When Sharon Lindstrom joined accounting firm Arthur Andersen’s Houston office in 1987, she could have been assigned to a practice area in oil-and-gas, biotech, transportation or manufacturing.
“It was the luck of the draw I initially was assigned to manufacturing,” said Lindstrom, a summa cum laude accounting major from a small Texas university. “It could just as easily have been elsewhere. That assignment made my career.”
“I always like to know how things work,” Lindstrom said. “The first time I got out on a plant floor to watch a production line for a valve manufacturing company, I loved it. The workers on the floor were very open to answering all of my questions. ‘Who were these valves being made for?’ ‘What would they do?’
“Specializing in manufacturing has been very good for my career,” she continued. “There are so many different industries where there’s manufacturing than for finance or oil-and-gas.”
After Andersen disintegrated, Lindstrom was one of 65 founding partners of Protiviti Inc., a Chicago-based risk-management consultancy and wholly-owned subsidiary of Robert Half International Inc., the staffing firm.
Protiviti has 3,000 employees worldwide in 60 locations. Last year’s revenue was more than $500 million.
Lindstrom, 42, leads the firm’s manufacturing, distribution and high-tech industry group in Protiviti’s Midwest region.
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Q. When did you first know you wanted to work in business?
A. When I was little, up until fourth grade, my sisters and I loved playing “office.”
My dad was a carpet company sales executive. We’d borrow some of my dad’s paperwork, pretend to take phone calls and file papers. One of us would play the customer.
I’ve always been good in math and science and thought I’d do something analytical for a job. I loved my first accounting course. I liked the rules and how numbers show how a business was performing.
Q. What’s the scariest assignment you’ve had?
A. Starting Protiviti. Just before I left Andersen, the chief financial officer of one of my clients phoned me. He offered to put me and my team on his payroll until we found a place to land.
His call was huge in giving me confidence to help start a firm from scratch. I also really respected and trusted my fellow partners.
Q. What was that experience like?
A. For the first few months, we stayed in our old offices at Andersen while we looked for space. It was surreal.
When we finally found space, we discovered we’d rented the exact same space that Arthur Andersen himself had rented decades ago.
Initially, we had no name, so no brand recognition. My first client proposal was blank where our company name should be. We didn’t have a name for the first month.
Q. When did you know you’d succeed?
A. On exactly our first-year anniversary, I landed a Fortune 10 company. We celebrated with champagne and chocolate cake.
The traditional first-year anniversary gift is paper. That paper contract was one of the greatest gifts I could have received.
Q. What exactly do you do?
A. I deliver risk-management consulting, primarily to manufacturing companies.
Many people initially think of insurance to manage risks. But we help companies identify, assess and measure their operational, financial and technological risks. Then we help devise controls to diminish the risk.
Q. If you had to relive your career again, would you do anything differently?
A. I’d take an international assignment while I was in my 20s or 30s to get a broader view of the world, different cultures and the international operations of businesses.
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Step by step
2002-present: Managing director, Protiviti, Chicago
1999-2002: Partner, Arthur Andersen, Chicago
1997-99: Senior manager, Arthur Andersen, Chicago
1993-97: Experienced manager, Arthur Andersen
1991-93: Manager, Arthur Andersen, Houston
1989-91: Senior auditor, Arthur Andersen
1987-89: Staff auditor, Arthur Andersen
1987: Bachelor’s degree, accounting, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas
1985-86: Freshman orientation counselor, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville
1985-86: Cashier, stocker, Ace Hardware, Spring, Texas
1984: Office assistant, State Farm, Houston
1981-83: Branch co-manager, JR&S Cleaners, Spring
1980-81: Cashier, Interurban Pharmacy, Spring
1978-83: Babysitter, petsitter, Spring
1975-78: Babysitter, Hamburg, NY
