Soccer world champion Steffi Jones on mental strength
One is passionately cerebral, the other passionately passionate: the power duo Nicole Jones and Steffi Jones prove that this mix works perfectly not only in life but also at work. Nicole Jones is a successful financier and dog trainer, Steffi Jones is a soccer world champion and former supermarket manager. Today they run the business of a 50-strong IT company. In this interview, the two of them talk about mental strength, optimism, appreciation, good feelings - and just a little bit about soccer.
Dear Steffi, how do you achieve mental strength? Is there a recipe you would like to share with our readers?
Steffi Jones: I've always had mental strength from the experiences I had as a child. I think it's good to have experienced adversity at an early age, at least for that reason. I know that I can cope when I have to accept defeat or have made a mistake.
It's about not letting yourself be thrown off course, but carrying on. Ultimately, you only have these two options. Either you're strong enough or you're not and you might break. However, I always find it difficult to judge someone as more unstable or sensitive. It also depends to a certain extent on what life experiences I've had so far, who may have helped me in difficult situations and also how long I've been carrying the burden around with me.
We only ever see the symptom: "This person is no longer able to sort it out themselves." But it's much more important to get to the root cause. And if I can't do that myself, I need people to help me. That has nothing to do with whether someone is strong or not.
October 10 was World Mental Health Day, a day to remember the many people who are mentally unwell.
Steffi Jones: I find it incredibly sad when people take their own lives because they see no way out. I've just lost my former goalkeeping coach. The last time we saw each other was a year ago and he was so warm and praised my positive charisma. And this person, who I admired so much, sees no way out and takes his own life. I found out afterwards that he was being treated clinically. I wish that we could all be even more attentive and pay more attention to people - even at the smallest signs - and give them comfort or simply be there for them.
Surely you're an optimist?
Steffi Jones: Definitely yes! I'm a very positive person. It's also a matter of attitude to say to yourself: I can't change what has just happened now, but I can change it in the future. So I can manipulate myself to a certain extent, I would say.
I motivate myself by only dealing with things that I can change and not always just calling up what didn't go well, what was negative.
On October 10, Steffi Jones was a guest at the pme Health Day 2023.
Would you describe yourself as a resilient person?
Steffi Jones: Yes, of course. I can take things well. But sometimes I can only do that if I have someone like that next to me (points to her wife Nicole). I can't always do it alone.
Nicole Jones: But you are very resilient. That has nothing to do with me. Steffi can bite through it. Look, when you played soccer in America, you ran onto the pitch in 35 degree temperatures and nobody gave up. Now the sun is shining brightly in the sky, we're warm and we have blisters on our feet. She's running. Or if you go to an aerobics class with Steffi, which she hasn't done for years, and someone at the front says: "Keep going down, keep going down!", she just does it. She doesn't give up.
Steffi Jones: I won't be able to run for four days ...
Nicole Jones: If you have a goal in mind, then you are as reliable as an old steam engine. You have to be able to deal with resistance, with defeat, with everything that can come your way. And Steffi can do that.
IT, just like soccer, is a male-dominated industry. How do you manage to assert yourselves as women?
Steffi Jones: When Nicole started, the constellation was different. The recognition was immediate because she does the finances. She has so much background that people know she knows what she's doing. Of course, they were sometimes annoyed because she also had "the hedgehog in her pocket" to create reserves and sometimes said no. But they have a tremendous amount of respect for Nicole. It has something to do with her charisma and her straightforward manner. She always manages to be so incredibly radiant and positive.
Nicole Jones: When I joined the company, we had one employee. I hired everyone who came after that. There was never a question of whether I was the boss. Steffi had to work hard to gain acceptance. She was "the footballer". The job of a soccer coach at the DFB is basically exactly the same as the job of a manager in an IT company or a supermarket. It's about leading people and building an organization in such a way that it can cope with the competition tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. And Steffi can do that.
Of course, Steffi then became ambitious. She had set herself the goal of getting people to accept her of their own accord, to enjoy working with her and to go with her. She achieved that.
Then she walks through the corridors in the office, talks to the employees and is the last to leave at every employee event. She seeks out contact with all employees, has a glass of beer or wine with them, chats with them and finds out stories that I would never know.
Steffi Jones (left) and Nicole Jones (right) are managing directors of the IT company 5Minds.
What are you doing for the health of your team?
Nicole Jones: We have quite a sporty team. We have converted the basement into a gym and our HR manager is a licensed aerobics trainer. We have really good swimmers and really good cyclists, and we have colleagues who like to play soccer. The team likes to do things together. They go swimming together or go on bike rides. The younger ones like to go down to the basement to pump. We also have a feel-good management system for those who don't enjoy sports.
What does feel-good management look like for you?
Nicole Jones: We have two employees in Feel Good Management who, for example, offer to barbecue together or have games evenings. In November, we all go to the Christmas market together. We don't dictate this, it comes from within the team. But we from the management try to be there as often as we can. Because that's where you learn things that are important.
Steffi Jones: Our employees really appreciate the fact that their wishes are taken into account. We have very good communication within the team.
Nicole Jones: Yes, and family always comes first! Because if your Inner Circle isn't doing well at home, there's no way you can come to work worry-free. Our motto: sort out your private affairs and then come back to us with a clear head.
What do your team members value most about you?
Nicole Jones: My clarity. With me, you always know where you stand. I'm also very forward-thinking. We're both very different in our jobs: I'm extremely cerebral, Steffi's extremely passionate. This mix is brilliant for the company.
Of course, I also have a lot of heart and emotion, but less in business. Steffi is the heart person, she also looks to the right and left and listens incredibly to her gut feeling.
Steffi Jones: I do have a gut feeling, but things also have to have a certain logic for me or be comprehensible to me. And yet my gut feeling has always shown me what turned out to be right in hindsight. Today, I communicate openly to the other two managing directors right at the start if my gut has reservations, but then I let them decide for themselves and go with them.
What do you wish for your future?
Nicole Jones: We hope that things continue exactly as they are right now. And that we have a few more years with our parents, who are very important to us. We're getting married again next year in a small circle with family and friends. We'll have been a couple for 14 years and married for ten. And it would be nice if our company continued to grow economically. It's a different world out there now, and I wish the German economy would return to the pre-coronavirus era.
