Three things make the difference when dealing with upheaval:
Only the interaction of these components results in sound, practicable solutions.
Solid knowledge
As a down-to-earth person, I learned commercial knowledge „from the bottom up“ during a three-year credit management apprenticeship at Stadtsparkasse Cuxhaven and graduated with honors in 1988.
On this basis, I studied business administration at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel and graduated in 1994 with a diploma in business administration (comparable to an integrated B.Sc and MBA). During this time, I broadened my business knowledge on the one hand and deepened it in the fields of finance and accounting on the other. Throughout my studies, I worked in practice – during the semesters as a student assistant at the Chair of Finance at Kiel University and in management consultancy, and during the semester breaks as an intern in cost and performance accounting at VEBA OEL AG in Gelsenkirchen (the parent company of ARAL AG at the time), at KPMG in Düsseldorf and at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Hamburg.
After the first few years of my career, I used my initial practical experience in corporate restructuring in my very practice-based and practice-oriented dissertation „External crisis management from the perspective of banks“. After successfully completing the partial achievements (additional doctoral studies and viva voce, each with grades between – converted – „summa cum laude“ and „magna cum laude“), I was awarded a doctorate in social and economic sciences from the internationally renowned Vienna University of Economics and Business in 2001. During these years, I was employed full-time as a consultant and (part-time) project manager – not least because of my fear of the „academic ivory tower“.
Solid experience
I have been solving corporate management tasks since 1991. I gained my first experience as a freelancer at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants for three years during my studies, where I worked in project teams evaluating market opportunities and preparing cost analyses. After graduating and working in the finance department of the OTTO Group’s Far East holding company in Hong Kong, I worked for various reputable consulting firms. Here I gained broad experience in improving corporate performance: strategic realignment, cost reduction, optimization of structures and processes, integrated financial and profit planning, adaptation of business management tools.
The intensive experience in the implementation of concepts was particularly valuable for me: after all, you should know what you are talking about when you create concepts – suggestions do not necessarily produce results. You have to know how to convince and motivate managers and employees on the customer side, identify and counteract undesirable developments and consistently keep the goal in view. Most recently, I was an authorized signatory in the corporate restructuring department at the world’s leading auditing and consulting firm KPMG in Berlin. In this role, I led several project teams and was also responsible for client acquisition and internal development in addition to my staff responsibilities.
I have been working as an independent business consultant and interim manager since 2002. Since then, I have mainly supported medium-sized companies in complex transition situations. This includes setting a new strategic course as well as comprehensive, sustainable restructuring and partial optimization. I am available to my clients as a temporary manager, consultant and coach. In addition, for two years I was significantly involved on a part-time basis in the development of a private university of applied sciences with dual study programs (sales, marketing, conception of new study programs, business administration teaching).
Value-oriented leadership personality
Critical business situations and implementations in particular require an open, responsible and self-confident personality. Characteristics such as goal orientation, dynamism and consistency are necessary and important. Leadership, assertiveness, motivation and initiative are also important. But it is only through behavior based on authentic convictions and lived values that a manager gains recognition and weight. Only a leadership personality described in this way therefore has the ability to „take along“ other managers and employees, especially in difficult change processes.
Even in my school days, I strived for opportunities to shape things and was class and sixth form representative. In my youth, I was also politically active and held leadership responsibility at regional and local level for eight years. During my studies, I was involved in charity work with the Rotaract social club and in combining theory and practice in the Kiel local committee of the world’s largest student association AIESEC, both in a leading role. I also founded a service company with fellow students during this time.
Later I worked for many years at Rotatio for many years, including as Vice President, and was instrumental in founding two Rotary clubs. I was involved in various projects there.