The future is electric – My career path from Consultant to E-Mobility

As part of the E.ON Inhouse Consulting (ECON) Empowerment Campaign this March I would like to share my career story from Visiting Consultant to Global Head of Business Development e-Mobility at E.ON. Starting in a male-dominated industry was not as easy but gave me the chance to drive change and helped me to find my own management style. Read more about my development path below.

How long have you been working with ECON – tell us about your journey?

I started as a Visiting Consultant in 2014 and joined ECON as a full-time Consultant in 2015 – so it’s been more than 6 years. My first touch-point with ECON was an on-site recruiting event at Technical University Berlin where I studied Environmental and Sustainable Engineering. That was great because I could get to know the team before entering the interview process. ECON offered me a good combination of working at the most pressuring challenges in the energy industry and at the same time developing my personal skill-set in a consulting environment.

Looking back, what would you describe as your biggest chances and challenges?

Taking over lots of responsibility in my early career was definitely one of the biggest chances at ECON: After 3.5 years I got promoted to Junior Project Manager due to the various trainings and development opportunities. This offered me the chance to have an impact on decision-making and to see the result of my work as for example watching a TV ad for E.ON’s bundling options with “E.ON Plus”after I was involved in the project.  

Moreover, I could build-up a big network within E.ON, work in different environments and really get to know E.ON in its different areas such as grid and customer solutions.

A challenge was to coordinate with all the different internal and external stakeholders and thereby making everyone focus on the same goals. During my capital improvements project, we worked with all regional units and grid companies across E.ON who bring different cultures and mindsets to the table that need to be considered. Furthermore, consulting is not a 9 to 5 job and involved a lot of traveling in my case. Therefore, aligning personal and business needs is challenging and requires regular reflection. Especially in terms of the global pandemic we need to keep making time for personal activities and private meetings with colleagues.

What are your recommendations to female consultants who want to follow a similar consulting journey? Do you have practical tips? What were the questions you asked yourself when standing at this crossroads?

At the beginning of my career, I was often the only women in the room which fortunately changed over the last years. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement. Despite the male-dominated environment, I received a lot of support from my colleagues. I would recommend other women to be more confident of their competencies: Diverse perspectives are appreciated, so why not make use of it to show what you can bring to the table? Additionally, find your own style: I initially sometimes tried to adapt a behavior that was seen as “typical male” because I thought that was expected from me. Nowadays, I am more relaxed to bring my personality and empathy into discussions, independent of gender-related prejudices. Moreover, ask for feedback not only from your direct boss but also from peers or partners. This is the most valuable tool for growth and it also connects you to other people. I personally learned a lot through feedback from my team.

Tell us about the new opportunity: What will you be doing and in how far does the knowledge you have gained enable you for it?

As of March 1, I work for E.ON Solutions as Head of Global Business Development e-Mobility, driving our different business development activities and partnerships together with our E.ON regional units. I first got in touch with the e-mobility team in 2018, when I was supporting the German team within a sales and delivery project. My experience from ECON helped me during the interview process, as I already had some understanding in the business and the upcoming challenges due to my previous project work. I learned how to deal with complex problems and how different methodologies can be applied to solve them. Furthermore, I will work together with many other ECON alumni which makes my start into the new role much easier. The ECON network across E.ON is very strong as we are literally one company which is also manifested in our corporate values: We are better together.

I encourage all women in consulting to embrace their given strengths, believe in themselves and use their network and the steep learning curve to shape their personal journey. You can do it!