Daria, Partner

CV

• Master's degree in International Economics
• MBA at INSEAD
• Joined Roland Berger in 2008 as an intern
• Focus on complex projects for regulated industries (transport, infrastructure, construction, energy), smart city topics and digitalization of businesses
• Hobbies: sports, travel, art

What would you recommend to other women for their entry into management consulting?
Consulting is a great place to work, regardless of your gender. It is challenging, exciting, you will grow a lot, so I would recommend you enjoy it, be ambitious, be confident in your abilities and avoid creating limitations for yourself - you can always do it your way.

How do you manage to combine family and career?
I have a two-year-old daughter and I would say my main “levers” of work-life balance are good planning and prioritization. Every day I plan to spend some time with my daughter and I block out my calendar - the ability to work remotely offers good flexibility for this, so I did it before the pandemic as well. I also try to prioritize the family and “me time” by dedicating time in the morning, when the working day is still under control without urgent requests or delayed meetings. Of course, I have help to cope with the routine, but I spend quality time with my daughter and husband, finding the right work-life balance for me. Roland Berger has launched many initiatives in the area of work flexibility, which is so important in particular periods of life and provides opportunities for people to stay in this challenging but addictive consulting world for a long time.

What was your best moment at Roland Berger?
I believe there are many of those, mostly when your clients say: “thank you, we are so happy that we did this work together”.

How does Roland Berger differentiate from other top consultancies?
Roland Berger has its own culture - entrepreneurial in everything, flexible and very inclusive. At Roland Berger, there is no “one size fits all” type of career track - you can develop at your own pace, be it doing sales from Senior Consultant level or developing complex analytical products up to Partner level. The other thing is that we know from client feedback that we are very practical in our recommendations, we create tailored solutions that are customized to client and market specifics and are “implementable”.

Which rumor about consulting is absolutely not true?
The rumor that we work 24 hours a day - it is much less, but it just feels like 24 :) I’m joking.
I think there's a bit of a belief that one comes in to consulting for 2-3 years, learns everything and then should go to on the next, “real” and long-term workplace. That's not true. I think consulting is a never-ending learning experience: first you master your hard and soft skills, later you become more and more involved in the client relationship and you see the value you bring towards solving the client's problem. And on every project you learn something new, work with interesting people – so no need to hurry.