The year is full of bad news. Two-thirds of all trade associations are looking ahead with concern. The DAX ignores this and jumps to an all-time high. The financial world has left the real world and is weighting the “fantasy” position upwards.
Outside the trading floor, however, Germany is on the way to becoming an underperformer. In Berlin, there is reaction instead of governance, Volkswagen has broken its drive shaft, Deutsche Bahn has disconnected itself from all customer wishes, Bayer is infected with the Monsanto virus and thyssenkrupp continues to melt down. 90% of Germans are very concerned. Futurologist Opaschowski speaks of a crash in confidence.
Where is this future everyone is talking about?
Now is the time to bring the wild card into play. The family businesses. The whole world envies us. Almost 3 million of these businesses operate here in the country. The best of them become world market leaders. There are 3,300 worldwide: 350 in the US, 97 in China and 74 in Great Britain. In Germany there are 1,573.
This is where the future begins. Family businesses are structured differently by nature: they are specialists in their field, with a functioning business model, the experience of countless crises, a long-term view and values that count beyond the numbers.
But they are not part of the discussion about the future, and the Chancellor does not invite them. Their habitat is the production hall, not the TV studio. “Work, don't talk” is both a creed and a set of instructions. This trait now threatens to turn against them. Now would be a good time to speak up and bring their greatest asset into the discussion: their trust capital.
Unlike cryptocurrency, trust cannot be generated by machines and has therefore become rare. Wherever we look – in politics, the media, the economy, science, even the Catholic Church – we no longer trust. But the future is built on trust. Only those who enjoy trust will be heard and find allies.
Banks, private equity, venture capital, even the government has nothing to offer except money. Family businesses can do more. Over decades, they have earned the trust of their employees, home region, industry and partners. From person to person. Würth, Otto, Knauf, Trumpf, Fielmann, Deichmann - you know what you've got.
In the short-sightedness of political and financial market-related action, the view of the big picture has been lost. The future is not a time that stands still and waits for political decisions. It wants to be created.
Entrepreneurship is the love of self-determination. Otherwise Vissmann threatens to become a role model. The big clearance sale: everything must go. The model company has lost its faith, its perspectives and its self-confidence.
Trust capital is the beginning of everything. Even for the economic miracle
Source & Author: Frank Dopheide
