“I keep learning and growing every day"

Today, Jonathan Lorenz is a manager at 4flow. Since starting at 4flow as a working student, he’s advanced his career and now leads a team at 4flow consulting. In this interview, Jonathan tells us about his highlights and biggest challenges at 4flow so far, and how he developed his leadership skills in 4flow’s global leadership program, Elevate.

How did you get your start at 4flow?
I participated in the 4flow challenge in 2019. During the competition, I worked together with other master’s students on a supply chain case study. As a team, we made it to the finals. The project and the 4flow challenge overall were a great experience that led to close friendships with my team and future colleagues. I got to know 4flow and then started first as a working student, and later as a consultant.

Before you started as a consultant, you already had a student job at 4flow. How did your time as a working student at 4flow influence the start of your career?
As a working student, I had already met lots of people on the 4flow team and could build a network that later helped me find the right people to contact about any kind of topic. And I had already worked on lots of projects as a student, which meant I already had valuable experience and a good idea of what being a consultant at 4flow is like. In my current role as manager, I can draw from my early experiences at 4flow when supporting my younger team members. I know what it feels like to be in their shoes.

And what does your work look like now?
As a manager, I’m primarily responsible for delivering successful projects and bringing various perspectives together – from our customers, our project team and our internal stakeholders. Participating in our global leadership development program Elevate has been a key part of my path. It’s helped me reflect on my own role, sharpen my leadership style and improve how I play to my strengths in my day-to-day work. I like that I’m always learning something new at 4flow. I keep learning and growing every day.

What do you like best about your position?
The thing that I find most exciting is the combination of technical expertise and leading a team. It’s important to me that my team members have clear guidance while also having the room to grow individually. For me, strong leadership is about setting clear expectations, ensuring regular exchange and fostering a respectful environment where we treat each other as equals. Our 4flow culture plays an important role in this: Reliability, trust and open and honest relationships with colleagues are key success factors, both internally and in our collaboration with customers.

What are you especially proud of when you look back at your time at 4flow so far?
I quickly got to take on responsibility in customer projects, and I learned a lot. It was a really great feeling to have so much trust put in me after such a short amount of time and to be able to grow so fast in the organization. As of today, I’ve supported over 20 different customers and learned an incredible amount from each experience.

Do you have a personal highlight at 4flow?
Absolutely – my team. I’ve met lots of kind and interesting people at 4flow. I really enjoy working in such a young-spirited company with so many like-minded people. I’ve made friends here, and we get together on weekends and go on bike rides. That always helps me clear my head and get to know coworkers outside of work and away from our desks. It’s important to take time for that.

Is there a spot you especially like to go to clear your head?
My favorite place is the Atlantic coast in France. As a kid, that’s where we always spent our vacation. So I know it like the back of my hand, and I can spend all day at the beach, being active and eating good food. For me, that’s the perfect atmosphere to just unplug for a while.