"An evil of time: making up your mind, but then hopping right on".

Werbewoche: How did you get the idea to write a book?

Regula Bührer Fecker: I was able to learn an extreme amount between the ages of 20 and 30, but I also often reached my limits. I would have found it helpful if I could have read a book with real learnings from a woman who was in a similar situation as me. Now that I have achieved and experienced a lot myself, I would like to pass on my experiences and learnings to young women.

What were those situations where you reached your limits or felt like you were failing?

Extremely many. Between 20 and 30, people are much more insecure than they pretend to be. And no one tells you how to tackle your own career in concrete terms. The advice is usually: "Get a decent job and just do a good job there." But nobody tells you what that means in concrete terms and what really works. I think it would be cool if more women honestly shared their learnings from this time.

What are your most important learnings that you want young women to take away with your book?

My most important learning is that it is extremely worthwhile to speed up. If you give a lot in the time between 20 and 30, it eventually pays off. Not exactly immediately, but it comes back one hundred percent. The important thing is to develop patience and trust that everything will work out. Courageously accelerating your own career pays off. And to make it work, you can invest a lot.

For example?

There are so many older Swiss advertising luminaries who no longer work and have time on their hands. One should develop the courage to contact these personalities and seek a conversation with them. A few won't write back, but a few will take time for lunch - after all, they don't want to lose touch with the young people. In this way, you get insights much sooner than you would ever have hoped.

There are so many older Swiss advertising luminaries who no longer work and have time on their hands.

Many young people want humane working hours and time for their private lives. How can that go together in the advertising industry, which is known for a lot of work and overtime?

My opinion is that if you have a claim to success, if you want to achieve something, then you have to invest a lot at the beginning. Many people expect to be able to give a little bit and think that at some point an extremely large amount will come back. Unfortunately, the equation simply doesn't work.

What is your advice to young mothers who feel torn between the desire to care for the children at home and to succeed at work?

Even though I am a mother myself today - my book is not written for mothers: It's aimed at women who don't yet have children. Because that's exactly my point: you should tackle your career before you have children. I realize myself that I want to be home for dinner at six o'clock. My children are my number one priority. If I had to go back to the career I had back then, it would be impossible. Besides, you have a lot more energy between 20 and 30. I can't cope as well with the night shifts I worked back then.

You should tackle your career before you have kids.

That means that in your eyes women should postpone any child planning until after 30 in order to boost their careers first?

That's not my point and I don't want to get involved. There are also some women who don't want children at all. I just think it makes much more sense to invest in your career at a younger age because you can cope better and because it's more difficult later on. Also, you're much more likely to get noticed if you're really good when you're young. You have the prodigy bonus: "Wow, she's already achieved something like that and she's only 28," people say. At some point, you no longer have that bonus.

You said in an interview with SI Style that your most important tip to women is to make quick decisions. What advice do you have for women who don't yet know exactly where they're going? Who would like to achieve something but still find it difficult to commit?

I have the feeling that you feel very precisely what you really want - however numerous the options may be. You simply notice which path suits you. Many may not admit this to themselves. Perhaps there is also a lot of distraction, confusion and temptation. In this case, it is extremely helpful to lay all your cards on the table together with a person whose opinion you can trust, and to crystallize a path together. Once you have decided, you should stick to this path. However, I think this is an evil of our time: that one decides, but then immediately jumps ahead. Instead, you should develop the composure to sit something out and sometimes stay in one place for four or five years.

In your opinion, what else would have to happen on the part of politics or also on the part of companies so that women in Switzerland can make an even better career?

This is not a question of political framework conditions. More women than ever are better educated than ever. At the gymnasiums today, people are worried that the boys are missing out. But what would help is if companies signaled that they believe in young people and invest in them for the long term. In other words, they might even offer an intern a permanent position if she really makes an effort for a few hundred francs a month. In this respect, many companies are shirking their responsibility. I think that mutual commitment is increasingly lacking.

In addition to your book, you have also launched the foundation Frauenarbeit.ch together with a friend Judith Weber Günter: How do you want to support women in concrete terms?

We found that writing a book is one thing. But putting words into action is something else again. That's what we want to achieve with the foundation. The very first thing is a coaching program in collaboration with 20 Minuten Friday. This is a competition in which ten successful young women will be coached by ten mentors for free for a year. Applications can be submitted until 31.10.2017 at frauenarbeit.ch. We are excited.

Interview: Ann-Kathrin Kübler