Between wine cellar and Billion and Beyond reloaded
After 16 years in our business, Stefan Judisch will retire as CEO in March 2015. An
intense hand-over to the designated CEO, Markus Krebber, has started. Stefan and
Markus talked about their plans and ambitions before the holiday season.
Stefan, what will you do when you leave RWEST at the end
of February?
Stefan Judisch
I don’t know yet, but there are number of issues to be sorted:
Cataloguing our wine cellar, finding a house in Düsseldorf or Frankfurt, taking up golf
again and many more things, but I don’t know in what sequence and when. I have
only three dates in my private diary in March and all of them have to do with good
food.
What is your wife looking forward to?
I am not sure whether my wife is happy. She says her worst time in life was
when I was in-between jobs for three months from UBS to RWE. She is afraid that I
will take over her empire and run it like RWEST. This would certainly end in a
disaster or worse, a divorce. In other words, it is not only a totally new phase of my
life – it will also be a totally new phase in our 37-year relationship.
You look young for your age and radiate so much energy. What will you do with
all that energy now?
The plan is to have no plan. For me the ultimate freedom is not to be forced by
anything or anybody to do anything. This is what I want to experience and I hope it is
as exciting as I expect.
Do you still have any business ambitions?
No, I don’t want to work for money again. I have some smaller investments in a
restaurant, farms in Malawi, real estate, stocks etc. This will keep me interested in
the economy. If there are other things that tickle my intellectual curiosity, but don’t
push me into new constraints, I am happy to be of help, if asked.
The other day, when we were on a trip to Hamburg together, you asked me
what I want to do differently after I’ve succeeded you.
Yes, this was based on the idea: Everything is already perfect – what is left for
you to do?
Agreed, not much to do for the new CEO. I already bought the book ‘The 4-
Hour Work Week’…
Joking aside, I am out. It is now yours and the new Board’s job to take this
company to the next level. The basis is there. Blow it up, Markus! and do it your way.
I realise that I have very big shoes to fill. The things you’ve done here and what
you’ve made out of RWEST is really good. I will take over and continue many of the
things you’ve done, for example the strategic principles of ‘Go Global’ and the role of
RWEST as the commercial hub of the Group.
You know that I have set high internal targets with ‘Billion & Beyond’. Most
people here stood behind these goals and we have already been able to make good
progress. What will you do with ‘Billion & Beyond’?
I think the ambition of ‘Billion & Beyond’ is right, even if it is an insanely high
target. I will be only too happy to disappoint all those who think that the sober new
CEO will now come along and scrap this over-ambitious goal. I will not give up these
aspirations. But I will ask myself and our managers how we intend to achieve them.
What do you mean by that?
I think that we need a decisive programme in order to be able to work toward
our target (or goal). Something like ‘Billion & Beyond Reloaded’. Reloading with
stronger ammunition. I would like to see a programme that encompasses the entire
company – including the CAO teams – and I want a more concrete plan of
implementation. To implement this, I will invite everyone to join in, to contribute their
own ideas and make them happen. This will all be managed and implemented with
great determination. In parallel, we have to ensure that the necessary conditions for
achieving our target are met, including the right personnel and leadership as well as
the right structures and incentives. This programme ‘Billion & Beyond Reloaded’ will
then determine our agenda for the next few years.
(with a twinkle in his eye) Not bad for someone who learned his trade at
McKinsey and in the banking industry of all places.
Thanks for the compliment. But those career phases are part of the past, and
the future holds different challenges. Someone once said: A good manager applies
what he learned elsewhere. A very good manager tries to relearn things and forget
what he knew before. I promise I will continue to do my best.
But back to you. The fact that RWEST is so successful today is largely to your
accomplishments. You’ve built this company over the last 16 years, starting with only
a handful of employees and developing it into a global trading company. Very few
people can look back and say they have achieved as much.
Now it’s my turn to thank you for the compliment.
I’ve always appreciated that you combine high demands with a certain degree
of entrepreneurial craziness. I want to hold onto both.
Seriously?
Yes. The only thing I won’t try to emulate are some of the subtleties of your
management style. I don’t feel at home correcting the format of documents.
I already passed on the role of Chief Formatting Officer to Sven Flakowski – and
he is excellent – not only in this new role!
Excellent. But let’s talk about leadership now. What is your guiding principle?
As you and everyone else knows, I’m not averse to micromanagement. I realised
at some point that it was effective for me and that it could help me reach my goals.
With my management style I tried to detect capillary cracks as early as possible –
and the organisation was aware of this. How do you want to manage this?
I’m definitely dedicated to selective attention to detail, but broad-scale
micromanagement will certainly not be my thing. Even without micromanagement on
a large scale, however it’s important to me that certain behaviour patterns and little
games don’t start spreading. Lowering the bar, working to rule and asking for more
resources without delivering higher performance, will not get very far with me.
I didn’t stand for that either. It is a deeply human trait to want to slow down and
lower your expectations of yourself. But one must not allow that to happen. Those
who give up on their goals start to underperform. How do you define your role now
that the management team will change and with Andree and Peter, two commercials,
will be joining the Board?
My role as CEO is to ensure and shape the successful future of RWEST. On
the one hand I will ask the major, long-term questions, create the right framework
and request implementation, but when necessary and where relevant, I will also go
into the details. At the same time, I will represent RWEST within the RWE Group
and externally.
I am looking forward to introducing you as my successor at our joint meetings
with business partners, politicians and regulators in January and February.
Thank you, Stefan, also for the well-planned and professional transition. I am
looking forward to engaging with the network outside of RWEST as part of my new
role. And I will be working with Alan, Andree and Peter to prepare by the end of
February the necessary decisions for the launch of the new management team on 1
March 2015. If I find myself needing advice after that, I know just who to call.