My 3 Years at Continental

September is a special month for me: Three years ago, in 2017, I had the opportunity to join Continental Industry. Now, some 1.111 days, 26.664 hours and dozens of Marketing and Communications activities, strategic topics, leadership learnings and events later, I can say “What a ride!” 

I remember my first day in Hanover: I was so excited to start a new position, with a new team, in a new company. Over the past three years, my colleagues, my team, and I, have achieved a great deal together: we established communication strategies, we redefined key event platforms such as the HANNOVER MESSE, we established formats, processes and workflows. I had the opportunity to tackle challenging projects, to work and network with so many great people across an excitingly innovative global technology company. 

I am very happy to be part of this! I’m curious what the next years will hold for me, and there are three things I want to take forward with me: 

Team: Every day, my team is my source of inspiration and creativity. Organizations and professionals evolve, if they create diverse teams and a culture that supports co-operation and partnerships. Interacting with colleagues from different backgrounds, continents, and experience levels is so valuable. For example, I never had such a challenging time in my entire career as I had during the last 6 months. But without my team and my colleagues support? Impossible! Thank you all for the trust, solidarity, talks, virtual cooking and baking sessions, discussions and fun moments. I hope we can keep some of these virtual activities after all.

Passion: We communicators are passionate about brands, positioning, customer loyalty, and cool ideas. We challenge the status quo and are forward thinkers. In times of change and uncertainty, it pays off to be brave and try new things. Who would have predicted three years ago, what is possible when it comes to virtual and hybrid dialogue and communication platforms? Now I can hardly wait to use them with creativity and passion. 

Trust: No trust, no chance! Trust is the base for everything and a prerequisite for success – in good times, as well as in challenging times. I put confidence in my team and empower them to try, trust und fight for their ideas, and I want to support my team to continue to grow together. Let’s confide in each other, in the things we can achieve together and in the power of trust. 

And finally, because the last three years wouldn’t been possible without her support: A big thank goes to Claudia: My boss!

After three years -and with hopefully many more to come-, I want to send a big virtual “Thank you!” out to so many great Continental colleagues around the globe, partners, customers and friends, and lately on MS Teams ;-). 

#WeMoveTheWorld #Continental #anniversary