountancy to HR. Within a year of joining the firm, she was made partner at 33. We asked her how she had achieved so much so quickly. ‘I have taken a few risks, including leaving BDO, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.’ She adds ‘I am competitive, I want to be the best at what I do and achieve as much as I can as early as I can.’
Now part of the firm’s tax group, Hinton has taken a business management role, working for another female partner and managing a staff of 170. PwC provides a supportive environment for women, she explains. On her first day back from six months maternity leave in 2007, she was also promoted to business team leader for a £30m team within the firm’s wider tax practice. There are formal networking groups and above all she feels that people genuinely want her to succeed. “They take a very sensible approach. The leadership understands that a diverse workforce really helps the business.”
Hinton feels that being a woman in a male-dominated environment has also helped. “It’s probably slightly easier to get noticed, especially if you are good at what you do.”
She offers the following advice to women climbing the career ladder. “Do things in your own way. I look towards role models but there isn’t one person who can do it all. I take the good things I see in different people. Don’t copy other people’s style but be true to yourself. You’ll do better if you are yourself.”
