Don’t wait for change – shape your work environment
Content creator meets startup coach:
For Laura Lewandowski and Julius Bachmann, new work is a part of everyday life. In this interview, they talk about personal responsibility, new habits and the most important success factor – personal well-being.
A digital workshop on Monday, in the office with the whole team on Tuesday - and the rest of the week in the office or working from home as needed. At Audi, too, mobile and hybrid work have become a part of everyday life. The “Hybrid Working” company agreement, which went into effect in October 2022, shows what direction the new work environment at Audi is taking. It gives employees even more freedom to work autonomously and find a work model that suits their living situation.
For the Bits & Pretzels 2022 festival in Munich, Audi shined a major spotlight on the topic of new work. In attendance were experts from the startup scene, who shared their experiences from the new work environment. This included the influencer and former dpa journalist Laura Lewandowski and the startup coach Julius Bachmann. In this interview, they reveal how best to shape our everyday work lives in times of new work.
Laura, as a content creator, you get your community hyped up about the future of the workplace. Your motto to that end is “work smart, not hard”. How do you put this into practice in your everyday work?
Laura, as a content creator, you get your community hyped up about the future of the workplace. Your motto to that end is “work smart, not hard”. How do you put this into practice in your everyday work?
Laura Lewandowski: When you live off your own creativity, it’s really important to come to grips with your own well-being, or else you won’t be creative for much longer. For me, it’s routine business to ask myself, “Is it good for me to participate in this or that project?” I was totally different before. Back then, I thought the more I worked, the more I’d get out of it. But in the long run, the opposite is true. Instead of immediately running wild, I take a lot of time for decisions these days. Because this is the only way I even have the capability to find smart solutions, solutions with leverage, solutions that give me time – for instance, time for my small daughter.
Julius, you advise people who have found fast-growing technology companies. How do you reconcile success and well-being?
Julius, you advise people who have found fast-growing technology companies. How do you reconcile success and well-being?
Julius Bachmann: Those who found companies are full of drive, full of ideas, but they also quickly tend to overexert themselves. In my coaching sessions, I advise asking yourself, “What do I need to perform to the optimal extent?” Optimal, mind you, not maximal. Everyone quickly comes up with factors like sufficient sleep, movement, healthy nutrition and good friends. Like Laura said, it’s important to get ahead of the wave and make very deliberate decisions. But this doesn’t mean that we should scrutinize every small detail. A good recipe for success is to train yourself in good habits. That’s how we free our minds for what’s important to us.
How do you define “good habits”?
Julius Bachmann: I mean behaviors with positive secondary effects. Here’s a personal example: When I started my career, I – a rather musical type – motivated by a colleague, started working out. Tuesday mornings I went out jogging, so I wasn’t scarfing down currywurst after 10:00 p.m. or going to bed late. This had an enormous effect on my work performance. This works especially well when you integrate new habits into existing routines. An easy example: I add in using interdental brushes when I floss.
How do I go about making room in my life for the right new habits?
Julius Bachmann: On the one hand, it’s important to recognize the push effect. What is my reality, and what bothers me about it? On the other hand, the pull effect needs to be developed to pull me positively into the future. In individual coaching sessions, it can go like this: “Why do you want to change?” “Because then I’d be more efficient.” “Why is it so important to be more efficient?” “Then I can go home earlier.” “Why do you want to go home earlier?” “Because I’m needed there.” “Why are you needed?” “Because we just became parents.” I generally ask four questions. This quickly makes it clear what adjustments need to be made.
Do habits and work methods like this work in major corporations like Audi as well?
Laura Lewandowski: Salaried employees’ everyday work naturally can’t be as freely organized as that of self-employed people. But I know from personal experience that freedoms are afforded even in major organizations. You just have to leave your comfort zone and show autonomy – for instance, by not always just saying “yes” and instead thinking about whether you can really take on a new task. Especially in times of new work, when a lot of people are doing their work more flexibly from home, it’s important to understand that our parents aren’t here anymore to make sure we’re doing well. Instead, we have to learn to confidently set boundaries, to see whether a task just saps energy or pushes me and the team forward. I advise everyone that it’s better to help shape your work environment than to wait for orders from above. New work gives us the opportunity for that more than ever.
Personal details: Laura Lewandowski
“While AI toils away, I’m reinventing the business world of tomorrow,” Laura Lewandowski writes on her website. The former dpa journalist is the founder of the media company Smart Chiefs. In her YouTube show “Meet Your Mentor”, her newsletter and her columns in Business Insider, everything revolves around new work and leadership. She ranks among the Top 30 Under 30 Journalists, was presented with the Digital Female Leader Award and ranks among LinkedIn’s Top Voices. In 2022, she and Audi created a new-work event as part of the Bits & Pretzels festival in Munich.
Personal details: Julius Bachmann
Julius Bachmann’s mission is “to make the future of entrepreneurship more humane”. As a coach, he supports founders who finance their startups with investor funding. He helps them take their first steps and personally evolve. Before becoming self-employed, Bachmann worked for the consultancy Ernst & Young and the Berlin-based venture capital firm Redstone. At Audi’s new-work event in September 2022, he inspired the participants with a workshop on the topic of “habits with leverage”.
