I see my main tasks as enabling teams, experts and projects to do their work successfully and satisfactorily while garnering appreciation. This role has certainly changed. But it requires a strategy, an overall grand plan for the company. Of course, we have to plan for client assignments, resources and much more. But the main task of management is to provide an environment for our many valuable employees so that they can carry out their work well and with satisfaction. I am mainly responsible for technical fields and aspects whereas my colleague, Managing Director Tobias Nadjib, devotes himself to commercial aspects at the company. We differ greatly but also complement each other very well. What really is striking is that I see myself as an engineer, a rather introverted factual person, whereas Tobias is more of a marketing type who introduces a lot of innovative ideas. So we complement each other quite well.

I studied electrical engineering at RWTH Aachen University, specializing in communications engineering. Later on, I also did an MBA, business training for general management. In 1992 I entered the professional world. In the beginning I worked for two small companies. In the analogue fax industry and as a newcomer in electrical engineering, where my work over the years centred on test procedures, process tasks and process optimization. These were mainly in the fields of European approval processes and quality system self-certification. At that stage I arrived at Nokia, where I pursued process optimization and further development until about 1999. In that year I took on my first really major management assignment for an entire location. Later at BlackBerry and now at Volkswagen Infotainment, I took on larger tasks in site management, management, branch management and the like. My career developed in an international context. I used to live and work for other companies in Belgium and Japan. Later, I spent a lot of time in Finland and Canada for Nokia and BlackBerry, in addition to many other business trips.

There is no doubt in my mind that I learned management at Nokia. When I took over as site manager, I was still very young. I attended a classic Nokia management school – value-based learning. Nokia Values were held in very high regard. I learned how to deal with other people, how to lead and what leadership can really look like. This continues to shape me to this today.

Volkswagen Infotainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of the group. Strictly speaking, we provide a development service inasmuch as we develop products from idea to market. But this is so close to the products themselves that we clearly identify ourselves with the products OCU3, OCU4, MOD3, MOD4, etc. On the one hand, it's clear: we are acknowledged experts in connectivity. As such, we were hived off from BlackBerry because they recognised the importance of connectivity. Volkswagen needs connectivity for its cars and we were acquired as a BlackBerry unit. And that hasn’t changed: We were and continue to be the experts when it comes to networking and connectivity . Unlike most people at Wolfsburg, our competence footprint is different. At Wolfsburg, you have a classic setup of project planner and controller of suppliers. They can write specifications, select suppliers, negotiate prices and then control how suppliers develop. We have more of a supplier footprint: we make our own hardware and our own software and, in this sense, our current contribution to Volkswagen in this sweet spot is that we want to increase the in-house quota in the areas of software development and hardware development. The goal is to exceed 60%; and of course we are the ones who have already achieved this. We have brought OCU3, OCU4, MOD3, MOD4 and other products onto the market. So we have a proven track record. This makes me very positive about the future. We can barely handle the number of new orders and accompanying growth.

In-car networking is the major area that moves us all and drives our passion. There are, of course, different aspects to this. Nokia, then BlackBerry and now Volkswagen Infotainment; our roots clearly lie in connectivity. We connect the vehicle outwards into the environment and into the cloud with other vehicles. That's where we apply our expertise flawlessly throughout the group. But beyond that, through strong growth and through our broad expertise, we have managed to diversify our business domains. For the last two years, we have incorporated four additional business divisions: Volkswagen OS Solutions, where we integrate Volkswagen operating systems with other ECUs. We have Vehicle Integration - close to connectivity - a sort of software/middleware enabling secure communication between the car and the cloud. All of these core services, which will be called 'Magic' in the 5th generation, constitute a new business division. We undoubtedly have a very high level of expertise in this area, and that's something I’m also enthusiastic about. Then, of course, with the E³ 2.0 Solution Train in the area of hardware/software, we have positioned ourselves in a huge future-oriented field. We are using the skills we have built up for productization, i.e. the specification and implementation of future products in hardware and software. And that’s what we’re now doing within this new E³ 2.0 Solution Train framework. Last but not least, with data collection in the automotive cloud, we have created a completely new business field. How do you transfer data collected in the car and then consolidated to the cloud and evaluate it there for commercial purposes? This all forms part of "in-car networking", with the environment, with the cloud. That's what we stand for. If you stop and think for a moment, it's a really exciting field. We are extremely focused: We can transmit radio signals and build mobile phones; we connect the vehicle and move on to data collection, the design of operating systems and other future-oriented topics. It also demonstrates our high degree of acceptance in the group.

I think there are several aspects. On the one hand, I believe value-based leadership is very important. It is important to be clear about “What are my values?” At Volkswagen Infotainment we have also defined them; they are pasted all over our walls. The aim is to create an authentic role model and embody these values. Walk the talk is very important: that makes a difference in leadership behavior. Furthermore: Strategy. A company is only as good as its vision, mission and strategy. If you allow yourself to be consumed by day-to-day business, then you run the danger of losing sight of the strategy. That's why we have a management team. No single person can do this alone at our company: define strategy, review it time and time again, check if you are still on the right path. By acting accordingly and mapping corridors of action, you are then able to make decisions in other areas. The third point refers back to the value-based leadership model. On one occasion, many years ago, I was struck by a statement in a WAZ interview: "The capital of our company is our employees." It's not the building, it's not our equipment or our cars, it's our employees and especially the know-how of our employees, their expertise and the ability to deal with each other and to achieve results together. That's what a company should recognise, that's where its value lies, that's what it should nurture and develop and that's what matters.

I wouldn't say that dress code is a management principle, although a relaxed manner is of course part of it. In Bochum we have actually always stood for a very relaxed dress code and in Wolfsburg we always argued in favour of a very rigid suit-and-tie dress code. I think we are partially responsible for the fact that people in Wolfsburg no longer wear ties in development. Have my leadership principles changed? I hope I have learned a lot over the years and over time and have managed to pursue my development. That I have become better in the crucial areas of value-based leadership and strategy development/deployment and have gained new experience. But my actual principles haven’t changed. I have noticed a change in the way I deal with individual employees and with managers. Increasingly, I also manage to really engage with the strengths of individual employees and work together with them on their strengths. Situational Leadership: You learn what you can do best and with whom and how to engage with different environments and different people.

If things continue like this, we will be appreciated for our competence and our work. Since we do good work, it is actually a logical next step for us to diversify further. Besides connectivity, there are other business areas in the automotive industry as a whole where technical mastery is a must in order to be successful as a car manufacturer today. First of all, there is autonomous driving. There are many prominent fields of technology that we have not yet moved into yet, but must. These include the entire electrification sector, battery technology, charging technology etc. In addition to networking, there are also mobility services, i.e. mobility as a service. I don't dare to predict which and how many of these new areas we will occupy and when. But I think it would be logical for us to continue to grow and build up our know-how, beyond the soft areas of networking and data collection in the car. We can collect data, which we then proceed to analyze in the cloud. Why not develop data analysis further, for autonomous driving, for mobility services, or for something else. The sky’s the limit! Nevertheless, everything must remain feasible. Only then will we be able to let rip.

What sets us apart from many other subsidiaries is that we have brought things onto the market. We launched the OCU3 in the Golf and the Passat, we launched mobile online services. The same goes for the OCU4 and 4th generation mobile online services. Those are available in the ID.3 and the ID.4. There they are: devices that we have developed, that we have built. And our readiness for series production, ability to turn out finished products and productization in the market, that's something I'm super proud of.

First of all, there is more space at the new headquarters. We are growing. We need more space. In this respect, it is essential for us to expand. The new HQ has the advantage of centralisation in one location. This means that we are not spread out over several buildings, over urban areas, but can at least bring employees together here in Bochum. It is undoubtedly a prestigious building. Also from the point of view of us at Volkswagen in the city of Bochum. Nevertheless, I would like to add one point and put it into a bit of perspective. These arguments: centralization, growth, being together... they were perfectly valid arguments pre-corona. The coronavirus crisis has shown us that we can also be effectively organised through mobile work. That we can also be productive online and that we don't have to be together in one building around the clock. We also predict that post-corona, working life and space requirements in the company will undergo lasting change. And I see the new building as a real opportunity to try out completely new concepts that you normally wouldn’t be able to try out so easily in an existing building. Now is the time to think about how we can position ourselves effectively – perhaps not with a 100% occupancy rate – and efficiently in financial terms for space utilisation. This is a huge opportunity.

At the moment, the ID.4 is my favourite. Some people are probably aware: I'm a SUV driver. I used to prefer driving Touaregs. In the meantime, I have had the opportunity to try out an ID.3 from the fully electric fleet. After that I drove an ID.4. In terms of space, size and range, it's a really great car. It has become my favourite.