An Interview with GCI Managing Partner Markus Wenner: My Job is my Passion

“My days couldn’t be more varied,” says GCI Managing Partner Markus Wenner with a satisfied tone. The phone interview is one of many calls he makes every day. During the conversation, he talks about the daily life of a law graduate who first became a management consultant and then an entrepreneur. After working as a lawyer for the international corporate law firm Clifford Chance, Markus Wenner spent a year at GSM Industries as an investment manager before joining GCI 20 years ago. In addition to his role as managing director of GCI, he is the founder and co-owner of various companies, as well as a member of several supervisory and advisory boards. In this interview, he reveals how a man wearing so many hats organizes his daily life and what drives him.

The list of your current activities, roles, and investments is long. You have stakes in over 20 companies. How do you manage to juggle so many different responsibilities at once?
Even though the business models of the individual companies—ranging from startups to publicly traded, mid-sized industrial groups—vary greatly, my role is essentially the same across the board: advising, coaching, supporting, and—as a member of the supervisory board—also overseeing and monitoring. In any case, I see my role as working together to help good entrepreneurs and companies become even better. The experience gained from these various roles is invaluable in this regard. After all, the challenges faced by individual companies are often similar, even if they offer very different products and services. Regardless of the industry in which a company operates, it regularly needs, for example, a promising sales strategy. The questions involved are often similar: How do you find good salespeople? How do you build an effective sales infrastructure? It also almost always involves financing issues, balance sheet structures, or the adoption of international accounting standards. Through my work, I get to know a wide variety of companies and their business models, and I am also sometimes actively involved in solving various business challenges. In addition to my fellow partners, our clients at GCI also benefit from these experiences.

What drives such a strong entrepreneurial spirit?
I’m an entrepreneur because I enjoy entrepreneurship and because I love working with ambitious people. Creating something new together with others, fostering entrepreneurial talent, providing structure, expertise, and—in the case of investments—financing to bring entrepreneurial visions to life. That’s what brings me joy.

Did you ever feel the urge to start your own project during your consulting career?
Yes, I did. Among the portfolio companies I hold stakes in, I’m actively involved as a co-founder or in specific areas for some of them. Additionally, in my early years at GCI, I was able to gain hands-on operational experience and take on responsibility. Today, due to the sheer number of my projects, I no longer have the time for that. Because when you’re operationally responsible for building and expanding a company, that usually becomes your sole focus.

Do you think it’s important for consultants to have taken on line management responsibilities at some point?
Yes, as a consultant, you should definitely do that at some point—so you don’t end up talking about the color of a blind man. That’s certainly important. That’s why, after a few years with GCI, we regularly offer our young colleagues the opportunity to switch to a line management role and take on operational responsibility, for example as managing director of a portfolio company. This is an important learning experience for the next generation that can only be gained through personal, hands-on experience.

What does a typical day look like for you?
I spend a lot of time on the phone and in face-to-face meetings—in recent years increasingly in my role as co-partner or supervisory board member, and of course also as a consultant when dealing with purely external mandates. I am supported by a very capable, young team that prepares the deliverables for me (e.g., presentations, calculations, contracts, etc.). One task that gives me great pleasure is leading and developing this team.

Do you spend your days in the office, or are you on the road a lot?
I try to avoid long trips and get a lot done from the office. Of course, I’m sometimes out and about, but that’s limited to an average of one day a week.

Many people claim that the first hour of the day sets the tone for the entire day. That the success of the day is determined early in the morning. What do your mornings look like? What’s the first thing you do?
I work out with a personal trainer almost every morning. After that, I first take my kids to school and then drive to the office.

When does your alarm go off?
At 6:30 a.m.

Is that the case every day?
That’s how it is on almost every workday when I’m not traveling.

What do you actually do in your free time?
I spend time with family and friends, and I enjoy reading. Otherwise, I’ve turned my passion into my profession. I’m lucky that I get to choose who I work with. The days I spend with interesting people from a wide variety of industries couldn’t be more diverse. I get insight into many different fields—whether it’s the service sector, manufacturing, project-based business, startups, or turnarounds. It’s exciting and fun.

But the most important thing is that I work almost exclusively with people I personally value—people who are determined, talented, honest, and, ideally, also have a sense of humor. That’s what I enjoy most. It’s the collaboration with these people that defines my professional day-to-day. That’s why you should be very deliberate about who you choose to work with. I have the great luxury of being surrounded by highly capable people. It is a great pleasure for me to accompany these colleagues on their entrepreneurial “journeys” with advice and support. Being able to help people achieve something great—that is actually the best part.

What should we wish for you in 2020?
I wish for good health for my family, the people around me, and myself. Other than that, there’s really nothing else I could ask for. In my personal life, I have a wonderful family, and at work, I have many great colleagues and partners. I think our setup at GCI is fantastic. I go to work with joy (almost) every day and hope to continue doing so for many years to come. Of course, there are times when things go wrong and you feel annoyed or stressed—but at the end of the day, I enjoy my work so much that these daily ups and downs don’t really matter.