Ulvi I. AYDIN: making things happen!

Pferde lügen nicht. Und genau deshalb sind sie großartige Führungskräfte.Was für ein Erlebnis. Was für eine Lektion. Was für ein Perspektivwechsel.Wir waren sechs Teilnehmer von Ameritum – erfahrene Unternehmer, Manager und Führungspersönlichkeiten. Menschen, die glauben, über Führung schon einiges zu wissen.Und dann kamen die Pferde.Keine PowerPoint.Keine Managementtheorie.Keine wohlklingenden Leadership-Phrasen.Nur wir. Die Pferde. Und die unmittelbare Wahrheit.Unter der großartigen Leitung von Andrew Plumpte und seiner Frau Elke haben wir erlebt, was Führung bedeutet, wenn Titel, Visitenkarten und Hierarchien plötzlich vollkommen bedeutungslos werden.Denn einem Pferd ist es egal, wer du bist.Es interessiert sich nicht für deinen Lebenslauf.Nicht für deine Position.Nicht für deine Erfahrung.Nicht für dein Ego.Ein Pferd reagiert auf das, was wirklich da ist.Auf deine Präsenz.Auf deine Klarheit.Auf deine Konsequenz.Auf deine innere Ruhe.Auf deine Körpersprache.Und vor allem darauf, ob das, was du ausstrahlst, mit dem übereinstimmt, was du erreichen willst.‍Das Feedback kommt unmittelbar. Ehrlich. Unbestechlich.Und genau das macht diese Erfahrung so kraftvoll.Wir sechs haben an diesem Tag unglaublich viel gelernt – über Kommunikation, Wirkung und Führung. Aber mindestens genauso viel über uns selbst.‍Andrew und Elke schaffen dabei etwas Besonderes: Sie übersetzen die Reaktion der Pferde mit enormer Erfahrung, Kenntnis und Sensibilität in Erkenntnisse, die unmittelbar auf Führung und Zusammenarbeit übertragbar sind.Das ist kein Pferde-Event. Das ist Leadership in seiner ursprünglichsten Form.Keine Masken. Keine Rollen. Keine Ausreden.Bei Ameritum wollen wir genau solche Erfahrungen schaffen: raus aus der Komfortzone, raus aus den üblichen Denkmustern und hinein in Situationen, die neue Perspektiven eröffnen.Dieser Workshop hat genau das geschafft.Intensiv. Echt. Unmittelbar.Danke, Andrew. Danke, Elke.‍Und danke an unsere vierbeinigen Coaches.Manchmal braucht es ein Pferd, um einem Menschen zu zeigen, wie Führung wirklich wirkt.

The Will to Win Everybody talks about goals. I care much more about something else: What are you willing to do to achieve them? Goals are easy. PowerPoint is easy. Analysis is easy. Explanations are easy. Execution is hard. Over decades in management, I have seen brilliant people explain perfectly why something went wrong. They analyze. They rationalize. They produce another slide deck. And then? Nothing happens. I have far more respect for the person who says: “I got it wrong. I underestimated it. I’ll fix it.” And then gets to work. Because in the end: Discipline beats talent. Consistency beats occasional brilliance. Execution beats analysis without action. Commitment beats excuses. You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. You don’t need the most impressive degree. You don’t need perfect conditions. But you need something that cannot be taught easily: The will to win. I call it the Hunting Spirit. That inner drive that makes you get up again. Attack the problem. Find another way. Make the call. Visit the customer. Take responsibility. Do today what others postpone until tomorrow. Business can sometimes feel like a battlefield. And battlefields are not always won by those with the most resources. They are often won by those with courage, discipline, speed, resilience, and the determination to keep moving. Weak leaders explain endlessly. Strong leaders take responsibility and act. Kobe Bryant embodied this mentality: get up early, put in the work, repeat it relentlessly. No excuses. No shortcuts. And listen carefully to the language people use: Strong people say: “I will.” “I will do it.” “I will deliver.” The moment responsibility disappears behind “we will,” “we should,” “we must,” or “we shall,” be careful. Collective responsibility too often becomes no responsibility at all. Accountability is individual. It cannot be socialized. Your goals don’t define you. Your actions do. And without the will to win, everything else is just decoration.

The AYCON Principles of Interim Management Excellence Ulvi Aydin, one of the most experienced interim managers in the industry, lives by a simple principle: Love and knowledge are wonderful things—they double when you share them. Drawing on 21 years of experience, approximately 25 assignments, and 15 industries, he shares these principles as inspiration, guidance, and a legacy for young and new interim managers. Personality & Mindset Take ownership from day one. No one hires an interim manager to sit on the sidelines. Remain independent in your judgment. Your loyalty is to the success of the company, not to individual people. Tell the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. Diplomacy matters. Clarity matters more. Earn trust through performance, not through titles. Always maintain integrity and confidentiality. Confidentiality is the currency of interim management. Always act in the best interest of the company. Not in the interest of individual stakeholders. Selecting Assignments Only accept assignments you are qualified to handle. Experience cannot be improvised. Critically assess every assignment before signing the contract. Not every problem can be solved. Turn down assignments when there is no realistic chance of success. Integrity before revenue. Define the objectives with absolute clarity before you start. Clarify expectations, roles, and responsibilities early. Never allow yourself to be drawn into political power games. Starting the Assignment Listen first. Act second. Understand the numbers, the processes, and the people equally well. Build an objective picture of the situation within the first 20 days. Identify the three biggest levers for impact. Deliver quick wins without falling into action for action’s sake. Create transparency based on facts, not opinions. Leadership & Execution Lead by example, not by hierarchy. Make decisions when others hesitate. Focus on results, not activities. Being busy is not progress. Build structures that work without you. Build ownership instead of dependency. A good interim manager ultimately makes himself unnecessary. Change processes, not just people. Connect strategy with operational execution. Consistently deliver on deadlines, quality, and budget. That is simply part of being a professional. Exit & Legacy Measure success by sustainable results. Ensure knowledge transfer before you leave. Leave behind a stronger company than the one you found. Your greatest success is when they no longer need you. Interim management is not a permanent solution. It is about enabling the organization to succeed on its own. Ulvi: The Essence in One Sentence “An excellent interim manager creates clarity, trust, results, and sustainable structures in a short period of time—without creating dependency.”

LOCAL EXCELLENCE MUST BECOME GLOBAL EXCELLENCE! One of the biggest mistakes in global corporations is surprisingly simple: Headquarters believes it knows best. The strategy comes from headquarters. The processes come from headquarters. The standards come from headquarters. And the countries are expected to execute. That thinking is outdated. Because headquarters does not own the truth. The market does. And the people closest to customers, competitors, projects, and opportunities often know things that headquarters simply cannot know. That is why I believe global companies need a fundamental shift in mindset: Stop treating countries as execution units. Start treating them as sources of intelligence. During my current global assignment, I have spent considerable time in different countries and regions. And again and again, I see the same thing: There is enormous competence out there. India does things exceptionally well that Europe can learn from. The Middle East has approaches that should influence global thinking. Asia brings speed, ambition, and different ways of building relationships. North America brings its own commercial logic and customer orientation. South America operates successfully under conditions that require flexibility and entrepreneurship. Italy may have solutions others have never considered. And Germany recently provided another excellent example: instead of looking primarily at historical customer revenues, the team started looking at customer potential. A small change in perspective. But potentially a massive change in how sales resources are allocated. That is exactly the point. Great ideas do not carry headquarters ZIP codes. If something works brilliantly in India, why shouldn't Germany learn from it? If a sales approach succeeds in the Middle East, why shouldn't Europe test it? If Germany develops a better way to identify customer potential, why shouldn't Brazil, the US, or South Korea use it? A global organization should not be a one-way street where headquarters sends knowledge outward. It should be a global learning machine. Knowledge must travel in every direction. Country to headquarters. Country to country. Region to region. Market to market. The role of headquarters is therefore not to have all the answers. Its role is to create the system that identifies the best answers — wherever they emerge — and makes them available to everyone. That is what real global leadership means. Of course, we need common standards. We need common systems. We need common KPIs, processes, and a shared strategic direction. But standardization must never destroy intelligence. One strategy does not mean one answer. India is not Germany. Japan is not Brazil. Saudi Arabia is not the United States. South Korea is not Italy. The cultures are different. The competitive environments are different. Customer expectations are different. Decision-making processes are different. Market maturity is different. Pretending otherwise does not create alignment. It creates blindness. We therefore need more India in our headquarters DNA. More Asia. More Middle East. More South America. More North America. More Italy. More Germany. Not because one region is better than another. But because each of them knows something the others don't. That is the power of diversity in a global organization. Diversity is not primarily about having different nationalities around a conference table. Diversity creates value when different experiences, market realities, ideas, and ways of working actually influence decisions. When the best local idea becomes a global capability. When one country's success becomes another country's shortcut. When we stop asking: “How can headquarters make the countries better?” And start asking: “What can each country teach the entire company?” That changes everything. Because the strongest global company is not the company with the smartest headquarters. It is the company that is best at collecting, connecting, and scaling the intelligence of its entire organization. The British eventually had to learn that looking at the world from the top down creates enormous blind spots. Global corporations should not need history to teach them the same lesson again. Go into the markets. Listen to the people. Find what works. Challenge your own assumptions. Take the best from everywhere. And make it available to everyone. Local excellence must become global excellence. Because in a truly global organization, the whole should not simply be the sum of its parts. It should be stronger because of them.