[IBMBA] Cultivating Ethical Leadership: Insights from Lisa Maria Mair, Distinguished Alumna of NSYSU's IBMBA Programs

Meet Lisa Maria Mair, a standout former student from NSYSU's IBMBA program at the College of Management. Lisa exudes confidence and knows exactly what she wants out of life. Her journey is not just inspiring but also packed with valuable insights that can guide students towards a successful career path.

Driven by a curiosity about diverse cultures and a desire to collaborate with people from around the world, Lisa made the brave decision to leave her job at Palfinger Group in Austria to pursue a master’s degree in Taiwan. During her time at NSYSU, she was deeply involved in Taiwanese culture, engaging with local students, and immersing herself in the vibrant atmosphere of the IBMBA department. It was here that she developed a profound appreciation for Business Ethics, a passion that continues to shape her work as a freelance consultant now and then.

Before deciding to be her own boss, Lisa had worked as an Internal Auditor at Porsche Holding. She describes this position as an amazing experience, allowing her to gain knowledge about unfamiliar cultures and companies abroad. Due to the characteristics of the job she had to travel around to the companies after receiving the data from their company, after confirming the situation then will be the audit part. The business or company contacts her team to address issues, after which her team would develop strategies to improve the situation. They also assessed new companies for efficiency as a part of the Internal Audit job. The audit process varies in length, and usually takes three weeks to a month, with the report-writing process taking about a week after data collection.

Due to the new Whistleblowing Protection law of the European Union, her team established a department called Special Investigation, which means that from now on, most companies need to implement a reporting channel. Now she is self-employed, her LMa² Consulting, a Business Consulting Company with its major in the Austrian Whistleblowing Protection law and solutions to ethical business practices, was founded in 2023. Her company consultancy approach emphasizes collaborative problem-solving and a nuanced understanding of clients' organizational needs. 

She shared that back then in internal audit, her team also were partly Internal Consultants, and she also knew all the tasks needed to fulfill the new law as she worked in her previous company, everything was a good fundamental for her to start her own company. Sharing the difficulties and challenges of being the boss of her own company, she relishes the autonomy to make decisions and the freedom to implement her ideas without the need for corporate approval. However, she also acknowledges the weight of responsibility that comes with managing every aspect of her business, from marketing to tax compliance. 

To answer what inspires her at her work, she said, “I think that we can only be successful when we take care of each other because I think we have a big responsibility to make the world a better place because right now, we have many issues.” During her master's, she worked and was interested in Business Ethics topic and now it is still fascinating to her. She connected this topic to some advice for every student, “Always value your value and stick with it.” When everyone has an interview means they are having a negotiation to make with the interviewer's company. She wants to share her knowledge from one of her professors back then in Canada that every student can know their values and should not settle for less. This is about ethics since the best result that comes out from a negotiation is both parties will meet their wants, and both are satisfied with the results. Hence, if one of the parties loses, it is not a good negotiation. Therefore, all students should find and try to understand their value, so they can understand how they can fit into the organization and how to negotiate for their benefit in the future negotiation. She also mentioned the “red flag” students may not see during their interviews with all the companies. There might be tricky points in their contract that they will not change, or we cannot change anything after we signed for that. 

Her last insight sharing for every student is to focus on your connection and build your LinkedIn profile as your brand. Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn can help you to connect with companies and other connections which can help you find a job. From your profile, the company can make it easier to get to know you more and understand more about your ability and talents. Therefore, putting effort and time into building it by trying to join in more activities or events and share your knowledge and experience on LinkedIn. She hopes all the students can reach out and share with people around them about what are trying to look for, she said, “You never know who you meet, and you never know who these people know.” 

 Lisa had so much to share, and she was sharing with all her willingness and humbleness. Her trajectory serves as an exemplar of initiative-taking career development and ethical leadership. With her emphasis on cultural awareness, strategic collaboration, and principled negotiation, she offers invaluable insights for individuals navigating the complexities of the professional landscape. This is such a good chance to read about all these valuable sharing and get to know such a generous alumnus, Lisa Maria Mair.