3 key learnings as the youngest sales director at the Bosch brand Buderus

"Excuse me, can you show me to the sales director?” "Sure" I replied and led the guest to my office, where I kindly asked, "How can I help you?” So far, no one had managed to let the surprise on their faces go unnoticed. Therefore, a bit of small talk was usually followed by the question of whether I was not unusually young for this role. In my early spontaneous answers to this question, I still tried to find a reason or even justification and told them that I had already joined Bosch at the age of 19 in a dual study program and had thus started my professional career quite early. Nowadays, I am pleased to say:

"Yes, I am 26 years old and extremely proud to inspire our customers with my team!”

The issue of "age" has confronted me many times during my career. Perhaps because until now I have always been the youngest in my responsibilities. Most of the time, the confrontations have been accompanied by surprise, initial skepticism, and, fortunately, always underestimation. In the meantime, I have met many young colleagues who see it as a great motivation that Bosch, as a rather conservative company, can live diversity also in the age structure of the management. Therefore, I am always encouraged to counter these confrontations with a clear message: Diversity pays off!

I would like to encourage my fellow managers to take this "risk" and especially motivate young colleagues to strive for the opportunity to take on responsibility. In order to support many of these young colleagues in taking the unique path of "leadership", I am happy to share my 3 key learnings as the youngest sales director at the Bosch brand Buderus:

1. Jump into the deep end!

When I was preparing for my first leadership role, I had great respect for this responsibility. Not for responsibility per se, which I had already held in very large innovation and turnaround projects, but explicitly for responsibility over employees. I read books, attended seminars and simulated the most absurd situations in order to be prepared for every question, every critical employee conversation and every case of escalation. And then I started my job and quickly realized that much of this preparation was not only unnecessary, but even misguiding. After just my first day in office, I replaced my scenarios and reasoning with openness and authenticity. I learned that good leadership is a skill that needs to be trained. During this process, you will make mistakes and celebrate successes. You can't fully prepare to be a good leader until you are a leader. I accepted the uncertainty, jumped in at the deep end and looked forward to an incredible learning process, about leadership - and about myself. Did I feel fully prepared to take on responsibility for employees? No, not at all.

And that was perfectly fine.

2. Don't bluff!

There I was as the youngest and highest-ranking employee at the site. How do I manage to win my employees who already have 20, 30 years of professional and industry experience, who go deeper into the technology and know all the tricks of the trade? One of the most important rules for this, in my opinion, is: Do not bluff! The first thing I told my employees in the get-to-know interviews was that I did not become their supervisor because I was better at their job than they were. Quite the opposite, I would most likely suck. And it is great that my employees know their specific job way better than I do. I want to give the stage to my associates and behind the audience, tweak a light setting or two so they can shine even brighter. Since then, I have been very open in front of my team about my skills and shortcomings, and I am excited to learn something from everyone every day. This way, you don't put yourself under pressure to always find the perfect answer to every question, but instead motivate the team to come up with their own ideas and implement them. Side effect: It brings great appreciation to the team.

3. Respect your leadership responsibility

Many of the factors that helped me starting as a young leader were based on putting myself in the second row, behind my team. But it's also important to develop a sense of when to take a firm step forward. There are situations where you need to stand by your employees with a high level of confidentiality and empathy when they have personal issues and need your input as a coach. As well as situations where it is necessary to make directional decisions, take responsibility and risks, or set clear expectations. In such situations, a young leader must be able to take a strong position and, after an open discussion, take both the decision and the responsibility for it. Respecting one' s own leadership responsibility at this point means knowing when to ask peers for advice. You don't necessarily have to copy them, but you should incorporate your older colleagues' experiences into your own decision-making. Afterwards, always take a moment to reflect - alone with yourself, with your peers, and most challenging, but also most valuable: openly with your employees.

Résumé:

Giving young people the chance to take on a leadership role is certainly not the most comfortable or safest path to take. They ask and challenge more, they sometimes break up well-established structures, and they certainly don't do everything right from the start. But they also often challenge the right things, break up well-established structures that are in desperate need of it, and don't get everything wrong either. That's why, in my opinion, it's the combination of the 'rookies' and the 'old hands' that always keeps companies on the cutting edge.

I am very grateful that Bosch and my managers have given me the chance to be one of these rookies, and at the same time I am well aware that in some areas I am already an 'old hand' who enjoys the fresh wind of uncomfortably challenging rookies.