leaders talk

Tanja Sternbauer, co-founder at the female factor

“There’s a lot that’s going to be thrown at you in your journey, and if you believe in what you’re doing and you’ve built resilience, the chances are higher that you’ll survive that.”

Getting personal in part 2 of our finale, Tanja Sternbauer, co-founder and co-CEO of the female factor, shares the ups and downs of creating a business from scratch. She reveals her favorite moments and fails and speaks on building a remote team. Tanja also goes in depth about being a co-founder and the importance of evolving relationships and working through difficulties to make the shared leadership model work. The episode highlights lessons learned through sharing leadership and things that can make the journey worth while.

Tanja Sternbauer, co-founder at the female factor

“Everyone told us: “There needs to be one who calls the shots and it’s not gonna work if it’s the two of you.” So everyone said “nope,” and we said “duh.”

In part 1 of our finale, Tanja Sternbauer, co-founder and co-CEO of the female factor, talks about the path to making female leaders more visible. She shares the reasons behind the creation of the female factor and the pros and cons of co-founding a company together. Tanja discusses the future generation of leaders and how the female factor seeks to foster them in their own team. She shares her vision of remote work culture and nurturing mental health in a space where the team is truly passionate about their mission and job.

Sandra Gott-Karlbauer, Managing Director at ÖBB Train Tech

“The team has to feel that you trust them. You grow when you delegate”

In this episode, Sandra Gott-Karlbauer, the Managing Director at ÖBB Train Tech, talks about the importance of empathy and managing complexity when it comes to leadership. She shares her biggest challenges in leadership positions and how she overcomes them, while also shedding light on ÖBB’s initiatives to reduce the gender leadership gap and the progress she sees.. Sandra sheds some light on her leadership style and emphasises the importance of delegation for both the leader and the team. She shares tips on how to retain employees and maintain a solid commitment to DEI in the workplace.

Anna Iarotska, Co-founder and CEO of Robo Wunderkind

“We develop durable skills because we believe that those skills would stay relevant for decades whereas lots of hard skills might get outdated”

In this episode, Anna Iarotska, the Co-founder & CEO of Robo Wunderkind, talks about her journey of building a global edtech company. She shares her superpower, which constantly helps her in an ever-changing world and market conditions. Anna also speaks about what inspired her to create an ed-tech company and ignited the spark of a female entrepreneur in her. The female leader outlines what she likes the most about generating a product for children, and if there are any differences between crafting a tech product for girls and boys.

Sandra Kolleth, Managing Director of Miele Austria, Slovenia & Croatia

“Passionate for people. Passionate for leading.”

In this episode, Sandra Kolleth, Managing Director of Miele Austria, Slovenia & Croatia, talks about her career path from Xerox to Miele. She describes how she developed her "passion for sales" vision and replaced it with a "passion for people" as the biggest element of the communication process. Sandra highlights the biggest challenge in her transition from B2B to B2B2C and B2C sales. Sandra also explains how she decided to accept Miele’s offer and switch companies, after working for Xerox for 23 years.

Christina Wilfinger, Managing Director of SAP in Austria

“You are not a leader until you create another leader.”

For the eighth episode of the leaders talk podcast, host Mahdis Gharaei is joined by Christina Wilfinger, the Managing Director of SAP Austria. Christina talks about how playing music as a child helped her discover not only her creative side, but also assists her in the tech industry now. She also shares her vision of leadership and points out how it’s different from management by metaphorically comparing these themes to playing football. Mahdis and Christina touch on the topic of parenting and work-life balance, and how one can draw energy for new projects.

Stefanie Ahammer, Country Director of Visa in Austria

“One thing we can start with as women, is being nicer to each other and to support each other. We need to change the pictures in our heads first. How can we change the picture in men’s heads if we don’t change ours first?” “I think as leaders, we are not only there for targets but to support, motivate and empower our employees.”

Maria Zesch, CEO of TAKKT

“everything we do we measure: are we good in getting up our revenues? Are we good at achieving our cash flow? So why not measure how many women we have on board positions?”

In this episode, Maria Zesch, the CEO of TAKKT - a large B2B retailer for business equipment, discusses her superpower as a female leader, and the importance of having a broad perspective when it comes to leadership and choosing your team. She shares more about the decision of changing careers at the age of 48 and how the business scene in Austria looks like for mothers who also want to pursue a career.

Nina Zimmermann, CEO Kununu

“The media industry has the responsibility to showcase female role models. They have a tremendous responsibility and there is often a blind spot. We need to be mindful of mental health and support people to understand when to drop off because flexibility comes at a price. It comes with the fact that you’re always available.”

In this episode, Nina Zimmerman, CEO of Kununu reveals her superpower, her personal experiences becoming a CEO, both as a woman and a person of colour and the gamechangers there have been for her in her career. Nina shares her insights on the visibility of female leaders and the portrayal of them in the media and what more can be done to shine the spotlight on successful women. She reveals the most valuable leadership traits, including transparency, the ability to handle the truth and treating criticism and feedback as a gift rather than something to be taken personally.

Dr. Sabine Herlitschka, CEO Infineon

“diversity is so important, but it's never easy - you have to work for diversity - by taking the time to go through this process, this makes us much fitter as a team and is a competitive advantage./ Diversity is not a women's topic. Diversity in all dimensions is an issue for us as a society.”

Christiane Noll, Managing Director Avanade

“diversity is not only women and men / stay authentic and stay as you are and not as you think others should expect you to be”

Christiane Noll, managing director of Avanade in Austria, shares why it is important for people to come first in every business, her perspective on the diversity aspect in teams and the flexibility in her leadership style. Going further, she discusses the progress regarding the number of females on executive level roles in Europe and DACH area, the role mentoring and networking played in her success and the reasons behind choosing to get into the tech industry.

Solveig Menard-Galli, COO & board member Wienerberger

“stay curious, stay open to opportunities, and take advantage of them.”

Solveig Menard-Galli, COO & board member at Wienerberger, shares why listening to her team and to the market is one of the most important aspects of leadership, and why it is important to not rush too fast to decisions but instead take the time needed. She discusses diversity and business, and how we are going through a huge transformation of our society as a whole. Solveig also shares her experiences with changing industries as well as the challenges she has faced while working abroad - and going back home - both personally and professionally.

Christine Antlanger-Winter, Country Director Google Austria

“Diversity is something that Google supports - with a lot of effort and a lot of impact - it’s also about the inclusivity around it - it's one thing to bring diverse talent in, and another thing to create a culture where everyone is heard and can thrive”