Susanne Justesen, the Project Director of Human Sustainability at the Global Maritime Forum, brings nearly two decades of experience in the realms of diversity and innovation. In her approximately three-year tenure within the maritime sector, she has actively championed the cause of human sustainability, aiming to enhance the industry’s appeal to a broader audience.
SAFETY4SEA: How did it come about that you joined shipping industry and your field of expertise specifically?
Susanne Justesen: I have been working with diversity and innovation for nearly 20 years, across multiple industries and geographies and only joined the maritime industry in the summer of 2021. Like many others, COVID made me reflect on my career, and when the opportunity to join the Global Maritime Forum emerged, it was an easy career choice for me to make.
S4S: What about your current job/ role most excites you and why?
S.J.: Working with human sustainability on a global scale feels incredibly important and purposeful, each and every day. Aiming to make every company accountable for securing that people employed in their respective supply chains are treated with respect and dignity. Our aim is to make the industry more attractive to more people, and thereby collectively raise the tide of talent in the global maritime industry.
S4S: When you think of the word successful who’s the first person who comes to mind and why?
S.J.: Rosa Parks. She became the mother of the civil rights movement simply by refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Alabama in 1955. She is an important reminder that success comes from the courage to stand up for what is right and to keep going, even in the face of immense opposition.
S4S: Who is/was the most influential person/mentor to you & why?
S.J.: I have an amazing group of supportive and courageous girlfriends who greatly inspire me, but the most influential person is my 14-year-old daughter Oona. We live together – just her and me – and each and every day she stands strong for her values, and for what she thinks is right and wrong. I learn a lot from being with her. When she was 4 years old, and put her tights on, in what I perceived as a ‘wrong way’, and I tried to convince her to do it differently, she looked up at me and said: “I do it differently, don’t you usually say that diversity is good?” And actually, her way really was better than mine. Diversity can be annoying at times, but we all need it to grow as human beings.
S4S: What is the best and what was the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given and why?
S.J.: When I was 19, I moved to Italy to pursue a dream of living and working there. After some months I was struggling to find work as my Italian was still a bit rusty, and I was running out of money. I called my mum to ask her if she would help me pay for a ticket home, but she said no. “You cannot too easily give up – this was your dream. Give it your all – and call me back in 8 days, I am sure you will have found a way to stay by then”. And she was right. The worst advice? I tend to forget bad things quickly, and why remember bad advice?
S4S: What is the most worthwhile career investment (in energy, time, money) you’ve ever made?
S.J.: I was doing consulting work on diversity and innovation in Copenhagen, but because the interest in my work was biggest in the US, I moved to New York to set up shop there as well. When I then got the opportunity to do a PhD at Copenhagen Business School, I left New York. It was not an easy choice, but it was the best decision I ever made, to spend three years digging deep into the complex relationship between diversity and innovation.
S4S: In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your business[MH1] life?
S.J.: Design thinking has always been an important part of how I work but recently, I have become insistent on defining objectives, desired outcomes and main principles for everything I do, from calling a meeting to deciding whether to speak at a conference. I am not sure the team is as excited about this as I am, but they usually rally.
S4S: What would you like to change in the current maritime landscape and your area of expertise specifically and why?
S.J.: I would like to find ways to ensure the well-being of everyone working across the maritime supply chain, especially when it comes to our close to 2 million seafarers. I would like the industry to ensure that parents are not forced to choose between a career at sea or starting a family. I’m also troubled by the prevalence of short-term employment contracts within the industry, which often lead to maritime professionals being perceived as ‘costs to be minimized’ rather than long-term investments.
S4S: What is your personal motto?
S.J.: My daughter would say that my personal motto is: “What’s the positive take on this?” We can easily go through life searching for all the negative in everything. This might provide a rush in the moment, but it is bound to leave us miserable. We can cultivate negativity and we can cultivate optimism. We need positive thinking in this line of work.
The views presented are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
