#13 Nicole Wilke – Be honest & yourself

Today’s guest is Nicole Wilke. Nicole is the Head of International Climate Policy within the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Germany and the German lead negotiator as well as one of three EU lead negotiators at international climate conferences, such as the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015, which you have surely heard about. I’m really honored to have a leader in my podcast, whose personal and team actions have such a wide reach! In our interview we talk about Nicole’s first leadership position outside of work in an association and how this prepared her for taking over her first team at the Ministry for the Environment. This team is 16 years later actually still her team, just always with new team members. I am impressed by how Nicole found her leadership style of trusting in her team and giving them a lot of freedom, whilst being very open and vulnerable also sharing in our conversations challenges she had as first-time leader at the beginning. For those listeners who might have some difficulties to let go and trust their team members, there are quite some recommendations for you in this episode!