Dear readers,

This year's round-table discussion at the 34th Awards Ceremony focused on the factors that contribute to a successful banking career. This year, it brought together three experts from our ecosystem: a HR director (Natalia Mensdorff-Pouilly, Mirabaud Group), an entrepreneur (Raphaël Hubin, LVMG SA), and a psychologist (Stéphane Bonzon, ISFB). Many points were raised by our speakers, and I'd like to highlight three that struck me as essential:

1. It's up to individuals to take charge of their own career development, without waiting for someone else to do it for them. Nevertheless, the employer plays a fundamental role in helping to maintain and develop the skills of its experts, in line with its HR policy;
2. We all have strengths and weaknesses. It can be useful to accept our weaknesses and try to turn them into strengths. What's more, individuals often have far more of a network, or the potential to expand it, than they realize, but often don't dare actively step into it for fear of failure;
3. Academic research shows that certain factors contribute more fundamentally to professional success: technical knowledge and skills and 'soft skills', but also the influence of the context in which the individual evolves, his or her motivation and confidence in his or her ability to succeed, in particular. The meaning of work is also a particularly powerful factor in achieving a goal.

To which we could certainly add other less graspable factors, such as luck, or temporality. In any case, it's essential to be able to seize the opportunities that come our way.

Over the past few months, we have come across a number of opportunities within the ISFB for our members, and we have seized them. These include the launch in the first quarter of 2024 of the CAS in Operations Management in Financial Services, in partnership with HEG-Genève; the running of a challenge on responsible management as part of the Sustainable Finance Hack during Building Bridges week; or the presence of ISFB alongside graduates in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Fribourg at their graduation ceremony.

All of which will help shape the new, ambitious ISFB dynamic over time.

Mathias Baitan, General Manager

Mathias Baitan

ISFB

General Manager

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Strategic Business Area 3

Skills development

Alongside its range of technical and managerial training courses, the ISFB offers its member banks' human resources departments a range of guidance and career management services.

Discover our skills development offer