Learning by Experience 39

I was in a completely different environment...

My adventure as a general manager in Hungary had begun with great enthusiasm. I went with a very early flight, to be in the office at 9:00 on Monday, when I will start work! Then I thought about that a lot. A person goes the night before and is prepared rested. No! I did not give myself that right, like a criminal ... When I reached the office, I left my suitcase in my room😂 I introduced myself by visiting the office. However, a pre-adjustment is made with HR? I thought I started out as a rookie, but I didn't get stuck... I had confidence in myself and being natural. We organized our first meeting with the management team. All the management team, which was completely local, were older than me and mostly male. “With a very high energy and passion” I conveyed my mind. The team in turn introduced themselves "very calmly". It was a very cool, very different climate for me... 3 days ago there was a major health reform in Hungary. At such a time, a new and inexperienced GM obviously disturbed the entire team ... 18 days later, we would have an important job evaluation meeting. We had a lot of work to concentrate on and I didn't understand anything about the environment.

Before becoming general manager in Turkey, to me, it was just bureaucracy to go to another country ... but the more I realized that it was not the first week! I was in a completely different environment and it was not as easy as I expected, so it was instructive. I was much more inexperienced than I thought I was 😩 I was very good in marketing and sales in my field, but I had a long way to go in human resources, finance, corporate relations, law and the weight of being the first man ... How would I create a network? I had neither an old colleague nor a college friend nor any other acquaintances. I could not speak the language either ... I had to implement an urgent crisis management because everything had changed in the country ... I wonder if I could quickly gain the confidence needed for this crisis management. How were we supposed to define success in such an environment? With all these feelings, I rolled up my sleeves and started working!