Christian Milz
Switzerland
Director General of the European Athletics Association (European Athletics)
His professional career began with a Swiss specialty, banking, before branching off into the sporting movement. After a Master's degree in economics, Christian Milz devoted the first 13 years of his career to the banking sector, between Zurich and New York. Sport is his passion, but opportunities remain rare. A client of his bank, the director of IMG Switzerland, finally got him started by offering him management of the marketing and television rights department. The experience lasted 6 years, during which he discovered the world of alpine and Nordic skiing, golf, horse racing and rowing within IMG Suisse. In 2005, he joined the European Athletics Association as general director. The continental body now has 25 employees. She has her own building in Lausanne, the Olympic capital.
1) Since you started professionally, what has been the most significant experience of your career?
Christian Milz : The first goes back a few years, with the transition from one president to another at European Athletics. For 10 years, I worked with the Swiss Hansjörg Wirz. Then, in 2015, the Norwegian Svein Arne Hansen succeeded him. It immediately proved to be very different, giving me a lot of room for maneuver and a lot of autonomy. This period marked me because it gave me the opportunity to put all the expertise learned in the banking sector to good use. The second experience is undoubtedly the year 2020. The health crisis forced us to reorganize ourselves, to implement new economic and work models. This year was also marked by two misfortunes for our body, the successive disappearances of the president, Svein Arne Hansen, and the German Frank Hensel, our former vice-president (2015 to 2019).
2) How do you understand, in your role within European Athletics, the current economic situation and the uncertainty of the months to come?
The last few months, since the start of the health crisis, have taught us a lesson: uncertainty being unmanageable, we must leave it aside. On the other hand, the risk can be measured. The current situation has led us to rework our budget, in order to be able to present something concrete and relevant to our decision-making members. We have also become much closer to the entities with which we work with confidence: World Athletics, of course, but also our partners, including Spar and Le Gruyère, Eurovision, and naturally our 50 member national federations. We also sought to be creative, by offering original content, including a series on the greatest moments of 50 years of European athletics.
3) How would you define the way you exercise your leadership role?
First and foremost, my role as CEO is to inspire employees and work colleagues, to encourage them to work together on something bigger than ourselves. For this, it is important to understand others, to love others, but also to think about their development. You also have to be positive in difficult situations, find the positive, seek solutions. But a general manager must also retain responsibility for the final decision. He must accept it, whether it turns out to be good or less good.
4) What are the three most important values to you in your professional activity?
Enthusiasm, loyalty and the ability to listen. But I could also cite empathy, teamwork, and finally the ability to make decisions and assume the consequences.
