"It was the end of the year, and we were having our company party and celebrating a huge success with bringing on a new client who signed a lucrative contract. But the next day required a coordinated team effort to get things moving on the contract. Yet, when the next day came, over half of our teams called out sick due to what we assumed was food poisoning from the venue that hosted our company party. So, I first coordinated with my manager over the phone, where we developed a plan where I could lead the teams that made it to work. Shifting priorities, we started a plan where we built a coordinated foundation which every team would build upon. All the prep work, with a team coordination social channel, which would enable everyone to hit the ground running the next day when they all hopefully returned to work. We learned so much from the implementation of this plan that we fine-tuned and adapted it to every team project moving forward. So all is well that ends well."

This question aims to shed light on your resourcefulness and your approach to taking risks. In high-pressure situations, Zalando describes the conduct they expect of their people. In simple terms, they expect them to think big and act fast. They expect them to operate with speed, to keep it simple, to disagree and commit, and to focus on what matters.

"Every-day matters. We seize big opportunities without delay. We think big and get concrete. Until new information comes to light, to make the best decisions, we invite constructive, truth-seeking debate. To make them count, we seek commitment, not consensus. Each of us is part of Zalando's success story and contributes to solving the most exciting problems. We do so with expertise, passion, commitment, speed and a healthy level of risk-taking, in close collaboration with colleagues and partners. We take risks, but we are never reckless. We understand our risks and manage them intelligently."