I’ve been a netzstratege from the very beginning. I met André and Stephan in Düsseldorf at the beginning of 2009. Over a hearty dinner and several beers, I was immediately hooked on their idea of netzstrategen. Six months later, I was on board with the predecessor company zelect. A year later, things really took off …
Every day I have the good feeling of doing something meaningful by helping people to find their way around the networked world a little better. Doing all of this independently and together with friends is a great luxury that I really appreciate.
It’s not just because of my beard growth and corpulence that I’m something of an “explainer” at netzstrategen. That’s why I take care of the training programmes such as seminars, workshops and training series. All of this now takes place over on our hallo.digital campus.
The speed and agility with which things are evolving. The pandemic has broken the inertia in the area of further education. Virtual formats, shorter learning units and interactive methods have replaced traditional face-to-face seminars in many areas.
Digitalisation is changing the working world of marketing people dramatically. I help them to keep pace with this change and utilise the opportunities.
If you want to be successful, you need empathy. If I don’t understand my participants, I’m not teaching to their needs. To negotiate well, I need to understand my business partner. When I manage a project, I need to get everyone involved on board. And to sell successfully, I need to listen carefully to what my customers want. In other words, wherever I am a sender, I should first be a receiver.
It’s now quite a mix, and its use is completely situational. When I’m at the computer, I regularly check news sites – especially süddeutsche.de. I also have a digital subscription here because I really appreciate the longer, in-depth pieces.
When I’m travelling, I use the Twitter app to bridge waiting times, as I often find valuable links to interesting articles from my specialist area. I’ve discovered podcasts in my private life, especially NBE – The Nilz Bokelberg Experience.
It’s hard to say. I probably use Whatsapp, Gmail and DB Navigator the most.
Then I would have to pursue a career as a football commentator, which has been my dream since childhood. A job in the further education sector, e.g. as a trainer, coach or lecturer, would probably be more realistic.
My first smartphone – if you can call it that – as a network strategist was a Blackberry. Fortunately, HTC put me out of my misery with one of the first Android devices.