dysfunctional country – they know all about corruption, unstable governments, social structures you simply can’t rely on. And they’re asking: what values do you live by in Germany, in Europe? How do you organise your country so there’s limited poverty and every child can go to school? How come you don’t pay any attention to ethnic background or religious faith when you employ people? This is where we can start the discussion, based on our experiences, values and even our research results. What should a good manager be able to do? A good manager should be capable of drawing the very best out of a team – of motivating and inspiring individuals so they use their skills and qualifications in the service of the company, in pursuit of corporate goals, as and when they’re needed. What’s more, managers have to master these skills at a time when the value systems we work by are changing dramatically. People want to work more autonomously, with more freedom – and I’m not just talking about working hours. So we need a new kind of manager?
Ein guter Manager muss sein Team zu Höchstleistung motivieren.
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In certain key respects. A competent manager is characterised by an ability to deal with change, by a readiness to tackle regular changes over and over again. When fundamental social structures change, companies and their managers must be capable of adapting to these changes and the associated value systems. nötigt werden. Diese Aufgaben gilt es in einer Zeit zu lösen, in der sich die Wertesysteme, in denen wir arbeiten, dramatisch verändern. Die Menschen wollen selbstbestimmter arbeiten, freier – nicht nur in Bezug auf Arbeitszeiten. Also ist ein neuer Typ Führungskraft gefragt? In einigen wichtigen Nuancen. Eine gute Führungskraft zeichnet sich dadurch aus, dass sie mit Veränderungen umgehen kann, dass sie bereit ist, sich diesen permanenten Veränderungen immer wieder zu stellen. Ändern sich gesellschaftliche Grundmuster, müssen Unternehmen und ihre Manager in der Lage sein, sich darauf und auf neue Wertmuster einzustellen. Das klingt, als sei die Zeit reif, die deutschen Managementprinzipien zu exportieren. Nur: Bisher spielen die deutschen Business Schools im internationalen Wettbewerb kaum eine Rolle. So sehr es mich ärgert, das zugeben zu müssen: Leider ist es wahr. Noch. Die Realität schaut so aus: Die Wharton School der University of Pennsylvania bildet MBAKandidaten aus 64 Nationen weiter, das französische Insead Führungskräfte aus 84 Ländern, und bei IESE kommen wohl vier von fünf MBA-Studierenden aus dem Ausland. Unsere deutschen Business Schools sind für
10 FOKUS
You make it sound as if the time is ripe to export German management principles. But German business schools still have a very low profile among their international competitors. Sadly, and much as it pains me to admit it, that is indeed the case – for now. Let’s take a look at the current situation: the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is training MBA students from 64 different countries; INSEAD, the French graduate school, is training executives from 84 countries, and probably as many as four out of five MBA students at IESE in Madrid come from abroad. Our German business schools don’t have anything like the same appeal for top managers from abroad. Worse still, not even our own major companies, our own “hidden champions”, have faith in us. They too prefer to consign the strategic development of their managers and human resources to wellknown talent factories abroad. Surely that’s understandable? These foreign institutions regularly appear at the top of the international rankings that reflect the business school landscape. Indeed, their quality is indicated by countless top rankings and elaborate accreditation procedures. Students