What advice would you give to your twenty-five-year-old self?
I think I would not advise myself to change the things I’ve done. The only piece of advice would be to make decisions after talking to many people who have different perspectives and therefore not give answers immediately.
As I assume running such a big network of schools has to be stressful, what are you doing to relax and in your free time then?
It is not stressful. The question is what is stress, I think there is a positive and negative stress. When you like doing something, when you have a goal and you have a chance to reach it, you have to remember that it takes work and time. Sometimes it takes some thinking, sometimes you don’t know exactly the right way, but in general it gives me a very positive feeling. Even when I work hard and for a long time, but I reach my goal eventually, I feel rewarded, not stressed. It makes you proud and gives you a lot of self-confidence. But of course, everyone has to relax, and to do it I love going to theatres, operas or concert halls, not only in Berlin or Leipzig, where I come from, but also in Capetown or in Cairo. I also love inviting people home and cooking for them.
As a manager of a network of schools, what skills do you think young people should have after they graduate from school?
For me, they should have basic knowledge they need every day, the second thing is that they should be open to other mentalities. What I mean is that they should be open not only to what they like and are familiar with, but also to what is completely different and unknown. Whatever the skin colour, preferences or origin, I have respect. I would like the graduates from Rahn schools to have respect towards different types of people, mentalities, countries. If they want to be successful in the modern world, they should learn it.
