Should you plan your career—or stay open to unexpected turns?

BUILDING A CAREER INSTEAD OF PLANNING IT What's this?"Do you think it's better to plan out your career,or to keep yourself open to unexpected twists?" Yes, another interesting question.

I don't work any more.I'm at that stage in life where people call me a "pensioner" or a "retiree." I have already left my career behind. And when I look back,I have to admit that the paths I've ended up taking were impossible to plan.

I made decisions that, at times, went against my intuition,or grew out of inner worries,and I often chose to get involved in situations that ended up taking me further.

And then, I started studying business administration and international management, in London and in Reutlingen.

I did internships at companies that manufactured buses,and also with a company that produces sporting goods called New Balance, in England.

Thanks to that internship with New Balance in England,right after finishing,I joined a sporting goods supplier in Germany.

There I worked in export,and soon I was put in charge of a small team,and of many international markets as well.

I spent three years travelling intensively all over the world.

I was just 25 years old then, but I was already in a relationship with my now-wife, and at some point we wanted to start a family.

When it was official that our child was on the way, my wife said,"It's not convenient for you to spend six weeks a year in Asia.

I'd like you to be more at home." And that was the trigger that made me say: "Now I need to find another field of work that doesn't involve travelling all the time,like in export." That's how, through an advertisement,I came across a bus manufacturer, Neoplan,which I knew from an internship. There, at the age of 28,I became the managing director of their Austrian branch.

On one hand, it was a calm sector. On the other hand, of course,it was exciting work with far more business responsibility,and relatively less staff responsibility since the team was very small. But I still had to make a lot of decisions.

I spent three years there in Austria,and then, when the management changed,I returned to Germany in 1991.

There, I took on an executive role in Germany's sales department,while still managing the Austrian one remotely.

And that's why Kompass has been so important to me, because in that company, where I worked from age 28 to 35,I had to learn the importance of having a long-term perspective in the business, or for the entrepreneur to have it.

In this case, unfortunately, there was a tragic death.

The managing director, who was a family member,died in an accident, and for me, that was the reason to say,"I don't see a future here. This company won't survive.

Now I need to find out where to go next." After working in two medium-sized family businesses,I first came into contact with the corporation Volvo Trucks in 1995 in Gothenburg. And there, in Germany,I worked in sales management for five years.

Incredibly stimulating The Swedes really drove me through their management programs,since it's always important to continue learning.

Then, at some point, I connected with Daimler's headquarters and transferred there in 2000.

First, I worked in Germany for Setra.And seven years later, there was another change.

And that's something I can honestly say, looking back,"I've never stayed in a job for very long, five or seven years at most." Then the routine would set in and I wanted to to do something new: I needed a new challenge.

During my last job at Daimler, that challenge came up from the technological transformation of the bus propulsion system,from diesel vehicles to the electric ones.

The change was so significant that it really became a new challenge for me and everyone around me at work.

It was a very exciting period.