Q&A with Julia and Bernhard
Q&A with Julia and Bernhard
As 2025 came to a close, a-connect marked another significant milestone: five years since Julia Neubauer and Bernhard Stadler became co-owners and co-managing directors, taking the helm from our visionary founders, Hanne de Mora and Nils Hagander.
To celebrate this journey, we are launching a special series of Q&A videos featuring Julia and Bernhard. In each edition of this series, we dive into a different dimension of our journey as a firm, from shaping strategy to living our values as owners. We take a closer look at what enables a‑connect to remain forward‑looking and resilient in an ever‑changing environment.
Whether you are a client, consultant, or simply interested in our story, we hope these videos offer inspiration and insight into what makes a-connect unique. We invite you to watch, reflect, and connect with us as we continue to shape the future together.
In this edition, Julia and Bernhard reflect on how a‑connect’s adaptable model, founder vision, and owner mindset enable the firm to stay ahead of market shifts and support clients through large‑scale transformation.
Bernhard: “Julia, looking ahead, what part of the original vision of a-connect do you think will matter even more in the next five years?”
Julia: “I think it’s the adaptability and flexibility of our model. Because if, if I look into the next five years, the one constant that I see is change and we continue to see an environment that is extremely dynamic and we have such a flexible business model that actually allows us to adapt as the time goes and to continue to evolve with our clients and to continue to deliver.”
Bernhard: ”I would like to build on what you said around the notion of adaptability, uncertainty changes that are happening on so many dimensions, whether it’s technological innovation, geopolitical macroeconomic, societal change, the vision of the founders for a-connect to be a firm that doesn’t only help clients design strategy, but more importantly deliver on the strategy and help clients deliver, I think is ever more important in the coming five years as companies will have to transform and adapt at scale. Yeah, so I very much look forward.”
Julia: “Well said. And likewise.”
Julia: “How do we make strategic decisions as owners to stay ahead of market shifts?”
Bernhard: “I think the most important in particular for us having been here for so long, is to make sure we always keep our eyes and minds towards the outside and seek the ideas, inputs and thoughts, not only from our clients, our consultants, but also our board, who is spending their days in other environments and who can keep challenging us and bringing fresh perspectives into our own thinking to make sure that we regularly look at the strategic choices that we are supposed to need to make.”
Julia: “And I think you can only do that with humility. Humility allows you to look at the market environment and not assume that your path is the right one and not assume that your path is the right one and to actually work through some of the bigger picture challenges and bigger picture questions that you otherwise wouldn’t see if you’re that convinced. Your business model is the right one. So this notion of humility, I think is, is also an important one.”
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