Dr. Julia Dannath-Schuh

Leadership is my passion - trust is the foundation

Our culture of togetherness has a fundamental impact on the quality of our research, our teaching, our knowledge transfer, our work in the administration, in the central bodies and beyond. We all shape this togetherness - consciously and unconsciously: first and foremost our professors and all others who are in a leadership position, all researchers and teachers/lecturers as well as the technical/administrative staff - from the person with decades of ETH experience to our apprentices and trainees.

I am convinced, that it is important to exercise reflective leadership and to lead by example so that we continue to achieve excellent results as an institution.

As a psychologist and most recently the CEO of a consulting company, I supported international organisations to develop their leadership and personnel and to advance their corporate culture as a whole. I did this for many years before joining ETH and during this time my focus was mainly on coaching leaders, helping them to take on personal responsibility, shape their relationships and adopt a coaching mindset and corresponding skills. The overarching goal was to create and maintain meaningful work cultures. In line with Walter Böckmann's motto "Those who demand performance must offer meaning", both these things can happen at the same time: Organisations and institutions can pursue their visions and people can grow and develop in the process. It inspires me, that I am now able to apply this experience to serve ETH. This includes recognising and understanding the special requirements that a high-profile academic environment places on leaders and supporting them as well as all other employees in the best possible way.

Both professionally and privately, I place a lot of value on appreciation, trust and honest interaction. Talking to each other a lot, nurturing an intensive feedback culture, always assuming that the other person is acting with good intention and supporting each other even in difficult personal times - this creates trust and loyalty.