INSIDE STORY : BARBARA STEFFEN

AROUND 60,000 PEOPLE WORLDWIDE WORK FOR BILFINGER BERGER. EACH HAS THEIR OWN STORY TO TELL.

BARBARA STEFFEN, 30, RETURNED TO WORK IN NOVEMBER FOR TWO DAYS A WEEK AFTER A TWELVE-MONTH MATERNITY LEAVE. SHE WORKS IN THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT AT THE BILFINGER BERGER BUILDING IN FRANKFURT.

A year ago you became a mother for the first time. If you were to give your daughter one piece of advice, what would it be?
Listen to your instincts, and try to keep listening to them, even in adulthood.

Name something that you believe is overrated.
I have the feeling that a lot of people are only interested in power. If they want to change something, all well and good. But if all they want to do is order others around, then power is overrated, because it doesn’t bring happiness.

Could you imagine living life as an animal?
Cats are independent and very graceful, I like that. I could lie on the couch all day and catch a mouse now and then.

What’s your favorite pastime?
I eat with great pleasure. And sometimes I really do purr like a cat. I love going out to eat, and I love cooking with friends or just with my husband.

Do you sometimes say yes even when you mean no?
I try to avoid doing that, but I never quite manage it entirely. At work for example, when I want to go home and someone asks, “can you just do this quickly?” Then I will say yes, even when I mean no.

What are you grateful for?
For my husband, for my one-year-old daughter Nola, for my family, for my friends. For the fact that we live as we do, that we have a garden, that we are healthy and that things are going well for us.

What fills you with hope?
Last week we went for a walk and everyone we met greeted us with a smile, just because we had a child with us.

What could you do without?
I could do without dust around the house. I could do without all the junk mail that lands in my mail box. And sometimes I can even manage without chocolate.

Your greatest achievement?
I studied business administration and afterwards worked for a bank. But that didn’t suit me, so I gave up a well-paid job, studied PR and started as an intern. That’s how I came to Bilfinger Berger. I regard it as an achievement that, instead of staying in my comfort zone at the bank, I went back to the drawing board to do something that I enjoy.

Who in the world would you most like to meet?
The singer Pink. I sing myself, and when I experienced her live I was absolutely fascinated by her voice. She has a presence on stage that is simply breathtaking. She’s also just had a child, so I’m sure we would get along well.

How do you recognize true love?
When you can just be yourself, and feel totally secure. I also think you recognize love when you stop putting out feelers in other directions. Of course I am aware of other men, but I am very convinced that I couldn’t ever be better off with anyone than I am with my husband. Maybe that’s true love.

What do you admire in men?
Their naturalness. My impression is that men in general are better able to accept themselves as they are.

What do you admire in women?
The fact that they are generally better at putting themselves in other people’s shoes.

Can you recite a poem by heart?
When I was in 12th grade I learned Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. XVIII by heart. Of course it’s a love poem: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? …”

What can you not forgive?
When someone lies to me, I see red. Trust is something that is very important to me.

What are some of the things that you can only tolerate with humor?
The madness of everyday life. When I reach into the medicine cabinet in the morning for the skin cream and the deodorant falls out. When I have to go to huge lengths at work just to clear up one little detail. When I’m sitting in a traffic jam. I have a clown’s nose in the car, and once and a while I put it on.

Interview: Paul Lampe, Photo: Eric Vazzoler
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2012