Interviewee Name: Stefan Meister, Director,
Company Name: intercultures
Website: http://www.intercultures.de/
Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Stefan Meister: I’m an artistically inclined, sensitive person who operates in the field of training, coaching, consulting in the intercultural field. I’ve discovered my entrepreneurial spirit, and my competitive edge.
Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?
Stefan Meister: It is very diverse and completely depends on the objectives of the day. I have over 200 travel days each year, but at the same time, I work with a global team of about 100 experts, so there is usually some sort of consulting and training with the clients combined with a lot of virtual communication while I’m traveling. We also have a team at the back office that I need to develop.
I also have a private life so I communicate a lot privately as well. I write at least a poem a day and try to squeeze in some sporting activity.
Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
Stefan Meister: I only do what I believe in, and at a certain age you reach that stage. I also only do what I can support ethically. That really motivates me. I’m also motivated by building an organization that people really belong to and that’s very important for me.
Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
Stefan Meister: I would marry earlier. I would have gotten into business earlier. I founded my company rather late, maybe 10 years ago. I would be more radical in my decision-making. I was also a heavy smoker until 12 years ago, so I would definitely have given up smoking earlier.
Avil Beckford: What's the most important business or other discovery you've made in the past year?
Stefan Meister: In the business field it would be that I co-developed a product. I was always a service provider, a trainer, consultant, and coach, so nothing materialized and we have developed two assessment tools in the last couple of years, which went online last year and to me, that was an absolutely wonderful feeling that I could co-develop world-class products. It was wonderful!
Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?
Stefan Meister:
- The biggest challenge is myself. I need to find the right balance between work and play so I don’t burn out. Luckily I haven’t done that yet – sometimes I’m on the edge with what I do.
- General dependency on the world economy – we depend on that as consultants.
- There is fierce competition in our field, which customers don’t always distinguish degrees of quality. I find that a big challenge that quality isn’t easily distinguished.
Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?
Stefan Meister: We have the best crew of consultants in the field together, at least on the European level. We have a very deep commitment to quality in our processes, and this is something that consultants as well as customers feedback to us. We have a very holistic approach which means that we do not only look at training because if you look at training that’s what you try and do, but most of the trainers and consultants also have coaching skills and can switch between the interventions that are necessary for the clients. A deep employment of diversity as a guiding principle – I know for the US, that’s something that comes naturally – but for Europe, not necessarily in Berlin. In the office here we have five nationalities and we profit from that, and obviously diversity is not only national or ethnic diversity. We are able to develop and offer unique products.
Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?
Stefan Meister: In business, everything is relative, luckily I have not lost a company yet. The biggest challenge for me was the death of my father when I was 11. What I learned from that is that you can, at least partially, change yourself if the context is challenging you. I found that moment of being responsible as the only man in the household. I was a rather shy human being, and that really changed my life.
Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.
Stefan Meister: When I read the questions, I had to smile because they are very much American questions, if I may say so. I couldn’t say that there was one big break. I think any person that wants to operate with me or us on a deep level, that for me is a big break – that trust that’s being placed through love or wanting to collaborate and work together and share – that’s the biggest break that I can have.
Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?
Stefan Meister: For me, failure is a very American concept. Maybe it’s interesting for you that I give you this feedback, because failure to me means that there is success and there is failure. I don’t necessarily think in these categories, but I’m trying to juggle my way into the question. Probably one of my biggest failures was not to integrate very well on my first day in the US. When I was 16 or 17, I was in the corn deserts of Pennsylvania as a high school student. My neighbours were Amish. I lived in the US for three-and-a-half years but the first year as an exchange student was very tough for me, but what it did was planted in me the urge to explore intercultural dynamics at a deeper level, and it gave my life one of its major directions. It contributed to my life and the frustration that I had, was later channelled, and brought me into the intercultural field.
If I would have a first year outside of Germany, which was pure joy, I would not have pursued the issue as much as I did later on.
Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?
Stefan Meister: More than once I have had to separate from close professional allies due to professional reasons and identity challenges. That to me is always a big challenge because I’m a little bit unprofessional in that I grow attached to people who I work with, then it is often hard to separate, and that’s usually a tough decision. The person that I like or even love I need to let that person go.
Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?
Stefan Meister: Any sort of intercultural encounter shapes my life. I have lived 10 years outside my native Germany, and there have been many events that have helped to shape my life distinctly so I cannot distinguish that. And of course we return to the question of love, and any love, have hopefully changed my life. And the death of my father shaped my life.
Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?
Stefan Meister: I have always managed to remain authentic, and I always remain caring even if it’s a challenging global business environment, I’m always a caring person and I would always prefer relationships over money.
Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?
Stefan Meister: There have been several mentors whether they knew it or not, and they have helped me to grow and advance in various ways.
Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?
Stefan Meister: One core message that I picked up from Robert Dilts is that the map is not the territory.
Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?
Stefan Meister: The simplest advice is to always be true to yourself and to others.
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Further Reading
The Invisible Mentor Interviews Sunniva Heggertveit Aoudia
The Invisible Mentor Interviews Sunniva Heggertveit Aoudia Part Two
