2023 Global Leaders in Consulting: Jan-Willem Bode

Jan-Willem Bode is a partner at Guidehouse, leading the firm's global Sustainability team. He heads the firm's work with public and private sector organizations to develop and implement strategic initiatives carefully tailored to clients' goals and purpose—from energy and greenhouse gas management, climate resilience and ESG, to disaster recovery and beyond. He brings more than 25 years of experience working on climate finance, corporate sustainability, project development and project finance.

Specifically, within Guidehouse, he works with organizations on strategy, implementation, and finance within the context of climate change, and focuses on business and revenue models and change management processes. Additionally, he has a range of experience within advisory services in the area of energy and sustainability, with a specific focus on the corporate sector, the utility sector and climate finance.

What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement?

My greatest professional achievement has been building truly spectacular, high-performing teams. I firmly believe that if you bring people together in a team who can work together and are focused on a common vision, great things can be achieved. I have been fortunate enough to do that several times in my life, my current team being one of those.

What advice would you give a professional just beginning a career in consulting?

One piece of advice is to talk to as many people as possible and be involved in as many different things as you can. Try to find the giants whose shoulders you can stand on.

What have you loved most about your consulting career?

The complexity of the problems thrown at us and the pleasure of helping our clients navigate these problems. These problems are getting more and more complex, and the different skills, experience, and expertise needed to solve them are more and more diverse. Building teams to deal with the most complex of problems and helping our clients move the needle is among the best feelings in the world.

What's the best advice—personal or professional—you've ever received?

Choose your battles. Most of the battles that are put in your way are not worth fighting. Pick the ones that are really important to you and forget about the rest.

What does being honored as a Global Leader mean to you?

Being a Global Leader in Consulting is first and foremost a recognition of the effectiveness of my management style and the value delivered within the teams I lead and the client engagements we support. Of course, my family and I would share a sense of pride in the impact I have been able to lead through this work within our communities and globally, championing sustainability education, programs and real environmental change for a better future.

For my clients, it confirms that, when they bring in Guidehouse people to team for work on sustainability strategies, for ESG and disaster recovery, they get first-class consulting expertise and a credible, respected leader. I encourage my people to think outside the box, and I work with our clients and teams to help them understand where innovation can happen and how to take bold and brave decisions and manage risk accordingly.

For Guidehouse, it affirms our focus as a firm on becoming a leader in sustainability services under leadership that is recognized for managing a high-growth area and bringing further visibility to the work we are doing to help organizations have a lasting and powerful impact on the future of our planet. Innovative, thoughtful, collaborative and impactful leaders like Jan-Willem are what make Guidehouse who we are, differentiate us from the sea of sameness in consultancies, and will continue to define us as the next generation consultancy for a new generation consultant.