Leonard Meier lives in Berlin and is an Alumnus from the International Master in Management class of 2017. During his studies here at EADA, he worked with us as an Assistant, and since then he has continued growing and advancing in his career. Nowadays, he is working as a Lead in Business Development at MILES Mobility, a service that offers a broad and flexible way to rent cars and vans as a substitute for private car ownership. He is going to explain to us a bit about it and how his career journey has been.
1. How has your career journey been since you graduated from EADA, and how did you end up at MILES Mobility?
After a bittersweet goodbye I moved from Barcelona to Berlin for my first job in a VC funded scale-up in the insurtech industry. Without knowing too much about insurance, I arrived with the drive to grow. After a year I decided to move on to another industry. As an early adopter of free floating carsharing I got excited when MILES invited me for an interview. The spirit and the ambition to grow fast but sustainably convinced me to join. Back then, MILES operated a fleet of around 300 vehicles – now three years later, there are more than 5000 located in 8 German cities. We became Germany’s biggest independent carsharing operator!
2. Tell us about the MILES Mobility and how it works?
MILES offers a broad free floating carsharing service where users can rent vehicles spontaneously via their smartphone. The service includes kilometer-based car sharing, van sharing and packages for flexible long-term rentals – without any stations. A MILES rider can choose a vehicle in the surrounding area and go for an inner or intercity trip or even for a trip abroad without selecting the duration upfront. That gives flexibility and since fuel/electricity as well as parking costs are included there is also a full cost transparency.
MILES believes in a world in which mobility should be shared, sustainable and accessible to everyone and wants to provide an alternative to private car ownership. The mission is to be part of the personal mobility mix to improve urban life.
3. Tell us a bit about your current job position and what a normal workday looks like for you.
After a quick daily stand-up with my team, we work on our weekly focus topics. These topics are mostly related to partner management, project management or working out new pilots and contracts. On top of this, we act as a pre-filter for potential collaborations, reviewing all incoming requests and looking for partners for our own ideas for these ventures – resulting in mostly digital appointments that keep the pipeline full. :)
Working with case studies is definitely one of the most valuable things that my studies at EADA taught me. This kind of approach was new to me at the time, but today it is my toolbox for everyday work."
4. What have you learnt from your International Master in Management that you can apply on a daily basis?
Working with case studies is definitely one of the most valuable things that my studies at EADA taught me. This kind of approach was new to me at the time, but today it is my toolbox for everyday work.
Soft skills are no less important, especially in the context of partner management and leadership. The days in Collbato were exciting and challenging, but their impact was huge.
5. What advice would you give to students interested in studying the Master in Management?
If you have the chance to have a look upfront do so. Take the train to Barcelona and talk to the admission department. Make sure there is a class that day and stay outside the building to catch and talk to somebody who is enrolled. That is how I did it and the way the programme was described by the students (with a smile on their faces) encouraged me to go for it. If you can’t get there, try talking to Alumni through other channels to get a feeling about what to expect from the EADA experience. Reach out to me on LinkedIn! ;)
