Challenges? Nah, Thorsten sees the world holistically!
Thorsten Molitor is the Executive Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing and Global R&D at Karl Storz.
Whether it is transforming global marketing operations or creating revenue operations across the customer life cycle, Thorsten believes in seeing the world holistically and focusing on opportunities rather than challenges.
He credits the NUS EMBA programme for instilling a new outlook. “I now look at the world from a different perspective,” said Thorsten. He even regularly writes his thoughts on management on his LinkedIn page sharing his ideas on leadership.
We caught up with Thorsten to learn how the EMBA programme has shaped his life.
How has the EMBA programme made an impact on you?
At NUS, I learned to see things more holistically. I was previously isolating issues and addressing them one at a time due to my technical training in physics. But when I look at it from a business perspective, I see the bigger picture.
In business school, I acquired a sense of how things work together. So I got to see trends from the facts, adopt a helicopter perspective, and develop a vision.
My management style in the past was rigid. I believed I had to know everything. But, I realised I don’t have to know everything. Instead, I need to exercise leadership and galvanise people to develop solutions.
What do you reminisce most about the NUS EMBA programme?
I enjoyed the trips to different countries and cities. A visit to a clothing factory in Vietnam stood out most for me with its strong community focus. The management provided a source of income for its employees’ families as well by hiring their family members to work in the factory such as the kitchen. This focus on employee sustainability strengthens the company’s long term future. What they were doing resonated with me because I am working for a family-owned company.
Strongly inspired by what I saw and learned from family-owned and community-based companies in Asia, I initiated a corporate and commercial 5-year strategic plan, aiming for our company to become an employer of choice. By setting employee retention as one of our core pillars, we invest generously and strategically in many career development plans, such as training and a fair grading system on a long-term basis. I am convinced that this and other talent management strategies will make us competitive in talent attraction and employee satisfaction and make us fit for the future.
What I took away from the EMBA is that learning is not just academic but it is also learning through teamwork. I gained as much insights and knowledge from my peers as compared to the academic curriculum. Hence, the EMBA provided a platform for rich knowledge sharing amongst my course mates.
What made you decide to take up an EMBA?
I wanted to learn something new like finance or marketing from a reputable business school to augment my technical background. It was also a way to validate my experiences and anchor them on a solid ground. I picked Asia because I I wanted to better understand and gain experience in Asia. This way, I could be more attractive as a candidate to transition to Asia.
What advice would you give to those considering an EMBA journey?
Don’t look at your EMBA for pure career advancement; this shouldn’t be your only motivation. The biggest motivation is not about winning a trophy or being the first or best in class. Look at the EMBA as an opportunity to learn something new and grow, and the rest will fall into place automatically.
