"I tell you what fits your situation. Not what serves my business model."
This describes why I left one of the leading international management consultancies.
There, every engagement began with the question of which follow-up assignments could be attached. Today, it begins with a different one: Does this engagement fit my experience, and can I contribute substantially?
If yes, we proceed together. If no, I say so openly.
Book initial consultationAfter nearly 20 years of independent practice, I could stop working as an owner-led consultant. Hire partners, build teams, scale. That would be economically more attractive.
I do not - for a simple reason: In engagements where I sit at the table myself, different results emerge than in engagements where I am only visible in the sales process. This experience has been confirmed in every project I steer personally.
That is why I do not scale. That is why I lead only a limited number of parallel engagements. That is why I regularly decline, even when it is economically disadvantageous.
When you engage me, you work with me personally. Not with a team that happens to be available.
At one of the leading management consultancies, I experienced what excellent methodology can achieve. I also experienced the limits inherent in any business model built on growth, utilization, and follow-up engagements:
Analyses are brilliant, but recommendations are oriented toward the available team structure, not exclusively toward the best solution for the client.
Partners are present in the acquisition phase and often only sporadically involved during the operational course of the project.
Knowledge is consolidated but not consistently transferred. Client dependency is not a side effect, but part of the business logic.
In the end, you have a concept that is strategically sound and does not always land operationally. Not because the consultants are unwilling, but because their mandate ends before implementation, where the decisive details first become visible.
Almost twenty years ago, I decided to work by a different principle: If I cannot give a client the recommendation that I would implement in their position, then I do not give it.
That sounds self-evident. In consulting reality, it is not always so.
The professional combination I bring is a substantial foundation: Master's-equivalent degree in Business Administration with focus on Industrial Management, Business Informatics, and Operations Research, plus IT Specialist (Fachinformatiker) qualification. Two qualifications that rarely coincide in practice, but in projects often make the decisive difference.
In practice, this means: I speak with the CFO about capital allocation and with the IT director about architecture. I develop sound business case analyses and simultaneously assess whether technical implementation is realistic. In projects where business units and IT traditionally plan side by side rather than together, this is the difference between a concept that works and one that is consistent only on paper.
Before becoming independent, I spent several years at one of the major international management consultancies. There, I designed and supported transformations in the energy sector and other regulated industries. I took the methodological discipline from that time with me. The system boundaries, I did not.
Since then, I have worked independently and owner-led. The thematic focus has consolidated over this period: strategic transformation and value creation, AI strategy and governance, change management and organizational design, operational excellence and process optimization, and financial steering. The industry focus is on the energy and utilities sector, on critical infrastructures, on regulated industries, and on selected engagements in technology and services. I am happy to elaborate on all points in an initial consultation. The advisory services I offer and the tools and models available are described on the respective pages.
Some of my clients deliberately work without public reference. They use me as an external sparring partner at the board and executive management level, addressing strategic and conceptual questions pragmatically and with discretion, without it becoming a public reference.
That is part of how I see my role. Successful projects need trust, not publicity.
What lies behind this discretion and how the collaboration typically unfolds, I describe in more detail in the frequently asked questions.
Three observations I hear repeatedly at the end of engagements, regardless of industry, project size, or topic. They describe better than any self-presentation what defines the collaboration.
"You put into words what we sensed ourselves but could not name."
This is the feedback I hear most often. Not because special expertise is required for everything, but because, as an external party, I do not need to take excessive political consideration. I name concretely what is necessary for the solution.
"After your conversation, something is resolved that could not be resolved before."
Clients often describe this as a tangible sense of relief. The reason rarely lies in the content, but in the attitude: Those who plan no follow-up acquisition, represent no internal politics, and pursue no career interests of their own can conduct conversations differently. Personal accountability is an old-fashioned word. It nonetheless describes precisely what is often missing in everyday consulting.
"At the end of the project, it was clear: We can take the next steps on our own."
This is the sentence I value most. Knowledge transfer is not a marketing term but a way of working: The documents are usable, the methodology is understood, the decision bases are documented. At the end, what stood was not only project completion, but independence.
If you would like to gain an impression of my thinking beforehand, you will find regular expert articles on transformation, AI strategy, and leadership on the Insights page.
If you are looking for experienced support, you probably already have a concrete question in mind.
An initial conversation clarifies three questions: whether your matter falls within my area of experience, which approach makes sense for your situation, and whether the collaboration would be effective from your perspective. That is enough for a well-founded decision.
Book initial consultation