What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
Be passionate about your venture, but avoid becoming overly attached to it. Otherwise, you might be the reason your growth and the growth of the venture stalls.
What personal habit or behavior helped you accelerate your personal growth?
Meditation and reflection. As a founder you live mostly in the future, but life happens now in this moment.
What do you do to maintain balance in your life?
Curiosity often starts when you're bored. Make space for boredom.
What can we do to create a great workplace for our colleagues?
I strive to create a safe space for people and a dangerous space for ideas. Everyone should feel that they can express their ideas and suggestions to anyone, regardless of position. Every idea, no matter its origin, should be challenged, iterated, and refined.
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What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
I always thought that my life can be balanced between personal, business, health, family, finances and love. In that sense how much energy I put in and get back. But with the years, I learned that life is imbalanced by nature. It's still a goal for me and I believe if all parts are some kind of balanced, this speaks of a highly valuable life, but accepting that there will always be a certain imbalance, helped me a lot.
What's the biggest insight you learned in recent years?
It’s always a good idea to be connected to your product – even if you have to deal with high-level topics, always remember the things you offer.
What personal habit helped you accelerate your personal growth?
In one of the hardest times of my life so far, I started journaling for 1-2h on Sundays. Not digital, but with paper and pen. Always answering the same questions related to self, social life and work. This brutally honest and regular reflection once a week helped me identify problems early and iterate fast.
When times are tough, who or what is an anchor for you?
My co-founders are my anchor in work-related topics. Having an environment where failure is welcomed with a helping hand and where weakness is valued as openness, once you are down those people will drag you up.