2021 has ended with much less bang than many other years. Despite all, 2021 has been a very positive year for me – on those (for me important) three aspects:
Personal: First and most importantly – our son Anton was born in June – since then nothing has been the same – but everything is better. His laughter and his open, friendly and positive personality makes me proud and happy every day. Everything else, admittedly, falls a little short in comparison…
Antons preference for naps in the stroller have led to 100+ hours on Blinkist and Pluralsight and opened up whole new worlds for me. Among other things, the Blink on „Digital Minimalism“ has led me to reduce my procrastinating time to almost zero by rigorously deleting all social media apps on my phone – but I still allow myself „Der Spiegel“ and Wikipedia for waiting times.
Sports: I achieved a new personal record as I managed to go running, hiking or do Crossfit on over 350 days this year – this helps immensely with my balance – especially in my 2nd year home office – I feel fitter than I have in a long time.
I finished 8th out of over 1,000 participants in our April Activity Challenge at CGI – with approximatly 3.5 h of sport in avarage over 4 weeks.
This year I also did the big Lake Starnberg loop again with about 55 km and was able to prove to myself that I can run a half marathon – if I want to.
In total, I have walked / ran / hiked about 7.4 million steps this year – that corresponds to an average of over 20,000 steps per day. In the process, I have climbed about 100,000 metres in altitude and was active for an average of almost 140 minutes per day.
Professional and Corporate Citizenship: In 2021, CGI awarded me the „Builders Award“ for my turn around management in several critical media projects and for my commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity. The Builders Award is given to about 10 people per year and only to one employee in Central and Eastern Europe. The Builders Award, the highest distinction awarded at CGI. „The Builders Award honours members whose behaviours and actions demonstrate leadership and whose contributions, over time, have helped generate outstanding value to CGI’s three stakeholders.“
The Diversity Week initiated and carried out by my team, including the Diversity Cookbook in May 2021, has created the basis for increased awareness of the topic in Central and Eastern Europe.
Two teams I supported took part in the Diversity Challenge of the Diversity Charter and we won first place with one of our projects, „Scan Neutral„. Scan Neutral checks the gender neutrality of job advertisements and is already being used at CGI throughout Germany. The second contribution DiFF (Diversity Feedback Form) for teams will be rolled out in January for the whole of Germany and enables all employees to anonymously give positive and negative feedback on the various diversity dimensions.
From an idea on five Power Point slides, the CSR Days emerged, which we carried out in NL, DE and CZ with over 50 different actions – from clean-up actions in the Ahr valley to photo shoots for the ReDi School. My personal highlight here was the panel discussion with our Co Chair of the Board Julie Godin.
At the end of our business year, I was invited to accompany our President Torsten Strass in the Annual Tour for Central and Eastern Europe in this year’s Gameshow and was able to win 5,000€ for BeeLife (European Beekeeping Coordinaton).
Overall it was an amazing year and I am really looking forward what 2022 will bring with parental leave and first joined outdoor events with my son.
Sebastian Gerling
Consultant's Digest 