Answering questions directly to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board in the annual accounts meeting on his first day - there is no grace period for Souhail Adib. In "Be the Boss" on October 30, 2025, the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts student will plunge straight into the world of business and take over as CEO of Brockhaus AG in Lünen for a day.
This is the second time that Brockhaus board member Matthias Besenfelder has vacated his chair for this campaign. Students from IT-related and business-oriented study programs at the UAS were able to apply for the temporary management position. The jury had to choose between many good applicants. The choice fell on Souhail Adib, 28 years old. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Business Informatics at Fachhochschule Dortmund and is currently studying for a Master's degree. On this "Boss Day", he is in charge of the fate of the Lünen-based IT service provider with 170 employees.
"It's a lot of responsibility," he admits at the end of a packed day. The AI review is currently underway in the conference room. The eighth meeting of the day. All the developers involved are connected digitally and present the status of their projects. Question to the boss: "Should we rely entirely on AI solutions here or have people check the results?" Souhail weighs up the options. Ultimately, the AI solutions are not yet perfect enough for him. "Do they have to be?" asks Matthias Besenfelder. After all, humans make mistakes too. An exciting discussion ensues.
The external perspective
The Brockhaus board member himself studied business informatics at Fachhochschule Dortmund. With the Boss Day, he wants to pass on real insights into the top management activities of a medium-sized IT service provider. "The Boss Day is also interesting for me personally because Souhail brings in an outside perspective today and asks new and different questions. This leads to self-reflection," emphasizes Matthias Besenfelder.
"I'm interested in witnessing decisions at management level and understanding which factors play a role in the background," says Souhail Adib. And there were plenty of them at the Boss Day: financial planning, IT security, people management. "Switching quickly from one meeting to the next was a challenge," says Souhail Adib. "And it's my everyday life," adds Matthias Besenfelder. He also showed the UAS student which time management strategies he uses and how he keeps track of the multitude of topics.
These were all exciting insights for Souhail Adib. "I had already wanted to apply last year, but the timing didn't work out," he says. "I'm all the happier that I got the chance to experience the day like this this year. For next year, I can only advise everyone to apply too." There will probably be an opportunity to do so. Company boss Matthias Besenfelder wants to continue the cooperation with Fachhochschule Dortmund.