Stefanie Voss zu Gast im Podcast The Ronny Leber Show (engl.)
Das Leben und die Karriere mit Mut und Entschlossenheit steuern.
Von der Unternehmenswelt zur Abenteuerreise: Über Wagemut und Transformation
Ich hatte das Vergnügen, im Podcast „Ronny Leber Show“ mit Ronny zu sprechen. In dieser Folge ging es darum, wie ich meinen eigenen Weg von einer Karriere in der Unternehmenswelt hin zu meiner jetzigen Rolle als selbstständige Unternehmerin und Keynote Speakerin gefunden habe. Wir sprachen darüber, wie ich durch meine Weltumsegelung und meine mutigen Entscheidungen die Kraft des Wagemuts entdeckte. Genau diese Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse sind der Kern meiner Botschaften und eigenen Lebensweise.
Hier geht es direkt zum Podcast:
The Ronny Leber Show Podcast: Sports, Business, Entertainment
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Transkript
Stefanie Voss [00:00:00]:
I read about a group of folks that had just started out in Europe that was coming to Latin America to circumnavigate the globe and go back to Germany. And I thought, oh, what a cool idea. You know?
Ronny Leber [00:00:11]:
At age 23, she moved from Germany to Argentina. 2 years later, she circumnavigated the world on a sailing boat.
Stefanie Voss [00:00:19]:
It’s very hard to sustain a hurtful conflict for such a long time, if you’re around that person the whole time, you will eventually make a move and try to change things and try to change things for the better because it’s so hard on you to sustain that situation.
Ronny Leber [00:00:35]:
Coming back to Germany in a leading role of one of the biggest companies after 15 successful years in the corporate world.
Stefanie Voss [00:00:42]:
If I was striving for money, I should have never left my corporate career.
Ronny Leber [00:00:46]:
She said farewell to steer her ship into her own business endeavors.
Stefanie Voss [00:00:51]:
You are the captain of your life.
Ronny Leber [00:00:52]:
She’s oftentimes called the missus Blackbeard, the businesswoman with the pirate soul.
Stefanie Voss [00:00:59]:
The most powerful pirate of all times that ever existed was a woman.
Ronny Leber [00:01:04]:
She’s an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker. She is an author, leadership, and team coach.
Stefanie Voss [00:01:10]:
Conformity will no longer be a success strategy. I don’t even think it is one today.
Ronny Leber [00:01:16]:
Today, she is working with clients like Audi, Nespresso, PayPal, and many more.
Stefanie Voss [00:01:22]:
Everything has a price. Every change has a price, but staying has a price as well. We often think about the cost of change, and we don’t think about the cost of maintaining the status quo.
Ronny Leber [00:01:36]:
Hi. Welcome to the Ronny Leber Show where every week, we bring you inspiring stories of success and overcoming obstacles from the world of sports, business, and entertainment. To get your regular dose of inspiration, click subscribe and hit the notification bell. Joining us live from close to Dusseldorf in Germany, please welcome here’s Stefanie Voss. Whoo.
Stefanie Voss [00:02:00]:
Thank you so much for the wonderful introduction. I’m delighted to be here.
Ronny Leber [00:02:06]:
I’m very happy to have you here. And today, we’ll not only talk about how to successfully navigate your career, what audacity actually means, and why it is important, as well as what business and piratery actually have in common. Yes. But before we get into all of that, when you look at your life today Mhmm. And think back on your journey, and it was quite an unusual journey actually, was that what you had imagined as a kid?
Stefanie Voss [00:02:32]:
Probably. Yes. I have lots of role models in my family for unusual life’s journeys. So, I guess some sort of, you know, taking a less beaten path has always been kind of in my DNA. My father worked as a development supporting person in Afghanistan for a couple of years. My grandfather circumnavigated the world. My sisters did lots of world traveling. So I guess it was kind of normal for me not to just, you know, take it very, very normal. Everything in Germany, same city, same job for a long time. So I guess it was from the beginning, sort of in my DNA. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:03:18]:
Wow. I can imagine that has been quite an interesting upbringing. Of course, also quite an interesting life with it sounds like you’re very much a free spirit who who loves to to go out there and do her own things and is and also growing up in Germany, which is a country that is very well known for its rules and its structures. What are the pros and cons of of you growing up or of of your free spirit?
Stefanie Voss [00:03:41]:
Well, I guess, the good thing about, you know, taking a little different path is that of course you get a lot of attention when you are in an environment where everybody does something really, really different or crazy or unusual. It’s, it’s quite hard to get noticed. So I guess I very much benefited from the fact that so many people take it, you know, the normal way. And, due to the fact that I like to do some detours and do some things differently, it brought me a lot of attention. And then, of course, adding on to that, being a woman, being a woman in a world where, you know, women are not naturally known for courageous or audacious moves that brought me extra attention. And I did benefit a lot from that from people noticing that I was doing things differently. So, the pros are you get a lot of attention. The cons are you get a lot of resistance, of course, just as well. And I did get that resistance, but I have to say, like I just mentioned, my family, my home base was always super supportive of everything, you know, unusual or unconventional that I decided to do.
Ronny Leber [00:04:53]:
I would like to ask something about that because oftentimes, it is in in many families or many upbringings, people are being brought up, like, you need to be conformed. Like, with conformity, you need to apply to rules, like, don’t stick your head out, be normal, and and and so just just don’t do anything out of the ordinary. Mhmm. Which is or just maybe others are like, oh, I need to be perfect in order to fit in. Mhmm. You you never had any of that, if I if I if I see that correctly also. And also, I mean, that gives you a lot of more you play outside the rules of others.
Stefanie Voss [00:05:28]:
No. I didn’t have that really. I mean, my parents really brought us up in a way that, they said if you have ideas, then go for them and if we can support you, that’s fine. I mean, you know, we had to work, we had to make our own money, you know, we weren’t pampered or something like that, but they still gave us the feeling. If you have something in your imagination that is maybe some sort of crazy idea, but you really feel like you should do that, then do that. And, so I remember very well that my parents were asked how they felt about me, you know, going to live on a sailing yacht and circumnavigating the globe. And, we had some some interview and a journalist asked my mom, like, aren’t you afraid that your daughter is going to be on a boat, you know, out on the ocean for a whole year? And at the time I was living and working in Buenos Aires in Argentina. And my mom, she looked at that journalist and she was really puzzled. And she said, you know what? I’d rather have my daughter on a sailing yacht than in the traffic of Buenos Aires. So, no. So my parents were never really, telling me that I needed to conform. Of course, you know, we had lots of conflicts also at home, like in any family. But conformity was never something that they thought was valuable or worthwhile striving for. Not in my parents, not in my grandparents. No. And and it’s, of course, not in my sisters. We were really free spirit was something that was important in our family. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:06:57]:
I love that. And, also, one thing that I saw on your on your CV was that age 16, you actually went to a high school exchange Mhmm. To or as in high school student to the US to Kansas. And I I was also 16 when I went to the US as well. I was in Maine. But anyway, you went to Kansas. What were your biggest learnings besides, of course, mastering the language?
Stefanie Voss [00:07:22]:
Well, you can tell my American accent has stuck with me ever since. The biggest learning is that at the age of 16, I think when I left to live in the US, I didn’t really know what culture was, you know, how does it feel to be, you know, to be german or to have a different nationality. And I learned that when I lived in the US that even though I do look very similar to the people around me, my standard set of values, my way of thinking, my habits. That’s what makes a culture. And that was the very first time that I realized what culture really is because, you have to keep in mind, I left to be in the US in 1991, which was the time of the first gulf war. Where my friends here in Germany, they went on peace demonstrations and Germany was very resistant to that war. Whereas in the US, as you know, you know, every morning raising of the flag and national anthem and all of that. And the principal of my school, of my high school, he basically was a soldier and he went, to the Middle East to fight for the United States troops.
So, there was a huge cultural clash that happened just right, you know, inside of me. And that was a very, very important lesson, which also made me, you know, much better prepared when I was in my mid twenties and started to live in in Latin America and Argentina.
Ronny Leber [00:08:49]:
Wow. That’s very interesting. That’s that’s a very interesting learning, of course, also to to see that there’s not just one way. It’s not just the the the way that that you’ve known all your life because, obviously, your surrounding shapes who you are as well as a person. And and then you mentioned in the mid twenties, you went to Argentina. So that was actually the next stint after, of course, having come back to Germany and also having, finished your your studies. So at age 23, you went to Argentina, but actually just to be there for 2 years in Buenos Aires.
Stefanie Voss [00:09:20]:
Yes.
Ronny Leber [00:09:20]:
To later on decide to jump ship and circumnavigate the world. Yep. Why did you decide to do that? And and what did you learn also along that journey?
Stefanie Voss [00:09:29]:
Like I just said, my my grandfather was already a sailor. So the sailing, gene was already a little bit, in our family. And, when I lived in Buenos Aires was for me, you know, being born and raised in Leverkusen in Germany was the first time that I really had the sea at hand. I mean, Buenos Aires is located at a river, but that river is actually a sea because you can’t even see the other side. So I started sailing lessons when I was in Argentina. I wanted to get to know Argentinian people. My business environment was quite international still. So when I had my sailing license, my sailing license, I I thought about, well, you know, how about traveling a little more and like so often in life, people, you know, run into your life or things come to your life in in in a surprising way.
And as I started sailing, my father sent me the German magazine Yacht. It’s a German sailing magazine. And he sent it to me, you know, like, oh, now you have a sailing license and here’s some German reading material now that you know how to sail. And I went through that magazine and then I read about a group of boats that had just started out in Europe that was coming to Latin America to circumnavigate the globe and go back to Germany. And I thought, oh, what a cool idea, you know, and they are actually coming and stopping by in Argentina. And then at the same time, there was a decision in the corporation with that I worked for that the department that I was in, I was in the Latin American headquarters for, for the, for the business area. That headquarters business was being moved to Brazil and was supposed to be transferred to Sao Paulo. Now I had just lived 2 years in Argentina.
I had just learned Spanish and honestly speaking nothing against Brazil, but I didn’t feel like living in Sao Paulo. Buenos Aires is a beautiful place. It’s a very European city. At the time, it was very safe, and I just didn’t feel like moving to Brazil. And so I thought, well, I’m just here for 2 years. I mean, I could return to Germany, but why not take a sabbatical? And that was, of course, the time when there was no sabbatical, you know, regulations, no rulings or something. My boss in Argentina was a sailor. He loved to sail.
So, you know, he had supported me in finding a club where I could do my sailing license. And so I thought about it and I realized this is the idea, why not join a boat, take a sabbatical and then return to Germany and continue my career. And and that’s what I did. So it basically started out with the surprise of my father sending me this magazine, reading about these group of ships, my job being transferred to Brazil, and me deciding I don’t wanna live in Sao Paulo, so I better do something else. And and basically, I contacted that organization. It was based in London who organized that group sailing route around the world. And I said, you know, is it possible to join? And they were like, of course. You know, basically, we’re a group of boats.
There are always boats who are looking for crew. If you can speak English, if you can sail, if you can cook, if you know you’re willing to work, some boats gonna pick you up and take you. And that’s what I did. I just basically organized my sabbatical. I packed my sailing gear and I went to port and said, here I am. I can speak English, German, French, and Spanish. I can cook. I can sail.
Who needs crew? And, and that’s how it all started. And then I started out in Argentina.
Ronny Leber [00:12:56]:
Before you go into the journey, Ed, just to because it’s it’s very interesting. I mean, back in the day, it was not just like, here. Here’s a link. Look at that. It was like, hey. This was the days when you really sent a physical magazine just halfway across the world Yeah. To somebody. And and then, of course, also to well, okay.
Let’s do this. Every it was not with an email. So you really have to send real letters.
Stefanie Voss [00:13:19]:
Oh, yeah. No. No. No. Email was there. Email was there. I sent an email. It was 1999.
Email was there, but the Internet was, course, you know, very very thinly developed. Let’s put it this way. But email was there. So I wrote an email to the organization in London. I talked to them over the phone, and they were like, yeah. You should go. You know, every somebody’s gonna take you. Don’t worry.
And and that’s what happened. I was briefly on an English boat then very briefly on an American boat, and then I joined, a German ship which had international crew. And, basically, I started my trip in Argentina and went back to Germany, but, you know, the wrong way around. So the long way. So I did prove that you can sail into the wrong direction and eventually you end up at the other side of the world.
Ronny Leber [00:14:03]:
So yeah. Fall off the world.
Stefanie Voss [00:14:04]:
No. I didn’t fall off. It’s not a plate.
Ronny Leber [00:14:06]:
But but take us with you. I mean, really, the moment, basically, you you go on the ship in Buenos Aires, you know, I don’t know, how long was the journey? And also, I mean, what were your feelings inside? And also then, how did this journey develop? What were the learnings? What were the the the breakthroughs that you had on the journey? And how did life change?
Stefanie Voss [00:14:29]:
I have to say that I was, you know, in my mid twenties, I was very naive. And of course I had this dream of this, you know, fantastic year, Freedom, liberty, you know, seeing the world, everything so wonderful. And, and it was a little different. The sailing part is not that tough. Of course, we had bad weather as well. The toughest part about sailing around the globe is that you basically lock yourself in with a variety of people, different characters on very, let’s say limited space. And of course They call
Ronny Leber [00:15:05]:
it reality show on TV.
Stefanie Voss [00:15:06]:
Yeah. Very much like a reality show on TV. You have no exit possibility once you’ve left port and, you’re stuck with the people that are there. You’re stuck with things that happen. You’re stuck with when you get sick. You know, you are on the white ocean, but actually you’re quite locked in. And, that was an interesting and I have to say very tough experience for me, and I had never really thought about that before. And, now looking back at the time that I spent on the boat, 14 months, it was a crash course to trim my ego.
I was a strong character. I am still a strong character today. However, that trip really taught me to control myself and to alter my behavior and to realize that being right and wanting to be right is not a really good strategy if you wanna get along well with other people. So, it I had a good time in the end, but the 1st months were very, very hard. I did think about, stopping and and and returning to Germany because I really, I was very lonely in a way. I was fighting very much with one other, fellow sailor. The conflict really, really, yeah, broke me in a way. But then I also found the turnaround to really work on myself.
And today, you know, I’m I’m turning 50 this year. I think that it was a big, big, big advantage that I had in life that this happened to me so early because I really had to go into self reflection processes. I really had to, you know, think about myself, about my behavioral patterns, what is okay and what is not okay and work on that very early in my life. And I wouldn’t have been forced to do that if I hadn’t gone sailing.
Ronny Leber [00:17:00]:
Wow. So it is also something that you would recommend to anybody out there that might have some challenges with, no. No. No. This is right. Like, I gotta be right, but then maybe, the relationship that you’re in or maybe a relationship with somebody else is being destroyed along the way because but I was right.
Stefanie Voss [00:17:18]:
Yes. Yep. Sometimes I do that today when I talk to HR people and it’s about a coaching process or about some, you know, difficult person in an organization. They’re like, oh, this is such a strong character. And we don’t really know what to do. And I always say like, oh, send him or her on a boat 14 month. And this person will come back and it’s totally different. Yeah.
You really learn to control your ego when you live on a boat with other people for a long time. And not just the important thing is that you’re not just basically coast sailing where you can leave the boat every night, but you have to stick people into a setting where they have to remain for, you know, 10 days, 14 days, 18 days. It’s very hard to sustain a hurtful conflict for such a long time. If you’re around that person the whole time, you will eventually make a move and try to change things and try to change things for the better because it’s so hard on you to sustain that situation.
Ronny Leber [00:18:19]:
Wow. That’s really that’s very beautiful. You eventually did come back, of course. And so she did come back Germany. And then in your early thirties, you started out at a a various or you had a very successful corporate stint for 15 years, actually, that you were in a company moving up the corporate ladder. What does success mean to you? And and also, would you define yourself as a successful person?
Stefanie Voss [00:18:48]:
Success to me is having the feeling that I am in the right position in my life, that I am in a position where I learn, where I grow, where I have joy and meaning. And if I take that definition of success for me, I can absolutely say that I see myself as a successful person. Success in terms of money, very simply said, if I was striving for money, I should have never left my corporate career. In the corporate world when you are relatively young and you move up very fast, there’s lots of opportunity to make lots of money, but money was never my main motivator. Money is not nothing. Money has an importance, but money was never my main driver. My main driver was I wanna have freedom and, the possibility to do with my time what I want to do with my time. And that was eventually the decision that brought me into my starting my own business.
I liked being in the corporate world. I liked my job. I had a great team. I enjoyed very much this international, you know, surrounding, but I did want to be more free in how I spent my time, especially when I had my second child. I thought of a different life model and it was very clear that this model that I had in mind was not compatible to a corporate job. And that’s the reason that I decided to start my own business. Today, I can say yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:20:11]:
Before we go into today Mhmm. Actually, because I think just to pick this up, I think it’s very, very interesting because I believe that there are many people out there who are in the corporate world, who are from the outside very successful. Mhmm. They have climbed the ladder, the corporate ladder. They are in leadership positions, maybe even as a CEO. And there’s still some part of them inside that is like, I wish I could do that. I wish I could I I wish I could do something else. Or maybe even have thought about starting their own thing or their own business or whatever it is, but they never jumped ship or they never went off board, so to say.
Was there for you a certain tipping point? Was there something that that when you said, well, that’s it? Or or have you also tried before a few times and and did not leave the corporate world to start your own business?
Stefanie Voss [00:21:07]:
Mhmm. I didn’t start before. It was a decision that was taken once and then I took it. The interesting thing that you have to keep in mind is everything has a price. Every change has a price, but staying has a price as well. We often think about the cost of change and we don’t think about the cost of maintaining the status quo. And when my sec, when my second son was born, I had a serious complication, when I gave birth to him and I got very, very sick. And this basically made clear to me that time was the most precious resource.
I was really, really sick and I was very lucky. I had an incredibly good doctor who basically saved my life and my son’s life as well. And we went out of that fine, but I was very, very Yeah. I really jumped off the clip. And this doctor, she talked to me, I remember that very well. We had a conversation and she said, look, you know, this year, this last year could have been your last year because you were very sick and you were very lucky that things turned out so nicely. And so she looked at me and she said, just go through that last year and imagine you could do it again. What would you do differently? And it was very clear to me when she posted that question that from how I spent my time, I wanted more freedom.
I loved my job. Yes, but I invested too much time into my job and I thought, well, I still want to do things, I still want to create, I still want to, you know, have an impact, but I want to do it with less time bound to a job that I enjoy. But that is not, you know, like the thing that I always wanted to do. I liked it. I enjoyed it, but I could think of other things. And also another thing that came, into the equation was that I was a department head at the time and my boss was the head of corporate communications. And I never wanted to be head of corporate communications of a large corporation because that is a super interesting position. But then you are really, really bound to everything that happens to that corporation.
And I knew that I was never going to give, myself into that position because it was just too much bound to the company. And so also for me, there was a feeling like I have reached the level here that I wanna reach and I don’t really wanna, you know, make the next step. So why stay? And so these two things gave me a lot of freedom to go. I took the decision, I left, I started my own business and of course, you know, I had the financial freedom of my husband having a safe job. So we, you know, I was not going into full risk. And so I took that decision and I I I never looked back in terms of, oh my gosh. You know, why did I go? Of course, you know, it went all really well until the pandemic hit. And, like, you know, all of us in the speaking and and and coaching and workshop business, we had a tough time.
But other than that, I never felt like I had taken the wrong path. And I’m not a person to regret decisions. I’d rather ask myself, what can I learn from that? But particularly that big decision, there was never a huge moment of regret. There wasn’t. I just, you know, created my own company. I created my own business and maybe I was lucky. Maybe I was successful. Maybe I was doing the right thing.
It just worked out. It really worked out well.
Ronny Leber [00:24:42]:
So just to close the loop also from before talking about success, also today, you define yourself as successful, I would imagine.
Stefanie Voss [00:24:50]:
I very often I have the feeling that I’m doing things where I’m talented for, that I’m making an impact, you know, not a huge impact, but I impact people’s lives in a way. I enjoy my life. I’m healthy. I have a family that I love so much and that I think loves me back. And, no. I have lots of reasons to be very thankful for how my life’s been developing. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:25:19]:
Very beautiful. So switching a bit more into the business
Stefanie Voss [00:25:23]:
Mhmm.
Ronny Leber [00:25:24]:
Own business world. One thing that you mentioned in your TEDx talk Mhmm. Was that we need more audacity today. What does audacity actually mean and why is it so important?
Stefanie Voss [00:25:36]:
Well, audacity is a word that is not so common in our vocabulary. In German, it’s vagemod in Spanish it’s Audafia in French it’s LODAS. So it basically means it’s a form of courage that has a special twist to it. And, in the TEDx talk and also I’ve written a book about, about, you know, how to be more audacious. I give a definition and I say audacity is the conscious decision that there is something more important than fear, shame, conventions or rules, which basically means audacity is you are courageous, but you are courageous having a very certain goal in mind. And with that goal in mind, you move beyond your fear, you move beyond shame, you move beyond conventions and rules and that’s, you know, and that’s what’s called audacity. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:26:31]:
Well, very beautiful. And, I mean and why it is important, I believe it’s very it’s also very clear in a way because as long as there’s something holding you back, maybe Mhmm. Conventional, things, rules, and so on, what everybody else is saying, you cannot be audacious, can you?
Stefanie Voss [00:26:49]:
The thing is that conformity for a long time, as we just started out in our discussion, you know, Germany is a is a country of conformity in a way or has been one for a long time and for a long time conformity was really also a success strategy. I mean, many people conforming were quite successful. Now, I do think the world has changed and of course, you know, I’m not a futurist. I don’t research how the world’s going to develop, but I have a very strong feeling that if we’re moving ahead, conformity will no longer be a success strategy. I don’t even think it is one today. I think people who are what we see as successful today are the ones who, you know, Steve Jobs, framed it. He said they put their own dent into the universe. And I do think that if we wanna develop this world further, if we wanna, avoid the problematic situations we’re maneuvering ourselves into, we need audacity.
We need people who think outside of the box, who try new things, who challenge the status quo. And so I think the more we move ahead into this now AI world, the more we need nonconformists who really, really need courage, need audacity to challenge the way we’ve done things in the last 10, 20, 30 years.
Ronny Leber [00:28:12]:
Wow, that’s very fascinating because also when we look historically, how did this thing develop with conformity, for example? I mean, look at the school system because the whole school system is basically based on conformity. And it it came actually from from Germany, at least, when they when you look at Central Europe or from the Prussians back in the day because they’re very good military wise. And so they created the public school system because everybody needed to be conformed to be afterwards a good soldier or at least to support the system in a way. And so that has worked for for several centuries. And nowadays, it’s it’s the the concept of be what you wanna be, do what you wanna do is quite new, actually, in a historical sense. Because back in the day, you were doing what your dad or your mom was doing. Yeah. And so you you were conforming.
Nowadays, everybody’s like, well, I wanna fulfill my dreams. I wanna I wanna do what I what I love to do. And picking up and also referring to the book that you mentioned was I guess you, I mean, it’s it’s your book, The Pirate Strategy. Mhmm. So one thing that I was curious about, at what point did pirate pirate tree actually come into your life? And how much of a pirate is actually in Stephanie?
Stefanie Voss [00:29:22]:
There’s a lot of pirate in Stephanie, that’s for sure. The pirate story started out, of course, you know, with going on a circumnavigation. I mean, when you sail across the oceans, unfortunately, piracy exists today. So you learn how to behave when you have a pirate attack. Thank you. No. No. No.
No. We never had one. Very, very lucky. But of course, we didn’t sail the South China Seas. We didn’t sail, the Horn of Africa. So the regions in the world where you have a lot of piracy, we didn’t go there. So that was fine. But of course I’ve, you know, pirates were sailors.
So I had always had a certain, interest in in in historic sailing and in historic piracy of course, as well. And then something funny happened. I went to a workshop by a leadership expert talking about reinventing organizations. Frederic Laloux is his name. He’s a French guy. He’s very well known for, discussing democratic structures in corporate organizations. And that was probably around 8, 10 years back, something like that. And, he was talking about basic democratic structures and how they can work in the corporate world.
And obviously the corporate world is everything but not democratic. And I, you know, I was kind of intrigued by his ideas and I thought about it. And then I came home from that workshop and I took my kids to bed and I read to them and we were reading a book about pirates at the time, just coincidence. And I read in that book that, Oh, pirates, you know, 400 years ago had basic democratic structures in their own societies. And that was of course a very different model from where they came from, from Marine ships, from trade ships. And I was like, oh, this existed, you know, 400 years ago. How did they do that? And then I started reading a little more about pirates and then I realized, oh, you know, income transparency, fairness, basic democratic structures, electing leaders, having a checks and balances system. You didn’t only have the captain, but you also had a quarter master who was like, you know, the counter person to the captain.
And I was like, oh, holy shit. You know, this is really interesting when you look at leadership structures. And then I started researching the topic even more and at the time I was already very often giving my keynote presentation on my circumnavigation about sailing. And then I kind of had the feeling, wouldn’t this be a really good, you know, an an interesting keynote concept looking through the eyes of a pirate at leadership structures and at how we do things. And then I developed a topic and I developed a keynote. And at the time, my, my my keynote agency, my speaking agency, the owner of my agency, Heine Kultzeder, you know him as well. He was like, oh, Stephanie, that’s bullshit. You know, that doesn’t work.
That’s, you know, nobody will buy that. You know, that’s that’s ridiculous. And of course, you know, when people are totally against one of my ideas, it’s, it gives me a motor to continue in that idea. And so I said, you know what? I’m gonna, I’m gonna write a keynote concept and we’re gonna put it on the website. And if nobody buys it, good. But if we put it on the website and it works, then I’m going to do the keynote. And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
You know, nobody’s going to buy it anyway. And we put it out on the website and it took like 2 weeks and we had the first sale of the pirate keynote. And so I had to develop the concept. And to this day, it’s one of my best going keynotes that I’m selling the most and I’ve written a book about it. And, yeah, and that’s how pirates came into my life. And, of course, you know, looking at my own life, I was never a conformist. Pirates are not conforming. Pirates are challenging the status quo.
Pirates are audacious and pirates in a way, of course, you know, they were criminals. I don’t wanna justify that. But in a way, pirates created extremely strong communities to support each other, because they were so unfairly treated from the rest. I mean, pirates very often were before they were pirates, they were sailors on Marine ships, on trade ships. They were treated like crap, like cattle and they decided to live a free and self determined life and that meant going into piracy. And if I look at my, you know, striving for freedom, for self determination, yeah, of course, I’m a pirate. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:33:52]:
Wow. That’s very interesting. And then, I mean, my next question would have been why pirates are might be good role models as well. And I guess you already answered that. But at the same time, I know from the keynote that you all that you also have a very specific pirate as a role model.
Stefanie Voss [00:34:09]:
Yes. Yes. Well, when we talk about pirates, we very often think of, you know, Henry Morgan, Francis Drake, male figures, Blackbeard.
Ronny Leber [00:34:19]:
Jack Sparrow.
Stefanie Voss [00:34:19]:
Jack Sparrow, of course. And by the way, Jack Sparrow did do a lot for, for this metaphor to work so well because that’s one thing that I have to add. You know, why does it work so well? We have a very, very unique but very standardized stereotype pirate figure in our head. And, of course, that’s due to Jack Sparrow as well. That was a, you know, globally successful movie. And in no matter if you ask people in France and Spain and America, even in India, Jack Sparrow and this this, you know, pirate cleverness, coolness, that’s a metaphor that works across ages, across cultural boundaries around the globe. Now, I have this one pirate idol that I use in my keynote presentations and that also of course plays a role in the book. And that’s a female pirate.
And most people don’t know, but the most successful, the most powerful pirate of all times that ever existed was a woman. It was not Henry Morgan. It was not Doctor. Becker. It was not Francis Drake. It was a Chinese woman and, and she has a unique life story. She, she was basically a young girl from a farming family, very poor. Her parents sold her to a, you know, to, to become a prostitute.
And out of that, you know, incredibly bad situation, she managed to become a pirate. She managed to become a pirate queen as you could say, pirate king, pirate queen. And, and she led the biggest and most successful pirate fleet that ever existed.
Ronny Leber [00:35:56]:
Which was and and, I mean, the the numbers are staggering.
Stefanie Voss [00:35:59]:
Yeah. The numbers are staggering.
Ronny Leber [00:36:00]:
Because oftentimes, you just think of 1 like the Yeah.
Stefanie Voss [00:36:03]:
Like, 5 boats and 10 people or something like that. No. No. No. She led a pirate army of you know, numbers are differentiating a little bit depending on which historian you search, but somewhere around 700 to a 1000 ships and somewhere around 70,000 to a 100000 pirates under her command. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:36:21]:
It’s incredible. That’s
Stefanie Voss [00:36:22]:
That’s incredible. That’s a pirate army. Yes. Yes. Or at
Ronny Leber [00:36:26]:
least it’s a city, a bigger one. I mean,
Stefanie Voss [00:36:29]:
you had you had pirates who led kind of like armies, you know, you look at Henry Morgan, the raid of Panama and stuff like that. There were lots of ships, lots of people, but never these numbers that this Chinese lady, Widow Chen is her name, that she managed to command. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:36:46]:
Wow. So looking back at your own business, and we already target or, or we already talked about it a little bit. But when you started out your own business, what was the first thing like, what was the business idea? What did you sell initially? Has that changed over time? And and what were some early struggles?
Stefanie Voss [00:37:05]:
Well, of course, I started out and I, you know, like I said, it was more like a coincidence that happened and I was like, okay. Now I’m gonna start my own business. And I came out of communications. So basically I thought, okay, communications consulting. I know communications. I know, you know, the topic. I’m an expert in that. So why not? And that’s how I started out.
And then, I mean, like very many one person companies, I look for opportunities. And I I wouldn’t say I did everything, but I did almost everything that people wanted to pay me for. So,
Ronny Leber [00:37:36]:
just Which is a classic.
Stefanie Voss [00:37:38]:
Which is a classic. And I don’t know.
Ronny Leber [00:37:39]:
What do you need? Here it
Stefanie Voss [00:37:41]:
is. Yes. You need me. You think I can do that? Yeah. Of course, I can do that. So, the first couple of years, I just started building a network, building a community, you know, telling people that I was working self employed, that I was doing communications consulting, that I was quite a good, you know, facilitator, moderator for workshops, and so on and so forth. And then eventually, the whole thing developed and I decided I I don’t wanna do just one thing. I absolutely think that it’s important to have different pillars.
So you are a little more independent. I didn’t wanna have 1 major client. I wanted to have different clients. And it developed into a business that I’m still using or business model I’m still driving today, which is one pillar is individual coaching. One pillar is workshops and team development, leadership development, all kinds of facilitation tasks. And the third one is keynote speaking. And I, to this day, I do all 3. Sometimes a little more this, sometimes a little more that.
I have a variety of clients. I’ve never focused on an industry. I love to be, you know, working with firefighters, working with an insurance company, working with big pharma, working with automotive, working with fast moving consumer goods. I work in English and in German all over Europe. So I’ve always tried to diversify and I love to do all three things. I mean, individual coaching is business wise, you know, you don’t make heaps of money when you do 1 on 1 coaching, But it’s super interesting because you really get to know the people and you really make an impact there. When you do team development and leadership development, you really get close to the people but not so close, but you have a systemic view of how organizations work and how you know, how you can develop a team and how collaboration and communication and teams can change. And when you give keynote presentations, I mean, that’s, of course, you know, for your ego, that’s the nice one because you’re coming in, you’re getting the big stage, everybody listens to you.
It’s very well paid. And I enjoy all three parts of it. And also having these three pillars really saved me, in the pandemic because, you know, keynote speaking was mainly gone. Workships was very, very limited. But 1 on 1 coaching was, you know, a boost for the pandemic was a boost for that kind of business. So I coached. I coached a lot. And now I’m coaching is quite small.
I do a lot of team and leadership development and I still do quite some some keynote business. Yeah, that’s that’s the model today and it it works for me. And, I’m happy I meet really interesting people. I get around. I look into different companies. I always say that my job is in a way it’s learning by earning because I learn from every job and I earn money from my job. So I love that. I I really enjoy that.
And, you know, again, talking about success, if I look at every year in the past years, I can say that every year has helped me grow personally so much that only from that, you know, growing my own personal strength capabilities, I only from that I regard myself as being successful and financially, you know, I’m not a millionaire, but I’m making a really decent living. I have a great life. I can afford what I wanna do. You know, I’m I’m a happy girl.
Ronny Leber [00:41:10]:
I love that learning by earning.
Stefanie Voss [00:41:14]:
Yes.
Ronny Leber [00:41:15]:
That’s that’s the or or even earning by learning. Like, both it works both ways actually. That’s really beautiful. And were there also some early struggles or were was there something some thought in the beginning, like, oh my god. What did I get myself into that in here? Or or or did it just go up all of all the way?
Stefanie Voss [00:41:34]:
Well, my education is in in business management. So I did know what I had to look for. I didn’t know how to manage my numbers and how to take care of, you know, retirement funds and stuff like that. So I’m not a, I’m, when it comes to numbers, I’m not naive. So that was a good thing. The one thing I struggle with and I’ve always struggled with, which is of course part of my my my personality is saying no to good ideas. I have lots of good ideas every single day. And you probably know that as well.
I mean, everybody in this kind of business, you know, we have so many ideas, and it’s not so hard to say yes to something. It’s much harder to say no to something. And the book is a good example. I mean, for 10 years, I thought about writing a book and should I, should I not, should I should I not, should but I did say no, which was a tough decision because, you know, everybody tells you, you have to have a book, you have to write a book. Yeah. You know, why don’t you write a book about your circumnavigation? And it never felt right. And I consciously said no to it every year year after year after year. And then eventually when I got to that pirate part and I started doing the keynotes and I started talking about audacity, and people felt inspired.
And and from my talk, they told me that they had done something audacious. There was this moment where this no turned into a yes. And I said, okay, now I have something I really want to write about. And so I did that and saying yes to the book meant saying no to so many other ideas because then for 1 year I blocked myself into the, you know, book tunnel. And again there I learned, okay, if I’m going to do this book now, there’s lots of things I’m going to have to say no to which I did. And then I did the book. And, yeah, now the book’s there and now I’m saying yes again to other things.
Ronny Leber [00:43:28]:
Oh, beautiful. The pirate strategy, of course. And and and you said or one of the things, of course, that you’re doing is keynote speaking.
Stefanie Voss [00:43:35]:
Mhmm.
Ronny Leber [00:43:36]:
But also there, you’re well, I wouldn’t say an outlier, but there are not too many female keynote speakers. There are a lot more male keynote speakers on a speaker circuit, so to say. Why do you believe is that? Mhmm.
Stefanie Voss [00:43:49]:
It’s the same reason that you have not so many women in high level leadership positions of it you you required a lot of commitment. Of course, you know, my time is more free now. That’s the reason that I started my own business. But in the time that I work, I can travel. I can take, you know, jobs in Vienna, in Switzerland, in Norway, in in Berlin, in Munich. I can travel because my husband is here, and has a job that is at home and he also takes up a lot of responsibility here at home. Now look, you know, around you. How many families have a family setting where the female partner gets the freedom to travel? There are not that many and, you need that.
You cannot be a successful keynote speaker if you have limitations in terms of where and how much you can travel. It’s a it’s a traveling business. I love to travel. I enjoy that very much. I don’t like to do online, keynotes. I do those as well, but as well. But I’m I’m if I can, I always travel to my clients? And you have to be ready and willing to travel. You have to be ready and willing to have a lifestyle style that is different every single week.
Because, you know, today I’m doing this. Tomorrow I’m doing something different. There’s not that many people who like that. And particularly women very often when they have children more decide for, you know, being the stable role at home, which is fine and I don’t want to, you know, judge that. It was just never my lifestyle. I always wanted to travel. I always wanted to come around. I did that in my corporate job and I’m still doing that today and I have a partner who supports that.
And how many women have such a partner?
Ronny Leber [00:45:34]:
Beautiful. Very interesting perspective. Also, one thing that you mentioned before was kind of as a success recipe Mhmm. Was that you did a lot of networking, especially when you started out in your in your business. What does networking mean to you and what would be the Stefanie Vos secret of success in networking?
Stefanie Voss [00:45:54]:
Well, first of all, I am seriously interested in other people. I have a genuine interest in people, not just because I want to get something out of them, but I wanna, you know, I wanna know who is standing in front of me.
Ronny Leber [00:46:11]:
I feel like the mic drop mic drop moment right here. Yeah.
Stefanie Voss [00:46:15]:
Yeah. That’s that is that’s the most interesting if you’re networking because you want to benefit from your network, don’t network. You know, if you’re networking because you were genuinely want to learn from other people, that’s it. I network with, you know, cab drivers with people that work at hotel receptions. I ask people curious questions. I, there’s a saying that I like to use. I love deep talk and I hate small talk. I, you know, I ask people really, really weird and awkward questions and they’re like, but I you know, it gets me into interesting conversations.
So I have a genuine interest in other people. Also, I like to support other people. You know, if you were like, oh, I I need this or this tip. Do you know somebody? I’d be happy to introduce you to somebody from my network. And because I do that and because I’ve been doing that for such a long time and also in my corporate life, I’ve always done that. It makes it easy for me to ask if I have a question or if I need support and that’s another thing I dare to ask and I accept. No, You know, if if if I knew that you were in contact with somebody that would be really interesting for me and I would say, Ronnie, could you introduce me? And you would say, you know what? No, I can’t do that. I’d be very happy and I wouldn’t be angry at you and I would accept a no, but I dare to ask.
And that’s another thing actually, more in women than in men. Women very often don’t dare to ask. And, I ask. I, you know, get in touch with people I know and I say, look. I, you know, I know that you can do this or I know that you know how to do that or I know that you know this person. Would you help me? And very often I get a yes.
Ronny Leber [00:47:56]:
And why do you think it is that women oftentimes don’t dare to ask?
Stefanie Voss [00:48:00]:
Yeah, they are. They very often women have the feeling they have to do it themselves. And why would anybody support them? It’s a it’s a it’s a self esteem question, you know, and they they feel like they have to be very often that I have to be so so, you know, tough and straight. I have to do it myself. I do a lot of things myself, and I ask for help just as well.
Ronny Leber [00:48:24]:
There’s a Okay.
Stefanie Voss [00:48:24]:
Beautiful. There’s amongst women, there is this wonderful quote from, I think it comes from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the, the American, judge who passed away a couple of years ago. She said there is a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women. So, yeah, I do support, of course, lots of female colleagues and friends and clients and stuff like that. But I do support, you know, if I can support, if I can if I can help some help someone and it’s it’s, you know, not overly, an investment in my time or my resources, I’m always happy to do that.
Ronny Leber [00:49:04]:
Beautiful. Very beautiful. I love that.
Stefanie Voss [00:49:07]:
Yes. That’s definitely a success principle in the in the, you know, being a one person company world. That’s a huge success principle, good networking.
Ronny Leber [00:49:16]:
Oh, yeah. And also it helps you to elevate your personal brand, of course, as well. Yeah. So as we’re as we’re coming close to the end here of our time, let’s let’s dive into into some rapid fire questions.
Stefanie Voss [00:49:26]:
Yes.
Ronny Leber [00:49:26]:
So first of all, what’s one piece of advice you would like to give to somebody who is just starting out on their journey?
Stefanie Voss [00:49:33]:
Don’t overthink, rather try.
Ronny Leber [00:49:37]:
Beautiful. Who is somebody that you admire or look up to and why?
Stefanie Voss [00:49:42]:
I admire Oprah Winfrey, the American show host, because she brings full energy into everything she does.
Ronny Leber [00:49:54]:
What’s the best book you’ve ever read and why?
Stefanie Voss [00:49:57]:
Oh, the best is difficult. Lots of good books. One book that I really, really enjoy is a German book by Reinhard Sprenger. It’s called Das Prinzib selbstver anfortum. So the pront, the principle of self determination or self responsibility. I’m just rereading it. That’s why I have it so much. I’ve read it like 3 or 4 times, and I’m just now rereading
Ronny Leber [00:50:20]:
it. Oh, wow. What’s the, I mean, I I guess the title gives it away.
Stefanie Voss [00:50:25]:
Yeah. It’s self responsible. Everything is you know, you are the captain of your life. Don’t go into, you know, victim role, but, you know, steer your boat, period.
Ronny Leber [00:50:38]:
What do you practice on a daily basis that moves you forward?
Stefanie Voss [00:50:42]:
Reflection. Self reflection. Very often in writing, definitely in thinking every single day, if something especially if something bad happens, if something shitty happens, my standard go to question is, what is the universe trying to tell me right now?
Ronny Leber [00:51:02]:
Okay. Beautiful. What are you excited about right now?
Stefanie Voss [00:51:07]:
I am excited about bringing audacity even more into the world. I had a book reading again yesterday night and it’s small groups that I read to. But every time people come to me afterwards and say like, oh, you know what? You know, your your talk or that what you read made in it it produced a click in my head, and I’m excited about bringing that click into more people’s heads. Yeah.
Ronny Leber [00:51:37]:
I love that. And what’s one thing that you can’t live without?
Stefanie Voss [00:51:42]:
One thing I cannot live without, my family. I like to be away from them as well, but I like to be with them just as well.
Ronny Leber [00:51:52]:
Beautiful. So if somebody got inspired or would like to work with you or would like to know more about you, where can we find you?
Stefanie Voss [00:52:00]:
The easiest way is of course my website. It’s stephanie -Voss, v o s s, dot de. I’m very active on LinkedIn. Find me on LinkedIn. And if you Google my name, you’re probably run across my YouTube channel, which is in German and my Ted talks, which is in English and, check it out. And if you feel like I would be somebody who could, you know, make you more audacious, challenge you, work with you on challenging the status quo in your life, in your organization, then just get in touch. And, I’ll I’ll be happy to hear from people.
Ronny Leber [00:52:36]:
Or you can be a role model.
Stefanie Voss [00:52:37]:
Or even be a role model. Yes.
Ronny Leber [00:52:39]:
Any last 32nd thought that you would like to leave us with? Mhmm.
Stefanie Voss [00:52:44]:
Be a pirate. Whenever you’re standing in front of those smaller or bigger decisions in your life, be a pirate. Ask yourself what would I do now if I was an audacious pirate and then do that.
Ronny Leber [00:53:01]:
Let’s leave it like that. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time for being with us today. Once again, give it up, Stephanie Frost. Yay.
Stefanie Voss [00:53:11]:
Thank you so much.
Ronny Leber [00:53:14]:
Thank you for sticking with us until the end. To make this content even more valuable for you, please leave a comment below and share your thoughts. And also share this video with somebody you care about who absolutely needs to see this. Thank you very much. Have an outstanding day and see you next time.
