Thank you Mercedes!

7 years ago, I got the opportunity to join the Mercedes AMG Formula 1 Team. I had the honour to be part of a team that was - and still is - writing history. Working in a high-performance environment with people that are the best at their job, on the technical side as well as the business side down to the last employee. One of my key take-aways is that if you want to be better than anyone else in such a competitive environment - to become the world champion - you don’t have to get 99% right, you have to get 99,9% right. Every day! You have to work as a team, win as a team and lose as a team. And if you lose, adopt the growth mindset to learn from your mistakes and make sure they don’t happen again. That’s how the Mercedes AMG F1 Team was able to secure its 7th Constructors' World Championship Title two weeks ago -beating the record of consecutive Formula 1 titles.

In 2017, I jumped into the next adventure within Mercedes, building up their innovation lab, Lab1886, with locations in Stuttgart, Berlin, Atlanta and Beijing. Again, I was working with brilliant people and took part in creating the future of the most admired car brand in the world. I could further train my skills in how to approach a new idea and validate it through to a viable business model: fast, iterative and lean. But also how to assess existing business ideas, what to focus on and what it takes for it to be successful. While building ventures leads to success stories, the failure rate is also high. The F1 growth mindset has taught me to always get back on your feet again, learn the lessons and use them for future success.

Everything comes to an end and for me it feels right to move on to the next chapter. If you ask yourself the question Mary Oliver used to ask: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”, you know when it is time to move on. I am excited to put all my energy and experience to work and dive into a new adventure. But first, I tip my hat and say ‘thank you Mercedes’!