Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Alain Kinsch, 41, born in Luxembourg. Since January 2010 I have been the Country Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Luxembourg and a member of the Ernst & Young Regional Management. I am the Private Equity Funds leader for our firm in Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA), Private Equity being my personal field of specialisation.

How did you get where you are now?

Probably the most important thing is to really do your job with passion; I literally get up every day and look forward to seeing my people at the office, working with my clients – I’m enthusiastic about it, it’s a real passion. I have always been very determined to achieve the goals I set; I am not too afraid to fail and just do all I can to get an idea, a solution, a project implemented. I am probably the type of person who always sees the glass half full and tries to focus on what needs to be done to make things work.

Also, it is important to have your two ears wide open all the time, listen and learn from others and of course use your mouth to make your point heard. Finally, while you might be lucky from time to time, there are no miracles, at the end of the day, it is about hard work, never less than 60 hours a week, more often 70 or 80 hours. That is probably the same for many business leaders. As Louis Pasteur said “La chance ne sourit qu’aux esprits bien préparés”.

After graduating from the University of Paris-Dauphine, I started with Arthur Andersen in Luxembourg in 1995 that was led by Norbert Becker – a great school. In 2003 I then went back to school and did an MBA at INSEAD. In 2004 I rejoined Ernst & Young (that merged with Andersen in Luxembourg), became a partner, and founded and built up the EY Luxembourg Private Equity practice before becoming Managing Partner in 2010.

What are the most important skills and qualities for a successful business leader?

There are probably as many leadership styles as there are leaders, there is no unique formula. I can only share my personal experience which is that to be a successful business leader you need to be able to lead people. At EY we have over 1.000 professionals, most of which are university graduates. The key to success is to direct this immense richness of talent and skills into business solutions for our clients. It means first of all finding the right people, fitting the right professionals to the right task and build efficient teams. A leader needs to make sure their people have challenging objectives and get rewarded for high performance.

Strategy is also important; you need to get a good understanding of business trends, try to figure out how your clients’ needs will evolve and then together with your leadership team build a successful strategy for your firm. It requires you to be open to change all the time, stay flexible and adapt. Finally, you need to able to communicate your vision and strategy in a way people understand what you are talking about and that makes them interested in adhering to and contributing to it.

How do you assess the current economic situation in Luxembourg?

We have been in economic crisis since 2008 and it is clear that European economies will continue to be held by uncertainty and very slow growth for the next years. This is a very tough environment for both business and political leaders.

Luxembourg is under serious threat: the State spends more than it earns leading to higher public deficit, the European Commission and other EU Member States are attacking Luxembourg on several of its traditional strongholds, international competition is ever increasing, the cost of doing business in Luxembourg is growing quicker than what companies can bill their clients thereby reducing margins and money available for investment in Luxembourg seems unable to conduct structural reforms.

This being said I remain optimistic that we can put Luxembourg back on the path of growth. There are great opportunities for growth in the financial sector e.g. in the fields of Private Equity/Real Estate funds, we are well set to continue to expand in traditional Asset Management and we are currently transforming Private Banking. The Haut Comité de la Place Financière led by Minister Luc Frieden is a very good example of how the public and private sector can work together to launch new initiatives and grow our financial centre. This very Luxembourgish way of working together in a quick and pragmatic way is difficult to copy for larger countries. I am pleased to hear that Minister Schneider will launch a similar initiative for the industrial and commercial sector and run it together with the Minister of Finance – ICT and logistics are two other good opportunities for growth.

What are your expectations and hopes for the Luxembourg economy in the next 12 months?

Luxembourg must extend its activities beyond geographical Europe, we need to go where the growth is. First of all China: Luxembourg has always been a loyal friend to China and I know that our Chinese friends know and appreciate that. We have attracted very sizable business from China to Luxembourg and our country is increasingly serving as a platform for Chinese investment to Europe and vice versa. We need to continue and hope we will even strengthen these efforts.

Then the Middle East: we should build on the very good relations with some countries such as Qatar or the UAE.

We should just not try to do too much at the same time; let’s focus on two, three geographic regions and try to develop business with these.

If you could change one law in Luxembourg, what would it be?

There is not one specific law I would change but I would take Luxembourg out of this unbearable paralysis of reforms that has been going on for more than a decade now. In Luxembourg we need to stop dreaming that ‘things are not that bad’ and ‘et wärt jo schon besser gin’, we need structural reforms and we need them now. We need to review our pension system, we need a more selective social security system, we cannot afford a labour law that is more restrictive than the one of many European competitors, we cannot afford the most expensive education system in Europe that produces very modest results, we cannot afford to continue raising taxes and send away companies and investors but we need to seriously start reducing the expenses of the State. But for this we need a Government and Union leaders that for a year or two forget the next elections and really do what is necessary for our country and not for a particular individual or political party. And we as business leaders also of course need to take responsibility to support the Government in that very difficult task.

What's your pet peeve?

I cannot stand when someone gives you 100 reasons why something did not work or will not work. People who find you all types of excuses and do not take responsibility. It can indeed get me very irritated. What I am interested in is finding ways to make things work.

What do you like most and least about Luxembourg?

What I like is the very interesting blend of cultures, a true laboratory for diversity. The country is well situated in the centre of Europe and easily reachable. A lot is concentrated in a small area: the European institutions, all the major financial and banking institutions, industries and research establishments. You can also walk through the beautiful historic city, enjoy diverse and high-quality gastronomy and travel in little time through different landscapes between the North and the South. I must say I love my country and am proud of it.

What I like less is that we are sometimes so slow to adapt to a changing world. “Mir wölle bleiwe waat mir sin” is good but it should not be “Mir wölle maachen wie virgeschter”.

How do you unwind?

I am a real sports addict; I do sports almost every day, either at 7 in the morning or at 9 in the evening. To be good in my head, I need to feel good in my body. It is almost a drug… but a healthy one.

What's your ringtone?

I don’t have fancy ring tones – I have a very normal and discreet one.

What does your desk say about you?

Not much – I’m not attached to a desk or office.