What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
What I learned way too late is that it's my responsibility to facilitate communication flow and knowledge transfer, especially when team members are full into details not everyone sees the bigger picture all the time. Therefore it's also important to make sure people have their focus area and are not doing many things at once, it makes them feel overwhelmed, reduces creativity, quality and speed of results
What was a pivotal moment where your business made a big leap forward?
This may sound trivial but has a magnificent impact: when we found a shared goal and a single direction to put all the effort in when we were working on many different products before.
What personal habit or behavior helped you accelerate your personal growth?
Intentionally taking a step back from operational work to keep the focus on the bigger picture gives me space to reflect and make better decisions.
What's a mistake that you're happy you've made?
We once had a phase where the team was quite small and we needed to make some tough decisions. I was not persistent with my approach and listened to too many ideas. This led to a big mess and I learned the hard way that in such situations, it needs a single informed decision.
What do you do to maintain balance in your life?
Taking care of physical well being by doing regular sport sessions and daily walks, as well as psychological well being by taking care of healthy family relationships through a super honest communication culture.
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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.