Eskalationsgespür

12:17 Jul 5, 2014 

Maybe, if she's talking about interviews, she means that the successful candidate will be the one who knows when to let her or the executive team know when something needs to be escalated.

12:07 Jul 5, 2014 

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. As it is the highest official in the company who is giving the interview, I think I will simply leave it at having a sense of when it is time to escalate....(meaning going after an objective or such).

12:05 Jul 5, 2014 

Yes, as I posted initially, that was my understanding, too, on the face of it. People don't always write logically, and you can spend too much time getting side-tracked by it!

11:57 Jul 5, 2014 

.. I immediately thought of what Phil said - referring a problem to someone higher up the ladder.

I'd say he/she is saying he/she has a feel for when the time has come to refer an issue up to the next level of management (IOW knows not to bite off more than he/she can chew). I wouldn't get too caught up in the Gefühl/Gespür thing - otherwise we're translating words instead of meaning.

11:33 Jul 5, 2014 

Is the author speaking about his/her own skills or what he/she seeks in others?

11:32 Jul 5, 2014 

can also mean 'flair' - but quite what a flair for escalation might be, I don't know. Maybe a native speaker could help us out. It might be one of these management-speak terms that in the advertising world has some kind of hip meaning. So maybe something like having a sense for someone who really knows how to go for it (in advertising terms). But now I'm just trying to get into the mindset of a hip German advertising exec, and it is just guessing!!

11:30 Jul 5, 2014 

Without further background information, I understand this along the lines of 'having a feeling for the right time to escalate an issue'.

11:26 Jul 5, 2014 

thank you for the lively discussion. Just a quick info - I too am a little surprised by the Gefühl and Gespür...and since this is the highest level employee it can't go higher....Helen, I also wondered if it meant to escalate not to recognize an escalation....difficult...to get the right sense...

10:48 Jul 5, 2014 

I know that's not the context here!

10:47 Jul 5, 2014 

Yes, or, I suppose, if in the political realm, the right moment to do a bit of firefighting or to issue a statement or agree to an interview, etc. Or even in today's climate to institute yet another inquiry.

10:41 Jul 5, 2014 

Escalate as in the sense of pass it up to someone more senior.

10:33 Jul 5, 2014 

having a sense of when that moment has arrived. Strange that both Gefühl and Gespür appear in the sentence - rather tautologous, but maybe I'm understanding it wrong.

10:29 Jul 5, 2014 

I wonder if it is more to with the right moment to escalate things.