8 March 2021

Female Leaders@TUI – Jessica Enbacka

TUI has many successful female leaders in a wide range of areas. In our series "Female Leaders@TUI" we feature these colleagues and their inspiring thoughts on the subject of equality in interview form. This time we talked to Jessica Enbacka, Managing Director TUI Nordics.

Jessica, what is your current role at TUI?

I’m the Managing Director in the Nordics (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland). 21 years ago I have started my career at TUI in pricing, worked in multiple roles and areas across the Group, like IT Director Nordic and Commercial Director Nordic.

Who is your role model as a female leader?

In the Nordics and especially in Sweden, female leadership has become something very common. During my career, it has been great to see many wonderful women crash through glass ceilings. Not because a woman needed to be there by quota or for internal politics, but because they delivered the best results. Seeing strong women rise is great and all inspire, but I would not be able to pick a specific person.

Each year we ask ourselves the same, important question: Where does our society stand in terms of female leadership? And what about TUI?

Personally, I don‘t think female leadership per se is the answer. Modern and diverse leadership with a focus on performance is. To me, you are a good leader when you can challenge the status quo and bring diverse people together to collaborate.

There is a lot of talk about the specifics and qualities of female leadership. How are you leading?

Collaboration is key. It means that things we create together become more than the sum of its parts. At TUI, we become better and better at collaborating across teams, across functions and across markets. My role as a leader is to see the strength in all individuals and give them the arena and mandate to act on but also to set a clear direction and vision, facilitate, motivate and accelerate this movement.

I took on my current role in the middle of the pandemic, and even more than in normal times this means that leadership is something that is fundamentally virtual. I try to lead equally through a constant flow of information as well as empathy. We are all human, we all struggle sometimes. But as a team, we also win together.

What is your advice for young female professionals regarding growth in their careers?

A career is a journey with ups and downs. But every position you take on will help you grow and learn more about yourself. There is no such thing as a setback, just learnings that help you become a better person. If you try to find and focus on these learnings in the good and bad times, you train yourself to reflect.

Ultimately, even if it has been said a million times, it remains true: Believe in yourself. Be brave.