"I can imagine working for a very long time".

Long anniversaries are not uncommon at iproplan®. This year we see: Even our boss started once. Jörg Thiele has been with iproplan® for 25 years, most of them as owner and managing director. And because we think that is well worth talking about, we took the opportunity for a short interview. Are looking back and looking forward positive?

"I always wanted to do something."

Coming from a family with a strong affinity for construction, becoming a civil engineer was an obvious choice for Jörg Thiele, but in fact it was even his desired profession. And that, although architecture and art history would have been at least as interesting for him. In addition, there was a strong family commitment through his father Günter Thiele, who was managing director of iproplan® from 1990. "I always wanted to do something," says Jörg Thiele, also out of a desire to shape things himself and take responsibility.

Nevertheless, after completing his studies, he initially gained a wide range of experience in other planning offices before deciding to take over the management of the company from his father. So the early days at iproplan® for Jörg Thiele from 1997 onwards - initially as head of the office for site and environmental planning - were also associated with the pressure of joining the company as the son of the then very successful managing director Günter Thiele, because the expectations were high. At the same time, however, there was a lot of support for new ideas: Beyond the very pronounced departmental thinking of the time, this made it possible to work in project teams as we know them today.

Jörg Thiele remembers his first years as managing director of iproplan® from the year 2000 onwards as a time of great economic uncertainty combined with declines in orders that threatened the very existence of the company. - Crisis situations that could only be mastered together with all employees. He remembers a workforce that had to accept drastic changes and even forego salaries. In the end, they succeeded in securing the survival of the company. Even in retrospect, this cohesion is still very impressive to him.

And today?

Since then, the economic conditions for the company have become much better and more secure. - At the same time, the philosophy of bundling competencies as efficiently as possible and offering all services from a single source is still the same as it was 25 years ago. And our employees are still the key to success: highly trained, committed, valuable. Keeping these competences in-house and developing them further is one of the biggest challenges for the company today.

But even now, in the midst of global challenges where forecasts seem so difficult, Jörg Thiele is optimistic and does not believe that the current social crisis will last:

There is still a great demand for our architectural and engineering services, he says. At the same time, the attractiveness and visibility of professions related to planning and building are growing for young people, not only because of challenging, forward-looking projects, but also because of increasing digitalisation and all the possibilities that come with it. Processes are becoming increasingly smarter. - Working today is different from 25 years ago. - It's still fun, says Jörg Thiele, even though the interaction has changed.

Plans for the future

For Jörg Thiele, responsibility, ideas and obligations are not diminishing. And that is the way he wants it. Managing director without a network? - There is no such thing. He is committed to the industry, to the region, to the further development of the university landscape.

Nevertheless, the long-term, stable, sustainable continuation of iproplan® is close to his heart: the company should continue to develop from within and remain owner-managed in the future. In fact, that is his most important goal for the coming years, and he is taking his time to achieve it: "Whether I will still be here every day at the age of 89, I don't know, but I can definitely imagine working for a very long time. "impressive for him.