This as-told-to essay stems from a thoughtful conversation with Lara Sophie Bothur, who made history as Deloitte Germany’s inaugural corporate influencer. After achieving that milestone within the firm, Bothur transitioned into a freelance career, establishing herself as a prominent figure in the European technology-influencer landscape. The narrative that follows has been carefully refined and expanded for both clarity and depth, illuminating her professional evolution and the broader implications of her work.
In February 2021, I joined Deloitte—one of the world’s largest and most respected professional services networks known collectively as the Big Four—as a business analyst within its innovation consulting division. My responsibilities centered on analyzing emerging trends and advising clients on forward-looking solutions. However, within a year, my trajectory shifted in an entirely unexpected and transformative direction. What began as a conventional consulting role gradually evolved into a new position altogether: I became Deloitte Germany’s first corporate influencer, effectively pioneering a communication strategy that fused authenticity, storytelling, and digital engagement.
This transformation happened rather organically. Roughly eight months after starting, one of the firm’s partners, aware that I had prior experience in marketing, approached me with an idea. He suggested that I assist a campaign for the innovation team—a project that required bridging the gap between complex technical subjects and accessible, engaging narratives. My role involved engaging directly with Deloitte’s experts working in highly specialized fields such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, advanced manufacturing, and intelligent mobility systems. These experts possessed brilliant technical minds, yet often struggled to express their groundbreaking work in terms that inspired broader audiences. While I admired their intelligence, I sometimes found it difficult to grasp every technical detail, which made my mission to showcase their achievements to non-specialists quite challenging.
During that same period, an encounter with my 101-year-old grandfather profoundly changed how I approached communication. While visiting him in Berlin, I mentioned that I had arrived via a car-sharing service. Out of genuine curiosity, he asked what exactly that meant. In explaining it to him—translating an abstract, tech-driven concept into something grounded, emotional, and personal—I realized how powerful simple clarity could be. If I could make complicated technological ideas relatable to him, perhaps I could replicate that same clarity in my professional storytelling, helping others to see the humanity behind innovation and digital transformation.
Inspired by that insight, I wrote a reflective post on LinkedIn about the conversation with my grandfather. To my surprise, it resonated widely, going viral and reaching approximately 350,000 people. The scale of engagement stunned me. I had underestimated the platform’s potential to build real, human connections through authentic storytelling. Shortly afterward, a Deloitte partner who had seen the post encouraged me to take this concept further—to make it a full-time role. By January 2022, we formalized a new position within the company called ‘Voice for Innovation.’ Although the title did not fully capture the role’s creative energy, it marked the beginning of a new communication era for Deloitte. Six months later, when a business publication recognized me as Germany’s first full-time corporate influencer, I embraced that title wholeheartedly.
The early stages of defining this position were both exhilarating and exhausting. There was no existing roadmap, no playbook to follow. I dedicated myself to building a vibrant professional network from the ground up, connecting with roughly a hundred relevant people every week to establish credibility and foster genuine professional relationships. Week by week, I experimented, learned, and refined the strategy that would ultimately shape how corporate influence could work in practice.
My daily routine as the public face of Deloitte became as dynamic as the role itself. In many ways, I perceived myself as a narratively driven character within the larger story of the company—much like a film protagonist through whom an audience can emotionally connect to the plot. My objective was to create that same sense of identification for Deloitte, enabling people to see the brand as approachable and human, not merely as a distant corporate entity. Unlike traditional public relations, my role wasn’t about reposting job offers or echoing promotional slogans. Instead, my task was to reveal what made Deloitte unique beyond its auditing expertise—to showcase its culture, its values, and its people through storytelling and creativity.
Though I continued as a salaried employee on the same pay scale as consultants, my daily work was far from conventional. I traveled extensively, visited technology hubs, attended and moderated conferences, nurtured connections with potential clients, and produced a constant flow of content—both written and visual—that captured these experiences. Since no one else held a similar hybrid position, I managed every aspect myself: conducting interviews, writing articles and LinkedIn posts, scripting videos, and even editing footage. Additionally, I conducted LinkedIn strategy workshops both within Deloitte and externally and helped senior leaders craft their own online voices.
The impact of these efforts quickly became tangible. Some of my LinkedIn posts led directly to new business opportunities. For example, a firm seeking a cloud transformation project reached out after reading one of my posts, having discovered—through my content—that Deloitte partnered with Google Cloud. In another case, a woman approached me during an event to say she chose Deloitte over another leading consultancy, BCG, because she admired how the company openly supported the professional development of young women like me. Those moments made it clear that personal authenticity and strategic communication could profoundly influence client relations, talent attraction, and brand perception.
We are undeniably entering a new epoch in business communication—one driven by the intersection of influencer marketing and employee advocacy. The central idea is that the most compelling ambassadors for a brand are its own people. Platforms like LinkedIn have proven exceptionally powerful arenas for this type of engagement. Eventually, I became recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice, cultivating one of the most influential profiles in the German-speaking tech sector, dedicated to translating complex technological concepts into accessible insights. My reach extended to 400 million people across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, a marketing equivalent valued at around $13 million, and generated approximately 10,000 marketing leads for Deloitte.
This success illustrated an important truth about corporate communication: companies can either invest heavily in advertisements or empower employees to embody the brand’s message themselves. The latter approach is more authentic and sustainable. However, firms must be careful not to assign the influencer mantle arbitrarily. Genuine influence cannot be forced; it must arise from an intrinsic motivation to communicate and a deep alignment with the company’s values. When those two elements converge—individual passion and organizational purpose—the result is a perfect corporate influencer.
Over time, Deloitte Germany expanded this concept. The firm now has roughly 250 employees acting part-time as corporate influencers, many of whom I personally trained in effective LinkedIn communication. Two even went on to become LinkedIn Top Voices themselves, demonstrating how empowering employees amplifies both individual and collective visibility.
Yet being a public representative of a major organization is not without challenges. In the previous year, I faced critical scrutiny from several German media outlets questioning the authenticity of my rapid LinkedIn growth. Some accused me of artificially buying followers or engagement. Although such allegations were unsettling, Deloitte’s culture of trust—one of its core values—guided our response. With the support of the company’s data and analytics experts, we provided transparent proof that my reach was organic. That episode, though stressful, highlighted the firm’s integrity and even earned me the informal nickname of Germany’s ‘LinkedIn algorithm whisperer.’
Life in the digital spotlight inevitably invites public judgment. Whenever one appears online, people form assumptions, favorable or otherwise. I’ve made it a principle that my posts should always center on Deloitte’s people and achievements, not on personal self-promotion. I often highlight colleagues or invite them to share the stage, ensuring that recognition is collective. Nonetheless, balancing one’s individual identity with corporate representation requires nuance. Authentic engagement—the kind that inspires confidence—arises from showing both your human side and your professional mission. For me, that mission is demystifying technology so everyone can understand its role in shaping our world.
Deloitte supported me by reviewing my posts for factual accuracy and ensuring that potential controversies were avoided. I consciously steer clear of political or religious discourse, yet I still stand firm in representing values like transparency, inclusion, and curiosity. Innovation frequently demands stepping outside the comfort of conformity, and I’ve learned that doing so is both risky and rewarding. Authenticity, after all, isn’t static—it requires continuous engagement. Offline, that means building real-world relationships; online, it involves responding promptly to comments and discussions, particularly in the critical first hour after posting, when LinkedIn’s algorithm decides whether a post will gain traction.
At times, the workload and public exposure can feel overwhelming. But when you are guided by conviction and purpose, perseverance follows naturally. My conviction remains unwavering—I believe deeply in making complex technology comprehensible and emotionally resonant. That belief has powered my entire career.
By early 2025, I began taking independent projects as a moderator and public speaker. After careful reflection, I decided to leave Deloitte and pursue full-time self-employment. That transition marked the next logical step in my professional evolution. Today, I am among Europe’s most recognized tech influencers, free to collaborate with a diverse range of clients—from established corporations and global technology companies like SAP to agile startups shaping the next digital revolution. While I continue to maintain a collaborative relationship with Deloitte, I now have the flexibility to work across industries and borders.
This move made sense not only creatively but financially; it offers both profitability and freedom. More importantly, it reflects my belief that this emerging field symbolizes the future of work itself. People often discuss artificial intelligence and automation as forces that eliminate jobs, but they also catalyze entirely new professions—corporate influencers being one of them. These roles, scarcely imaginable only a few years ago, have become essential bridges between complex technology and human understanding. Across industries, there exists a communication gap—businesses innovate rapidly, but their messages often fail to resonate with the public. My mission is to close that gap by making technology human, relatable, and inspiring. Those companies that succeed in doing so will not just survive this era of disruption; they will define it.
Do you have a story about your own career in consulting or transformation? The publication welcomes reader submissions and insights. You can share your experiences by contacting the reporter at pthompson@businessinsider.com.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/deloitte-corporate-influencer-lara-sophie-bothur-linkedin-value-of-employees-2025-10
