Far from any big city, we met former CEO and manager Michael Jäger – a man who spent more than a decade running an international IT company, steering through expansions and crises, conquering markets and leaving them again. Today, he’s standing in wellies on damp grass, tending cattle and sharing wine and instant coffee with us. No flipcharts, no KPIs, no pep talks – just a time-out to gain fresh perspectives.
Uncertainty Is Life
Our climb was steep and uncertain. We had only a rough idea of where the mountain hut should be; the maps contradicted one another, and the directions were vague.. GPS or mobile signal? Forget about it. So we chose the path that felt most “right”.
Along the way, the doubts crept in. Were we even heading the right way? How much further was it? And while we were already questioning things, we realised we didn’t really know our host Michael either. What would it be like with him? What was waiting for us up there?
If we’d been able to answer those questions in advance, we wouldn’t have needed to keep climbing. Life can be like that: we trade curiosity and uncertainty for comfort and safety. It sounds sensible at first – but it’s deceptive. When we think that we know what to expect already, life stands still – and yet slips by in a flash. The real point of life – to live, to experience, to feel – gets lost along the way. We may still exist, but we’ve stopped truly living.
“We” – More Than We Think
When we arrive at the hut, Michael greets us with a warm hug. We’d only met briefly once before at a birthday party – and now here we were, still strangers in a way, but instantly sensing that the chemistry was right.
“We” was Robin – the founder of our magazine, who lives his life firmly on his own terms while keeping the doors wide open for unexpected twists and turns. After all, who really knows what life will look like in five years? Then there was Lena – from Stuttgart, who has crafted an extraordinary work-life model for herself: eight months of full-throttle work, followed by four months off to spend the winter surfing in Costa Rica. And finally, Michael – the former top executive who, after training as a coach, turned his life completely around and now works independently as a business consultant.
Amidst the mountain air, instant coffee, and red wine, our weekend turns into more than just a break: it becomes a shift in perspective, raising questions that often fade into the background of daily life – about inner voices, courage, loss, and the freedom to follow your own path. Discover exactly how Michael works as a coach, which thought experiments moved us most, and which questions you can ask yourself to turn a pause into real change, in the full article at our sister magazine DOWNTOWN.
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Words & Photos: Robin Schmitt