A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: DO WHAT YOU LOVE! 成功的秘诀：做你喜欢做的事

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: DO WHAT YOU LOVE!Interview with Tatjana KlassenGeneral Manager of STIEBEL ELTRON Electric Appliance成功的秘诀：做你喜欢做的事！

Tatjana Klassen is the General Manager of Stiebel Eltron Electric Appliance Co. Ltd. in Tianjin. We recently had the opportunity to chat to her, and find out more about how she came to join the company in China, and how she has contributed to its growth and success.

斯宝亚创国际集团由菲尔德•斯宝博士（Dr. Theodor Stiebel）于1924年创办于德国柏林，总部设在德国的霍尔茨明登，是欧洲著名的舒适家居暖通产品专业品牌。公司主要生产及销售采暖、制冷、新风、热水产品。在全球拥有7大生产基地，26个销售公司，并在120个国家和地区拥有合作伙伴和经销商。

斯宝亚创产品先后荣获过多个国际设计奖项，以及多个质量和环保权威认证。被超级品牌组织（The Superbrands Organization）6次评选为“德国超级品牌”。

2004年，斯宝亚创国际集团进入中国，总部及工厂位于天津，在上海和广州设有分公司，更好地向中国客户提供优质的产品及服务。Tatjana Klassen 女士是斯宝亚创（天津）电器有限公司总经理，我们专访了这位集智慧与美丽于一身的女性领导者，了解了她是如何来到中国，以及为公司的发展和壮大做出的卓越贡献。

As a child growing up in Kazakhstan, Tatjana had the opportunity to visit the factory where her father worked, and this is where she had her first experience of the production process. Later, in Germany, she gained both a theoretical and a practical education in which she learned administration and finance. She decided to study business and IT as she thought this would provide more opportunities for finding a good job. While living in Holzminden in Germany, Tatjana could see the big Stiebel Eltron building, and felt that she would like to work there.

Tatjana 小时候在哈萨克斯坦长大，一次有机会跟随父亲来到工厂，这是她第一次见到工厂生产线。长大以后，Tatjana移居到德国，她决定学习商业和信息技术，认为这个专业可以有更多的工作机会。在德国霍尔兹明登居住期间，从她的住处可以看到斯宝亚创总部的大楼，那时候她就萌生了以后要在斯宝亚创工作的想法。

For one year, Tatjana worked in IT as a database administrator, but this did not really suit her, as she felt she was working only with a machine, and she preferred to work with people. So after one year, Tatjana went to work for Stiebel. There, she found that management was very supportive and willing to listen to new ideas, and employees could present their ideas for a new project to their supervisor or even to higher management. Such a project did not have to be in the area where they working; they could also make suggestions to improve something, and that was how, in 2006, in her work for Stiebel Eltron, Tatjana was able to establish the first and biggest heat pump production in Europe.

在IT部门做了一年的数据库管理员之后，Tatjana 感觉这并不适合她，她觉得她的工作只是在与机器打交道，她希望能更多的与人接触。一年后，她来到了斯宝亚创，在这里，管理层非常支持并愿意倾听新的想法，员工可以将他们对新项目的想法直接提交给主管甚至更高管理层，也可以对非自己工作领域提出改进的建议。2006年，Tatjana参与了斯宝亚创建立欧洲第一个也是最大的热泵生产线的工作。

Thereafter, Tatjana was involved in many projects for the company. She saw that there were some areas where the processes were not well regulated, and were sometimes not compliant, and she felt that because of her experience, she could make suggestions for improvement. She proposed that they should share the information and train people to be aware of the meaning of compliance and why compliance is so important. The supervisory board decided to install a complete management system, so the position of Head of Compliance was tendered. Tatjana then called the CEO to propose her candidacy and her idea of a possible way of instituting a Stiebel Eltron Compliance Management System, and this was how she got her second job and moved from the production area to Operation and Lead.

After six years in the compliance section, Tatjana began to feel too distant from the rest of the business and the other people who worked there, so she started looking to see what else she could do in other areas in Stiebel Eltron, and where her knowledge could be useful for the company. At that time, they were looking for someone who could go to China, and she was ready to go abroad and take over the company, even without any knowledge of the Chinese language.

此后，Tatjana参与了公司的许多项目，她提出，同事们应该分享信息， 她曾经直接打电话给总经理，提出完善斯宝亚创的审核制度的建议，之后便从生产转到运营和管理层。在审核部门工作了六年之后，Tatjana开始觉得自己与其他业务部门的关系太疏远了，开始思考在其他领域她还能做些什么。当时，公司正在找一位合适的人选去中国开展业务，那时的她甚至连中文都不懂，但是她已经做好了接下这项任务的准备。

Thus began the next stage in her journey, because after only three months, as she analyzed the situation in China, Tatjana began to think about what could be changed. She realized that there were actually two companies, the production company and the sales office or sales company in Guangzhou, and that this structure would hinder them from growing as fast they expected. So after about six months in China, she started to merge sales and production into one company, and they transferred their headquarters to Tianjin.

After the merging of the companies, the most challenging task for Tatjana was to get the company to function as one, and break down the barriers in the minds of colleagues. However, they helped each other and now do everything together, working as one company.

Asked about the major challenges she faced as a woman on this journey, Tatjana said that the biggest challenge was getting to be included in the networks, and convincing business partners that a woman can understand business as well as a man. However, although being a woman in the production business presented challenges, Tatjana felt that it was easier in China than in Europe.

当被问及作为一名女性在工作中面临的主要挑战时，Tatjana说，最大的挑战是融入社交网络，让商业伙伴相信，女性和男性对业务的了解是一样的。尽管作为一名女性在制造业面临许多挑战，她觉得在中国要比在欧洲容易得多。

Describing the products and services offered by Stiebel Eltron in China, Tatjana said that their focus in China is to introduce environment-friendly heating, such as heat pumps and a ventilation system with heat recovery to the Chinese market. She added that their products are providing more affordable ventilation and water heater systems.

Tatjana在介绍斯宝亚创在中国提供的产品和服务时说，公司在中国的业务重点是向中国市场引进环保舒适的暖通产品，比如热泵以及带有热回收功能的新风产品，她从补充说，斯宝亚创的新风和热水产品更加经济节约。

She explained that a lot of competitors would have similar products, since they were trying to get on track for the Chinese government’s five year plan, in which heat pumps were seen as a solution in becoming independent from coal heating systems. Although Stiebel Eltron doesn’t have distributive heating systems in the area, they offer different price levels for convector heaters and for heat pumps that provide comfort and safety for decentralized heating, cooling and warm water, and that use really low energy, since this is their key focus. Stiebel Eltron offers complete service from a single source, from initial consultation to selection of the right solution, technical planning, customer service for questions after installation and extensive training opportunities for Stiebel Eltron partners.  Furthermore, Stiebel Eltron has an international team in all technical areas.

很多竞争对手都有类似产品，在中国政府的五年计划中，热泵被视为替代煤炭供热系统的解决方案。斯宝亚创多样的对流式电采暖器以及热泵，可提供更舒适安全的分布式采暖、制冷以及热水，重点是它的能耗非常低的。同时斯宝亚创向合作伙伴提供全方位的服务，从最初的咨询、选型、到售后安装和培训。在涉及到的所有技术领域，斯宝亚创都拥有国际化的服务团队。

Comparing Stiebel Eltron’s operations in Tianjin with its operations in Germany, Tatjana said that in China, everything is faster. She added that this made life in Tianjin challenging and interesting because of the need to make decisions based on what the market expects, and feedback from the market.

Tatjana将天津的业务与在德国的业务进行了比较，在中国，一切都更快，这让在天津的工作更具有挑战性但同时也更有趣，因为你需要基于市场的需求和反馈，快速的做出决定。

Asked about her accomplishments during her time as General Manager of Stiebel Eltron, Tatjana stressed that she would not have been able to do what she’s done without her team. Among their achievements, she mentioned the switchover of production to a new generation convector heater for Europe to replace the old version that was no longer sold in Europe, thus avoiding job losses, and introducing decentralized ventilation to China.

当被问及她在担任总经理期间取得的成就时，Tatjana强调，如果没有团队的共同协作，她将无法达到目前的成就。在天津工作期间，她引进生产了无风感对流式取暖器，以取代欧洲不再销售的旧型号，带动就业，并在中国引入分布式通风系统。

Tatjana is very satisfied with where Stiebel Eltron stands in relation to its many international competitors. However, she said that their target was to be competitors to the top Chinese companies in their own country. She explained that Stiebel Eltron’s exclusivity is in easy installation; most of the products that their competitors produce require a lot of work that must be done on the construction side. In contrast, the construction of the Stiebel Eltron product is so simple that the installer cannot make mistakes.

Tatjana对斯宝亚创的国际竞争力感到欣慰。她的目标是让斯宝亚创成为中国本土顶级企业的竞争对手。斯宝亚创产品的排他性在于易于安装，相比之下，竞争对手生产的大多数产品安装程序复杂，而斯宝亚创产品的构造非常简单，安装人员易于操作。斯宝亚创计划未来在天津成立一个新的研发部门，负责本地热泵的研发。因每个地区的制冷需求不同，中国中部地区需求更大的制冷功率，虽然现有产品能够满足需求，但公司计划开发更高效节能的热泵，因此接下来将聘请有空调研发经验的工程师。

Tatjana told us about some exciting goals for the future of Stiebel Eltron, Tianjin. One of these is to establish a new Research and Development department for the development of local heat pumps. She explained that the cooling demands of the local market are a little different from those of Middle East China where demands are much bigger. Currently, the existing units fulfill the demand, but the company is planning to develop a pump that is more efficient, which will require some engineering changes as well as new components. They are now searching for new R&D engineers who are experienced in aircon development.

Tatjana also mentioned China’s plan for 2025, saying that Stiebel Eltron would like to work towards that plan, and also improve the company’s presence in e-commerce.

Tatjana还提到了斯宝亚创在中国2025年的计划，希望提高在电商上的表现，公司在为这一计划而努力。

Speaking of collaboration with other company divisions and managers to achieve Stiebel Eltron’s common goals, Tatjana explained that this happened on different levels, such as with issues related to raw materials and components. She mentioned an example where certain components could not go through customs because the certificate had been cancelled, but through close cooperation with the local branches of this supplier in China, the problem could be solved.

A further example Tatjana mentioned involves training. Companies in the same industry sometimes jointly provide training, making it more efficient and interesting.

For women interested in pursuing leadership positions, Tatjana had the following advice: If you would like to do it, if you are interesting in doing it, do it! Don’t pay attention to those who say you can’t do it, or it can’t be done––you can be the first to do it. But also, do what you enjoy, and make it fun.

Tatjana also had advice for those who are interested in going into an executive position in China. She said that it’s important to decide for yourself what you want, and be aware that if you make a decision, you must accept the responsibility that goes with it. It also means finding a balance between work and life, thinking not only about the job but also about the time you would spend with your family.

Further advice from Tatjana is to have clear expectations, and if you have something to say, if you have an idea, then speak out; give your opinion and make your voice heard as well. Also, you should always try, even if you do the wrong thing, because you can learn from your mistakes.

Tatjana moved to China after having spent most of her life in Europe. She said that to understand business in China, one must live in China and work with the people. She explained that it's not only about understanding how the business is going, nor about the company; it’s also about everyday life. Company colleagues have a life outside of the company, and this has an influence on their performance.

She and her family were surprised at how easy it was to adapt to living in China, saying that this could be because she had already experienced moving from Kazakhstan to Germany, but it could also be because her parents taught her that if you go somewhere else, you should not expect a warm welcome, because you are new, you are a guest. You should take the first step to be loved and to be trusted. Expect the worst and be surprised if it is better than expected. She and her family came to China with the expectation that it would be very challenging, and she had no culture training before moving to China because she was too busy.

Tatjana is married, and has two young sons, and the decision to stay longer in China was made by the whole family. The boys have both Chinese friends and international friends. They all enjoy life in China, especially the feeling of safety. Tatjana’s husband is also a technician, and they have worked together to pass on their knowledge in the company so that even if they were to leave, the system itself would continue.

Although none of the family can yet speak Chinese, it is their dream to be able to learn it. Another language challenge is English. In the International School of Tianjin, English is the main language, so there are special classes for the children who can’t speak the language, and both Tatjana’s sons have made good progress in learning it.

Tatjana有两个可爱的儿子，孩子们有中国朋友也有外国朋友。在移居中国之前，她认为他们会面临很多挑战，然而他们惊讶地发现适应在中国的生活要比想象中容易得多，可能是因为她有过从哈萨克斯坦移居德国的经历，也可能因为她的父母曾经教导她对新的地方不要有太高的期待，因为你是新来的，你应该迈出第一步，被爱和被信任。 

Tatjana’s favourite hobby is cooking, which helps her to relax and forget about daily stresses. Her husband and sons often join her in preparing meals, and even take over the task if she is very busy or comes home late.

Her second hobby is traveling. Since it was not possible for the family to go abroad this year, they travelled a lot in China, sometimes only around Beijing or Tianjin. Last year, when her sons were in Germany, Tatjana and her husband visited Tibet, where she discovered that everything in life had a different, slower pace, and that was something she was not used to.

Tatjana最大的爱好是烹饪，做饭可以让她放松，忘记压力，她的先生和孩子们经常一起帮助做饭，如果她回家很晚，他们会做好饭等她。第二个爱好是旅行，今年由于新冠疫情的影响不能出国旅行，他们偶尔会去北京短途旅行。

Tatjana clearly lives by what she believes, and such great advice is worth mentioning again: Do what you enjoy doing, do what you love to do. And you will be successful everywhere if you make it fun.

对于对领导职位感兴趣的女性，Tatjana有以下几点建议：如果你感兴趣又很想去做的话，就去做吧！不要理会那些说你做不到，或者完不成的人——相信你可以成为第一个做这件事的人！

STIEBEL ELTRON (Tianjin) Electric Appliance Co., Ltd.

Address: C3, XEDA International Industry City, 

Xiqing District, Tianjin 300085

斯宝亚创（天津）电器有限公司

天津市西青经济开发区赛达国际工业城C3 邮编 300385

电话 | Phone[phone]

www.stiebeleltron.cn

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