Gratitude

One of my favourite?things about?working for FWD?is?the "Live Life" talks we get regularly. We recently had one about "Gratitude".?

In a world where we are constantly flooded with bad news, it can feel like wishful thinking to stop and be grateful for what we have or had. But studies show that practicing gratitude improves our mood, our health and our relationships - inside and outside work.???

That's why I would like to publicly thank some of the managers and colleagues with whom I have or had the chance to work.?

In chronological order:?

- Antonio Garcia, Jose Manuel Torre and anyone at Philips Spain who played a role?in making?my assignment in Paris a reality. Particularly to Sandrine, Arnaud, Geraldine, Benoit, Virginie, Raimana, Marie Jo and everyone who received me with open arms at Philips France. I never told you, but that experience changed my life. I realised that I'd rather discover new cultures and countries, and work with people from all over the world, than staying at home.?I was?in?my 20s and all the roles I have had since then, have been regional or global.?

- Michel Cardena. Michel hired me for Schering Plough, two weeks before Merck announced its acquisition, becoming one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.?With redundancies?on?the horizon, "Last in, first out" and "keep a low profile" are sentences I heard often during that time. Instead of that, Michel recommended me to volunteer to be part of the EMEA integration groups, which I did.?The merger experience was brutal. Travels every week, emails day and night - weekends included, thousands of employees layed off, meetings where I'd be addressing both legacy teams in each EMEA country, but at the end of it, not only?did I avoid redundancy?but I was promoted to my first EMEA Manager role. That would have never happened without Michel.

Also, that gave me the chance to work with brilliant colleagues like Mark Coulson, Nicola Onofri, Monica Massa, Sebastiano Dubini and great stakeholders Jesus Martinez, Patrick Pfeffer and Gerard Arnhofer, to name a few.?

- Kerry Walden and Jo Smallbone. Kerry and Jo hired me as Global Media Category Manager for Vodafone.??

Amongst the things I learned from them - both at work and in the recruitment process, where I declined the first two offers from Vodafone because I wasn't sure about moving to Luxembourg- are that sometimes attitude is more important than experience and that you can do an amazing job and have fun at the same time. Amongst others, Oleg, Luis, Marcus, Celine, Jeremy, Vincent, Aurore, ?were part of one of the best teams I have ever worked with.

Also, stakeholders like Federico, Alex, Mapitsi and partners like Mariano or Noelia, made my experience at Vodafone very enjoyable and?Luxembourg will always have a piece of my heart, specially people like Luis and the Mexican gang and Sabine.

- Lee Hewett and Garry?Fingland. After the dismantling of the Global Procurement team, Lee took me?on?as part of the Global IS Transformation team and allowed me to lead initiatives like the Customer Transformation stream, which I had the privilege to present to the Global IS Executive Team, obtaining a very positive response.?

After?pestering?him with my "consultant" approach to help him with something else, Lee did something rather unusual. He told me that he had nothing else I could help him with, but that he thought I could potentially support his boss. By doing this, Lee gave me direct access to Garry?Finland, the Global CIO of one of the biggest healthcare companies in the world at the time.?

Garry allowed me to support his role as Sponsor of the Healthcare Management function at Bupa, which is the area with the biggest spend at the firm globally. As a result of this, a few months later I became the Global Head of Strategy for Healthcare Management at Bupa. This would have never happened without Lee's support.??

In regard to Strategy, I was fortunate enough to be part of different Global Strategy teams, working with Global Chief Strategy Officers, like Chris, Gabriela and Les.

Regarding stakeholders at Bupa, I was very lucky to work with amazing people like Mel Smith, who was kind enough to write an unsolicited great note about me 2 months after I joined Bupa, and others like Patty, Jim or Stephen Hurley.

- Last but not least, I want to thank Sarah Salvilla. Due to several restructurings and team changes during 6 years, Sarah became my 5th boss after 6 years at Bupa. I told her that I understood I wasn't her choice and that I was happy to leave the company if I didn't fit in her plans.?

Nothing new, right? Except that Sarah did something different. She asked for my CV. She wasn't so interested in knowing what I had done at Bupa but to understand what I had done before and what I?was capable of doing.?Her verdict: I had been underused. Thanks to Sarah I participated in some of the most interesting projects I had the chance to be part of: entry projects in Asia and a prospecting project in South America that gave me the chance to present in Sao Paulo to the Brazil CEO and the Latin America Chairman.?

Currently, I still have the privilege of?continuing to report to?Sarah, but now for FWD, one of the most advanced and tech-driven insurers in the world. This is?giving?me the chance to improve my understanding?of the Asian Market and to work with the most tech savvy colleagues I ever have met.?

Thanks Sarah. And to brilliant colleagues like Denny, Kathy, Brian, Michael, Sam and Leon, to name a few.

Many years ago, I?chose?a path of adventure and uncertainty, that led me to meet amazing people all over the world.?

Thanks to everyone who pointed me to this journey, was part of it or is still shaping it with me.