Lectures and Essays III E-Book

Reinhard Mohn

• Herausgeber: Bertelsmann Stiftung
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Seitenzahl: 252

Beschreibung

Neben seinen Buchveröffentlichungen hat Reinhard Mohn über viele Jahre auch immer wieder in Reden, Interviews und Aufsätzen seine Ideen zur Diskussion gestellt. Mit der Gründung der Bertelsmann Stiftung begann er Anfang der achtziger Jahre, seine Vorstellungen regelmäßiger zu veröffentlichen. In den drei Bänden "Vorträge und Schriften" sind diese Dokumente chronologisch zusammengefasst.

Leseprobe

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic information is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

One-time posthumous special edition on Reinhard Mohn, published by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. This issue is based on the original German edition of Reinhard Mohn’s lectures and essays as an unabridged, licensed edition for the Reinhard Mohn Complete Works Edition, © 2009 by Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh.

© 2010 E-Book-Ausgabe (EPUB)

Responsible: Karin Schlautmann Production editor: Sabine Reimann Translation: CPSL Documentation & Tools GmbH, Ludwigsburg Cover design: Bertelsmann Stiftung Cover illustration: Eberhard Hirsch Author’s photo: Christoph Gödan Typeset and printed by: Hans Kock Buch- und Offsetdruck GmbH, Bielefeld Printed in Germany

ISBN : 978-3-86793-295-0

www.bertelsmann-stiftung.org/publications

www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/verlag

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Titel

Impressum

Corporate culture: - The key to business success

Introduction

Corporate culture as a progressive paradigm

The collective consciousness should be a guidepost

Corporate management: - A task of ever-growing complexity

The right to self-fulfillment

Delegating responsibility, while fostering creativity, self-fulfillment, and productivity

Redefining goals in the working world

For the good of society

Shareholders and management abilities

Employees’ identification with their company

Employees investing in their companies promotes motivation and economic equality

Impact of employee profit-sharing on the board

Development of a company-specific culture

Delegating responsibility: The key to company success

Individual responsibility and leeway to act to promote employee motivation

Responsibility should be delegated to operational personnel via social partners

The corporate culture paradigm: A nationwide strategy and a daunting process of change

Consenus, loyalty, and communication: More vital than vanity

Employees making inventive contributions to their company’s operations as a ...

The main thing holding us back: The “master of the house” mentality

Management needs to promote employee productivity

Modesty and fairness

Aimlessness, ethics and values

Business continuity and businesspeople’ goals

Developing community consciousness and a culture of consensus

Human resource management: The mainspring of enterprising corporate management

Business continuity and optimization

Habit: A major drag on change

Taking precautions, but not for eternity

Objectives of operating foundations

Motives for establishing the Bertelsmann Stiftung

Deficits in our social order system

The political order

“It’s a blessing that we’re going broke” - An interview with Reinhard Mohn

A sense of community: Bridging the gap between the individual and society

Developing a sense of community in different areas of society

The family as community

Partnership as a form of community

The contribution of schools to the ability to develop as a community

The importance of the ability to build communities in the working world

The contribution of the state to the ability of our society to form a community

“Ten Commandments” for the ability to form a community:

Conclusion

Effective corporate governance

The importance of having the right stuff

The businesspeople’s learning curve

The role of the state

Corporate governance

Germany’s status in a globalized economy

New economic goals

Reform is needed in the public sector as well

Who will institute the necessary reforms?

Reform impulses in the economy

The need for reforms in the public sector

Labor unions and employers need to take action too

Rebuilding the foundations of consensus

Attitudes toward change

Spiritual orientation: The foundation of community consciousness

Cooperative governance - Understanding economic change

New goals and paths

The public sector should learn from the private sector

Conclusions

Capital formation by employees

Having a say

Vanity in the life of the executive

Profile of an executive

Innate human vanity and its effect on the executive

The importance of self-confidence

Do executives need to promote themselves?

Manifestations and effects of vanity

The vain executive and his family

Ways to treat vanity

Conclusion

Goals and management in the public sector

Modernizing the systems of social organization

Leadership and guidance are the new challenges - Thoughts on the relationship ...

Finding direction through religion

We need a leadership makeover

Centralism stands in the way of progress

Many have the opportunity for advancement and greater responsibility

Challenges for democracy and leadership

Performance must matter in politics again: We cannot escape change, so we must ...

From dutiful subject to motivated citizen

For better selection and training of politicians

Corporate culture as a superior form of organization

Reinhard Mohn was born in Gütersloh, Germany, on June 29, 1921. After his release in 1946 by the Americans as a prisoner of war, he returned home to take over management of the familyowned printing and publishing house. He led the business, one of the leading international media enterprises, for over 40 years. The business structure is characterized by the principles of fairness, partnership, and justice. These are expressions of his idea of business culture.

In 1977, Reinhard Mohn founded the Bertelsmann Stiftung, which carries on the tradition of cultural, social, and socio-political involvement while ensuring the enterprise’s continuity. Reinhard Mohn transferred the majority of Bertelsmann AG’s share capital to the foundation in 1993. This act reflects his conviction that wealth and prosperity should also be coupled with a commitment to social engagement.

Reinhard Mohn died on October 3, 2009.

Corporate culture:

The key to business success1

Introduction

In conducting research for a cover story on corporate culture, in the spring of 1996 we carried out an extensive interview with Reinhard Mohn, Chairman of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and longtime Chairman and Chief Executive of Bertelsmann AG. The version of the interview printed in the German business magazine impulse concentrated on those elements that are relevant to mid-sized companies. Throughout the course of our discussion with Mr. Mohn, however, many ideas came up that we feel could make a valuable contribution to current debates on social issues and that are presented here, in this longer version, in all their complexity.

Cologne/Gütersloh, August 1996

Wolfram Baentsch Dr. Franz Josef Strittmatter

Corporate culture as a progressive paradigm

impulse: It appears to be important, at least to some extent, to rescue the concept of corporate culture from the feature pages of our daily newspapers and integrate it into business practice. Corporate culture has oftentimes been more about words than deeds. So how can the concept of corporate culture be implemented in everyday practice?