Success in the job: That's how I did it!
The actress: "In the end it only matters how well you did something"
Photo: Robert Recker
Sunnyi Melles, 49, actress at the Bavarian State Theater in Munich
I always say that I became an actress before I came up with the idea. My mother said then: You have to go to the best school - that was with Otto Falckenberg in Munich. Today I realize how important it was for my mother to let me go that way. Without pressure or power. She sent me away lovingly. I have a high demand on me and I wish that from others. I have never returned a piece, I never got off. Saving something does not pay off. In the end it just counts how well you could reach your goal. I owe this power to my mother. And I would be overjoyed if I could pass this on to my children as well.
The writer: "The hardest decision of my life"
Photo: Robert Brembeck / randomhouse
Charlotte Link, 44, writer in Wiesbaden
Actually it was always clear: I am studying law! Like my father, that suits me. Besides, I'm the guy who prefers to "play safe". My personal laws are tough. Sometimes I want a lesser claim on myself, but that passion for writing was there as well. When I was 23, I ran from the lecture hall to my desk because, after my first book, I already had a framework contract with my publisher. But in the long run I could not drive double track, I had to decide. To become a writer like my mother was the hardest decision of my life. And I thank my parents, who reluctantly relinquished my self-responsibility. Today I can not imagine another job anymore. However, the fear of failing does not diminish from book to book: the success did not fall into my lap - so he could leave me at any time.
The fund manager: "Bank teaching instead of veterinarian - that was right"
Alexandra Hartmann, 40, fund manager Fidelity Germany in Kronberg
I was not good at math - and today numbers are part of my life. I wanted to become a veterinarian, but I come from a conservative house: As long as you put your feet under our table, you're doing a lesson. A bank apprenticeship, to be exact. Today I say, that was right. Then I flew to Hong Kong with my application folder and was successful. I would post it by accident that Asia was considered forward-looking at the time. But that's why this overseas station was so important to my career as a fund manager.
The founder of a PR agency: "I am very happy to host"
Isa Countess von Hardenberg, founder and shareholder of the event and PR agency Hardenberg Concept GmbH in Berlin
I grew up in a very open parents' house where guests played a big role. My parents gave me the pleasure and positive interest in people. The founding of my company was more of a coincidence when I started my own business as a teacher at the end of 40. Actually, I intended to enjoy life as a sevenfold grandmother. , , But then my husband went professionally from Hamburg to Berlin. For the joy of organizing and networking I helped friends to organize their company and to invite suitable guests for one or the other event. More of joke I have one day printed business cards and also began to officially organize Soireen and Kunstdiners. That quickly got around. That's how a passion - without me ever having planned it - turned into a small company, which is now constantly expanding. Private or professional, basically the joy of bringing the right people together was and is the focus.
The hotel director: "Without diligence and discipline went nothing"
Photo: Anja Wechsler
Innegrit Volkhardt, 42, managing general partner of the hotel "Bayerischer Hof" in Munich
My dad ran our third generation hotel and my mother also ran fashion stores. I grew up with an easy mind, even if I sniffed the air of the hotel and thus noticed the special rhythms and structures of the business. Even with all the glamor that surrounds me every day, I mean, to have remained very down to earth. The job is in harmony with life, almost 365 days a year. Fortunately, I have a partner who supports me in the company and thus understands my everyday life. I have deliberately decided against children: I know myself, I am perfected and would be dissatisfied with the feeling that I could not sufficiently devote myself to my child because of my job.
The Stasi commissioner: "I have always done what convinces me"
Photo: The court photographers
Marianne Birthler, 60, Federal Commissioner for Stasi Records, Berlin
I am a woman without careful career planning. And that is not only based on the limited conditions at that time in the GDR. I always did what convinced me. My mother has educated me to be an interested and political person. Models like teachers or pastors helped me to motivate myself: I wanted to impress them. Because of my German teacher, I wanted to study German studies, but then became a church assistant and youth adviser before I went into politics. Sure, there was some "script" for all of that, but I did not know that. I realized that it works to trust me and stay awake.
The horse trainer: "A book was the mark of fate"
Andrea Kutsch, 40, horse trainer and owner of the Andrea Kutsch Academy in Bad Saarow
A profession with horses? Not to do with my parents: you do not end up in a stable! So the horses remained my hobby. First of all, I founded a market research institute and, in addition, retrained racehorses to polo horses with my then partner. The violence with which the animals are treated has motivated me to engage with it. But then I read the book by Monty Roberts. , , Since then, I knew that I wanted to spread his thoughts of non-violent handling of horses in the world. A twist of fate. Consistent result: the opening of my academy in Germany to train more ambassadors - against violence against humans and horses. There has never been a horse born with a problem and no child; it is the person who educates them.
The managing director of the employers' association: "High performance needs balance"
Heike Maria Kunstmann, 41, Managing Director of the employers' association Gesamtmetall in Berlin
Doing well without biting me - that's how I always thought, the right thing will happen. After studying business administration, I was in a company for ten years. From Assistant to Managing Director to Sales and Human Resources. In the association, I am now almost three years. What I've always been convinced of: high performance is only possible in a balance. I do not have a problem with making the night workday in a pay round, but in between I have to get out and run through the park.
