“One of my sisters is an engineer, the other a talented craftswoman. These women showed me that you have to follow your own path, beyond gender stereotypes and no matter what it looks like,” says Carolin Geiss. Her aunt, who worked as a developer at SAP, showed her that women have a place in IT.

Today, Carolin Geiss leads a team as Director of Business Consulting at cbs Corporate Business Solutions. When she started as a trainee in Heidelberg in 2012, the company had just one office, and people could call out to each other across the hallway. Now, cbs is an international management consultancy with 1,300 employees.

cbs delivers SAP and cloud solutions for market-leading companies. Carolin heads the 30-person Global Trade Services (GTS) team, which manages SAP software solutions for international trade. The field comes with its own unique challenges — but that doesn’t scare Carolin. Quite the opposite! She’s known for taking on the flagship projects — “the complex ones, the ones that hurt a little,” as she says — those are the ones she especially enjoys. Sometimes, when things get stuck, she gets frustrated with her own ambition. “But when the knot in a project starts to unravel, the momentum it gains is incredible!” And that sense of drive continues to excite the working mom time and again.

She loves consulting because it brings challenge, competition, and success. Carolin also knew early on in her career that she wanted to take on leadership responsibilities — but first, she had to do a lot of convincing.

Carolin is convinced that early successes are key to achieving your goals. They boost your confidence and show others what you’re capable of. Her advice? “Don’t ask yourself whether something is possible — ask how it could be possible.”

Want to learn more about Carolin and her work as a leader in IT, or connect with her? She’s available as a mentor and is especially excited to support a mentee with an interest in consulting.

A post by herCAREER,
posted on LinkedIn on 18.03.2025

 

Frauen des Jahres 2024/2025 (available only in German language)
Link to the book