Felix Zurhorst

Describe your role and what it is that you do overall and on a day-to-day basis.

I am a consultant in the Energy & Infrastructure platform at Roland Berger. Together with my team, I advise clients along the entire energy value chain - from generation to distribution and the consumption in energy-intensive industries. My two most recent projects included the development of a digitalization strategy for an international developer of renewable energy projects and a market study for a planned gas pipeline in Western Africa. Day-to-day tasks in such projects can vary significantly, but typical examples are conducting research and analyses on project-related topics, deriving recommendations, and translating the generated insights into easily understandable formats for client meetings.

What interested you about the field/company/role you are currently in?

The energy sector is undergoing significant changes, mainly driven by a strongly increasing global demand and decarbonization efforts. I chose to go into consulting to understand this future-relevant but highly complex topic from different angles, while also learning valuable soft and hard skills. Roland Berger offered me the opportunity to focus on this topic from the very beginning - in contrast to other consultancies, where you oftentimes start as a generalist. As I had already gotten to know the company during an internship before I started the Masters program, I knew that it also offered a positive and international work environment, in addition to the topic focus. And my first year fortunately proved me right - I already got to work with great colleagues in locations in Germany, Sweden, and Morocco.

Why did you choose to study your subject area at SSE?

Once I started looking into Master programs, the MIB very quickly became my top choice - due to various reasons. The highly international context arguably contributed the most. After having completed my Bachelor's degree in Germany, I knew that I wanted to go abroad and the opportunity to do that in such a small yet diverse cohort was unique. Beyond the cohort, the international internship, immersion trip, and exchange semester of course all contribute to that international experience. I also felt like SSE was different from other European business schools - an impression which turned out to be very true once I started: Classes at SSE are taught at a higher academic level and the university as a whole places much stronger emphasis on holistic personality development rather than focussing “just” on grades and company placements. All of these impressions were confirmed by friends from my Bachelor's who studied at SSE before me and whom I talked to in the application process. I can only encourage you to reach out to current students as well if you consider applying.

How did your time/education at SSE help guide you to the career journey you have embarked on?

As I did a consulting internship already before the start of the Master's, I cannot say that the program introduced me to my future field of work - but it definitely reinforced and refined my previous ambitions. This is mainly due to the extensive amount of group work that we have engaged in throughout all semesters, which was a super enriching experience.

We have worked with different teams in each term - sometimes the same one for parallel courses, sometimes different ones. The group work had very strong similarities with my job today in consulting. We, of course, needed to plan, execute, and refine work packages, but also engaged in “team building events”, which oftentimes turned into regular friend group hangouts once the group work was finished. As we worked in groups of 5-6 people that were specifically designed to maximize in-group diversity, all of this required extensive communication and provided many lessons on how to combine individual preferences. During continuous awareness and reflection sessions, for example during the MIB pathfinder program, I also became more aware of my personal boundaries, including what I am willing to invest in a job and at which point it becomes too much. These realizations have been very valuable since I started working full-time. And they also helped me in outlining my future path. Should I leave my current job at some point? I knew that I will still want to work with driven colleagues in international environments, creating lasting impact on topics that matter.

Following the time at SSE, do you have any words of wisdom or advice you would like to share with our current students?

As outlined above, I am convinced that SSE differs significantly from other business schools and in order to make the most out of your time here, I can only recommend each and everyone to engage and contribute to this environment in order to get the most out of it. The shape of this commitment, of course, depends on your personal preferences. It can be academic, e.g., by volunteering to be a class representative for your program. Besides that, however, I would recommend anyone to attend lectures and engage in class room discussions, to truly benefit from the knowledge of SSE’s great faculty. If you would prefer a social engagement, SSE’s student association SASSE offers plenty of opportunities for that as well. You can get to know all of the different committees during the intro week. And the association would certainly benefit from some more Master student participation.

What are three words that sum up your time at SSE?

Exciting, fun & stimulating!