It has been sitting there for a few days already, the first Bandeins of the year 2010. Yesterday, I finally had a little time for reading it. On top of the preparations for the end of the business year, we had the project u-TUM to discuss, diverse meetings with other enterprises, many marketing arrangements to make for 2010, a meeting of the board of directors on Saturday, and much more.
The sub-title of the new Brandeins is an invitation:
If you want something, do it yourself!
Personally, I found the current Brandeins edition a radical examination of the sluggishness prevailing in our society. For me, it sounds like a loud outcry calling for more independence and self-responsibility. These themes strike a chord in the current times.
You can find a competent report on the not-even-yet teenaged Google (11 years = stubborn age phase). There is also an article on people enjoying the work they do (at Volkswagen). A report on the Springer balance (with comments) is among the reports, just as you can also read about one of my favourite mustards (Händlmaier’s; being a patriotic Unterhachinger, the other favourite mustard of mine is, of course, Develey). A few years ago, the sweet Händlmaier mustard appeared as a total surprise at our butcher’s place, and since that day I cannot imagine my “Weißwurst” world without it.
The fun factor gets its proper place, too (at Sweden’s Volkswagen factory). There is a lot more in the new magazine, which I will have time to read during the quiet days starting this Thursday.
I read a very special “delicacy” last night: the interview with Kurt Biedenkopf (jurist and politician), who is both famous and still young at 79. For me, that was a sign of hope in two respects.
On the whole, my verdict on the January-2010-edition of Brandeins is “revolutionary”. It is a revolutionary invitation to practice self-responsibility. Even as you read the preface by Frau Fischer, when she writes that things are not going to get any better and later that there is no need to wait any longer, you catch the spirit.
As you see, I found many revolutionary ideas in this edition. They encourage you to swim against the stream and give you confidence. Well, they even give me confidence! In fact, I myself would now like to become a little more revolutionary. After all, if Brandeins can do it, why should not IF blog be able to do it, too?
RMD
(Translated by EG)