1. Who are you?
Psychotherapy could begin with this question and perhaps trigger metaphysical feelings. Who am I? So: Genetically marked as an «Unterwalliser» with a Thurgau influence, epigenetically as an «Oberwalliser» and thus bilingual; married, living in Bern; lawyer with over thirty years of experience in the federal administration, most recently as Secretary General EDI and Director of the Federal Office of Public Health; for over a year now self-employed with my own consulting firm in the KMES consulting community, Zurich; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Spital Wallis; member of the Board of Trustees of Health Promotion Switzerland and pro mente sana; reader, photographer, swimmer, hiker, cook.
2.What profession did you want to achieve as a child?
Cook or teacher. Today I could still imagine myself as a cook in a creative kitchen, but no longer as a teacher.
3. Is the position of the FOPH Director a dream job?
That depends largely on personal dreams. But it is certainly not a job for dreamers. On the contrary, the job requires an alert mind. Sometimes sleepless, and therefore dreamless, nights have been the price of one of the most diverse and challenging directorships the federal government has to offer.
4. What would you do differently at the FOPH if you were to start again?
Among other things, I would devote a greater part of my energies and efforts to tackling three things: 1. promoting the training of the medical and nursing professions even more and in a more targeted manner in the direction of genuine interprofessionalism, 2. having the healthcare system as a whole tested for its stress resistance and subsequently, for example, formulating pandemic and crisis planning more stringently in the light of pandemic experience, and 3. drawing the attention of policymakers incessantly to the importance of a smart digitization of the healthcare system that is above all adequately financed and promoted. In the interest of patients.
5. What do you consider to be the most important quality in a leader?
In my opinion, this quality comes in a double pack: listening and deciding. Listening is the basis of every decision, is the access to the discussion of the other person's idea, signals respect, readiness for discussion and is also an enrichment of one's own perspective. The decision then, is what is expected of a leader to take the next step. It is the core content of leadership.
6. Is there a funny or so not expected situation that you remember fondly?
Many years ago, when I was walking with former Federal Councillor Pascal Couchepin through a small village in the «Oberwallis», we met a man who seemed to greet him from a distance with a friendly laugh. When we crossed paths, however, the man only uttered an incomprehensible but by no means unsympathetic murmur, whereupon the Federal Councillor asked me about the somewhat idiosyncratic greeting ritual of the «locals». I had to instruct him that this meant: «Dear Federal Councillor, it is a pleasure to welcome you here in our little village and I wish you a nice day.»
7. If you had one wish, what would it be?
From Wilhelm Busch comes the quote: «Every wish, when fulfilled, instantly gets young.» From that point of view, I would wish for 1000 more with this one wish. I should get away with that just fine.
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Pascal Strupler
Owner STRUPLER Strategie Führung Consulting AG, President of the Board Spital Wallis, former Director FOPH (BAG)
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