It's International Women's Day – the perfect date to continue with our series. Today, we're appreciating our colleague Tina Scherer, working as Director Marketing Communications for our brand Quicke. Would you like to learn more about her international background? Then have a look at our interview with Tina:
JOST: Please briefly outline your professional career.
Scherer: After graduating in business administration at Munich University, I started to work for Siemens Financial Services for 13 years, of which I worked in 3 different countries: Germany, UK and China. Whilst also doing an MA Marketing Management on top during my time in London, I learned to work with a lot of challenges in different teams, cultures and projects.
JOST: How did you come to JOST and why did you stay at our company?
Scherer: In 2014 I moved to Sweden and started to work for the Quicke team and am nowadays responsible for the Quicke marketing activities worldwide. Like before at Siemens, working internationally on a daily basis, having to understand the different market requirements is making the work so interesting.
JOST: What has been your biggest professional challenge so far and how did you manage it?
Scherer: I think my biggest challenge was my move to Beijing and setting up a marketing department completely from scratch that time. I had a “green field” in front of me, a lot of trust from my management, but still it was very challenging to work in a different culture and create something from scratch. During that time, I have learned a lot – and what is still crucial to me is that the different cultures are an important aspect if you want to achieve your goals. I have been working around 17 of my 22 professional years abroad and realize that you cannot ignore the cultural aspect if you want to work successfully together with other nationalities. You should not sacrifice your own personality and culture but need to get an understanding of the different country perspectives in front of you. Having said that, I still feel like I am German, but with a truly international touch!
JOST: What do you do to relax after a day at work?
Scherer: Having an interesting but not boring job plus a family, the time for relaxation during the week is somewhat limited, but I do try to go out skiing in the Swedish mountains or to the gym. Sometimes however it ends up with a good resolution for the day and is moved to the next.
JOST: What advice would you give young women on how to assert themselves in a management position in the agricultural industry?
Scherer: When working in Beijing, my German Managing Director said to me one time when presenting an enormous project plan: “It is all about execution”. That is in my head since then and I really believe that wonderful plans are not worth a lot if you don’t achieve your ultimate target that you set before. That time I walked away and only presented the final result in the end. This is important for a general way of working, but I think that this is particularly crucial also when wanting to work in a management position as a woman.
