meet me room
What are your hobbies/
interests outside work?
My family is really important to me.
I love my three kids, and having
summer barbecues with our large
family and working in the garden are
two other things that I really enjoy
doing at home. I also try to keep
active with a wide range of sporting
activities, such as running, swimming
or football. Good music is another
interest of mine and I love all kinds
of international food and drink too.
Nothing beats a good glass of red
wine or whiskey, and trying new and
exotic food is always great.
of energy, as a kind of stimulus that
drives further improvement. The
only real pressure I now feel is the
responsibility I have for the growing
number of team members I have
underneath me, and their families.
What is the best piece of
career advice you have ever
been given?
‘Leave it, change it or love it’. I was
given this advice seven years ago by
my former boss and it has stuck with
me ever since. I didn’t understand it
to start with, but the more I thought
about it, the more it made sense.
Essentially, it means don’t get
frustrated about problems or annoying
things as you can actively make a
difference to the outcome. The choice
is yours, to either let it go, take
responsibility and change it, or just
accept it for what it is. Such advice
has helped me in my career and also
in my private life. It has led to less
frustration, more motivation and, most
importantly, balance in my life.
Do you have any
personal heroes?
As mentioned before, Lothar
Matthäus was definitely a hero of
16
mine growing up, but I also have
a lot of respect for Steve Jobs.
Despite the stories of him being a
rather complicated person among
his friends and colleagues, I was
impressed by his endless, relentless
drive for perfection. His key
motivation was always his passion
to change the world by creating
and delivering visionary products,
pushing the limits of technology,
and he spared no effort in making
his dream come true.
Where is your favourite
holiday destination and why?
I can’t really choose one because
there are too many exciting places
around the globe that I haven’t been
to yet. In general, I don’t like going
to the same place again and again
though. I much prefer exploring
new places and new countries that I
haven’t visited before because I love
new impressions and learning about
different cultures.
If you could possess one
superhuman power, what
would it be?
Do you have a bucket list of
things you would like to do
and achieve?
If I had one superpower, it would be
being rational and helping others to
be rational, so I guess I would be
‘Rationality Man’. In debates, both in
professional and private life, I often
have the impression that underlying
feelings have too much influence
on the discussion and, in many
cases, acting more rational would
lead to better results. So I would
be the superhero who is called for
difficult discussions and decisions,
and I would help everybody become
rational in order to find the best
solution or compromise.
I don’t particularly have a bucket list,
or at least not such a defined list. One
of the things that I would like to do
though is to visit as many interesting
places around the world as possible
in the future. I love exploring new
places, as it gives you the chance to
discover different cultures and try new
foods. From a business perspective,
one of my goals is to uphold and
maintain our team spirit and preserve
the company culture at Exasol in
the future – something which isn’t
a given, especially when you are
growing rapidly.