“If you’re passionate about your goals and your work and are dedicated to what you’re doing, you’ll be really good at it.”

In our Diversity@NORMA series, we present the diversity of employees who work for NORMA Group. In 2021, the focus of the series is on female employees at NORMA Group. Female staff members from various departments and countries talk about their professional and personal experiences and provide insights into their wishes for the future.

Annette Stieve is CFO of NORMA Group. In this interview, she talks about her professional career and her view of women in the workplace.

Mrs. Stieve, Do you have any professional role models?

I have spent most of my work life in an all-male domain. The first few years had a special effect on me. When I took over my first department management position, I was one of the first female managers in the company. Right from the start, I was very lucky to have great male mentors, who always encouraged and motivated me. They gave me confidence and the backing I needed. Thanks to this backing, I was able to try things out for myself and was allowed to make mistakes. This gave me the chance to develop the necessary self-confidence and discover my strengths. The working relationships with my male colleagues were always extremely respectful and positive. They were characterized by a sense of “togetherness.” Looking back, I can say it was crucial that I was willing to catch all the balls that were tossed my way. I was always open to new things and pursued my goals with great passion.

Women still ask themselves whether they are qualified for a new task much more often than men. This is usually not just a question of qualifications, but also of role models. We need women and men who have successfully made it into leadership positions and have courageously and confidently overcome all obstacles in the course of their careers. Precisely those women and men who have not let themselves be defeated and prove every day anew that both genders are capable of leading companies. In companies that practice openness, it will always be possible for women to look for these types of mentors and role models.

What has changed about our society during your professional career?

When I graduated from high school, it wasn’t yet a matter of course that women were allowed to study. I was fortunate to have parents who always supported me on my way and even back then were of the opinion that “education is everything – no one can take that away from you.” Today, more young women study than ever before and countless doors are open to them.

Much has also changed in terms of reconciling work and family life. The self-image and assignment of roles in families are changing. It has long since ceased to be only the women who look after the children and the household. In Germany, we still lag behind other countries in this regard, however. I notice that women here often still have to justify their decision to have children and a career at the same time. That definitely needs to change. Women should not have to have a guilty conscience when they plan to pursue both a family and a career. In fact, the opposite is true. Self-confident and independent women can be wonderful role models for their children. And this is precisely where companies come in because they can make a decisive contribution to making it even easier to reconcile family and career, through flexible working models and mobile working, for example.

What do you wish for the future?

I wish that women and men would dare to think openly and at the same time treat each other fairly. Yes, women and men are different, and that’s a good thing. We manage and maintain our networks differently than our male counterparts. Together, however, we complement each other perfectly because diversity is crucial in the end. Diversity can enrich a team and make it successful. I myself have always made a point of setting up mixed teams. This will remain an important matter for me personally in the future. If we all take advantage of each other’s strengths, we will have much more multi-faceted power when we work together.

Mrs. Stieve, Do you have any advice for women in general?

Yes, be courageous and self-confident, enjoy trying things out. Don’t ask yourself too often whether you can master a new task, but be curious about everything new and talk about your successes. And very importantly: Always be passionate about everything you do. If you’re passionate about your goals and your work and are dedicated to what you’re doing, you’ll be really good at it!