HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management hosted the sixth Leipzig Leadership Talk on 28 January. Under the topic ‘How we master crises’, leadership experts Prof Dr Herbert Henzler and Tamara Dietl discussed current challenges and solutions for leadership in uncertain times in front of 200 guests from business, science and politics.
Leipzig/Germany, January 29, 2025 ‘Crises are not exceptions, they are omnipresent. In the Leipzig Leadership Model, we argue that companies should embrace the major challenges of our time and actively utilise them to their advantage. Right now, we need to ask ourselves what exactly that can mean,’ says Prof Dr Timo Meynhardt, moderator of the event series and holder of the Chair of Business Psychology and Leadership at HHL, explaining the relevance of the discussion.
Herbert Henzler and Tamara Dietl: Perspectives from the field
Herbert Henzler is one of the world’s most renowned voices in the management consultancy sector. For over 30 years, he advised the top management of numerous German and international companies as well as government agencies and associations. From 1985 to 1999, he headed the German office of the world’s largest management consultancy McKinsey & Company, Inc. before becoming Chairman for Europe. Today he is Managing Director of Herbert Henzler Beratungs- und Beteiligungs GmbH. ‘Leadership requires the firm will to take responsibility – especially in times of crisis, this is indispensable. Half-hearted action does not help the team or the situation. Leadership does not mean waiting for certainty, but courageously navigating through uncertainty,’ says Henzler, emphasising the need for a clear assumption of responsibility in difficult times.
Tamara Dietl is a publicist, strategy consultant and crisis coach. She supports companies and managers in emerging stronger from crises. In her book ‘Die Kraft liegt in mir – Wie wir Krisen sinnvoll nutzen können’, she describes how existentially threatening situations can be perceived as opportunities. ‘Uncertainty is the hallmark of every crisis. The challenge is to deal with it. We find this difficult because we long for certainty. But the assumption that there is a guarantee of security, health or happiness in life is wrong. Uncertainty is the norm – and not just in times of crisis,’ says Dietl.
The lively discussion made it clear that the teaching of crisis skills should be firmly anchored in the curriculum of business schools. ‘Business schools should focus their programmes on preparing students for crisis situations and assuming responsibility. This is the only way for institutions to fully fulfil their educational mission,’ summarises Timo Meynhardt.
The Leipzig Leadership Talk at HHL
The Leipzig Leadership Talk is a series of events at HHL aimed at executives from business, politics, culture and society. It was initiated by Prof Dr Timo Meynhardt and has been offered since 2018. The talk highlights current leadership challenges from different perspectives and promotes dialogue between theory and practice. Impulses from the experts encourage the audience to reflect on their own leadership approaches as well as ways of thinking and acting. The event is organised in cooperation with the DFK – Association for Specialists and Executives and the BMW Group’s Leipzig plant.
The HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
is a university with the right to award doctorates and habilitations. According to the Financial Times ranking, it is one of the leading international business schools and achieves top global rankings in the areas of career counselling, alumni network and salary after graduation. The aim of Germany’s oldest business school is to educate entrepreneurial, responsible and effective leaders. HHL is characterised by excellent teaching, clear research orientation and practice-oriented transfer as well as outstanding service for its students. In 2022, the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft honoured HHL as Germany’s leading start-up university for the sixth time in a row. Over the past 30 years, more than 530 start-ups have emerged from HHL with more than 30,000 employees. HHL was the first German private business school to be accredited by the internationally renowned AACSB and has since achieved this quality status five times in a row. More data on HHL at (https://www.hhl.de/de/die-hhl/we-are-hhl/zahlen-fakten/)
ImageSource
HHL, Elisa Vetter, Discussing leadership in times of crisis (from left to right): Tamara Dietl, Timo Meynhardt and Herbert Henzler