In your own words: Peter Scharff, Country Manager Nordics, SMB Sales, at Google
Photo: Private photo
- How would you describe yourself when you were a student at CBS?
I was hardworking and ambitious, if I may say so myself. But I didn’t miss out on the social part either – I can’t say there were many parties I didn’t attend. Good planning was the key.
- How did you get your first job after graduating from CBS?
I applied and got a job at an old German company after I got my bachelor’s degree. During my master’s I started my own company, which was also my first job after I earned my graduate degree.
- What was the most important experience you had at CBS that you still use in your professional life today?
Network, in the sense of being able to orchestrate different stakeholders with various skills to better optimise results. It is the be-all and end-all for a project to succeed and the manager’s most essential task is to mastermind the right competences at the right time.
- What moments in your career were the most important and why?
Your first job is always crucial because of the incredibly steep learning curve; I accumulated all of my basic sales skills while at the German company. I’ve also learned an insane amount from being self-employed, not only professionally but also about myself. And then there’s the fact that I completely changed industry and country almost halfway through my work life.
- Do you still keep in touch with any of your former fellow students? If so, how?
Yes. I still keep in touch with people from my master’s and Executive MBA. Sometimes it’s socially, where we keep things going by making sure we meet and talk about how things are going, also with regard to shared social interests. At other times I use my network from a professional angle, perhaps to do a sanity check on an idea by talking with someone who knows me really well and who I’ve been through some things with. Sometimes you get more honesty and that’s great.