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LIQUI MOLY Managing Director Ernst Prost on trust, respect and friendship
In today’s newsletter, Ernst Prost explains the meaning of trust, respect and friendship for company success.
“Dear Entrepreneurs, ladies and gentlemen, hello friends!
“Trust, respect, friendship!
“When I tell a reporter about these three pillars of our success, then, I can visualize the wrinkled forehead of my interview partner through the telephone… too idealistic?
“Then onto reality: Since Corona started, we have created jobs and hired 36 people, we also distributed free goods to rescue organisations in Germany for four million euros.
“We have invested in an additional 18 million euros in advertising for our brand and our products, for the benefit of our customers in trade and in the workshop. And all of this in the middle of one of the biggest crises of all time.
“We are neither employees nor managers, but entrepreneurs, 1,000 co-entrepreneurs who are taking action with courage, diligence and expertise!
“Oh yes – and we are idealists too…
“Our half-year revenues?
“Two per cent above last year! Any more questions, Mr. Hauser?
“Trust, respect, friendship. Three pillars of our success and the most important ingredients for our cooperation.
‘”Trust is good, control is better.” Bullshit. I don’t need to control a friend I trust. We work together in friendship with flat hierarchies, short decision-making processes and well coordinated teams. Egomaniacs and careerists have no chance with us.
“We are the brand, we are ourselves, and where talent is perhaps sometimes lacking, we compensate for this with fighting spirit and morale – just like in sport.
“With us, it doesn’t need much instruction either, because we all want the same thing. You don’t have to tell grown-up people what it’s all about.
“Vote, inform, coach. In a community of people who work on a challenge with dedication and joy, this is quite enough. One tbousand co-entrepreneurs who all do something to achieve goals, accomplish tasks, create success and have fun doing it.
“There is no need for carrots and sticks, nor for any artificial motivation. The motivation is already in each of us!!! We don’t have motivation trainers, “Tschakka, you can do it gurus”, and no consulting firms either.
“We already know what to do, and so we do! Doing and do, instead of talking and discussing is clearly 1,000 times more in line with our company DNA and character than anything else.
“Sometimes, I have the impression that it’s a very lucrative business model to complicate simple things in order to be able to write big bills afterwards as a consultant… It is easy to make something more difficult than it is, but it is difficult to make something easier…
“The greater the complexity, the more we rely on simplicity and common sense. I trust in our strength, in our knowledge and in our energy. We live of a 1,000 small and different springs, all of which ensure that the big river always has enough water.
“And so, every day, we make each other better, faster and smarter, because we listen to each other and because we learn from each other.
“We are a well rehearsed team and all of us have a strong winning mentality. Just as we listen to ourselves, we also listen to our customers. After all, we do all the “magic” for our partners and business associates, for workshops, dealers and drivers.
“Instead of management consultants, I prefer to ask screwdrivers, mechanics and master craftsmen, field staff and counter employees what we should do and what they expect from us. This way leads us all to a WIN WIN result.
“Because the best businesses are still those where everybody profits and there are no losers! (By the way, this also applies to politics and our social interaction…) And if you also trace this thought back to its origin, you will come back to trust, respect and friendship…
“In this spirit,
“Yours,
“Ernst Prost,
“Managing Director.”
