Joerg Otto Meier

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Dr. Eckhard Rohkamm
Chairman of the Board
Blohm + Voss AG (1988-91),
46 years
October 1989

»The ship as a means of transport is
a technical product which has an enormous
potential for innovation.

 

Excerpt: The higher you get, the greater the strain, because the decisions you have to make are of an order of magnitude which is quite substantial, in fact they affect the existence of the company. For instance, if a serious technical error occurs, because somebody didn’t pay attention or because they just couldn’t handle the job, you lose a lot of sleep. But the worst situations that my colleagues and I have had to deal with in the last few years were basically things like the closing down of the Rosswerft (shipyards). We’d bought a share, originally planning to go on building there, but then had to accept that it wasn’t viable. That causes great personal stress. Nevertheless, there’s no alternative. Otherwise you might be risking not just 1,000 jobs, but 5,000 or 6,000. Those are very bitter situations. And you can’t delegate things like that.

Normally I try to reach an agreement on all major decisions not only with the board, but also with those immediately below the board, with directors and area directors. Because they’re the ones who have to implement the decisions we make. We can give the most fantastic instructions and have the greatest ideas, but if they don’t execute them properly, it’s a completely pointless exercise. Where decisions of such portent are concerned, it wouldn’t be fair to delegate them. You really have to say, ok, I’ll take the responsibility for this. That’s the reverse side of the coin in this otherwise well-paid job – and there are lots of other interesting aspects too. So you have to accept that. But those are things which are a big personal burden. I don’t know any entrepreneur – and there are plenty of other branches where there’ve been massive cut-backs – who isn’t affected by it, who doesn’t suffer. After having had a few problems over the last few years, I can only hope that I’ll be spared this sort of thing in the future. ...

 

 

 

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