Germany opened the 2018 World Cup on 17 June with a 0:1 defeat against Mexico. Right after the match, the defender Mats Hummels named the fault in public: Unsere Absicherung steht nicht gut. Oft sind nur Jerome und ich hinten. Our cover is not good. Often only Jérôme Boateng and I are at the back. When seven or eight players attack, he said, the attacking force is greater than the defensive stability. He had already raised the point inside the team: Das, was ich intern oft anspreche, fruchtet anscheinend noch nicht so ganz. What I often raise internally is apparently not quite working yet. Germany lost its last group match 0:2 to South Korea and went out last in the group.
The Captain as the Team’s Envoy
On 2 September 2024 the national coach Julian Nagelsmann explained why Joshua Kimmich would captain the German national team. He described the role this way: Er ist ein Abgesandter der Mannschaft und platziert die Meinung des Teams bei uns. He is an envoy of the team and brings the team’s opinion to us. He also gave a reason for the choice: Wenn Josh etwas anders sieht, dann spricht er das offen, ehrlich und direkt an. When Josh sees something differently, he says so openly, honestly and directly. According to Nagelsmann, Kimmich had set a benchmark at the European Championship on home soil. Kimmich, Antonio Rüdiger and Kai Havertz formed the team council, the Mannschaftsrat, together with four other senior players.
Old Men’s Football
In March 2001, after a 0:3 Champions League defeat at Olympique Lyon, the Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer spoke at the midnight banquet. He said the team had played Altherren-Fußball, old men’s football, like Uwe Seeler’s veterans’ team. The players then met in captain Stefan Effenberg’s room. Bayern went on to win the Champions League that season. Effenberg later said the team knew its performance had been catastrophic. He counted the banquet speech among the reasons for the title, even if über die Wortwahl können wir reden oder diskutieren, we can talk or argue about the choice of words.
No Right to Lie Out of Kindness
In 1797 Immanuel Kant published Über ein vermeintes Recht aus Menschenliebe zu lügen, on a supposed right to lie out of love of mankind, in the Berlinische Blätter. He answered Benjamin Constant, who had argued that one may lie to a murderer who asks whether our friend has fled into our house. Kant disagreed. Wahrhaftigkeit in Aussagen, die man nicht umgehen kann, ist formale Pflicht des Menschen gegen jeden. Truthfulness in statements that one cannot avoid is a person’s formal duty toward everyone. A teaching unit for grade 10 ethics classes is built on the case.
Praise, but Also Reprimand
The Bundeswehr’s central regulation on leadership, A-2600/1 Innere Führung, first in force on 28 January 2008, tells superiors in its current edition: Lob, aber auch Tadel fördern die Motivation und die Einsatzbereitschaft der Untergebenen. Praise, but also reprimand, promote the motivation and readiness of subordinates. Difficult topics such as wounds, death, fear, guilt and failure dürfen dabei nicht verdrängt oder heruntergespielt werden, sondern müssen ehrlich und einfühlsam besprochen werden, must not be suppressed or played down, but must be discussed honestly and with empathy. In einem offenen Dialog entsteht durch Vertrauen geprägte Kameradschaft. Open dialogue creates comradeship shaped by trust.
Criticism After a Win
In autumn 2012, after a 2:0 win over Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich’s sporting director Matthias Sammer said the team had not played gallig enough, with enough bite, and had been lätschern, limp. Coach Jupp Heynckes disagreed with how he had done it, and told him so. Mit der Form, der Art und Weise war ich nicht einverstanden. Das habe ich ihm auch gesagt. I did not agree with the form and the manner. I told him that too. Er weiß, dass es wichtig ist, diese Dinge in geschlossenen Räumen anzusprechen. He knows it is important to raise these things behind closed doors. That season Bayern won the league, the cup and the Champions League.
The Matter, Not the Person
German law protects sharp criticism, but not Schmähkritik, abusive criticism. The Federal Constitutional Court defines the line, as German Wikipedia quotes it. A disparaging statement becomes abusive only wenn in ihr nicht mehr die Auseinandersetzung in der Sache, sondern die Diffamierung der Person im Vordergrund steht, when it is no longer about the matter, and the defamation of the person comes to the fore.
Praise as Packaging
The German career site Karrierebibel advises against the sandwich method, in which criticism is placed between two pieces of praise. It warns that the criticism can be missed under so much icing. Der Boss redet keinen Klartext! Was er oder sie sagt ist immer nur Verpackung. The boss does not speak plainly. What he or she says is always just packaging. The site warns that managers who use the method become auf lange Sicht unglaubwürdig, not credible in the long run.
Pure Wine and the Flower
jemandem reinen Wein einschenken — to pour someone pure wine. Duden: to tell someone the full truth, even when it is unpleasant.
etwas durch die Blume sagen — to say something through the flower, to hint at it. Duden lists durch die Blume among the synonyms of andeutungsweise, by way of a hint, next to vage, unklar and verschwommen, vague, unclear and blurred.
unverblümt — without flowers, open and blunt
um den heißen Brei herumreden — to talk around the hot porridge, to avoid the point
schönreden — to talk something pretty, to gloss over it
Criticizing the Work
Section 193 of the Criminal Code covers tadelnde Urteile über wissenschaftliche, künstlerische oder gewerbliche Leistungen, critical judgments about scientific, artistic or commercial work. It also covers Vorhaltungen und Rügen der Vorgesetzten gegen ihre Untergebenen, reproaches and reprimands by superiors to their subordinates. Such statements are punishable as an insult only if the form of the statement or the circumstances show an insult. So a manager who tells an employee plainly that the work is poor is, as a rule, not punishable for insult, unless the form or the circumstances of the remark make it insulting.