A German Interim Manager in the USA

A CLEAR MANDATE. A CLEAR TARGET. EVERYTHING ELSE IS SECONDARY.Whenever I accept a mandate, I start with one fundamental question:What exactly am I here to achieve?Because a clear mandate must lead to a clear target.And once that target is clear, I believe we have to subordinate almost everything else to achieving it.Not politics.Not traditions.Not “this is how we have always done it.”Not processes that have become an end in themselves.Not endless explanations about why something cannot be done.:devider:If a process does not help us reach the target, challenge it.If a process step does not create value, eliminate it.If a meeting does not move us forward, question it. Leave it! Don't waste your time! Nor the other's time!If an activity does not contribute to winning, stop doing it.That is what execution means to me.:devider:And the same principle applies to leadership and teams.I don't need people who are brilliant at explaining yesterday.I can tell you last week's lottery numbers myself.I can also tell you what yesterday's weather was.Both statements may be perfectly accurate.And both are completely useless for deciding what we do tomorrow.The rear-view mirror is small for a reason. It helps us understand where we came from. But you cannot drive a company forward by staring into it.:devider:We need people who look through the windshield.People who say:This is our target. This is my responsibility. This is what I am going to do. And this is when I will deliver it.That is the mindset I want around me.Of course, people should challenge assumptions. They should debate the best route. They should bring better ideas. I expect that.But once the direction and target are clear, we cannot endlessly renegotiate the destination.Discuss the HOW. Improve the HOW. Challenge the HOW.But execute relentlessly against the WHAT.I once worked with an entrepreneur who expressed this philosophy very clearly. His message was essentially:This company has a defined ambition and direction. If you want to pursue an entirely different ambition according to entirely different rules, you are free to build your own company and do exactly that.It sounds tough.But there is an important truth behind it.A company is not an academic discussion club.We have responsibilities.To our shareholders.To our customers.To our staff.To the people whose jobs depend on the competitiveness and long-term success of the business.And leadership means accepting that responsibility.Owners give us a mandate. Customers expect us to perform. Employees expect us to create a company with a future.That requires choices.It requires saying NO to activities that consume energy without creating progress.It requires saying NO to complexity that protects the past instead of building the future.And sometimes it requires saying NO to comfortable explanations and asking instead:What are YOU going to do about it?For me, this is one of the central principles of any serious transformation or battle plan:CLEAR MANDATE.CLEAR TARGET.CLEAR PRIORITIES.FULL COMMITMENT.RELENTLESS EXECUTION.Everything we do must ultimately answer one question:Does this help us achieve our target?If yes: ‍Do it. Accelerate it. Scale it.If no:Stop it.‍

Die Kunst, sich nichts vorzumachen. Dieses Buch wird nicht jedem gefallen. Das soll es auch nicht. Es ist kein Wohlfühlbuch. Kein Ratgeber voller Hoffnung, Motivation und schöner Absichten. Es geht um eine unangenehm einfache Erkenntnis: Am Ende zählt nicht, was du wolltest. Es zählt, was du getan hast. Die Tabelle lügt nicht. Erfolg kann gefährlicher sein als Misserfolg. Hoffnung ist keine Strategie. Kontakte sind noch kein Netzwerk. Stillstand ist keine Stabilität. Und niemand von uns ist unersetzbar. Wir machen uns erstaunlich viel vor – über unsere Leistung, unsere Beziehungen, unsere Karriere, unseren Erfolg und vor allem über uns selbst. Dieses Buch hält dagegen. Mit Klarheit. Mit Wissenschaft. Mit Erfahrungen aus dem echten Leben. Und manchmal mit einer Sprache, die wehtut. Denn Veränderung beginnt nicht mit Motivation. Sie beginnt in dem Moment, in dem du aufhörst, dir selbst Bullshit zu erzählen. „Die Kunst, sich nichts vorzumachen“ von Ulvi & Vincent Aydin Coming soon. Keine Ausreden. Keine Selbsttäuschung. Nur Klarheit.

CANADA: TWO DAYS IN EDMONTON. ONE CLEAR MESSAGE: MARKET SHARE IS DEVELOPED IN THE MARKET. 🇨🇦 Market share is not developed at headquarters. It is developed in the market — by people who know their customers, understand their competitors, move with urgency and turn insight into action. That is exactly what I experienced during two intense days with the Innomotics Team Canada in Edmonton. And I am leaving with one clear feeling: I am proud of this team. I met a highly engaged, energetic and effective group of people who are proud of what they do, proud of what they have achieved together — and hungry to achieve even more. They are close to their customers. They listen. They learn. They challenge. They act. They build relationships instead of simply managing accounts. And they understand one fundamental principle of our Battle Plan – Winning Back Market Share: Customer knowledge is power. But these two days reminded me of something else that is equally important: If you want to understand the market, spend time with the people who live in that market every single day. Listen to them. Ask questions. Challenge them — and allow them to challenge you. Because the people in our local organizations are the ones talking to customers every day. They hear what customers are saying. They see where competitors are moving. They recognize changes in behavior, requirements and expectations long before those changes appear in a report or a PowerPoint presentation. Many of the best insights I took away from Edmonton came from conversations with our own people. And behind many of those employee conversations were dozens of customer conversations. That is incredibly valuable. The voice of our people in the market is, to a large extent, the accumulated voice of our customers. This is why I strongly believe that leaders must spend significant time in the market with their teams. Not only to explain strategy. Not only to review numbers. Not only to tell people what headquarters expects. But to listen. A strategy becomes stronger when it meets reality. It becomes more relevant when it is discussed with the people who have to execute it. And it becomes much more powerful when market experience, customer intelligence and competitive insight are allowed to challenge our assumptions. Strategy should never be a one-way street from headquarters to the countries. The best strategies are shaped in dialogue. Headquarters brings the broader perspective, direction and ambition. Our local teams bring market reality, customer intimacy and competitive intelligence. Put both together — and strategy becomes execution. That is exactly what our Battle Plan is about. Winning back market share requires us to understand where our customers are heading, identify opportunities earlier, understand what our competitors are doing and create value together with our customers. We will not win market share by sitting at headquarters. We will not win it by waiting for opportunities to come to us. And we certainly will not win it by creating another PowerPoint presentation. We win it in the market. We win it with our people. We win it with our customers. We win it opportunity by opportunity. Customer by customer. The Canadian team showed me that they have exactly this mindset. I came to Edmonton to challenge, discuss and share ideas. I am leaving challenged myself — and with new insights. And that is exactly how it should be. Great teams do not simply execute what they are told. They contribute. They challenge. They share what they see. They bring the customer into the discussion. And by doing so, they make our decisions, our strategy and ultimately our entire organization stronger. Thank you, Innomotics Team Canada, for two intense, open and highly productive days. I learned a lot. And once again, I leave the market convinced: Get out there. Listen to your people. Listen to your customers. Challenge your assumptions. Turn insight into action. And then execute relentlessly. That is how we make strategy stronger. And that is how we win back market share. 🇨🇦

BE SURPRISING. BE UNEXPECTED. BE UNPREDICTABLE. Predictability is comfortable. But in business, predictability makes you easy to beat. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. So change the move. Change the rhythm. Break the pattern. Your quality is the foundation — but quality alone doesn’t make people look twice. Surprise your customers. Surprise the market. And most importantly: surprise your competitors. Make moves they don’t see coming. Create attention where nobody expects it. Don’t just play the game. Dunk it. Slam it. Own it. Be unpredictable — and become unforgettable.