April 15, 2025 • 25 mins
In our conversation, Roland Elter shares powerful insights from his journey:
✨ "People are individuals—there’s no one-size-fits-all approach."
✨ "No vision = no success." People need to understand their purpose.
We explore the value of building strong habits. For Roland, that means staying curious and actively engaging with others.
He also reminds us that effective communication starts with listening and truly understanding the other side and being relevant to your audience.
And don’t miss his thoughtful advice to his younger self—practical, grounded, and worth hearing.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Kong (00:02):
Greeting.
I'm David, the founder andprinciple of its personal
stories.
We are a nonprofit organizationdedicated to empowering personal
success.
Today.
We are delighted and welcomeRoland Elta.
He is the Chief CommercialOfficer and managing director of
sales marketing at MaritimeHotels in Germany.
(00:22):
That's a delight to welcome you,Roland.
Roland Elter (00:26):
Hi, David.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me here.
David Kong (00:29):
You're welcome.
I followed your career journeyfor a while.
You spent 20 some years in thisindustry and you've worked for
some very well known hotelcompanies.
It's indeed a very interestingjourney.
Would you mind to share somehighlights and describe some of
the factors that contributed toyour success?
Roland Elter (00:48):
It sounds a little bit old school maybe.
I just always try to do the bestin my job.
I can from this things appeared.
People came over and asked me,Hey Roland, you are the one.
We need to do this and this.
Why don't you come over?
Extra mile was never a problem.
Looking back, I was part ofrebranding team when my former
employer, NHO, TES took over abig German company and it was an
(01:10):
effort to bring a new brand intoa totally new market.
There was another veryremarkable situation.
I was in this team when webrought two different hotel
companies, one from Russia andone from Europe to make a
pan-European company out ofthat.
That was a restructuringprocess.
The third thing was my currentrole to restructure the whole
commercial.
Operations to organize thetransformation to a more digital
(01:34):
setup.
That was great andunfortunately, resources.
We went through the Covid crisisquite well, had all these
problems somehow solved on ourstill family owned company.
That was something.
So that's probably the highlightI can mention.
David Kong (01:50):
That's not one.
No wonder you've done so well.
You have some amazingexperiences restructuring,
rebranding.
Overcoming severe challengeslike that, it's no wonder you've
done very well.
Now, given all that experience,what is the most important
lesson that you've learned onyour journey?
Roland Elter (02:09):
People are very individual and it is not one
size fits all.
What I took with me over theyears is when you want to build
great teams to achieve biggoals, you need to be very
detailed and understand who iswith you there.
There's a second thing I tookwith me.
No vision, no success.
People need to know what they'reworking for and what is a goal.
(02:30):
If you don't have an idea,people are not going to follow.
That is probably the most veryimportant.
David Kong (02:35):
Yeah, so true.
People have individual needs andas leaders, we need to recognize
them.
But like what you said aboutvision, because people need to
come to work with a purpose andknow what they're supposed to
accomplish.
Thanks for sharing that.
And along the same lines, whatis the best advice that you've
ever received?
Roland Elter (02:56):
I was honored to work with quite a lot of good
people and very successfulpeople.
Not in this industry only, butin other industries as well.
There was, there was one thing Ireally like, and this is lets
the client have the freedom tochoose, and that's what I got
from a TU tour from the IsicBusiness School in Spain.
Javier always said, well, andthe client has the freedom to
choose.
That is one very importantthing.
(03:17):
And the second one was my fathergiving me, and he said, Hey boy.
Don't give promises.
Don't give promises you can'tkeep on Europe.
That is always in my mind when,uh, I have to make decisions
every day and I have to givesolutions.
I have to give ideas.
I need to give perspectives andall this kind of stuff, but I
always have to be very careful.
(03:38):
We need to be able to reach whatwe like to do here, right?
David Kong (03:42):
That is such good advice, especially like the
advice that your father gave.
Don't over promise.
People don't likedisappointments.
I like that.
Now you've experienced a lot ofchallenges and disappointments
in your career journey.
What is the general approach tofacing challenges and how do you
overcome disappointment?
Roland Elter (04:02):
Very honestly speaking, that's very hard for
me.
I, I struggled with setbacksand, uh, it was disappointments.
That is, for me, reallychallenging my approach is
trying to find a view on thischallenge to understand what
happened here, to understandwhere I made something wrong or
what kind of influence was thereason for this in order to not
(04:23):
do one mistake two times, right?
And so from there to, to comeback in a mode, what is solution
orientated?
And again, trying to make.
Out of these kind of opportunityto grow.
But that is very hard for me.
It's very hard because I have toovercome my emotional situation
here.
But yeah.
(04:44):
I think mindset is important,and that's where it starts and
where it ends.
When something is happening andyou have a setback and you are
very disappointed, I need totake a breath and try to find
the settings, try to find aperspective from where I can
look on it, and hopefully findand analyze so that things are
not happening The second time.
It's That's a little bit, yeah.
David Kong (05:04):
It so true, right?
Especially when you're facingchallenges and disappointments.
It's difficult not to be angryor say, why?
Why is it me and why do I haveto deal with this?
It's very natural, but youradvice about staying calm and
looking at the situation inanalytical way is very good
(05:25):
advice.
Thank you.
Now a lot of companies andindividuals have guiding
principles that help them withdecision making.
Curious, do you have a personalmantra, and if so, what if
Roland Elter (05:45):
I would probably say be yourself and just do it.
Don't wait for others.
You have to take decision.
No one is doing your job.
No one is helping you to bewhere you are.
You have to find that out, andyou have to be able and capable
to do things, to execute things.
Just do it.
That is something what alwayscomes up.
Yeah,
David Kong (06:05):
that's good.
Yourself.
Now, you said earlier that youbelieve in working hard and
doing a good job.
You've done very well because ofthat, because people have
recognized.
Achievements and have given younew opportunities.
But a lot of people find itdifficult, especially in big
(06:26):
organizations, to be noticed andand recognized for their good
work.
What is your advice onself-advocacy?
Because it's a very difficultthing to do, want to promote
yourself, but you don't wannaseem ful, but at the same time,
you wanna make known yourachievements.
So what is your advice onself-efficacy?
(06:50):
It is very difficult.
Roland Elter (06:51):
Generally speaking, the right answer is
probably you have to quantifyand display everything you do,
but you have to have an audiencefor it.
And then there's always theserisk if you go everywhere and
say, oh, how great I am, theseshow off, these type of thing.
Nobody wants to see that myrecommendation or my personal
experience was.
(07:12):
I try to find sounding boards toreflect things I want to do to
let other people be involved andsay, yeah, he's asking me for my
opinion.
And so I understand the purpose.
And so people are more aiming tofollow you, what you are doing,
and when you're successful youcan go back and say, you
remember I was asking you thisin this, and involved in the
(07:34):
plans I had.
So the concept was shared.
I probably took the one or theother recommendation from you.
So that makes sure that thesepeople are interested in what's
going, coming out of it.
And difficult is when you do it.
When you do it on your level, itwon't help these people up above
you needs to understand, right?
If you want to be identified,those people needs to have it.
(07:58):
That is also to, I don't wannasay you have to do an elevator
pitch every time you seesomeone, but uh, just to make
sure the one of the other headof department or C level
executive or whatever you feel,oh, mayor, I can ask you.
I just want to be reflected onthis, and so on.
People understands what you aredoing and then they're
interested what, what comes outof it.
So that's a little bit myexperience.
(08:19):
I did it from the very firstbeginning, not on purpose.
It was just a part of myself,and people came up to me from
the C level or from the boardand say, Hey.
What happened with this and thiswhat you told, right?
And so will it help to berecognized?
And then of course you need tobe prepared and new show results
and measure results, KPIs,right?
(08:40):
And that helps from my point ofview.
But you need to have a stage,need to let the people know what
are you aiming for, and thenafterwards telling them you
remember, now it's you.
That is a success, was verygreat.
David Kong (08:51):
I love that.
That is so smart.
You ask for advice from moresenior position people, and then
you inform them of the resultsbecause they are engaged now.
They gave you advice.
Of course, they want to knowwhat happened.
Very smart.
I love that.
Now a different subject.
(09:11):
I believe that good leaders havegood habits and some people are
in a continuous learning mode,and some people think win-win,
and some people believe in beingproactive.
What are some of your habits
Roland Elter (09:25):
in general?
I would say I'm always curious.
I want to improve things.
I, I love to get insights fromother people in this business,
from different parties tounderstand, okay, what they're
working on.
I'm so curious.
And out of this, and that isprobably, if you would ask my
team here, my direct reporters,they always shake their heads
(09:45):
that, oh God, Roland is comingup again because I'm trying to
give impulses, but I want tochallenge people to think about
it.
That is a typical habit for me.
I'm looking everywhere.
I get my ideas.
I need to be creative here, andthen out of the creation.
I love to give these inputs tomy people.
Then I challenge them to think,and we have a very open feedback
culture here in the company.
(10:07):
My direct reporter appreciatebecause we brought up quite a
lot of good things here in thiscompany.
That is probably the verytypical habits.
I always looking for somethingnew.
David Kong (10:18):
That's great to have it, to be curious and ask
questions and involve a lot ofpeople.
That's a great thing to do,
Roland Elter (10:26):
but it creates workload at the same time and so
not everybody is happy about it.
David Kong (10:31):
Of course.
Now, you alluded to thisearlier, you said you work for
some amazing leaders.
What are some of the mostadmired leadership traits that
you've from them?
Roland Elter (10:44):
First of all, we were very different to each
other.
So lucky me.
I met so many great people.
They have a couple of things incommon, but they were so
individually and I would say Imet admire leaders most who are
visionary and inspiring to me,who were able to bring
potential, what I have never notseen before out of me.
(11:04):
And uh, that is one thing what Ireally admire.
And the second thing is myformer bosses who were leading
by example, I love this.
When I started here, I.
I had from my diary reporters,they gave me a coffee mug.
Unfortunately I don't have ithere.
There was a kind of thingstated, seven rules being a
boss.
And that was also these kind ofleading by example things, doing
(11:25):
these extra mile and listen andall this kind of stuff.
That is what I think is veryimportant.
Be there, be reachable for thesepeople.
And I worked for who, I reallyhave this visionary, this
inspiring thing, and.
Let me say enabled my potentialand I was motivated to do, not
only because I wanted to followsomething, but also they were
(11:46):
giving a very good example to mehow they can work.
So that is thing that issomething I really admire most.
David Kong (11:53):
I totally agree with you.
These two happen to be myfavorite leadership traits.
One is the ability to formulatea vision and to communicate it
in such a way that it'spowerful, it's finding it's
inspirational.
I like that very much.
The second one is about leadingby example.
Totally agree with you.
The whole company takes afteryou the way that you model
(12:17):
yourself.
It's very powerful.
Related to that question.
When you interview high levelcandidates, what are the
qualities
Roland Elter (12:27):
that you look for?
First of all, before I go toqualities and then competence
and skills and this kind ofstuff, I first of all try to
verify if the person I'm talkingto really understood what we are
aiming for by trying to give anoverview where we are and where
we want to be.
In between this person plays acertain role, right?
(12:49):
And to understand the goal, Ithink it's the most important.
Leadership skills are veryimportant.
As I just mentioned.
You have to be someone who canlead by example, who does not
take something special only forhim.
The other very important thingis how to communicate in, in
different directions, and I tryto challenge those people as
well.
I'm trying to give also somescenarios so when someone needs
(13:12):
to be very, uh, confident.
With what he knows and what hecan do.
And then what I really much likein terms of qualities I'm
looking for is the ability touse different methodologies
because people are different.
Business scenarios aredifferent.
We are challenged with so manydifferent cases every day.
You need to be able to adapt tothe situations and you need to
(13:33):
have a variety of methodologiesin your pocket, and you need to
know, okay, when I can use whichone to achieve my goal, that is
probably, I'm looking at.
David Kong (13:43):
That last point is so true.
We live in a fast changing worldand being flexible and having
all the tools, it's important.
Now let's talk about work lifeharmony.
You have a very demanding joband I was curious as to how you
balance the needs at work versusyour personal life.
Roland Elter (14:04):
That is a very good question.
That is sometimes challenging,but lucky me, I have a wonderful
family and I'm grateful for myfamily.
I have a daughter and my wife issupporting me.
It's great and she helps me whenit is getting to Disbalanced.
(14:27):
She helps me to find thesefamily only time slots, right
when it really comes to thesituation that my head seems to
be overloaded.
I'm a simple person.
I just go out walking in nature,that's what I do.
I switch off my phone, be anafternoon away, or on the
weekend.
In former days, I used to playgolf, but I don't have the time
(14:47):
for it, so I, I really enjoybeing out in nature for half an
hour or whatever.
I don't have a dog or somethinglike this.
It's just me.
So that is how I try to balanceit out.
I'm happy that I have someone athome who sometimes say, Hey, my
friend.
Be careful.
We need to find the opportunityfor us here, and that's where
(15:07):
I'm very thankful for
David Kong (15:09):
having a supportive understanding.
Family is so important to ourcareer, and I like that you
always take some time toyourself and walk in the park or
in the forest over there.
It's a good thing to do.
We all need some quiet time.
I've seen you in action.
You are very thoughtful and wellspoken.
(15:31):
Would you mind to share youradvice on how we can improve our
communications skills
Roland Elter (15:39):
in German?
Maybe in English.
Obviously I'm not a nativespeaker and sometimes I'm
challenging with my English, butgeneral speaking, the better you
listen.
Celeste, you need to say that issomething I was thought, but
also very good.
Friend and and mentor of minewho unfortunately passed away a
couple of weeks ago, but healways said, listen, if you want
(16:01):
to be a good sales person, youwould first of all need to learn
to listen before you starttalking.
I do think it's important tounderstand in which situation
I'm talking to, what kind ofperson and what is he.
There's a quite interestingconcept, what Harvard concept,
we want to get a win-winsituation.
There a little bit described howyou have to communicate with
each other and how you have tolisten to understand.
(16:22):
I think that is a very importantthing because there you have a
chance when you understand this,to understand how you have to
address your topics, how youneed to behave with this person
or with the audience in front ofyou, right?
And I think the most importantthing is you want that the
consignee of your messageunderstand the message, right?
So it means be polite.
(16:47):
Show respect.
Listen to people, understandwho's in front of you.
And it doesn't matter if you'retalking to each other or you are
writing to each other, if you doa text message or whatever,
people like and respectful, thatis the number one.
Right?
And that is something I wouldrecommend to everybody out
there.
David Kong (17:04):
Yeah, I totally agree with you.
Communication scales, it's notjust about talking, it's about
listening.
I think the vast majority ofpeople.
Get so busy talking, they feltto listen.
And one of the seven habits ofhighly effective people is seek
first to understand whichinvolves active listening.
(17:25):
Very good advice.
Thank you.
Now, some people say yournetwork is your network worth,
and it certainly is true withyou.
You have done very well becauseof your network.
Can you advise us on networking?
Roland Elter (17:41):
Yeah.
And first of all, I thinknetwork is not only what you
have on social media, right?
That maybe needs to be takeninto consideration here.
I have the feeling that nowadaysnetwork is only happening
online.
I met quite a lot of people.
I.
For those I met, it is not thatI need to call them every week
or left a message on regularbasis or whatever.
(18:04):
No, I know who they are, whatthey did when we met, and at a
certain moment when they areapproaching me or asking me for
something, I'm here and happy tohelp.
Sometimes I have to say nobecause I have nothing to give.
I have no additional value forthose people, but.
If I have, I'm happy to help.
(18:24):
And from my point of view, mynetwork is not there to bring me
my business or to give me mybusiness.
My network is there to help mein situations.
Sounding board is a bullet pointhere.
Reflections is a bullet point.
Sometimes I need to have anadvice so I know who I can talk
to in certain circumstances.
(18:45):
That is my interpretation ofnetwork, but what you want to
take out of it, you need to beprepared to put it in as well,
right?
That is how a network is workingand, and that is somehow, by the
way, how I get my jobs.
I never applied for a job,honestly speaking.
In the network, people weretalking about me and I was
invited to get to know the oneor the other project or
(19:09):
opportunity, and I was invitedfor talks.
Right?
Or people were recommending mebecause they know me because we
got to know each other on anevent or somewhere, and the
people talk with them, Hey, thisguy.
He's a smart one.
He was respectful and polite andhe had some very good answers
and ideas on certain things.
And I looked at him, he had a, Idon't know what kind of track
record, so this is the personyou should talk to.
(19:30):
So network helps to getrecommendations.
Networks help to get feedbacks.
Network does not automaticallymean they bring you business.
And I think at least that's theway I try to handle my network.
And uh, for me that is a way todo it.
I don't know.
How other people do that.
Sometimes I'm approached andpeople say, oh, can you do me
(19:51):
this favor?
And I say, it's not about doingfavors.
I'm working in hospitalityindustry.
People calling me up and say,Hey, I want to have special
prices on accommodationsomewhere.
And I say, Hey, wow, I earningmy money with it.
What do you think I could dohere?
That is not the idea.
The idea is, can we help eachother in our.
Growth in our building, ourmindset.
(20:13):
Can you give me an advice beforeI step somewhere into a
situation where I look like adumb person or whatever, that
that is my interpretation ofnetwork.
And for me, when you handle itlike this, then it could be a
net worth because you aregetting better.
That's a little bit my idea.
That's how I elaborate it.
David Kong (20:33):
I agree with you.
The network is only your networth if you are not
transactional, if you're nottrying to sell something or
trying to get something out ofrelationship, but rather it's
helping one another.
I like that very much.
Yeah.
Roland Elter (20:50):
Excuse me.
Maybe I can edit this.
Imagine someone is in asituation and there could be,
they have the businessopportunity.
You said, I can't do it.
It's not my business, but I knowsomeone and I really much like
him and I know it's a reliableperson.
It's a trust person and so on.
And I just match those peopletogether and when they find a
(21:11):
way, find a solution to makebusiness with each other.
Wonderful.
I.
That's something I wanted toadd.
Sorry I was interrupting.
David Kong (21:17):
No, you're absolutely right.
In fact, chip Conley, who's verywell known in the industry here,
he also said the same thing.
He said he likes to bring peopletogether where they can help one
another.
So we're tapping into ournetwork to help.
As well.
Now we're coming to the end ofthe end interview.
I have two more questions foryou.
(21:37):
Given all that you have learnedand experienced, what is the
advice that you would give toyour younger self?
Roland Elter (21:48):
That is a good question.
My younger one, I would probablysay never stop learning because
I was, I.
I thought too early.
I'm already prepared and done togo out and conquer the world.
Nowadays, I would say take moretime.
Never stop learning and listento people with experience.
(22:12):
Listen to people withexperiences.
They are not trying to show offand tell you.
They know everything better.
They just have experience.
You can make an advantage out ofit to understand what they went
through.
And I probably would say,Roland, you often have to hold
on, you are temper.
But when I was younger, I wassometimes with a big temper.
(22:34):
And nowadays I would say, Hey,that is important that you have
this.
You have to hold temper.
It is always good to berespectful to each other and
don't get out of you.
This is not good.
And probably the next, or thelast thing I will tell myself,
my younger self is trust in you.
Trust in you.
David Kong (22:55):
So true, especially the last one, trust in you.
It cannot be overstated.
'cause a lot of times we secondguess ourselves, our intuition
actually is something that wecan always rely on.
Thanks for sharing that advice.
Our show is aboutself-empowerment.
So would you mind to give yourfinal advice on
(23:16):
self-empowerment?
Roland Elter (23:19):
Uh, we have to make decisions,
David Kong (23:21):
right?
Roland Elter (23:22):
It is something what belongs to our daily work.
We have to do it.
We shouldn't be afraid of it.
But I think it would be good,first of all to understand
yourself.
Who are you?
When you look into the mirror,what do you see?
Uh, what do you want to see, butunderstand?
What do you see?
(23:42):
That is a kind of starting pointagain for me from there.
Everything starts yourambitions, your goals, the way
how life should treat you,right?
That starts from there andbelieve in yourself, accept you
matter.
It's you to initiate.
It's you to do the things.
(24:04):
It is you who can make adifference.
You don't have to wait for anyother, you have to do it on your
own and believe in you, helpothers along the way and.
Karma is with you.
David Kong (24:15):
I love that because I've been long a believer that
we are the masters of our owndestiny.
It's within our control, so weneed to believe in ourselves.
Thank you so much for sharingyour wisdom with us today,
Roland.
I know it's late over there inGermany and I appreciate you
giving us the time.
Roland Elter (24:37):
David, thank you very much for having me.
It was
David Kong (24:39):
well,
Roland Elter (24:40):
time was flying.
So again, thanks for having meand all the best.
David Kong (24:45):
Oh, thank you Roland.
And for the audience that tunein, I appreciate your taking the
time to join us today.
And if you like this interview,I hope you would join us on our
website, get personalstories.com.
We hope to see you there.
Thank you.
Greeting.
I'm David, the founder andprinciple of its personal
stories.
We are a nonprofit organizationdedicated to empowering personal
success.
Today.
We are delighted and welcomeRoland Elta.
He is the Chief CommercialOfficer and managing director of
sales marketing at MaritimeHotels in Germany.
(00:22):
That's a delight to welcome you,Roland.
Roland Elter (00:26):
Hi, David.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me here.
David Kong (00:29):
You're welcome.
I followed your career journeyfor a while.
You spent 20 some years in thisindustry and you've worked for
some very well known hotelcompanies.
It's indeed a very interestingjourney.
Would you mind to share somehighlights and describe some of
the factors that contributed toyour success?
Roland Elter (00:48):
It sounds a little bit old school maybe.
I just always try to do the bestin my job.
I can from this things appeared.
People came over and asked me,Hey Roland, you are the one.
We need to do this and this.
Why don't you come over?
Extra mile was never a problem.
Looking back, I was part ofrebranding team when my former
employer, NHO, TES took over abig German company and it was an
(01:10):
effort to bring a new brand intoa totally new market.
There was another veryremarkable situation.
I was in this team when webrought two different hotel
companies, one from Russia andone from Europe to make a
pan-European company out ofthat.
That was a restructuringprocess.
The third thing was my currentrole to restructure the whole
commercial.
Operations to organize thetransformation to a more digital
(01:34):
setup.
That was great andunfortunately, resources.
We went through the Covid crisisquite well, had all these
problems somehow solved on ourstill family owned company.
That was something.
So that's probably the highlightI can mention.
David Kong (01:50):
That's not one.
No wonder you've done so well.
You have some amazingexperiences restructuring,
rebranding.
Overcoming severe challengeslike that, it's no wonder you've
done very well.
Now, given all that experience,what is the most important
lesson that you've learned onyour journey?
Roland Elter (02:09):
People are very individual and it is not one
size fits all.
What I took with me over theyears is when you want to build
great teams to achieve biggoals, you need to be very
detailed and understand who iswith you there.
There's a second thing I tookwith me.
No vision, no success.
People need to know what they'reworking for and what is a goal.
(02:30):
If you don't have an idea,people are not going to follow.
That is probably the most veryimportant.
David Kong (02:35):
Yeah, so true.
People have individual needs andas leaders, we need to recognize
them.
But like what you said aboutvision, because people need to
come to work with a purpose andknow what they're supposed to
accomplish.
Thanks for sharing that.
And along the same lines, whatis the best advice that you've
ever received?
Roland Elter (02:56):
I was honored to work with quite a lot of good
people and very successfulpeople.
Not in this industry only, butin other industries as well.
There was, there was one thing Ireally like, and this is lets
the client have the freedom tochoose, and that's what I got
from a TU tour from the IsicBusiness School in Spain.
Javier always said, well, andthe client has the freedom to
choose.
That is one very importantthing.
(03:17):
And the second one was my fathergiving me, and he said, Hey boy.
Don't give promises.
Don't give promises you can'tkeep on Europe.
That is always in my mind when,uh, I have to make decisions
every day and I have to givesolutions.
I have to give ideas.
I need to give perspectives andall this kind of stuff, but I
always have to be very careful.
(03:38):
We need to be able to reach whatwe like to do here, right?
David Kong (03:42):
That is such good advice, especially like the
advice that your father gave.
Don't over promise.
People don't likedisappointments.
I like that.
Now you've experienced a lot ofchallenges and disappointments
in your career journey.
What is the general approach tofacing challenges and how do you
overcome disappointment?
Roland Elter (04:02):
Very honestly speaking, that's very hard for
me.
I, I struggled with setbacksand, uh, it was disappointments.
That is, for me, reallychallenging my approach is
trying to find a view on thischallenge to understand what
happened here, to understandwhere I made something wrong or
what kind of influence was thereason for this in order to not
(04:23):
do one mistake two times, right?
And so from there to, to comeback in a mode, what is solution
orientated?
And again, trying to make.
Out of these kind of opportunityto grow.
But that is very hard for me.
It's very hard because I have toovercome my emotional situation
here.
But yeah.
(04:44):
I think mindset is important,and that's where it starts and
where it ends.
When something is happening andyou have a setback and you are
very disappointed, I need totake a breath and try to find
the settings, try to find aperspective from where I can
look on it, and hopefully findand analyze so that things are
not happening The second time.
It's That's a little bit, yeah.
David Kong (05:04):
It so true, right?
Especially when you're facingchallenges and disappointments.
It's difficult not to be angryor say, why?
Why is it me and why do I haveto deal with this?
It's very natural, but youradvice about staying calm and
looking at the situation inanalytical way is very good
(05:25):
advice.
Thank you.
Now a lot of companies andindividuals have guiding
principles that help them withdecision making.
Curious, do you have a personalmantra, and if so, what if
Roland Elter (05:45):
I would probably say be yourself and just do it.
Don't wait for others.
You have to take decision.
No one is doing your job.
No one is helping you to bewhere you are.
You have to find that out, andyou have to be able and capable
to do things, to execute things.
Just do it.
That is something what alwayscomes up.
Yeah,
David Kong (06:05):
that's good.
Yourself.
Now, you said earlier that youbelieve in working hard and
doing a good job.
You've done very well because ofthat, because people have
recognized.
Achievements and have given younew opportunities.
But a lot of people find itdifficult, especially in big
(06:26):
organizations, to be noticed andand recognized for their good
work.
What is your advice onself-advocacy?
Because it's a very difficultthing to do, want to promote
yourself, but you don't wannaseem ful, but at the same time,
you wanna make known yourachievements.
So what is your advice onself-efficacy?
(06:50):
It is very difficult.
Roland Elter (06:51):
Generally speaking, the right answer is
probably you have to quantifyand display everything you do,
but you have to have an audiencefor it.
And then there's always theserisk if you go everywhere and
say, oh, how great I am, theseshow off, these type of thing.
Nobody wants to see that myrecommendation or my personal
experience was.
(07:12):
I try to find sounding boards toreflect things I want to do to
let other people be involved andsay, yeah, he's asking me for my
opinion.
And so I understand the purpose.
And so people are more aiming tofollow you, what you are doing,
and when you're successful youcan go back and say, you
remember I was asking you thisin this, and involved in the
(07:34):
plans I had.
So the concept was shared.
I probably took the one or theother recommendation from you.
So that makes sure that thesepeople are interested in what's
going, coming out of it.
And difficult is when you do it.
When you do it on your level, itwon't help these people up above
you needs to understand, right?
If you want to be identified,those people needs to have it.
(07:58):
That is also to, I don't wannasay you have to do an elevator
pitch every time you seesomeone, but uh, just to make
sure the one of the other headof department or C level
executive or whatever you feel,oh, mayor, I can ask you.
I just want to be reflected onthis, and so on.
People understands what you aredoing and then they're
interested what, what comes outof it.
So that's a little bit myexperience.
(08:19):
I did it from the very firstbeginning, not on purpose.
It was just a part of myself,and people came up to me from
the C level or from the boardand say, Hey.
What happened with this and thiswhat you told, right?
And so will it help to berecognized?
And then of course you need tobe prepared and new show results
and measure results, KPIs,right?
(08:40):
And that helps from my point ofview.
But you need to have a stage,need to let the people know what
are you aiming for, and thenafterwards telling them you
remember, now it's you.
That is a success, was verygreat.
David Kong (08:51):
I love that.
That is so smart.
You ask for advice from moresenior position people, and then
you inform them of the resultsbecause they are engaged now.
They gave you advice.
Of course, they want to knowwhat happened.
Very smart.
I love that.
Now a different subject.
(09:11):
I believe that good leaders havegood habits and some people are
in a continuous learning mode,and some people think win-win,
and some people believe in beingproactive.
What are some of your habits
Roland Elter (09:25):
in general?
I would say I'm always curious.
I want to improve things.
I, I love to get insights fromother people in this business,
from different parties tounderstand, okay, what they're
working on.
I'm so curious.
And out of this, and that isprobably, if you would ask my
team here, my direct reporters,they always shake their heads
(09:45):
that, oh God, Roland is comingup again because I'm trying to
give impulses, but I want tochallenge people to think about
it.
That is a typical habit for me.
I'm looking everywhere.
I get my ideas.
I need to be creative here, andthen out of the creation.
I love to give these inputs tomy people.
Then I challenge them to think,and we have a very open feedback
culture here in the company.
(10:07):
My direct reporter appreciatebecause we brought up quite a
lot of good things here in thiscompany.
That is probably the verytypical habits.
I always looking for somethingnew.
David Kong (10:18):
That's great to have it, to be curious and ask
questions and involve a lot ofpeople.
That's a great thing to do,
Roland Elter (10:26):
but it creates workload at the same time and so
not everybody is happy about it.
David Kong (10:31):
Of course.
Now, you alluded to thisearlier, you said you work for
some amazing leaders.
What are some of the mostadmired leadership traits that
you've from them?
Roland Elter (10:44):
First of all, we were very different to each
other.
So lucky me.
I met so many great people.
They have a couple of things incommon, but they were so
individually and I would say Imet admire leaders most who are
visionary and inspiring to me,who were able to bring
potential, what I have never notseen before out of me.
(11:04):
And uh, that is one thing what Ireally admire.
And the second thing is myformer bosses who were leading
by example, I love this.
When I started here, I.
I had from my diary reporters,they gave me a coffee mug.
Unfortunately I don't have ithere.
There was a kind of thingstated, seven rules being a
boss.
And that was also these kind ofleading by example things, doing
(11:25):
these extra mile and listen andall this kind of stuff.
That is what I think is veryimportant.
Be there, be reachable for thesepeople.
And I worked for who, I reallyhave this visionary, this
inspiring thing, and.
Let me say enabled my potentialand I was motivated to do, not
only because I wanted to followsomething, but also they were
(11:46):
giving a very good example to mehow they can work.
So that is thing that issomething I really admire most.
David Kong (11:53):
I totally agree with you.
These two happen to be myfavorite leadership traits.
One is the ability to formulatea vision and to communicate it
in such a way that it'spowerful, it's finding it's
inspirational.
I like that very much.
The second one is about leadingby example.
Totally agree with you.
The whole company takes afteryou the way that you model
(12:17):
yourself.
It's very powerful.
Related to that question.
When you interview high levelcandidates, what are the
qualities
Roland Elter (12:27):
that you look for?
First of all, before I go toqualities and then competence
and skills and this kind ofstuff, I first of all try to
verify if the person I'm talkingto really understood what we are
aiming for by trying to give anoverview where we are and where
we want to be.
In between this person plays acertain role, right?
(12:49):
And to understand the goal, Ithink it's the most important.
Leadership skills are veryimportant.
As I just mentioned.
You have to be someone who canlead by example, who does not
take something special only forhim.
The other very important thingis how to communicate in, in
different directions, and I tryto challenge those people as
well.
I'm trying to give also somescenarios so when someone needs
(13:12):
to be very, uh, confident.
With what he knows and what hecan do.
And then what I really much likein terms of qualities I'm
looking for is the ability touse different methodologies
because people are different.
Business scenarios aredifferent.
We are challenged with so manydifferent cases every day.
You need to be able to adapt tothe situations and you need to
(13:33):
have a variety of methodologiesin your pocket, and you need to
know, okay, when I can use whichone to achieve my goal, that is
probably, I'm looking at.
David Kong (13:43):
That last point is so true.
We live in a fast changing worldand being flexible and having
all the tools, it's important.
Now let's talk about work lifeharmony.
You have a very demanding joband I was curious as to how you
balance the needs at work versusyour personal life.
Roland Elter (14:04):
That is a very good question.
That is sometimes challenging,but lucky me, I have a wonderful
family and I'm grateful for myfamily.
I have a daughter and my wife issupporting me.
It's great and she helps me whenit is getting to Disbalanced.
(14:27):
She helps me to find thesefamily only time slots, right
when it really comes to thesituation that my head seems to
be overloaded.
I'm a simple person.
I just go out walking in nature,that's what I do.
I switch off my phone, be anafternoon away, or on the
weekend.
In former days, I used to playgolf, but I don't have the time
(14:47):
for it, so I, I really enjoybeing out in nature for half an
hour or whatever.
I don't have a dog or somethinglike this.
It's just me.
So that is how I try to balanceit out.
I'm happy that I have someone athome who sometimes say, Hey, my
friend.
Be careful.
We need to find the opportunityfor us here, and that's where
(15:07):
I'm very thankful for
David Kong (15:09):
having a supportive understanding.
Family is so important to ourcareer, and I like that you
always take some time toyourself and walk in the park or
in the forest over there.
It's a good thing to do.
We all need some quiet time.
I've seen you in action.
You are very thoughtful and wellspoken.
(15:31):
Would you mind to share youradvice on how we can improve our
communications skills
Roland Elter (15:39):
in German?
Maybe in English.
Obviously I'm not a nativespeaker and sometimes I'm
challenging with my English, butgeneral speaking, the better you
listen.
Celeste, you need to say that issomething I was thought, but
also very good.
Friend and and mentor of minewho unfortunately passed away a
couple of weeks ago, but healways said, listen, if you want
(16:01):
to be a good sales person, youwould first of all need to learn
to listen before you starttalking.
I do think it's important tounderstand in which situation
I'm talking to, what kind ofperson and what is he.
There's a quite interestingconcept, what Harvard concept,
we want to get a win-winsituation.
There a little bit described howyou have to communicate with
each other and how you have tolisten to understand.
(16:22):
I think that is a very importantthing because there you have a
chance when you understand this,to understand how you have to
address your topics, how youneed to behave with this person
or with the audience in front ofyou, right?
And I think the most importantthing is you want that the
consignee of your messageunderstand the message, right?
So it means be polite.
(16:47):
Show respect.
Listen to people, understandwho's in front of you.
And it doesn't matter if you'retalking to each other or you are
writing to each other, if you doa text message or whatever,
people like and respectful, thatis the number one.
Right?
And that is something I wouldrecommend to everybody out
there.
David Kong (17:04):
Yeah, I totally agree with you.
Communication scales, it's notjust about talking, it's about
listening.
I think the vast majority ofpeople.
Get so busy talking, they feltto listen.
And one of the seven habits ofhighly effective people is seek
first to understand whichinvolves active listening.
(17:25):
Very good advice.
Thank you.
Now, some people say yournetwork is your network worth,
and it certainly is true withyou.
You have done very well becauseof your network.
Can you advise us on networking?
Roland Elter (17:41):
Yeah.
And first of all, I thinknetwork is not only what you
have on social media, right?
That maybe needs to be takeninto consideration here.
I have the feeling that nowadaysnetwork is only happening
online.
I met quite a lot of people.
I.
For those I met, it is not thatI need to call them every week
or left a message on regularbasis or whatever.
(18:04):
No, I know who they are, whatthey did when we met, and at a
certain moment when they areapproaching me or asking me for
something, I'm here and happy tohelp.
Sometimes I have to say nobecause I have nothing to give.
I have no additional value forthose people, but.
If I have, I'm happy to help.
(18:24):
And from my point of view, mynetwork is not there to bring me
my business or to give me mybusiness.
My network is there to help mein situations.
Sounding board is a bullet pointhere.
Reflections is a bullet point.
Sometimes I need to have anadvice so I know who I can talk
to in certain circumstances.
(18:45):
That is my interpretation ofnetwork, but what you want to
take out of it, you need to beprepared to put it in as well,
right?
That is how a network is workingand, and that is somehow, by the
way, how I get my jobs.
I never applied for a job,honestly speaking.
In the network, people weretalking about me and I was
invited to get to know the oneor the other project or
(19:09):
opportunity, and I was invitedfor talks.
Right?
Or people were recommending mebecause they know me because we
got to know each other on anevent or somewhere, and the
people talk with them, Hey, thisguy.
He's a smart one.
He was respectful and polite andhe had some very good answers
and ideas on certain things.
And I looked at him, he had a, Idon't know what kind of track
record, so this is the personyou should talk to.
(19:30):
So network helps to getrecommendations.
Networks help to get feedbacks.
Network does not automaticallymean they bring you business.
And I think at least that's theway I try to handle my network.
And uh, for me that is a way todo it.
I don't know.
How other people do that.
Sometimes I'm approached andpeople say, oh, can you do me
(19:51):
this favor?
And I say, it's not about doingfavors.
I'm working in hospitalityindustry.
People calling me up and say,Hey, I want to have special
prices on accommodationsomewhere.
And I say, Hey, wow, I earningmy money with it.
What do you think I could dohere?
That is not the idea.
The idea is, can we help eachother in our.
Growth in our building, ourmindset.
(20:13):
Can you give me an advice beforeI step somewhere into a
situation where I look like adumb person or whatever, that
that is my interpretation ofnetwork.
And for me, when you handle itlike this, then it could be a
net worth because you aregetting better.
That's a little bit my idea.
That's how I elaborate it.
David Kong (20:33):
I agree with you.
The network is only your networth if you are not
transactional, if you're nottrying to sell something or
trying to get something out ofrelationship, but rather it's
helping one another.
I like that very much.
Yeah.
Roland Elter (20:50):
Excuse me.
Maybe I can edit this.
Imagine someone is in asituation and there could be,
they have the businessopportunity.
You said, I can't do it.
It's not my business, but I knowsomeone and I really much like
him and I know it's a reliableperson.
It's a trust person and so on.
And I just match those peopletogether and when they find a
(21:11):
way, find a solution to makebusiness with each other.
Wonderful.
I.
That's something I wanted toadd.
Sorry I was interrupting.
David Kong (21:17):
No, you're absolutely right.
In fact, chip Conley, who's verywell known in the industry here,
he also said the same thing.
He said he likes to bring peopletogether where they can help one
another.
So we're tapping into ournetwork to help.
As well.
Now we're coming to the end ofthe end interview.
I have two more questions foryou.
(21:37):
Given all that you have learnedand experienced, what is the
advice that you would give toyour younger self?
Roland Elter (21:48):
That is a good question.
My younger one, I would probablysay never stop learning because
I was, I.
I thought too early.
I'm already prepared and done togo out and conquer the world.
Nowadays, I would say take moretime.
Never stop learning and listento people with experience.
(22:12):
Listen to people withexperiences.
They are not trying to show offand tell you.
They know everything better.
They just have experience.
You can make an advantage out ofit to understand what they went
through.
And I probably would say,Roland, you often have to hold
on, you are temper.
But when I was younger, I wassometimes with a big temper.
(22:34):
And nowadays I would say, Hey,that is important that you have
this.
You have to hold temper.
It is always good to berespectful to each other and
don't get out of you.
This is not good.
And probably the next, or thelast thing I will tell myself,
my younger self is trust in you.
Trust in you.
David Kong (22:55):
So true, especially the last one, trust in you.
It cannot be overstated.
'cause a lot of times we secondguess ourselves, our intuition
actually is something that wecan always rely on.
Thanks for sharing that advice.
Our show is aboutself-empowerment.
So would you mind to give yourfinal advice on
(23:16):
self-empowerment?
Roland Elter (23:19):
Uh, we have to make decisions,
David Kong (23:21):
right?
Roland Elter (23:22):
It is something what belongs to our daily work.
We have to do it.
We shouldn't be afraid of it.
But I think it would be good,first of all to understand
yourself.
Who are you?
When you look into the mirror,what do you see?
Uh, what do you want to see, butunderstand?
What do you see?
(23:42):
That is a kind of starting pointagain for me from there.
Everything starts yourambitions, your goals, the way
how life should treat you,right?
That starts from there andbelieve in yourself, accept you
matter.
It's you to initiate.
It's you to do the things.
(24:04):
It is you who can make adifference.
You don't have to wait for anyother, you have to do it on your
own and believe in you, helpothers along the way and.
Karma is with you.
David Kong (24:15):
I love that because I've been long a believer that
we are the masters of our owndestiny.
It's within our control, so weneed to believe in ourselves.
Thank you so much for sharingyour wisdom with us today,
Roland.
I know it's late over there inGermany and I appreciate you
giving us the time.
Roland Elter (24:37):
David, thank you very much for having me.
It was
David Kong (24:39):
well,
Roland Elter (24:40):
time was flying.
So again, thanks for having meand all the best.
David Kong (24:45):
Oh, thank you Roland.
And for the audience that tunein, I appreciate your taking the
time to join us today.
And if you like this interview,I hope you would join us on our
website, get personalstories.com.
We hope to see you there.
Thank you.
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