My Belief

Introduction

I have thought a lot whether I should write this page or not but concluded that it is important for clients and other business partners to share who I am and what I believe. That’s why in this section, I am talking about my values and what is important to me besides work to give the full picture of myself.

My Family

First and foremost, I am a very happy member of a family with a wonderful wife named Helen, a wonderful son named Lean and a wonderful daughter named Yara.

Clayton Christensen states in his famous HBR article “How will you measure your life”, that people who are driven to achieve great things share the characteristic to under-invest in their families and over-invest in their professional life — even though loving relationships with our families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness. I do not want to make that mistake. Whatever I do and however motivating my professional ambitions might be, my family will always be number one in my life.

My Faith

I have got to know Christian faith when I was working at UPGREAT. UPGREAT is an IT company that is dedicated to practice Christian values in the workplace. Until I started to work there, I had no special relationship to faith. While working at that company, I heard so many things about Jesus and the bible that I wanted to understand better. I guess that is kind of a pattern in my life — I listen and observe but after some time, I start to educate myself and, in that sense, begin my own journey. So, I started reading about it, tried to understand the “big picture” and during that process, I got to know the personality of Jesus and learned how he sets free, is loving, welcoming and inclusive. So eventually in late 2008, I decided to not only read about it but accept Jesus as my lord and savior.

My belief obviously has an impact on my work style and how I collaborate with people. Reading the bible, I have noticed that it comes with so much wisdom that is more relevant than ever for our professional lives in times of profound change. During my journey as a leader, I have continuously reflected about the right model of organization and I have always been convinced that a group of people can achieve more than the sum of its parts. But how does such a high-performance team look like?

Research and my own personal experience show that the best and most creative solutions are created by a diverse group of people with a variety of backgrounds, cultures, colors, nations of origin, religions, or beliefs. But with those different views, how to work together based on a common set of values is more important than ever. The bible helps in Matthew 7:12 (AMP):

“So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you.”

This universal truth does not only work in teams of faithful people. People of all backgrounds usually agree that it is a great start for any kind of team. However, to treat everyone with respect is sometimes challenging but what helps me in dealing with that tension is a strong belief that God made no mistakes when he created each and every one of us differently. Each and everyone is valuable and each and everyone has a view that I want to sincerely understand and incorporate in my own thinking process.

If we truly are interested in the beliefs of our peers, we can embrace those different opinions and grow in our own self. However, that does not mean that I always need to agree or that everyone is capable of contributing to every challenge, but everyone deserves that he or she is heard and treated with respect.

To achieve that sort of open dialogue nothing is more important than being authentic. Especially as a leader, I do not believe that you are respected if you play a role. It is far better to have rough edges, than to be everybody’s darling. I am on my own journey to become better every day in being authentic and I have to admit, it is hard sometimes.

A quote of John Wooden, a famous college basketball coach, became my own definition of success and helps me in that sense, to stay authentic:

“Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

Summary

As you can tell now my faith has affected my professional life in a sense that I reflected on how high-performance teams can emerge and how to act as a leader. I am more convinced than ever that the bible teaches us a universal truth that works not only if you collaborate with Christians, but with people from all backgrounds.

Achieving that is only possible when one is sincerely interested how people see the world, ready to incorporate other views in his or her own thinking and treating others with respect. This is not only important for a leader, but as a cultural principle in any group to ensure that people interact with each other at eye level. If the team realizes what it really means to “treat others as I want to be treated,” then that is a wonderful first step towards a work environment where people feel safe, have fun and can rise to their fullest potential.

I close quoting Clayton Christensen as I like his conclusion very much: “The metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched.”

Please feel free to reach out. I am very much looking forward to it!