Rethinking Consulting: How One Lecture Changed My Perspective

Towards the end of my studies, when I began thinking about my professional future, I considered many different industries and fields. However, a career in consultancy had never occurred to me.

This was mainly because I had a rather stereotypical image of consultants during my studies, partly because I did not personally know any consultants.

In my mind, they were people who would appear at a company for a short period of time, create polished slides with headings such as “The Road to the Future”, ', and then leave before having to follow that road and put it into practice. As a result, consulting often seemed far removed from the realities of my everyday working life.

So it was all the more surprising when, even before the application phase began, I discovered a completely different side to consulting. A Miebach consultant gave a lecture at my university, which provided me with my first real insight into the world of consulting. The discussion during the lecture prompted me to reconsider my previous assumptions. In particular, the open discussions and sharing of experiences helped me to quickly change my perspective. 

Many of the experiences I had gained in previous roles suddenly became clear and understandable concepts and approaches. For instance, I had worked in purchasing departments for a considerable amount of time, during which I learned that different product groups require different purchasing strategies. However, I was not familiar with the Kraljic Matrix, which can help with this, until I encountered it in the lecture. This made the added value that consulting can bring much more tangible to me. Consulting helps companies to look at their processes and practices, which have grown historically, from an objective, outside perspective, and to redesign them using suitable methods. Many companies already have an idea of where they want to go. The real challenge, however, often lies in selecting the best path from a range of possible options and identifying the right turns along the way.

The exchange during the lecture also showed me that, alongside professional expertise, consulting is shaped to a large extent by the people who work together. Even the best solution on paper is not a good solution if the customer is not convinced by it and does not support it. This realization had a strong impact on me. The lecture was therefore a decisive reason why I applied to Miebach after completing my studies.

Since joining Miebach, I have experienced this first-hand: once the right path has been identified, we often go the extra mile. We also frequently support our customers in implementing their strategy. This can include detailed planning, relocating to a new warehouse or commissioning a new facility. I had never previously associated such a close connection between strategy and implementation with consulting.

Even after three years at Miebach, I still particularly value the variety of projects. I generally enjoy working on projects where you can see a strategy gradually becoming reality after it has been developed.

A professional field that I used to associate mainly with PowerPoint slides and high-level strategies has become, for me, a field in which conception and implementation go hand in hand. Today, I experience everyday consulting work as collaborative, practical and impactful. Together with our customers, we don't just develop solutions, we also bring them to life.