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One-time posthumous special edition on Reinhard Mohn,
published by the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
This issue is based on the original German edition of
Reinhard Mohns lectures and essays as an unabridged, licensed edition
for the Reinhard Mohn Complete Works Edition,
2009 by Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gutersloh.
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
Authors photo: Christoph Godan
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
Reinhard Mohn was born in Gtersloh, 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 enterprises continuity. Reinhard Mohn transferred the majority of Bertelsmann AGs 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/Gtersloh, 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?
Mohn: Germans are currently suffering from a pervasive feeling of helplessness in the face of the abysmal state of our society. We are also seeing increasing numbers of proposals aimed at ameliorating the situation-many of them completely beside the point-such as establishing organizations to promote employment, job training and competitiveness. Many organizations, including the Bertelsmann Stiftung, are undertaking or have proposed initiatives of varying kinds concerning the labor market. But I feel that this entire debate is lacking forward-thinking arguments and strategies. Much ink has been spilled concerning the social safety net, the distribution of wealth, and the division of labor; but to me these are outmoded concepts. The arguments being advanced on all sides are perfectly understandable, and I wouldnt reject any of them out of hand. However, I have my doubts as to whether these rather passive approaches will enable us to dig ourselves out of our present hole, particularly in view of the fact that our political leaders are suffering from deer-caughtin-the-headlights syndrome, for reasons with which we are all too familiar.
Implementation of a corporate culture should be one of the prime elements of any forward-thinking strategy. When people say from time to time-and with good reason-that German companies arent particularly well run, we shouldnt regard this as just another piece of information or viewpoint, since this is in fact the very heart of the problem. Indeed, this we would do well to formulate inversely, as follows: If German companies were managed more efficiently, unemployment would be lower. I, for one, feel strongly that this is in fact the case. For in my view, the key factor for success in any activity, whether in the public or private sector, is always governance in conjunction with personnel and management techniques. What Im in effect referring to here is a new concept whose nature is of course determined by the individual who is advancing and/or implementing it. And in point of fact, this is far from being a simple concept.
The collective consciousness should be a guidepost
Although the kind of complex evolutions Im referring to here cannot be reduced to a simple statement, it can nonetheless be said that social arrangements must be efficient and must reflect the collective consciousness that drives the zeitgeist at any given time. I feel that every system must meet this requirement. Take Marxism, for example: It looked great on paper but was a total failure in practice. But this doesnt change the fact that systems absolutely must have the capacity to evolve. Youve got it all wrong if you subscribe to the view that the status quo will remain in place indefinitely just because it has been working for a thousand years. The driver of change in any social system is the collective consciousness, which you need to have the courage to take into account when youre developing a system.
impulse: Can companies achieve greater success by following Bertelsmanns example?
Mohn: Many roads lead to Rome and business success is determined by a whole host of factors. There are some very good examples of this in connection with companies that have instituted a corporate culture, particularly in the SME domain, where you see hierarchically managed companies that are very well run. This works for a mid-sized company, but is harder to pull off in large corporations. So Id answer your question as follows: Its definitely worth considering, and possibly even emulating, what weve accomplished here at Bertelsmann. Our system comprises building blocks that should be regarded as having nothing to do with social or economic evolutions-on the contrary. For a corporate culture is a response to changes in the relevant underlying factors and thus can be regarded as a form of progress. Corporate governance plays a key role here. Moreover, I feel that management style and managers deportment need to be analyzed first and foremost.
