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It is rarely about their numbers. Anyone who has run a P&L of €500m+, delivered 5 to 10 % in customer margin in a crisis and taken post-merger integrations all the way to a successful exit has done their homework. The real problem for these top 10 % executives is something else entirely: The traditional

A CEO successfully stabilises a company.Costs down. Structures simplified. Decisions accelerated. Performance stabilised.The turnaround succeeds.And then? Then the task often changes fundamentally.Suddenly it is about growth again. Investment. New markets. New capabilities. Perhaps internationalisation or building a new business model.But is the CEO who led the company successfully through the turnaround automatically the right person

For many executives, being removed from their post sends a shock wave through everything. Normally the weekly meeting would be at 8 tomorrow morning. But without you. The night before is long. The fear of becoming unemployed, or staying unemployed: since almost all of us have been shaped as doers and implementers, the obvious reflex

Anyone moving from corporate management into independence usually starts planning straight away: • Which service or product do I offer?• What does my pricing look like?• How do I build the website?• How do I win my first clients? When I went independent more than 20 years ago after my corporate career, I started by

A few days ago I was in an assignment briefing:The client presented me with an excellent requirements profile. Industry experience, span of control, track record, everything neatly written down.After 30 minutes it became clear to both of us: the paper still described the past, not the future of the organisation in which the candidate is

I speak to at least three executives every day, and most of them believe their application begins when they contact a search consultant or get a first interview. By then it is usually already the second half. Various studies estimate that a large share of the really interesting leadership roles are never advertised. From more

Imagine LinkedIn had existed in 1979. And someone had written: GRUNDIG insolvent in the foreseeable future, competitive advantages soon down to zero. How would you have reacted? I recently read up on its story again. Incredible. It genuinely shook me. In 1979 I would have said: nonsense. A show-off. And the CFO function, like other