A new partner within Thescon GmbH

Daniel Haas is a new partner at Thescon GmbH. Having started his professional career as one of the first junior consultants in the organization, Daniel has already gained considerable experience in quality and project management within the regulated industries. We wanted to learn more about the new face among Thescon’s senior management and invited him to an interview.

 

Question: Daniel, when did you start working at Thescon, and what motivated you to apply for a position here?

Daniel Haas: I started in October 2011 when I was looking for an opportunity to work while completing my thesis in business chemistry. I didn’t really know what I was going to do, but I knew that I wanted a change. I wanted to get out of the lab. In my first discussion with Ingo (Ingo Baumann, partner at Thescon), I was excited about the opportunities that this position offered. It promised variety and something different from the traditional office job.

 

Question: What have been your most significant challenges as a consultant thus far?

Daniel Haas: When I started working as a consultant, I really needed to get used to speaking in front of groups of people. If anyone had asked me where I wanted to be back then, I would have answered that I preferred working in the back office all by myself. But during my first project, I had to lead workshops which became part of my regular responsibilities. Speaking in public is no longer an issue for me.

From today’s perspective, a career as a consultant involves working with several different companies, each with different organizational structures, personalities and working groups on each project. That’s what has made my job so interesting right from the beginning and remains an exciting part of my professional responsibilities.

 

Question: When did you know: “This is what I want to do.”?

Daniel Haas: After a few months, I knew that this was the right job for me. Right from the start, I was a team member on a huge SAP project. That opportunity called upon me to be a self-starter and to demonstrate flexibility, both aspects that I really enjoyed and which offered the opportunity to assume greater responsibilities. Two other appealing factors at Thescon GmbH have been the flat organizational structure and the comfortable working atmosphere. To be able to participate, to offer my own suggestions, and to exchange ideas makes Thescon special for me; we will continue to hold fast to what makes Thescon special.

 

Question: How did you make partner? How will that affect your position?

Daniel Haas: I was asked. Of course, I am thankful for this recognition. The shift from employee to partner changes your conception of being part of the company to a significant part of your life. From a purely legal perspective, much has changed, but not in the day-to-day routine. The steps from junior consultant to manager involve substantial changes; your portfolio grows with each step. That expansion affections not only your own actions, but also budgetary responsibilities, project management and employee oversight. Very few topics are restricted to the partners. Even as a junior consultant, my ideas were always welcome.

 

Question: Do you ever miss the good old days when you were a junior consultant?

Daniel Haas: Yeah, sometimes. It can be nice to work in one’s own little sphere. But to go back to the start of my career? That would not provide enough challenges for me.

 

Question: To have a family and a consulting position - are these two things compatible? How do you achieve work-life balance?

Daniel Haas: I have been in a relationship with my wife for eighteen years now. When I started as a consultant in 2011, it felt like my wife and I hardly saw each other that first year. We had some important conversations. In September 2016, we welcomed our daughter into the world. Family life and consulting are compatible - it is question of organization and communication.

 

What do Claus Breer, founding Thescon director, and Ingo Baumann, long-time Thescon partner, have to say about the new member of senior management?

Claus Breer: “Daniel is damn good at what he does. He has put in the time as a junior associate and has shown that he can rise to any challenge. He enjoys the highest accolades from customers and our other employees look up to him. In discussions concerning Thescon’s future, his name always arises. His partnership is a foregone conclusion.

Ingo Baumann: “I can still remember both my first phone call and first meeting with Daniel. With him, Thescon began introducing young graduates to consulting topics and training them to become professionals. Daniel has become an expert in several branches of the company and assumed several internal duties. His professional development has shaped our company’s policies and employee development protocols from which our present colleague have still been benefitting today. I have enjoyed following his professional journey at Thescon and am happy to see that he took this final step both at Thescon and with us.”

 

With all this in mind, we also wish Daniel Haas all the best on his professional journey and a successful start as a new partner at Thescon GmbH.