Johannes von Schmettow, newly appointed head of Egon Zehnder International Germany, has emphasized in an interview with
manager magazin the value of sustainable company leadership – especially in times of crisis. “Whoever falls into blind action-taking – reducing costs, laying off hordes of people, dropping entire business departments in panic – damages the long-term success of a company.”
Top executives are confronted with challenges not only in the present crisis, but above all they face long-term challenges that can only be met with an intact leadership team, an excellent company culture, and professional talent management, Schmettow tells manager magazin. The “days of the autocrats” are over. “The intelligence of a team is always greater,” continues Schmettow. “In essence, it is about conveying confidence and identifying perspectives in order to prevent insecurity and inner emigration. Open communication that also clearly addresses unpleasant truths plays a crucial role in this.” Examples of long-term challenges are demographic change, climate changes, and the shortage of raw materials.
Especially, it is professional talent management “that is recognized at all levels as a core responsibility of good company leadership” that makes sustainable leadership stand out. Schmettow recommended “identifying talent above all in one's own company. The supply of talented people is becoming scarcer and scarcer and these people need to be wooed and encouraged.”
In his interview, Schmettow also referred to the results of the
fifth International Executive Panel on the topic of “transition," held by Egon Zehnder International in the fall of 2008 with 1,092 executives from all over the world. Among the German executives there, the battle for talented people ranked higher than the worry about an economic downturn. Sixty-five percent of the German executives interviewed think that a lack of leadership strength hinders necessary changes, in contrast to sixty-two percent of their international colleagues.
