Why German is Considered the Language of Writers and Thinkers

By Sean Patrick Hopwood

Riddled with quirky traits and poetic descriptions, the German language is a fascinating one. But why is German called “Das Land der Dichter und Denker”? In this article, we take a look at some wonderful and fun facts about one of the world’s most intriguing languages to explore why it’s considered the language of writers and thinkers!

Das Land der Dichter und Denker

The German phrase translates to ‘The Land of Poets and Thinkers,’ and it’s a common nickname for Germany. German culture ran through the veins of many famous minds that influenced the way the rest of the world reads and interacts with each other.

From Goethe and Schiller to Heine, Mozart, Beethoven, Fred, Klimt, and Einstein, German was spoken by many brilliant leaders and continues to stand tall as one of the most important cultural languages in the world. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, for example, the writer of Faust, is considered one of the greatest national treasures of Germany.

Interesting Facts About the German Language

Did you know that German is among the top 15 most widely spoken languages on earth? It’s estimated that roughly 1.4% of the world’s population are German speakers. Here are some more interesting facts about the German language that prove that it’s the language of writers and thinkers!

German is a Close Relative to the English Language

German is a West Germanic language, just like the English language. This means that the languages share a lot of similarities and are actually closely related. However, there are many words that look and sound the same, but have totally different meanings!

Proverbs in the German Language Can be Bizarre at Times

Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei – Everything has an end; only a sausage has two. What it really means, however, is that all good things must come to an end at some point.

Das ist nicht dein Bier! – That’s not your beer. The meaningful translation would be that it is none of your business.

In German, All Nouns are Capitalized

If you’ve ever read a newspaper in a part of the German-speaking world, you’d have noticed how the paragraphs are permeated with extra-long words that are written in capital letters. That is because they write all nouns in capital letters. And it’s also part of the reason why written German is such a captivating language.

German is Full of Unique Words Describing German Philosophy

One notable aspect of the German language is its ability to create new, super-specific words that help to express life much more accurately than the English language could ever dream of. Schadenfreude, for example, literally translates the kind of happiness that is derived from someone else’s misfortune or pain. Then there’s Torschlusspanik, the word used to summarize the fear that creeps in with old age and the realization that one doesn’t have much time left, and this evokes a sense of urgency to do certain things before it’s too late.

Many German Words are Compounded Nouns

Did you know that many of the scarily-long German words can probably be broken down into smaller nouns? The German language is well-known for building new words from existing ones. A good example is Handschuhe. It combines the words Hand and Schue (which means shoes) to form a new word for ‘hand shoes’ and literally translates to ‘gloves’ in the English language.

It’s the European Union’s Most Spoken Language

Aside from being the official language of Germany, German is also an official language in Austria and Liechtenstein. It’s also a co-official language of Luxembourg and Switzerland, and thus, it is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the European Union! However, the dialect isn’t the same everywhere across the German-speaking world of the European Union, and depending on where you are in Germany, you’ll encounter various German dialects.

Nouns are Masculine, Feminine, or Gender-Neutral

All German nouns have genders, but the gender doesn’t comply with the gender of the object; it’s purely grammatical. According to Mark Twain, young ladies aren’t classified as a specific sex, but turnips are definitely female.

German was the Proud Owner of the World’s Longest Foreign Language Word

The supercalifragilisticexpialidocious you were thinking about might be the longest word in the English language, but German history used to top that! The 63-letter Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, which means ‘the law concerning the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and the labeling of beef’ was too much for even the native German speakers. The word was eventually declared obsolete.

Germanic Script only Emerged in the Middle of the 20th Century!

German used to be written with the Fraktur script from the Latin alphabet up until the middle of the twentieth century. Gothic calligraphy was introduced to the language in the 16th century and was in use in German Universities until the end of the Second World War.

Wrapping Up

With all its unique quirks, fascinating words, and captivating phrases, German certainly is a wonderful language that can describe life and all its experiences in a unique way. It’s no wonder the language is considered the best one that poets and philosophers can use to express their ideas! 

So while a German citizen might call their language the language of poets because that’s what they were taught, there’s a very good reason why the rest of the world also agrees. German is one of the richest languages on earth thanks to its huge variety of words. 

They have words to describe sounds, processes, and even the effects of certain emotional states, and very few other languages can boast of this. And it is in philosophy and poetry where words are armor to keep up the good fight of spreading knowledge!

 Author Bio:

Sean Patrick Hopwood is the President of Day Translations, an academic evaluation services provider. He is also a language polyglot and can speak English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German, Hebrew, and Portuguese with varying levels of fluency. Soccer is one of his many passions. It allows him to socialize with his friends and brings him in close contact with people from other cultures. He loves to dance and salsa is one of his favorite styles.

The Self-Exploitation of Female Founders

Seven Reasons for a Lack of Income

I asked #ChatGPT why #Google reviews are critical and why you should support female founders. Supporting a female founder is essential for fostering diversity and equality in business. Here are a few reasons why it’s important:

🌟 Diversity of Perspectives: Female founders often bring unique perspectives and experiences to the business landscape. Embracing diversity in leadership can lead to more innovative and creative solutions.

👩‍🎤 Representation Matters: By supporting female founders, you contribute to breaking down gender stereotypes and encourage more women to pursue entrepreneurship. Visible role models inspire others to follow suit.

💹 Economic Impact: Empowering female entrepreneurs can positively impact the economy. Studies have shown that supporting women in business leads to job creation and economic growth.

🌏 Global Impact: Women-led businesses can address unique challenges and needs in the market that might be overlooked. This can lead to developing products and services that benefit a broader and more diverse audience.

🏅 Corporate Social Responsibility: Supporting female founders aligns with principles of corporate social responsibility. It demonstrates a commitment to fairness, equality, and social progress.

Ultimately, supporting a #femalefounder is not just about gender; it’s about recognizing and valuing the diverse contributions that individuals, regardless of gender, can bring to the entrepreneurial landscape.

Ask for Google Reviews

Google reviews are important for several reasons. Firstly, they build credibility and trust. Potential customers often rely on reviews to gauge a business’s or service’s quality. Positive reviews can act as social proof, reassuring others that your business is reliable and provides a positive experience.

Secondly, Google reviews can impact your search engine rankings. A business with more positive reviews will likely rank higher in local search results, making it more visible to potential customers.

Additionally, reviews provide valuable feedback. They can highlight areas where your business excels and areas needing improvement. This feedback is crucial for refining your services and addressing customer concerns.

In summary, Google reviews contribute to your online reputation, influence search rankings, and offer insights for business improvement. You can ask at the end of every program:

“We appreciate having you as a client and reader. If you’ve enjoyed our coaching or read our blog or #TheGlobalPeopleClubSandwich, could you share your experience on Google? Your feedback means a lot to us. 🌟 Review Angie Weinberger’s Coaching here.🌟 “

Finally, to all my female founder colleagues out there. Here is a gentle reminder about an issue you might face as well:

Stop Your Self-Exploitation ⚙ 🐹

I procrastinated on this article for too long but today is the day where I need to write it. Why? I almost fell into the trap, the trap of self-exploitation, and self-damage and nearly ruined myself in the process. However, with good coaching and a supportive personal and professional network, I found a way out of the burnout trap and hassle of being a female founder. I’m not saying that I could not earn more money, but I know my worth and I get paid what I am worth (unless I work pro bono which is a choice occasionally).

I have been wondering for a while why many female founders and freelancers allow themselves to work for little money or even for free. I came across seven reasons that I want to share with you. I’m hoping for a discussion on how we can avoid exploiting ourselves as female founders or “entrepreneuses”. If you are the partner or husband of a female founder maybe you also want to know how you can support her.

Angie Weinberger’s Latest Song and The Global Rockstar Album

by Anne-Kristelle Carrier

Dear guests, dear team, Angie, good afternoon!

I am truly honored to have worked with Angie’s team on this unique project and to be here for this long-awaited Global Rockstar Album book launch. Angela Weinberger is a true visionary and leader in Global Mobility and has dedicated her career until now to changing things for the better in the corporate world: bringing the Human Touch back into mobility, integrating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices, and wrapping it all up, changing the narrative of what a good leader is.

I met Angie back in 2010 at an Expat Partner event she hosted. She made such an impression on me back then: she already gave that leader vibe. Angie radiated this confidence in her expertise, in herself. And even if I hadn’t put my finger on it back then, she made that impression on me because I had perceived her human, caring side. She clearly wasn’t helping people just because she was paid to; she sincerely had to help people at heart.

That is why Angie is a rock star, somewhat of a rebel, like writer, philosophy professor, and political and feminist activist Angela Davis, whom she was named after. Davis once said: “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” That is precisely what Angie does every day.

But Angie is undoubtedly inspired by many women who have radically transformed the world, each in their own domain, in their own way, sharing their wisdom with humanity.

Like Angie, Audre Lord, a Black American queer feminist prolific writer and mother of modern intersectional feminism, knew how important it was to care for oneself. She wrote: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Talk about radical thinking! Angela Weinberger also insists in her blog, during the retreats she offers, in her new book, The Global Rockstar Album, everywhere she goes that we need to take care of our health and our well-being if we are to be able to work and who knows, change the world!

Mental health is also a crucial part of self-care. When gymnastic superstar Simone Biles announced during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics that she was leaving to focus on her mental health, she did what Angie preaches in her chapter Role-Model Failure: we need to stand up against the fear-culture, the pressure. Mental health is non-negotiable; it should be everyone’s priority. 

You know how they say great minds think alike? In this apocryphal anecdote, Margaret Mead is believed to have said that the first sign of civilization is not, as we would have expected her to say, buildings, cities, or writing, but, as she said, a healed femur. That someone, thousands of years ago, would have survived thanks to the help, care, and support of family or community was, to her, the real sign of civilization. Caring for each other as a community is another value Angie cherishes greatly. And whether Margaret Mead really thought that was the cornerstone of civilization or not, Angie KNOWS it to be the cornerstone of a great team! 

Malala Youssafzai, for her part, fought for education and justice for girls and women in Pakistan and all over the world despite adversity and fear. I am sure Angela adheres to this famous quote of hers: “I truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through not only educating our minds but our hearts and our souls.” 

Shireen ‘Ebadi, an Iranian Human rights advocate, spoke at the Zermatt Summit in 2011 on Servant Leadership and said, “It is about time that “humanity” entered Globalization in all its aspects.” Talk about bringing a human touch!

And you might not have known, but Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, just like Angela, knew the value of Simon Sinek’s concept of the Golden Circle. She said: “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” Angie knows that is how great leaders inspire action, the why: your cause. But I wouldn’t dare spoil the book too much; you can read more in the Global Rockstar Album! 😉

When I met Angie in 2010, I think the great impression she gave me as a leader, and as a human, was due to her empathy. Jacinda Ardern once said in an interview that one of the criticisms she had faced over the years was that she is not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because she’s empathetic, which means she’s weak. She said: “I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong.” And I feel that is exactly what Rockstar Angie does too; it’s what she does best: she rebels against this traditional leadership model to be her true self, an empathetic servant leader like this amazing lineage of strong, smart, and caring women.

Some rebels, like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian feminist and anti-racism writer, change the world because they don’t like and won’t accept the status quo.  She said, “I am a person who believes in asking questions, in not conforming for the sake of conforming. I am deeply dissatisfied – about so many things, about injustice, about the way the world works – and in some ways, my dissatisfaction drives my storytelling.” I think this is the why to Angie’s golden circle.

Angie practices what she preaches. That is how she inspires change, like Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Jacinda Ardern, and all those brave women. Bringing the world one more example of what a true leader is. Her book condenses all her knowledge and wisdom and distillates it into 21 clear, simple, and inspirational verses. I trust Angela’s work will profoundly impact how we see leaders and how they are trained so we can all strive for a better, more humane workplace.

Angie has been simmering this book for quite a while now – some things are worth waiting for, they say, right!? I know she can’t wait to present it to you and explain why she embarked on this journey. So I will give her the floor to do just that.

Impressions from the Launch Party in Zurich

Anne-Kristelle Carrier has been supplying her inclusive editing and project management skills to Global People Transitions GmbH, Zurich, Switzerland, from April 2021 to September 2023. Global People Transitions is a career coaching and Global Mobility consulting company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company was founded in 2012.  Mrs. Carrier delivered her services to and reported to the Managing Director and Founder, Angela Weinberger. She is our Inclusive Content Editor and works with us as a freelancer. She also edited The Global Rockstar Album. She is currently looking for new projects. You can contact her via anne@globalpeopletransitions.com.

BUY THE BOOK ON AMAZON:

A Guest Post by Daniel Toth

I’ve never cooked a goulash in my life, I guess for many reasons. You need many people to eat it, or you will eat it alone for a week. Then, not all the ingredients are available in Switzerland, or at least not have the exact same taste. But most likely, I tend to avoid everything Hungarian in my life, which could remind me of my home, where I grew up… it is not the place at all that it used to be, but populism and its effect on society is not the topic of today. 

Yet when I was asked if I could share my expat experience, somehow, I got stuck to the idea, that my career so far is like finetuning the perfect goulash recipe: absolute CEE origin, rich in content, has a lot of energy and potential, might be quite heavy to consume, can be spicy and takes time to understand the components and how the play together. 

Do I wish I had known my own goulash recipe 10 or 20 years before? Absolutely, because it would have made me much more efficient and excel faster. Would I encounter other challenges? Most likely yes. As we cannot and don’t want to change the past, my choice is to continue to learn, practice, and share. To share how being conscious about you and your own recipe could take you on an amazing journey. 

The big career soup

A good goulash needs great ingredients, starting with a perfect base (onion, fat, and paprika), quality meat, veggies, spices, and a long time (3-4 hours) to cook. You also need a good base to succeed in your career (purpose and related knowledge and skills), you need to deliver results and energy (the ‘meat around the bone’), and you have to connect with a very colorful spectrum of your colleagues and to integrate opinions and goals to have a balanced taste suiting the most, and you have to have courage, passion, and enthusiasm to add the right spice to your professional brand. And you need to carefully try, test, adjust the ‘recipe’, and be patient until all these ingredients create the right balance, at the right place and at the right time. 

The evolution of my own goulash 

Well, I haven’t ever cooked a goulash, but have been through quite a lot in my career. Let me share with you some key learnings, which helped me to shape who I am today as a professional and as an expat. 

The balance of the meat and veggies

One of my biggest learnings as an expat is to balance my passion, my aim for delivery, and my energy and sometimes to also stop and ask colleagues “How do you like the taste? What would make you happier on the menu”?

See I am coming from Central and Eastern Europe, and although it is not an aggressive live-or-die culture, like a couple of thousand kilometers more to the East, there are some specificities. My parents are Baby Boomers, both were born shortly after the 2nd World War. Imagine growing up in a city fully demolished during the war, where in the last 102 days-long siege the Russian troops ‘freed’ Budapest from the Hungarian-Nazi regime. And then stayed for 45 years. 

Both my parents were the firsts in their own families to have a degree, and their recipe for life was simple: the more you work, the more you achieve, the more safety you can create for yourself and your family, the happier you are. There were no questions asked like ‘How do you feel’, as they were busy moving on to the next pillar of the Maslow pyramid and moving away from the poverty and pain from the generation of my grandparents. 

So, this became my path too: study, work hard, achieve, and excel. And boy I did. On one hand, this drive gave me the opportunities in my career and brought me to Switzerland. On the other hand, it scared a lot of colleagues, because, above the direct and result-driven approach, people were either not able to keep up with me or my success shed light on their shortcomings. And again, I did not stop and asked: ‘How are you doing, can you follow me?’. Nope. We have a goal, let’s go for it guys! Not good if you want to have a soup that is tasteful for the most. 

You may say, so what, we have seen many very determined and even arrogant leaders, who usually succeed to the top. Well, yes, but there is a trick here. The base goulash recipe starts with frying onion and paprika (the spices) on fat. On one hand, these two give a base taste to the entire dish, on the other hand, they are extremely sensitive. If you burn them, you must start all over again. This happened with me in my career, and my base taste, purpose, and determination to make customers happy and deliver accordingly was burned. And I had to move on, and to change.

For whom do I cook for? 

Even if you manage to keep your base tasteful, sometimes the menu and the desire of the guests don’t match. Sometimes it is only your line manager, sometimes it is the whole organization. 

If you are an introverted person, like me, my suggestion is, to find very few people in your organization, whom you can trust, connect frequently, and share your thoughts. This will enable you to get feedback on the ‘taste’ of your dish, so you can adjust the heat, and the ingredients, or you can even cook another dish, all before developing a very bad taste, which would trigger strong bad emotions either in you or in others. 

There are young organizations, who, like a teenager, are just interested in growing as fast as possible. They are mostly not interested in quality and sustainability, and despite their horrible eating habits and love for fast food, they genetically keep their charming face and immaculate bodies (usually due to a unique and market-leading product offering) until they develop their first fat cells in their twenties. Don’t try to be a Michelin-star chef when all they need is french fries. 

You might be in an environment, where your menu is really needed, however, due to legacy and some financial reserves, the members of the organization are not ready to start a healthy and quality diet. Usually, they are reluctant to change because of fear of losing the existing or future potential and position within the company. So how can you adjust the flavors so that people still order from your menu?

Also, you might realize that you are cooking a very protein-rich meat dish when everyone around you is vegetarian, and the most successful cooks around you base their success on relationships and not on prioritized business effects. It is super hard to convince people, that with your menu the company will even grow better when others also deliver growth, and meanwhile, they are trusted golf partners. 

Any food allergies? 

When you see that any of your dinner guests start to develop symptoms of allergies to your concepts, strategy, presentation, or whatever, just stop the show and focus on the colleague. No result nor achievement can overwrite the importance of keeping your relationships alive with everyone, especially with peers in the leadership team or with members of your management. 

Be brave to use spices! 

It also happened to me, that I was focusing so much on keeping the balance of the ingredients trying to please everyone, that my soup lost its taste. I was delivering, I was managing my relationships well. Yet my Chief Commercial Officer bluntly told me, that they expect more innovation from a Global Director, even if it provokes conflicts.

I know today, years after that I was afraid of conflicts. I was unconsciously blunt in my twenties, this, combined with my drive, structure, and strategic thinking got me to HQ level. I realized that I didn’t fit and started to replace my original spices with the ones I saw people like. What I’ve forgotten, is that I was getting to HQ for the reason of who I am, and not to change my core ‘taste’, but to integrate it and to sell it successfully. And to make the ‘HQ menu’ richer. 

In the end, I developed a tasteless goulash for vegetarians, instead of explaining and slightly adjusting the recipe, carefully selecting my first guests, and reducing the portions. Meanwhile, I was frustrated, that what I offered was far from the original recipe, and it was not needed. 

The unusual spice 

My conflict avoidance and focus on reputation probably originate from the fact, that I was growing up in a very loving yet conservative environment as an unconscious gay kid, who thinks and behaves differently from the average. I was just weird at elementary school and a genius weirdo at high school. 

I did not realize why am I different, others had no idea how to manage these differences in a caring yet very strict post-communist education area in the 80s and early 90s, which was just a perfect combination for conflicts with myself and with others. 

By moving to the U.S.A. and by college time I became a lot of fun, and caught up, no regrets at all. But what remained besides the conflict avoidance was an overfocus on reputation and compliance. Probably the logic behind this was to do everything right as expected from me, so no one could say anything bad or complain, and so to be more accepted. 

I did not have the courage as a teenager to say, that this is who I am and I cannot and don’t want to do about it, because I didn’t even know who I was and what was going on with me. The clarity and consciousness started to develop in my late twenties, yet always working in the conservative premium segment it was not easy to find the right approach, especially after bumping my head into some glass ceiling a few times. 

Meanwhile, the world also moved on, diversity and inclusion in the workplace were born, and I think I learned to handle my differences in a natural way, which probably also keeps me away from bumping my head into glass ceilings. 

If your goulash soup has a different or additional spice from the known average, my advice would be to be transparent about it, yet don’t provoke and don’t force it. Just like in marketing, after being clear on your values, turn your difference into an innovator adding more value, find the early adopters in your organization, and the rest will follow. 

And in case you feel that you bump your head into that glass ceiling, I suggest investigating your own intentions first: on what level does your cause serve the selfish you versus others and the business? Finding the answer will help you decide your next steps, what to fight for, what to let go, or when to move on. 

Can you leave that one spice out of your recipe?

People respecting you as a professional yet expecting you to be gay at home is the dimension, which first I had to clear in my own mind: I am not separatable. Sexuality is all around us. It is in your high heels with red soles, it is in your makeup, it is in your sports car, in your expensive watch, in your sunglasses, in your dress, and in your shirt’s buttons being open on top, and so on. It is also in your family pictures on your desks, and in your holiday stories with your kids, which implies that you, as a heterosexual professional, also have a partner and have sex. 

Despite I am not representing the average in terms of the choice of sex or the choice of my love, I don’t differ from you in my desires at all: I want to be loved, I want to be respected, I want to add value, I want to belong. May I ask you not to close people out from the kitchen just because of one spice of them? I was born gay. It is already enough for us to meet our own expectations and overcome our own beliefs that we must work harder and better to be accepted. 

Meanwhile, the more comfortable I feel in a workspace myself, the more energy I can focus on my creativity, effectiveness, and performance, which energy I would waste otherwise on frustrations. Win-win, I feel more fulfilled, and you get better output from me. And trust me, my professional reputation is very important to me.

What would happen if you stopped cooking? 

On the thought of being accepted, one of the big struggles I had with my own recipe in the last years is that I asked myself: Why do I cook this? Why do I cook at all? And if so, is this the recipe I wish to offer? 

At the bottom of this thought chain, the big question came: Does my cooking define who I am? Who am I really without being in the kitchen? Does work really define me? And who am I without work? 

Has that midlife crisis already hit you? Not yet? If you are a professional, who believes in continuous self-improvement, at a certain point you will face the question of what makes you happy. And how you fulfill yourself. Take as much time as you can and life allows you, to invest months or even years to base well the second half of your life. Even if it is a step back financially, it will pay back! 

At the beginning of my sabbatical, I was completely frustrated about the fact, that I didn’t have daily work to do. In fact, I felt bad about myself, that I didn’t have an output, which I could look at as the justification for my existence. 

Then I unconsciously started to do things, which I love. I traveled. I did a lot of sports. I’ve read a book every week. And I started to have amazing AHA moments, some flashbacks from my teenage years, reminding me who I really was before starting to work at age 19, and who I really am. In the midst of my great career with the addiction to success and ever-increasing financial wealth somehow the hamster wheel made me forget who I wanted to be (besides what I wanted to have). 

Last week at the end of this nearly 2-year change journey I asked myself if there is a purpose in life. Well, since so far no one really found it, I would say there isn’t. So, let’s just enjoy it by doing the things we like and by living up to our own values, and focusing on the things we love. For me, it is still connecting, traveling, reading, doing sports, taking a 50% job at an educational institution, and building up my own consumer marketing advisory business for the ones, who really want to provide a great customer experience. What an amazing balance and shift from considering work as the purpose and as the justification of existence! 

Patience for the necessary cooking time 

See, a good goulash takes 3-4 hours to cook. Even if you have the best ingredients, you pay attention to the taste of your guests, you have used your spices right, and you need the right time to make it great. 

If you need any help with your recipes you can contact me via my website. I’m also on LinkedIn. Happy cooking! 

Resources

Here are some helpful links that helped me a lot on my growth journey:

1. Starting with my impatience, I’ve turned my thinking of missing something to not having it yet. This video helped me a lot to develop my areas with a positive mindset. 
2. For perfectionist professionals with an overbalanced reputation focus and unrealistic self-importance, and for handling glass ceilings and insecurities watch this.
3. To appreciate your vulnerability and sensitivity and not hide them behind perfection, performance, and output. To be able to say: ‘I am enough’ have a look here.
4. To look at past ‘mistakes’ and conflicts as necessary building blocks to become who I am today and to build trust in myself that at those points of my life, I’ve made the best decision with my current knowledge, and I’ve learned from them. To appreciate being in the ‘arena’ check out this video.
5. Revisiting my ‘core’ taste, my base. Also, to manage my above-average energy, skills, and capabilities you can take a look here.

About the Author

After Daniel Toth finished his high school studies both in Budapest and in Denver Colorado, he attended the Tourism Economist and Hotel Management faculty of Budapest Business School, where he graduated in 2004. During his college times, he worked in hotels’ front office departments, including being the Manager of Duty at the Tampa Airport Marriott hotel in Florida.

In 2006 he opened the Hungarian Nespresso Market by leading retail operations, where he also built up the customer relationship, after-sales, e-commerce, and CRM operations in the next 5 years.
After constantly winning the global retail, customer relationship, and e-commerce satisfaction KPIs with his market, in 2011 he was promoted to a global Customer Relationship Project Manager role, where he was co-leading and supporting 25 Nespresso customer relationship centers mainly from the customer experience and service quality point of view. He was also owning the global omnichannel Customer Voice program. In line with this new Marketing master’s degree, he switched to a global Head of Launch Communication / Marketing Delivery Go To Market Director role for Swarovski in 2015, where he was responsible for global retail and trade activation, and visual merchandising implementation.

In the last years, he was building up the digital CRM capabilities for Invisalign in EMEA, being responsible for the entire lead-to-conversion funnel including websites, e-mail journeys, CRM- campaigns, patient APPs, customer, and patient relation programs. After finishing his Digital Marketing studies at HWZ Zürich, he opened his own Brand and CRM X consumer marketing strategy advisory practice.

More Resources

Barbie, the Patriarchy and Activism

The Global Rockstar Album

The Global Rockstar Album – 21 Verses to Find Your Tact as an Inclusive Leader

With “The Global Rockstar Album – 21 Verses to Find Your Tact as an Inclusive Leader” launching around the corner, I thought I would talk briefly about my journey of completing this book. Every book project is a massive team effort. I realized in June that it would be easy just to quit the project, so I forced myself a little. I used what I call the “people approach to managing projects.” Often when I am confronted with my inner corrupters and I find a way to get over myself I feel like sharing this with you. Here are my learnings from this fourth book launch.

1 – Tell the World Before You Are Ready

“The “People Approach to Managing Projects” has several steps. First, you visualize the result and paint a detailed picture of it. Second, you add post-it notes of people you see connected to this end vision. Third, you consider which role they will play in your end vision. Fourth, you reach out to them and let them know that you need their help. Then, you engage them for a job in your project, and finally, you find two commitment buddies who will check in with you on your success and report to them every week. It is also vital to tell the world about your project.”

It would help to hire a team of professionals and also tell as many people as possible about my upcoming book launch. Book launches are generally happening before the Frankfurt Book Fair and we wanted our current Academic Intern Kamila Banak, to be with us for the launch party. Hence we fixed a date (26 September) and worked backwards from there.

2 – Set a Hard Deadline

With that date in the diary, it was straightforward to move forward. After having spent so long on the book, I was asked how I approached revisions with a fresh perspective. When I started writing “The Global Rockstar” in 2017 on Lake Orta, I had a different outlook on my life and career. I was still debating whether I should return to a full-time role as a Global Mobility Manager. I even tried to work part-time in Global Mobility for a while during the Pandemic. 

Still, my inner artist felt so neglected during this phase that even though I made a lot of money when many entrepreneurs had to shut down their businesses, I did not feel inspired. I could not finalize the book for at least two years. It lingered in a digital drawer and made me feel like a victim whenever I looked at it. Something had not felt right about it. I could not put my finger on it until I finally got back in the zone. A fresh perspective comes from readers, the feedback of learners, and the experience of working on the book. We ran a pilot with readers and asked them for their views and where they got stuck. We asked them how the book helped them, and I felt encouraged to move on as the testers reported their results.

3 – Let the Band Play (even when the Singer leaves the Stage)

Each team member brings in a new perspective. One team member is responsible for English language edits, another one helps with captivating titles, and one member handles promotions on social media platforms. I want to thank all my team members for working so diligently. They helped turn the project into a work of art. I do not enjoy the nitty gritty part of the process as much as the creative part, so I tried to give as much responsibility as possible to the “band.” I let them play and wanted to be involved in crucial content or marketing decisions. By the end of August, I left the stage as the lead singer and let the band play. It helps to let go.

4 – Follow a Proven Template

It is also essential to work in a structured manner and trust that every team member will do their best. Once the edits were done, I did not look at the content anymore, only verifying that logic and structure matched. I use the templates and steps from the last book launches and continue to refine them. I document every step of the process so I have it easier the next time. I even worked with the invitee lists from the last launch. 

I care about details such as words, spelling, grammar, structure, typos, logistics, and my guests!  I am also involved in significant production, digital marketing, and launch decisions. And while I have enjoyed every part of it, I also have clients, family, and friends to care for. I wake up at 6 AM on the weekend thinking about the book launch.

5 – Cut out the Noise

This is my fourth book launch, and by now, I know how my inner corruptors feel. I understand that many artists fear showing their work to the world. In mid-August, I returned from a long-awaited journey to Pakistan and noticed we only had six weeks to go to the book launch. I was getting anxious and started to micro-manage more than usual. I found one mistake in the manuscript that triggered a lot of anxiety. 

I had received four raving reviews from senior interculturalists at that point, but one remark from a friend almost made me stop everything. I knew it was time to drop the imposter syndrome and put the inner critic to valuable work. I am not sure if I have ever done this before but I printed the whole manuscript and went through it on paper again. Working on paper at this stage also helped me to get off the Internet and WhatsApp. As my friend D. said, “Cut out the noise and keep your focus.” 

Check out this Podcast Episode of Berliner Zinner for more: