Leadership Archives - understand-culture

News on the State of the Business

Section 666 of the German Civil Code sets the information duty of a person who carries out a task for someone else. Der Beauftragte ist verpflichtet, dem Auftraggeber die erforderlichen Nachrichten zu geben, auf Verlangen über den Stand des Geschäfts Auskunft zu erteilen und nach der Ausführung des Auftrags Rechenschaft abzulegen. The agent must give the principal the necessary news. On request, he must report on the state of the business. After the task is done, he must give an account.

Section 665 lets the agent depart from the principal’s instructions if he may assume that the principal bei Kenntnis der Sachlage die Abweichung billigen würde, would approve the change if he knew the facts. Before he departs, he must notify the principal and wait for his decision, unless the delay brings danger. Section 675 applies both rules to paid service and work contracts that involve handling another person’s affairs.

Under His Own Responsibility

Part B of the VOB is a set of standard terms for German construction contracts. Its Section 4 divides the roles on the site. The client hat das Recht, die vertragsgemäße Ausführung der Leistung zu überwachen, has the right to monitor that the work is carried out as agreed. He may give orders that are needed for this. But he must give them unter Wahrung der dem Auftragnehmer zustehenden Leitung, while respecting the contractor’s right to manage the work. As a rule, he gives such orders only to the contractor or to the contractor’s appointed site manager. The exception is imminent danger.

Section 4 (2) describes the contractor’s side. Der Auftragnehmer hat die Leistung unter eigener Verantwortung nach dem Vertrag auszuführen. The contractor must carry out the work under his own responsibility, according to the contract. Es ist seine Sache, die Ausführung seiner vertraglichen Leistung zu leiten. It is his business to manage the execution of his work.

Dictate Instead of Compromise

On 26 June 2023 Germany’s minimum wage commission decided to raise the minimum wage twice by 41 cents, to 12.41 euros in 2024 and 12.82 euros in 2025. For the first time, the commission did not decide by consensus. The union side voted against. The chair, Christiane Schönefeld, used her vote, and her mediation proposal passed.

Steffen Kampeter of the employers’ federation BDA regretted that for the first time a decision had not been made im Konsens. The union federation DGB headed its article Mindestlohn: Diktat statt Kompromiss. Minimum wage: dictate instead of compromise. In June 2025 the commission decided unanimously again.

The Bakery That Dropped Two Checklists

A German craft bakery chain has 145 stores and more than 1,350 employees. Many of its workers said they disliked being monitored through checklists. The firm then removed two of these checklists in half of its stores, chosen at random. Economists from Cologne and other universities studied the results. Sales in the stores without the checklists rose by 2.7 percent on average. Turnover among trained staff fell by 35 percent. In team surveys, employees named spürbare Wertschätzung, appreciation they could feel, as the reason. The co-author Matthias Heinz summed it up. Wer Mitarbeitende zu stark kontrolliert, schadet dem Unternehmen. Whoever controls employees too much harms the company. The effect was not the same for everyone. Unskilled workers left more often after the checklists were gone.

A Prize That Buys Freedom

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis is awarded every year by the German Research Foundation, the DFG. It has existed since 1986 and is called the most important research funding prize in Germany. Each winner receives 2.5 million euros. Winners can use the money for their research for up to seven years, nach ihren eigenen Vorstellungen und ohne bürokratischen Aufwand, according to their own ideas and without bureaucratic effort. Up to ten prizes can be awarded per year. The ten winners for 2026 were chosen from 144 proposals. By December 2025, twelve Leibniz winners had later received a Nobel Prize.

The Captain’s Judgment

On a German merchant ship, the law gives one person the last word. The Maritime Labor Act, das Seearbeitsgesetz, states: Der Kapitän ist der Vorgesetzte aller Besatzungsmitglieder. The captain is the superior of all crew members. He holds the highest power to give orders to the crew and to everyone else on board. The same section protects his judgment against the company that owns the ship. Er darf vom Reeder nicht daran gehindert werden, alle Entscheidungen zu treffen, die nach dem fachlichen Ermessen des Kapitäns für die Sicherheit des Schiffes […] erforderlich sind. The shipowner may not stop him from making any decision that the safety of the ship, its voyage or the people on board requires in his professional judgment. If he cannot use his powers himself, he may hand them to the chief mate or the chief engineer, each within his own department. Every use of these powers must be reported to the captain within 24 hours. The captain must enter the transfer, and any use of force or arrest, in the ship’s log without delay.

The Vocabulary of Meaning and Purpose

im Sinne des Erfinders
In the sense of the inventor. As intended. Usually in the negative: Das ist nicht im Sinne des Erfinders, that is not what was intended.

sinngemäß
According to the sense. A rule applied sinngemäß is applied to a new case in the way its meaning requires.

nach Sinn und Zweck
According to meaning and purpose. It is the standard question of German law when a rule must be interpreted.

Befehl ist Befehl.
An order is an order. Today it is used only critically or with irony, as the excuse of a person who did not think.

eigenmächtig
On one’s own authority, without permission. It is a word of reproach, and it marks where room to act ends.

Safety Before Economy

The Association of German Engineers, the VDI, publishes ethical principles for the profession. In the 2021 edition, engineers act responsibly with regard to the possible consequences of their work. They follow a ranking. The public good comes before private interests. Sufficient safety comes before economy and mere function.

If a moral conflict at work cannot be resolved within the job, engineers should seek support from institutions. Then the principles name a last resort. Notfalls ist als letzter Ausweg die Herstellung von Öffentlichkeit oder sogar die Verweigerung weiterer Mitarbeit in Betracht zu ziehen. If necessary, as a last resort, an engineer should consider going public, or even refusing to continue the work.

The GTI Nobody Ordered

In March 1973, a Volkswagen test engineer wrote an internal memo proposing a sporty version of the new Golf. Development chief Ernst Fiala turned it down. Volkswagen’s own history quotes him: “It’s far too expensive, you’re all mad.” A small group of engineers went on anyway. Officially, their prototype was a test platform for the chassis.

In May 1975, the team showed the car to VW’s chief executive Toni Schmücker, who approved it. The Golf GTI was shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1975 and went on sale in 1976. According to Volkswagen, dealers sold ten times the planned number in the first year.

The Crossing at Bornholmer Straße

On the evening of 9 November 1989, thousands of East Berliners crowded the border crossing at Bornholmer Straße. The officer in charge that night was Harald Jäger, a lieutenant colonel of the Stasi, the state security service. His calls for help through official channels had no effect. His superiors did not believe him.

In the end, Jäger had the barrier raised. Journalists later told him it was 23:20. He reported to the operations center: Passkontrollen eingestellt. Die GÜST war nicht mehr zu halten. Passport checks stopped. The crossing could no longer be held. In 2014, the public broadcaster ARD told the story in the television film Bornholmer Straße.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to7Pzo02Jt0