CREDO: “GOOD MANAGEMENT IS SIMPLE – BUT NOT EASY” – LEARNING FROM THE BEST OF GERMAN MITTELSTAND

“What is good management?” This is the question I have devoted nearly 40 years of my life to answering. In my capacity as a manager, an academic, and a strategy advisor I have explored these fundamental questions: 
· Why some companies excel, while others falter, are shut-down, or are merely stuck in mediocrity? 
· Do fundamental principles for success exist? 
· How can companies avoid making mistakes that can damage, even destroy their business? 

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Over the past twenty years, I had the privilege of working with a number of world-leading, medium-sized, German family businesses, sometimes called “Hidden Champions”, or “Mittelstand Champions”. I prefer the latter term in describing this group of companies, insofar as they are no longer “hidden” in an increasingly transparent global economy. In addition, in order to attract high calibre talent, secure the trust of their customers and built constructive relationship with key suppliers including banks, most companies are well advised to be more transparent to the outside. 

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Through my work with these successful entrepreneurial families and their companies, I am continually reassured that there do exist basic, yet essential, rules that companies need to apply in order to increase their chances for long-term success. Key management principles like “sound growth and progress comes from real innovation”; “don't compete on price but provide superior value to customers”; “manage for the long-term” and “treat employees as human beings, and not easily to be replaced resources”; represent “universal truths” for any business. 

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While these basic principles are ‘simple’ to understand, they are not necessarily ‘easy’ to apply. My mission is to help business owners and managers implement these “secrets of success” in their businesses to ensure the long-term prosperity of both the company and its key stakeholders.