People & Culture in Times of Change: In Conversation with Miriam Sternitzky

The role of People & Culture is evolving rapidly. As organizations navigate digital transformation, changing workforce expectations, talent shortages, and increasing business complexity, HR leaders are expected to do far more than support employees they are helping shape the future of their organizations.

How do companies build high-performing teams while maintaining a strong and authentic culture? What can HR do to drive business success, organizational agility, and effective leadership in an increasingly dynamic environment? And what lessons can be learned from navigating both extraordinary growth and challenging market conditions?

In this interview, we speak with Miriam Sternitzky, Chief People Officer at Westwing, who has spent more than a decade helping shape the company’s people strategy and organizational development. Having grown her own career from HR Generalist to Executive Team member, Miriam shares her perspective on modern HR leadership, the importance of cultural clarity, leadership and organizational agility, as well as the lessons learned from leading through periods of significant transformation.

Most importantly, she explains why she believes that high performance and genuine care for people are not competing priorities but essential ingredients for building successful organizations.

Dear Miriam, could you briefly introduce yourself to our community? What key experiences have shaped your career, and what does your role as CPO at Westwing entail today? 

My name is Miriam Sternitzky, and I am the Chief People Officer at Westwing. I originally studied psychology and spent many years convinced that I wanted to become a therapist. However, after graduating, I realized that while it was my dream job in theory, it was not the right fit for me in practice. At the time, that felt like a failure. Looking back, it was one of the most important turning points in my career. 

I have been with Westwing for more than ten years and have built almost my entire People career here, from HR Generalist to an Executive leadership role. That journey has shaped me deeply. I have experienced the exciting side of growth, but also the challenging realities of restructuring, uncertainty, and organizational change. 

Today, I lead the global People & Culture function at Westwing, which includes HR Business Partnering, Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding, People Operations, Learning & Development, People Analytics, and Internal Communications. At the same time, I am a member of the Executive Team. This means my role is not only about being there “for the people,” but also about designing an organization that enables our business to succeed while ensuring that success remains human-centered. 

To me, modern People work is exactly about bringing these elements together: high performance, clear standards, a strong culture, and genuine care for people. Performance and care are not opposites. In fact, the best organizations excel at both. 

People & Culture is evolving rapidly. What priorities are you and your team focusing on at Westwing to build a strong, modern People & Culture organization that delivers both operational excellence and strategic impact? 

Our ambition is to position People & Culture not as a service function, but as a true business partner. That may sound obvious, but in practice it is not. A modern People organization must excel operationally while also helping shape the company’s future. 

Operational excellence means that the fundamentals work flawlessly. Contracts, payroll, recruiting, performance processes, leadership support, and internal communications all need to run smoothly. If the basics fail, HR quickly loses trust. 

Being strategic means understanding where the business is headed and what kind of organization will be needed to support that journey. Which skills will become more important? How will roles evolve? How should leaders make decisions? What type of culture enables sustainable growth? 

One major focus at Westwing is clarity, clarity about what good performance looks like, what our culture stands for, and what we expect from leaders. Our Culture Code serves as a shared operating system. It is not a poster on a wall; it is a practical framework used in everyday decisions, feedback discussions, promotions, hiring processes, and even difficult conversations. 

A second focus area is leadership. I strongly believe that leadership is the most powerful force shaping culture. That is why we invest significantly in helping leaders become more decisive, courageous, and at the same time more human in the way they lead. 

The third focus is data and impact. People work should not only be well-intentioned, it should be effective. We need to measure what works, identify patterns, and make better decisions while never forgetting that behind every metric are real people. 

As CPO, you oversee an exceptionally broad range of responsibilities. How do you personally stay on top of both operational topics and long-term transformation projects? And how do you balance that with your private life, events, and speaking engagements? 

I would love to say that I am always perfectly organized, but that would not be true. I have a lot of energy, high expectations, and a tendency to want to take on many things at once. That is both a strength and a risk. 

What helps me is a simple prioritization question: Where can I create the greatest impact right now? Not, “Where am I needed?” because the honest answer is often: everywhere. Instead, I focus on where only I can make a meaningful difference and what my team can confidently handle on their own. 

That was an important learning experience for me. When you come from an operational HR background and know many topics in depth, it is tempting to get involved in everything. But as an Executive, my job is not to make every decision myself. My role is to provide direction, ask the right questions, remove obstacles, and empower my team. 

I work with clearly defined weekly priorities, regular check-ins, and dedicated focus time. At the same time, I have learned that having an overview does not mean knowing every detail. It means recognizing the right patterns. 

And personally? I believe honesty with yourself is essential. I love my work. I also enjoy visibility, networking, and speaking at events. But over the years, I have learned that energy is not unlimited. Health is not the reward for performance it is the foundation of performance. 

That is why I consciously invest in the things that help me recharge: exercise, long walks, music, time with people who energize me, and sometimes simply saying no. 

I do not do this perfectly all the time. But I believe modern leadership starts exactly there not by pretending to have everything under control, but by taking responsibility for yourself and for others. 

The e-commerce industry has experienced extreme market shifts over the last five years, from the Covid-driven boom to a prolonged period of volatility and uncertainty. Looking back, what were the biggest People & Organization learnings during this time, and what has changed permanently? 

The past few years have been a real rollercoaster for e-commerce companies. During Covid, demand surged dramatically, growth accelerated, and everything moved at incredible speed. Afterwards, market conditions became much more challenging, with changing consumer behavior, uncertainty, and volatility. These shifts place enormous pressure on organizations. 

One of my biggest learnings is that rapid growth can be just as risky as a crisis if it is not managed intentionally. During boom periods, organizations often add structures, teams, and roles quickly. When conditions become more difficult, it becomes very clear which of those choices are sustainable and which are not. 

A second key learning is that communication is not a “nice-to-have” during difficult times, it is critical. People cope with uncertainty much better when they understand what is happening, why decisions are being made, and what those decisions mean for them. That does not make difficult decisions easier, but it allows them to be managed with transparency, respect, and accountability. 

For me personally, 2022 was the most difficult period of my career because we had to part ways with many colleagues. That experience left a lasting impact on me. I learned that leadership is not defined by how you deliver good news. Leadership matters most when the situation is painful. 

What has changed permanently is the way we think about organizational design. Today, we are much more intentional about the capabilities we need, the structures that truly scale, where we need faster decision-making, and how we can combine high standards with humanity. 

Many organizations talk about agility, faster decision-making, and adaptability. What does “organizational agility” really mean at Westwing, and how can HR help enable it? 

For me, organizational agility does not mean chaos or a lack of structure. On the contrary, true agility requires a high degree of clarity. 

At Westwing, agility means understanding change quickly, making courageous decisions, placing accountability where expertise exists, and not holding on to structures simply because they made sense in the past. 

HR can enable this on several levels. 

First, through organizational design. Are teams set up to make decisions efficiently? Are responsibilities clear? Are there too many interfaces or unnecessary approval loops? 

Second, through leadership. Agile organizations need leaders who provide direction without controlling everything. They ask the right questions, establish priorities, and create the conditions for decisions to happen. 

Third, through culture. If people are afraid of making mistakes or sharing bad news, organizations become slow. Politics replace problem-solving. That is why psychological safety matters, not as a comfort mechanism, but as an enabler of honesty. To me, psychological safety means being able to speak the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. 

And fourth, through talent. Agility is powered by people who can navigate change, people who are curious, pragmatic, adaptable, and resilient. That mindset should be reflected in how we hire, develop, and assess performance. 

Personal branding is becoming increasingly important, for leaders, employer branding, and building trust in the market. Why do you believe a personal brand matters, and what advice would you give leaders who are still hesitant? 

I think personal branding is often misunderstood. Many people immediately associate it with self-promotion or creating a carefully curated public image. For me, a personal brand is something much more meaningful: it is the conscious answer to the question of what you want to stand for. 

This is especially important for leaders. People do not follow titles alone. They follow conviction, clarity, and trust. When leaders openly share how they think about leadership, culture, performance, or change, they create orientation and credibility. 

Personal branding is equally relevant for employer branding. Today’s candidates do not only want to read what a company says on its careers page. they want to understand how leaders actually think. What behaviors are rewarded? How are mistakes handled? How transparent is communication? Authentic leadership visibility can help answer those questions and build trust. 

For leaders who hesitate, my advice would be simple: start by sharing your perspective, not by trying to build a brand. Focus on contributing to conversations that matter. Authenticity is always more powerful than perfection. 

Westwing is an iconic and highly visible brand. How do you connect internal culture with the external brand experience so that employees do not just know the brand, but truly live it? 

For me, the connection between internal culture and external brand starts with a simple question: Is what we promise externally actually experienced internally? 

If we stand for inspiration, style, and customer centricity, then those values need to be reflected in how we work. They should be visible in our offices, our communication, our events, and the way we make decisions. 

At the same time, culture cannot be built on aesthetics alone. A strong brand requires a strong organization behind it. That means high standards, clear ownership, speed, creativity, and a relentless commitment to delivering exceptional results. 

Our Culture Code helps make this connection tangible. For example, “Being human is our superpower” is not just a slogan. It reflects our belief that humanity is a strength, not a weakness. At the same time, “Deliver exceptional results” reinforces our ambition and our commitment to high performance. 

That balance is where the magic happens. We want to build a culture where people are proud to be part of the brand because they understand that their work matters. When employees recognize the role they play in shaping the customer experience, the brand is no longer something that is communicated, it becomes something that is lived every day. 

Finally, what advice would you give someone in their mid-20s who wants to build a meaningful career? What do you wish you had known at that age? 

I wish I had understood much earlier that careers do not have to be linear in order to be successful. 

In my mid-20s, I thought very much in terms of plans: get the right degree, find the right job, follow the right path. When something did not work out, it felt like failure. 

Today, I see it very differently. Many of the most important career milestones emerge from detours, from moments when you realize something is not the right fit, discover abilities you did not know you had, or find the courage to take a bigger step than you initially thought possible. 

My advice would be to experiment before feeling pressured to define the perfect career. Seek environments where you can learn quickly. Work with people who challenge you and hold high standards. Take on responsibility before you feel 100% ready. 

For women in particular, I would add this: Do not wait for someone else to give you permission to think bigger. Visibility, ambition, and confidence often do not come before the next step, they are built through taking the next step. 

You do not need a perfect plan. You simply need the willingness to start, to learn, and to adjust your course as you grow.