About me
I wasn’t your typical career-driven professional. And that was my strength.
I started at Zurich Insurance Switzerland as a lawyer and claims specialist, and I was active beyond my job. I was on the staff committee and was involved in the company’s internal women’s network. I was also active in the Green Liberal Party, serving on the Zurich City Council and the Finance Committee. I co-founded two non-profit organisations, WE/MEN and GLP Lab, which promote equality and political participation respectively. These are topics that are important to me.
When a new position became available internally – Head of Public Affairs at Zurich Insurance Switzerland – I applied for it. During my interview with the CEO, I explained how I could contribute to the role. I also mentioned that I needed one day a week for my children. He agreed. That was in 2015. While politicians are still debating work-life balance today, my partner and I were already living it – and I still managed to build a career. This was precisely because my path didn’t conform to the norm.
When I started my own business in 2023, I took up the electric guitar. Not because I’m any good at it. It's simply because curiosity knows no age limits, and music has been my passion all my life.
People who can articulate and embody what matters to them are persuasive. Together with others, they can shape the future they desire.
Many CEOs and leaders recognise this. They realise that traditional concepts of leadership and beliefs are no longer valid. They realise that the norms they have submitted to for years are neither right nor healthy for them or their organisations. They realise that things cannot go on like this.
Leaders who embrace this moment and actively shape it make more prudent decisions, understand their clients better, and create more innovative, sustainable and humane structures and cultures within their organisations. MALE ALLYSHIP is not just an attitude; it's an economic necessity. This is what I stand for as a consultant, coach, lecturer and co-founder of the allyship.ch platform.
It is not just my own courage that drives me. It is also humility, and having the right people by my side. With machtgemeinsam.de, I am helping to build an interdisciplinary, multi-perspective network that works across national borders. People who sense what is happening right now. People who can endure it. People who act consistently in a solution- and future-oriented way — for justice, democracy, and future generations. For real change.
What will remain in the end?
In the end, only one question remains: Not the one about the next quarterly results. Not the one about the perfect plan. But the one about how to live a GOOD LIFE. In her book 'The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing', palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware describes what she learned from her patients. The top three responses are: 'I wish I'd had the courage to live my own life and not be guided by the expectations of others', 'I shouldn't have worked so hard', and 'I should have had the courage to express my feelings'.
The question of what remains in the end drives me. In every conversation. And in my own life.
Curious? Let's have a chat!
mail@pirminmeyer.ch |+41 (0) 78 683 43 43