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Knigge wrote a traditional code of etiquette for Germans in the time of enlightenment. His famous and influential description of society and literary works, as well as his role as leader among those who undermined the freemasons by following Weishaupt’s “Illuminati” are legendary.

I would wish to see an “Email Knigge” that works according to the laws of ethical correctness. After having studied “Knigge”, however, it gets clear that the name cannot be used any more. We must find another name for the 21st century.

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The following questions have been on my mind for some time now:

Does an enterprise work more like a biological system, or is it more like a technical machine? What influence do managers actually have? Do leaders qualify by their superior intelligence and extra knowledge? Or is their influence on teams more caused by, perhaps even unconscious, emotional factors?
The central question we might ask is:

Are good decisions really based on a dominant logic?

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In her presentation about “Open Innovation” at IF Forum in our Unterhaching office building, Frau Professor Dr. Möslein recommended a paper written by  Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Mertens. In the article, he compares the job of a university teacher with the challenges a decathlete has to face.

She sent us the article and we are permitted to publish it. It is certainly worth reading. So you can download and read it here.

Der Zehnkampf des Hochschullehrers (24) – Setzen wir falsche Anreize?

I think managers and entrepreneurs are sort of decathletes, anyway.

RMD

The idea of originality is dead. It has been dead since the German Romanticists.
 Even exceptional achievements of the human intellect can be traced back to forerunners. Mind you, they do not get worse by this, but they are no longer original in the sense of the genius metaphor.

However, new ideas and solutions are always an option. Incidentally, they are just a function of time and effort. Talent is of secondary importance.

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Siemens pays slush money. Telekom listens in. Käßmann drives a Phaeton.
They do the right thing. They are being efficient.

There is hardly a doubt about the definition of justice and morals. Not for managers. As a general rule, they know pretty well what is expected of them in our democratic society.

The problem for them is more how to behave morally and not feel stupid.

In a world determined by efficiency where those who behave ethically are often at a disadvantage, it gets harder and harder to be ethical.

Siemens acts efficiently (“doing the right thing”), in that such a huge, old enterprise 
cannot compete on the market without paying slush money.

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This year, the balance sheet of InterFace AG for 2009 was finished as early as February. When we analyzed the result, we discovered that the interest we were paid for our investments in 2009 was significantly less (in the five digits range) than in 2008. Mind you, this happened although we had put quite a bit of the profit into savings and 2009 was a good business year for us.

The explanation dawned on us quite soon:

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Sale, sale sale!

This is what I see everywhere I look. I feel cheated. Not only whenever buying something for the normal price.
Especially in the internet, everything is extremely cheap. A lot cheaper than in the department store or specialized shop.

And you always find someone who sells at even less. As soon as you bought something, you will see the very same article selling for less next week.

Everybody knows you must not buy the newest models, anyway. Only four weeks later, they will cost half as much.

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