For me, it was when I decided to recently quit a German multinational company, in a middle of the considered deepest economic crisis since the II World War.
I started to work for Bosch in the beginning of 2016 in Brazil. Back then, I participated in a junior managers program for Latin America, and by the end of the hiring process, HR noticed that my profile was more suited to an innovative project rather than to any of the open traditional positions, such as sales, procurement, and controlling.
So, I was offered, the position of Scrum Master for its Startup, a framework that I had only heard about, but with which I had never worked. I took the opportunity to learn more about it and accepted the job. In the beginning, while I was undergoing training, I had to learn by doing, and it was great! I loved the startup environment, I had brilliant colleagues, and for the first time, I learned what high-performing teams really meant (in practice).
I furthered my knowledge of the Agile Practices, which are iterative and incremental approaches to project management and software development that help teams deliver value to their customers, in a more adaptable manner. The following year, I was training the whole Bosch Startup team myself, as well as associates from other divisions in Bosch Latin America. As I was looking for bigger challenges in my career, in 2018 I applied for a position as Agile Coach in Bosch Germany, and I was hired to work for the PMO (Project Management Office) of the Driving Assistance/Autonomous Driving global division. Since then, I had the mission of spreading the knowledge of Agile methods within the organization, mainly through SAFe (Scaled Agiled Framework).
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services and it employs roughly 400,000 associates worldwide. Last year, the company was elected by Forbes as one of the world’s top 10 employers, as well as one of the most reputable global companies by the Global RepTrack study, which has been measuring what drives the reputation of the world’s largest, most esteemed companies, as perceived by the informed general public.
So, why did I decide to quit such a great company that is worthy to work for?
Well, 2020 was not an easy year for almost anyone. However, it helped us to rethink our habits, behaviors, and especially our priorities in life. According to the Global Learner Survey (Pearson), last year 63% of the professionals worldwide (on average), rethought their careers at any aspect, due to the pandemic. In short, I also became part of such statistics.
For months, I have been reflecting on the legacy I want to leave as my contribution to the world, and I am convinced that I want to inspire others towards developing a growth mindset.
This is not only for professional purposes, but rather more holistically, by pursuing ways to come together as (even much) better human beings. For building a better world, together.
For that, I created an environment where I could exchange my experiences (listening/reading from others is more than welcome), on a personal website that I welcome at the end of this article. As I considered my next steps on changing my career (and it involved quitting Bosch), I recalled a quote by J.C. Chandor:
“When it feels scary to jump, that’s exactly when you have to jump, otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life”.
That was exactly what I did! And even better: I left that great company with the feeling of mission accomplished, after having coached some ARTs (Agile Release Train, whose acronym I will explain in another article), trained several Scrum Masters inside and outside Germany, and led project managers, executives and other professionals towards the Agile transformation. I am thankful for everything I learned in the last five years while I contributed to Bosch, and all the talented people I met during my journey there.
Evolution comes from striving in adversity.
And I am excited to share with you soon what comes next 😉 Stay tuned on:
About me: I’m a High-Performance Coach who uses a Neuroscience-based method to support you in Achieve More with Mental Well-Being.
