Name: Elena Teidelt
Title: Head of Regional Engineering and Technology NCE, Onshore North
Company: Vestas
1. Please introduce yourself
Hi, I am Elena, I am 43 and hold a master’s degree in Engineering Science and a PhD in Friction Physics/System Engineering. One fun fact is that I am geek when it comes to bicycles, I own five. What makes me less unique is that I have less time for this hobby since I became a mom, so I mostly use the bikes for commuting.
2. How did you imagine your career when you were around 20 years old?
When I was 20, I started studying Politics/Economics, and I sat in my first lecture and thought: ‘No, I cannot do this, this is just too boring!’ After that I signed up for volunteering service for a year before I decided to study engineering. So, in truth, I did not have a clear picture then, and I’m not sure if I have a clear picture now either.
3. What does a day in your life look like in your current role?
In the morning, I get my kid and my bonus kids ready for kindergarten and school. Once I get to the office, it depends on the day. I try to schedule days according to activity type. So, on some days, I have a lot of meetings with the team I am working with, on other days I have focussed time to work on bringing the team forward in whatever priority we currently have. Overall, my job ranges from listening to people, understanding their needs and finding the right way to support and develop them individually. Also, I thrive in creating a high-performing team which might ultimately run without me. Along with the more leadership-related tasks, I might also be part of discussing technical, cutting-edge ideas, like how smart sensor algorithms for wind turbines can make them more effective. Usually after a day at the office I pick up the little guy from kindergarten and play with him and the rest of the family.
4. What motivates and excites you the most about your career path and the leadership position you hold?
I like the people-leadership role, because I genuinely believe that people bring their best self to work if you care, trust and give them potential to grow. For me, this is the recipe for creating a team which can run independently and achieve incredible results. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing individuals thrive and a team become self-sufficient.
5. Share with us the biggest lessons you learned on your journey to where you are today.
Trust your instincts, don’t doubt yourself too much. You are more often on the right track than you think, and if you are not, you fail and you learn.
6. Tell us about a role model who inspired you to become the leader you are today
One of the people who influenced me the most was a teacher of mine who helped me understand that I had an interest in social science and a talent for natural science. He made me understand that I could combine both by following my talent. For example, by becoming a leader. Unfortunately, throughout my career as an engineer, there have been very limited female role models, but instead I have had very supportive peers along the way during my PhD and while being a manager. I admire my mentor, who is brave in bringing up uncomfortable topics in public and bringing her full self to work!
7. If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, or to students today, what would it be?
Be true to yourself and choose without fear. If I knew when I was 20 what I know about myself today, I would have probably studied something other than engineering science. If I had admitted to myself more that I was not happy, I would have quit things faster than I did. Life is too short to spend it doing things you are not happy with, so quit them as soon as you realize. (Honestly, that is still advice I need to take more often than I would like to admit 😉)
8. How do you see STEM education shaping the future?
If something can stop climate change, or make it more bearable, it will be coming from STEM. This is why we need to create the best technical solutions, come up with the best ideas. I am a true believer, that we can only do that if we have a diverse workforce, where we include diverse backgrounds in solution-finding.
9. Why is it important for you to promote diversity and inclusion within STEM?
My first job at university was to go into high schools and discuss with girls why there are less women studying STEM. We had super interesting discussions, but what stood out for me was the fact that women often leave school and don’t know what you can do with an Engineering degree. I am always saying, half-jokingly, if a young man doesn’t know what to study, he will study mechanical engineering, whereas a young woman will often opt for something outside STEM. I believe the reason is that unfortunately there is still a gap in what girls and boys are taught, but also that girls and young women do not interact with enough role models to learn what it means to study STEM. I can do a little bit to change this.