For me, career means constant personal and professional development and striving for ambitious goals.
For me, a successful career belongs to those who have found their own calling and are intrinsically motivated and satisfied instead of just meeting the expectations of others and chasing extrinsic motives such as wealth or status. Making a career is not a goal, but a continuous, rocky path.

It was probably my own frustration that got in the way of my professional career at some point. I’ve always received a lot of recognition for my extraordinary (academic) achievements, but for many years I haven’t had the professional opportunities that I so much wished for – in particular disciplinary management responsibility and a longer professional stay abroad. I would say that I failed because of the structures in the group because I didn’t manage to break through them and I’m still struggling with them.

They are important and helpful for networking.

I’ve wanted to be a professor since elementary school. Admittedly, at the time I didn’t know exactly what this job was all about, but I was always amazed by the passion and expertise in documentation of this group of people (when the name “Professor” was shown below in the picture). I really enjoy my work as a postdoc and who knows, maybe one day this ambitious career aspiration will actually work out!

I am inspired by personalities who are not just managers but real leaders and who initiate progress through their courageous, committed and sometimes daring behavior without losing sight of what is human. Real leaders inspire and are inspired at the same time.

That I have to “play the game and adapt to the company structures” in order to have a career. Even if there is certainly a lot of truth to it, I think a context change makes more sense. For me it is a warning signal if you want to change people instead of structures that no longer fit. And in addition, in the current age, innovative strength is more important than ever before and you need people who sometimes think differently, represent it authentically and don’t want to continue doing everything the way it’s always been done.

Don’t let diversity campaigns irritate you too much – unfortunately, these are often a symptom that something isn’t going as diversely as it should. It is much more exciting to talk to the employees about their real experiences in the company or to network with role models to learn how they managed to break through patterns. This applies to both men and women – diversity is much more than gender diversity!