A Talk on Career & Personal Insights with Torsten Waack van Wasen

Torsten Waack van Wasen hat Stationen bei Gerry Weber, Marc Cain und Internetstores hinter sich. In der Mediadesign Hochschule geht es jedoch nicht um die glatte Erfolgsgeschichte im Lebenslauf. Der Fokus liegt auf den Fehlern, Umwegen und Zweifeln, die selten in offiziellen Biografien auftauchen. Er reflektiert über den Wandel der Arbeitswelt seit den Achtzigern und hinterfragt, ob jeder technologische Fortschritt tatsächlich ein Gewinn ist. Am Ende steht die persönliche Auseinandersetzung mit der Frage, was nach Jahrzehnten in Führungspositionen wirklich bleibt. Es ist eine Einladung, den Blick von Titeln abzuwenden und den Wert von Erfahrungen neu zu bewerten.

CEO of GERRY WEBER, Managing Director at Internetstores, COO of Marc Cain, Operating Partner in private equity: on paper, Torsten’s career looks like a classic success story. But that’s not the story he is coming to Visionary Voices to tell. Instead, he will talk about what rarely makes it onto a CV: decisions that didn’t work out, unexpected detours, moments of doubt — and why some of his biggest mistakes became some of his most valuable experiences. His path to senior leadership was anything but conventional. Rather than starting out in finance or business, Torsten began his career in communications and marketing. He will take us back to the marketing world of the 1980s and reflect on just how much the way we work has changed since then. What have we gained — and what might we have lost along the way? Does everything we call progress actually move us forward? And what role do the latest digital tools and AI play in all of this? After decades in international business and senior leadership, his perspective ultimately leads to a much more personal question — one that no CV can answer: What truly matters in the end? Which experiences and values stay with us? How does our understanding of success change over the course of a career? And what can we learn from the moments that didn’t go according to plan? An invitation to look beyond titles, positions, and polished success stories — and discover a more personal and reflective perspective on a remarkable career.