My future objectives

Before graduating from college I set a master plan of three main life goals: get a
good education, achieve independence in the job, have a family when I am
young. My father taught me to aim high and to be consistent and systematic in
whatever I was heading for. His wisdom had a great meaning not only for my
graduation from German College, but also for the following life. In order to
graduate with distinction I knew I needed to get good speech practice. There was
no hesitation in me what to do when Lufthansa started flights to Tallinn and
established a country office in Tallinn Airport. With a simple agreement of
working free of charge and provided my command of the German language
would constantly improve, I was fully engaged in the everyday management of
the office before my 18th birthday and aimed already for employment in the
airline carrier.

One very important milestone in getting a good education was the graduation
from a world-known university. It certainly meant going to study abroad. In those
days, the Stockholm Business School or Hamburg University were the targets of
suitable height. The combination of attractive employment as an air traffic and
ground handling manager at Lufthansa and matriculation to the Tallinn University
of Technology was a reason big enough to put the plan of going abroad on hold.

The transition of the Estonian economy from the Soviet system to a free
economy offered a wide range of opportunities in business and personal life. The
founding of the first international Lufthansa City Centre in Tallinn, building the
biggest leasing company in the Baltics, consulting Estonian blue chip companies
like Estonian Railways, Estonian State Forest Company and Estonian Post
among others have played a vital role in my becoming independent in my job.
Even though I have been managing other people almost my entire career, being
independent first meant having your own business. Running several of them
these days has a strong link with my master plan of 17 years ago.

Nevertheless, while enjoying success in business life, I have never stopped

studying, learning, reading and putting the new acquired knowledge into practice.
My biggest fear in life is to fail, to be unable to compete on a personal level. Self-
development has an important role in my philosophy of life. BA, MBA and LLM
are definitely not the peaks in lifelong learning. Studying abroad has never been
a forgotten desire.

I can roughly divide my future objectives into two: to develop the started
businesses further and deeper, diversifying the risks through the spread of
different activities in the region; or to become global over international network
setup providing business opportunities. I definitely prefer the latter option.

The deconstruction of my past experience and putting it into the new paradigm I
would like to step in, requires the fulfilment of three major milestone objectives:
a) synergizing and upgrading the practical experience with the latest international
theoretical and scientific knowledge base; b) expanding the worldwide network of
relationships and sharing the know-how; c) turning my experience, upgraded
knowledge and global network possibilities into real action. From the career
perspective these objectives mean thinking, consulting and investing globally. I
strongly believe that latter objectives will give my future aspirations a precise and
firm shell.

Sander
26.08.2009