At the end of the day, it all comes down to family, everything. Once you have kids I think you realize that this is all what it really comes to. I think once you do have kids in your life you realize that this is the most important thing everything else doesn’t count as much. I think I’ve been very lucky growing up in a fantastic family. You get a self-confidence about being loved and not about achieving something just being who you are; that’s a beautiful thing and it’s a privilege. I’ve realized much later that not every child is brought up that way. A lot of people say that family is important but really meaning it is a very different thing because that means everything in your life, everything that you do, is for your family it’s about your family, your wife, your kids and that gives you a lot of pleasure.

I’ve been in different companies and I’ve seen how everyone puts work first even those who tell you about how important family is. The moment that you go to your employees and you tell them that you really mean it that family comes first. I want to work with people who put Family First. That means if you have something in your family and there’s an issue that we as your colleagues, as your company, have to support you to help your family. I want you as your employer, your boss, always to put your family. The way people are working together as a team and the way that they’re working for you is completely different. You can’t pay for that with money because that creates a very special Band of Brothers. If you will work together on something that is much more meaningful than just achieving something from a company perspective. If you do that also in a professional way – not only about talking about friends and family – but if you really show that in your professional life that family is what matters, it’s rewarded not only from a monetary perspective; it’s rewarded in the way that you work together and the way that you enjoy working together because everyone feels if something happens to me if something happens to my family it’s not only mine, my friends, it’s also my company. My colleagues will be there covering for me. It gives you the strength that gives you extraordinary powers.

With the people around me having mentors, having friends, you can have an intellectual dispute with them and they help you to understand yourself better and they help you to also push you beyond your self-pity. When you have these issues and you don’t know the way out you need help and I think that is very important in life to have people who are ‘getting’ you personally also to the next level and (helping you) to overcome obstacles. I think I would have never been able either privately nor professionally to do what I’ve done without the help of others who were pointing me to the right Reflections, and also to understand my inner worries – because you have these struggles with yourself and all the different personalities that are somehow Incorporated in you and you do struggle in your life in a good way or in a bad way and having people who are helping you out is phenomenal if you have them and it’s a disaster if you don’t have them and you don’t find your own way. That means you may have so much potential for yourself but also to give to others but you can’t really live up to that potential because you don’t have that help getting you there. This is something where I’ve even have to admit not only friends or mentors also random people that I’ve met that were friends of friends. Sometimes those people can trigger something in you and a self-reflection but finally you’ll change something in your life. That happened quite often I have to say in my career when I came to stop or tour I couldn’t go any further and then there always was a person who was helping me with that self-reflection that finally enabled a Quantum Leap, a huge step ahead. It was relief (and I ask myself) why haven’t I’ve seen that before. That was making me so much more confident in what I do and understanding your own abilities but also understanding your own deficiencies. That is something I believe should happen in everybody’s career. You come to a point where you understand what actually you are good at, and what is it that you’re not good at, and how can you embrace that. Embrace that in a way that you allow yourself not to be good in certain areas but focus on the things that you really experience how good can you be. If you focus on that, you will not only be average but great. It’s a game changer in life especially when you talk about leadership. You meet so many leaders and companies who have never made that step but also they did not have the chance to have someone who takes them to that next level or enables that self-reflection.