LIFESTYLE
Rolf Blaser
In conversation with Nirmali Ameresekere
What is a typical day like for you – and do you have any specific habits or routines that help you remain productive?
I start with coffee that is strong enough to reboot my brain; then I challenge my calendar with a to-do list it clearly wasn’t ready for
If your career were to be turned into a movie, what would the title be?
The Swiss Knife CEO – versatile, sharp and occasionally stuck in a drawer
A passion project or business idea you’d pursue if you had unlimited time and resources
A zero waste chocolate farm that doubles as a leadership retreat
Music that typifies your workday
A mix of rock, ambient techno and the occasional motivational speech from YouTube I didn’t ask for
Your ‘go to’ song or playlist to stay happy during the day
Powerful Hanuman Chalisa – it’s my energiser and anchor, the rhythm and devotion in the Chalisa gives me a lot of energy
The best piece of advice you’ve received
Never raise your voice – improve your argument
And what is your mantra to recharge when you feel overwhelmed?
Breathe, blink and pretend you’re on a beach
An item on your bucket list that you’d like to achieve in the next few years
Learn wing foiling without looking like I’m fighting the sea
How would you spend your time if you could unplug from technology for a week?
Reading books and trying to remember how to write in cursive
What other work do you think you would excel in – and why?
Air traffic controller – precision, order and performance are my natural traits
A failure that turned out to be a blessing in disguise
I came to Sri Lanka to identify a distributorship – never won the distributionship but became the CEO of my first choice
And a guilty pleasure that helps you unwind after a stressful day
Watching Top Gun while eating pretzels and peanuts with cold beer
A quirky habit that helps you during working hours
I negotiate with my calendar like it’s a union rep – firm but fair
Advice you’d give your younger self if you could travel back to the beginning of your career
Don’t worry about not being the smartest in the room – be the one who listens best
If you could work from anywhere in the world for a month, where would you go?
Kalpitiya – kite foiling while attending Zoom meetings
And if you could collaborate with any person (past or present) on a project, who would it be? And what would you create?
Leonardo da Vinci – and we’d design the future of sustainable innovation
If your team members could switch roles with you for a day, what do you think they’d find most surprising about what you do?
That half my job is decoding vague emails and the other half is convincing people that change isn’t a four letter word
One thing you hope people will remember most about your contribution to work or society
That I made things better – not just bigger
When you dance, you look like…
A Swiss diplomat trying to negotiate with gravity
The first thing you notice about someone
Their handshake and whether they mean it
You know it’s going to be a bad day when…
The coffee machine blinks at me like it knows something I don’t
You’re challenged by
People who say ‘we’ve always done it this way’
You recently laughed out loud when…
Someone asked if CEOs actually work!
You’re saddened when…
Corruption consumes the wellbeing of Sri Lanka
Love has the power to…
Make spreadsheets bearable
Happiness is when…
Health meets satisfaction
Sri Lanka will have a chance to develop when…
We overcome the known obstacles by changing the root cause
A message of positivity in trying times
Even the lotus blooms in muddy water
The most delightful word you can think of
Serendipity
