Listening to Justin’s stories arouses curiosity. The eventful story of his home country and his studies in South Africa as well as his career as a marketing professional quickly makes it clear: Justin does what he does with all his heart.
Justin has enriched our team in Vienna for two years as a brand owner, marketer and internal communicator. His expertise covers the entire marketing spectrum, with a small personal focus: classic marketing. Others keep a close eye on marketing automation, content and technology. Together, they collaboratively and dynamically develop new communication offerings for our global customers. Although Justin appreciates his home office days so that he can get a lot done in peace and quiet, he also enjoys working together with his colleagues in the office.
He gained his first professional experience in marketing at a bank in South Africa until his path led him to the marketing office of the United Nations in Kenya. After deciding to complete a Master’s degree, he moved to New York and worked in the media and television industry for the broadcasters VH1 and MTV. For the sake of love, Justin decided to move his centre of life to another continent again and has been living in Vienna since 2016. Two years ago, he applied for a job with us, even though he had doubts as to whether he could really feel at home in a global industrial company. But by the end of the introductory meeting with his current colleague and the Human Resources Manager during the application process, his initial doubts had given way to euphoria and he was certain that he wanted to work with us. Why? The authenticity and enthusiasm of the people he spoke to won Justin over and after the second round of interviews with his current manager, it was clear to him that this was someone he could work well with and with whom he could share his ideas. One thing led to another and Justin became part of our team.
Finding his way around a complex organisation like ours was naturally a challenge for Justin too. But after about a year, he experienced two “aha” moments from which he benefits every day: “Even if I don’t know everything about the organisation, I will always learn something at voestalpine. And on the other hand, I have learnt enough in this first year to feel confident in my job and in my decisions.”
Justin uses a simple and very efficient tool to stay motivated: his “Wins-Folder”. This is an electronic folder in which he collects positive and appreciative feedback. This keeps him positive, creative and structured, even if one or two ideas don’t have the desired effect. Looking at his “wins”, he realises: “Okay, today wasn’t a good day, but I was successful at other things.” In this way, he always manages to focus on the positive.
As he sees words of praise as one of the keys to motivating people to do more, he hands them out at every suitable opportunity. At the same time, honest, factual feedback is also needed to give everyone good guidance. For him, both are part of respectful teamwork.
Justin likes what he does: finding solutions. He spices up the familiar with his ideas and maintains a balance between the communication interests of the technical side and the sales organisation. For him, maintaining the feedback loop between these poles is the key to success. And of course he also enjoys being able to work on so many different topics, coordinating and prioritising them. From his point of view, every day is exciting.
One of his successfully implemented solutions was to proactively inform the sales teams about what is currently being worked on and what is planned via an email newsletter and a webinar. This communication measure made the sales organisation feel better informed and the marketing team had to answer significantly fewer recurring enquiries.
With his responsible, warm professionalism, he inspires many colleagues and also our interns who want to learn from him. His advice for anyone interested is in his native language:
Die voestalpine ist ein weltweit führender Stahl- und Technologiekonzern mit kombinierter Werkstoff- und Verarbeitungskompetenz. Die global tätige Unternehmensgruppe verfügt über rund 500 Konzerngesellschaften und -standorte in mehr als 50 Ländern auf allen fünf Kontinenten. Sie notiert seit 1995 an der Wiener Börse. Mit ihren Premium-Produkt- und Systemlösungen zählt sie zu den führenden Partnern der Automobil- und Hausgeräteindustrie sowie der Luftfahrt- und Öl- & Gasindustrie und ist darüber hinaus Weltmarktführer bei Bahninfrastruktursystemen, bei Werkzeugstahl und Spezialprofilen. Die voestalpine bekennt sich zu den globalen Klimazielen und verfolgt mit greentec steel einen klaren Plan zur Dekarbonisierung der Stahlproduktion.
