What did leading with heart during COVID mean, and how did it shape your exit?

AN EMOTIONAL FAREWELL

"What does it mean to lead with heart during the Covid era and how did that influence your farewell?" It's been five years since Covid, and yes, during that period I said goodbye to my professional life.

For me, it was a reason to leave professional life earlier,two years sooner than planned, because I realized that in the last two years, I hadn't been able to do what I enjoyed most,constantly going out to meet clients, visiting service companies.

The possibilities were simply too limited when it came to sitting down and talking with people. That held me back a bit.

Then I told myself: "Alright, I'm ready to leave the sector I had built up since 2012, earlier than planned.

But it would be ideal if I could also choose my successor." And it was funny, because the board of directors agreed to the proposal,so I was able to train my successor for three months.

We travelled across the country, visiting our companies… We visited ten service companies across Germany.

We met with many clients.It was important to pass down to him my client relationships,which had been built up over the years.

And the most beautiful thing for me was that the executives decided to organize a small farewell gathering.

It wasn't some internal event where people just got together to drink, no.

We organized an event with our clients, inviting more than 60 of them,from Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic in November 2021,to come to Ulm.

We brought together many people from the sector for an evening event.

The funny thing was, there wasn't even a band playing,it was simply that people hadn't seen each other for years and they had the chance to reconnect and have long conversations.

In a way, I was the reason for that gathering. But it was beautiful to see, as a spectator and main guest of the evening,how happy the companies were to exchange opinions with one another,with all the members of our Daimler clubs,who were present that evening.

Logically, they spent a lot of time talking with the clients and that filled me with pride and happiness, knowing I was the reason so many top figures in the industry had gathered.

And them all coming?Well, it might have been because they held me in high regard,since I'd always tried to work well with that sector,and with those players.

Personal connections were made,which happens over a long professional life.

But it was obvious that they were also keen to meet again,to have an excuse to talk about new topics.

That usually happens in professional life, when it's not a big official event,like a trade fair or something similar, but a smaller gathering,you have the chance to make new contacts.

And in that sector, contacts are also very important.

A business owner from northern Germany can help one from the south if there's a technical issue with a tour group up north,offering help with their vehicle.

That is why it is always important to offer a platform for exchanging clients.

Personally, this has always been very important.I experienced this first-hand as an executive,when meeting with clients, it wasn't enough just to sell them a bus and say: "Our work here is done." No, for me it was important to build a relationship with the client,to communicate and treat them as equals, to learn about new topics while also helping them. And perhaps, together we could find new ways to improve their business where our products could later become a part of.

It's something like a symbiosis, isn't it?You proactively contribute to the sector,trusting that you'll receive it back indirectly.

Exactly. I can also say that there were certain issues or experiences where I would get ideas after visiting a client. I'd tell myself,"We can learn from our clients." In other words, it's reciprocal.

We weren't just listening to advise the client on what they can improve, but it also happens the other way around,they would give us ideas.

At that time, we were working with telematics services.

We wanted to enter the telematics market,and some clients were already seeing the benefits.

One client showed me their system, and I had to admit it was better than ours.

That's also part of the process, keeping an open mind.

I've always been excited to discover other solutions so we had to come up with alternative approaches,and sometimes we could say,"Let's buy the solution instead of developing it ourselves."