This is how the job change from a corporation to a medium-sized enterprise succeeds

Dusseldorf Ejector seat instead of career turbo: That was not how Stephan Schaller had imagined his move to the top of the automotive supplier Voith. The head of the motorcycle division of BMW came from Munich to the medium-sized plant manufacturer and automotive supplier in Heidenheim in Swabia in 2018. The internationally experienced manager was tasked with modernizing the 150-year-old family company. After only seven months, Schaller was rid of the job – and the workforce breathed a sigh of relief.

Too much, too fast, too insensitive. So one could summarize how the mechanical engineer incurred the displeasure of specialists and executives at the new place of work.

The car manager is not an isolated case. Many managers are currently considering switching to medium-sized companies: In the corona crisis, 68 percent of around 2,000 managers named “a position as a board member or managing director in a successful medium-sized company” as a career goal. The survey was carried out by the personnel consultancy Odgers Berndtson for the Managerbarometer 2020.