On October 19th, 2023, during our International Consulting Lab class, we were visited by Dr. Nina Haas, Managing Director of OSB International, an internationally active systemic consulting firm. My classmates and I were listening with excitement as Dr. Haas gave a brief summary about her career path and her connection to our program director, Dr. Sternad, as a former colleague.

After Dr. Haas’s introduction we took the opportunity to learn from her first-hand experience, asking as many questions as we could. During our Q&A session together, we noted down several things!

Now we know that even in the most stressful environment of a managing director, it is important not to compromise your inner peace. People in managerial positions can only be successful if they stick to the things they like and listen to their inner voice that gives them direction.

It is also very interesting to hear Dr. Haas’s approach to failure. As she told us, there are parts of the working environment where rigor is essential and there is no space for mistakes, while other more experimental situations require to deliberately allow failure. Creativity requires a learning-by-trial approach, which is essential for competitive and personal development.

At the end of our meeting, Dr. Nina Haas emphasized that sometimes we cannot change something or avoid a confrontation, so we have the options to either accept how things are, or change our own perception about the situation. Finally, she reminded us that at times when we feel that nothing is wrong in our life or work, we should just stop and enjoy the moment.

By Kristóf Dudás, IBM class of 2022