# Leadership Strategy: Bridging Corporate And Family Business Excellence

**Podcast:** LEITWOLF Podcast - Leadership, Führung & Management
**Published:** 2026-06-07

## Transcript

My guiding principle is the strategy.
A strategy gives an organization direction what is super important and a good strategy also has components what we are not doing.
Be honest, be connected and speed up.
Hello dear listener.
Welcome to the Light Forth Podcast.
Great you're back here on the show.
Today we are going to talk about a question that concerns and Interests Many Leaders.
How do you successfully lead companies into the future without losing their identity?
My guest today knows both worlds.
Global blue chip companies such as Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Vela and Unilever.
And traditional family businesses like Kühne and Faber-Castell.
A very warm welcome.
To the Lightwolf Podcast, dir Stefan Leitz.
Hi Stefan, wobei ist er?
Great you're here.
Stefan, you have built an impressively successful career across two at least somewhat different business worlds.
Large corporates and family businesses.
You are a transformer of businesses and cultures.
I've seen it on several occasions very closely.
And you have real impact.
You have more than 22 years of experience, leadership experience in large corporates such as P&G, Gillette, Vela, Unilever.
You're also in supervisory boards now, in advisory roles and supervisory boards.
And then you entered a slightly different world and you added so far 14 years.
of leadership experience as a CEO in family businesses, specifically Kühne and Faber-Castell.
I would like to explore these experiences with you today, but let's start with a personal question.
Stefan, do you remember who you were as a teenager?
Nobody asked me these questions in a long time.
Als Kindeser war, wir waren zurück in den 70s oder 80s, in den 80s.
Und von 15 bis 18, ich würde sagen.
Ich glaube, ich war ein bisschen ein ein bisschen ein Start-up.
Ich war total energisierend über mein Motorrad.
So, every Jahr habe ich ein größer und ein schnellerer.
Speed war wunderbar für mich.
Und ich war ein Kindes, ich weiß nicht, ob die internationalen Community das Kind in Deutschland.
A trend called Popper.
We had a special haircut.
We had special clothes.
Today I think it was ugly.
But I had this style for a year and one and a half or so.
And then I changed.
I was more on the rebellion side.
And when in Frankfurt Airport, the new base has been founded, there were big demonstrations.
Und ich war auf der Straße demonstriert, wieder zuerstellen und diese neue Runway für den Airport.
Ich denke, dann habe ich mich in der Balance gefunden, aber es war für mich zu versuchen, beide Dimensionen zu finden.
Ja, das ist ja toll, zu verstehen, diese sehr interessante Parten der Ausbildung.
Es zeigt, dass du deine Willenstattung in der Position zu nehmen.
Readiness to learn and adapt when you have a good reason to change your position.
You were a teenager, that's amazing.
It nicely leads into the topic of leadership, which this podcast is mainly about.
And I'd like to understand, when did you personally experience in your career the difference between good and poor leadership?
So basically, as a new starter into a job, you have...
Plenty of occasions where you can experience basically daily from your direct leader or two, three, five levels above.
Luckily, I spent 11 years at Proctor and luckily I had a big number of great leaders around me and great bosses and hardly remember one or two where I said, wow, this is a strange behavior.
I do not want to display once I'm in a chance to lead people.
So, das war in der Zeit, die wir in der neuen Way introduced.
1996 at Procter & Gamble in the German retail industry, which was one of the theoretically best thought through elements I've ever seen in my career.
It was so strong.
At the same time, there was one missing element, remaining competitive and execution and asking the question, what will this lead in our customer space?
And this was one element I remember.
But I'm grateful and so happy that I enjoyed so many leaders, which helped me to develop myself to the person I am now.
Yeah.
And out of this moment, because we were both together in the same company, I was involved in this initiative in a different way than you.
I smelled trouble.
If you and I, if you were to experience this new way again, would you cancel it altogether?
Or would you do it, but in a different way?
I wouldn't cancel it.
I would definitely do it in a different way.
One of the differences is a better preparation to the external stakeholders and customers.
Another thing is I would face certain elements.
It was too much in a too short timing, unprepared.
The fundaments have been brilliant.
The execution and the deployment of the plan and the preparation should have been improved.
Fully agree.
Now, a little inspired by this, but much more inspired by your career, Stefan.
You've done it in so many different contexts, in so many different companies and countries.
And you're running a big, sizable global business now.
If you had to describe good leadership in one sentence, not from textbook, but from your own practical experience, how would you describe leadership?
I would phrase, which I learned from my father as a little boy, he said, treat people like you want to be treated yourself.
This is not from a textbook and this is not from any university.
I think this is a lesson of life and I think it's so true.
Of course, people want to be treated differently because people are different and individuals.
At the same time, if you combine this with a solid foundation of the textbook, what we learned in our career and all the education, what is good leadership all about?
It brings you to a couple of elements.
The elements which I interpreted together was, I call it the 3C, which is a guiding principle for me, which says clarity, communication and consequences.
And this is all about leadership, to get and provide clarity of the company's objectives, the strategies, what is needed to reach the objectives, how, which is a strategy.
Kommunikate this properly, as well as expectation management, clarity, what do I expect from which team, from which brand, category, country, function, leaders.
Communicate it clearly in digestible words.
Management language for managers, but easy to understand and digest language to the rest of the companies, because everyone, every nationality, every...
Cultural and educational background has to understand clarity of direction of the company to understand what is my role to play, where I can add value and contribute.
And then the last C is consequence, execute with consequence.
And I learned that some years ago I underestimated the communication.
It is not just one or two times and it's a nonverbal communication.
Es ist nicht nur e-mail, es ist nicht nur was wir schreiben, es ist wie wir behave.
Das hat die bigger impact constantly und das creates trust und reliability.
Und was ich experience in a lot of companies, including some of the big corporations, where I was working, ist die consequence.
Und consequence, interestingly, in Europa, mainly in Europa, aber vielleicht globally.
Consequenz is that a lot of persons have a negative impact.
You think, oh, am I getting fired or I'm not happy?
But it has two sides.
50% consequence is positive.
Because I get a bigger job, I get a promotion, I get recognition, I get a bigger project.
This is consequence as well.
And this is what we have to balance.
But what I experience that a lot of leaders...
Sie haben fast Angst, dass sie die Brücke und die Konsequenz, wenn sie negativ sind.
Speziell, ich habe schon erlebt, in einem Jahr in einem Jahr gesagt, dass ich ein neues Job habe, meine Schusser sollte die Frage hier lösen.
Ja, ja.
Let's parken die Frage und passen es auf.
Ja.
Ja.
Ja, auf das Note, Stefan, eine sehr gute Description ist und eine sehr einfach memorisable.
Ja, Clarity, Communication and Consequence or Consistency.
One of the elements in there is a topic that I know is a passion topic for you.
You've practiced it ever since I met you, which is more than three decades ago.
It's the topic of feedback, offering praise and offering constructive criticism.
And while both have the same intent, both when done well.
Ich sehe, dass ich mich sehr gut verletze.
This respect that your father shared with you and treat others the way you want to be treated.
By the way, this is the reason why I'm in the supervisory board of Reboot the Future, an organization founded by Kim Polman, which is all about spreading more respect in the world in the spirit of your father and the conviction he shared with you.
Do you see a difference around the world?
Right now, as a Faber-Castell CEO, you're responsible for dozens of countries.
Do you see a difference in the world in the attitude to honesty and the attitude to consistency and consequence?
Yeah, there are common ground and rules and there are also massive differences across regions or even countries.
At the same time, if you peel the onion deeper, you see this even within Germany, for instance, different personalities.
How they scope with this.
And I think if I look at my experience back, there is the concept of feedback.
It is appropriate around the world.
The difference is the pace, the sequence, the audience and the way you provide it.
This is slightly different.
What I mean by that is People globally feel easier, much easier to provide positive feedback.
Hey Stefan, you have done a great job.
That's easy.
But does this add value?
The value is if I said Stefan, you have done a great job.
And what I liked specifically in your presentation was A, B and C.
Okay.
And what I also experienced that leaders avoid and try to escape from critical feedback.
But this is even more value-adding than the positive one.
The positive motivates, it's easy.
But the true value is I, as a leader, take my time to rethink how can I make you a better leader or a better person or colleague and sometimes even a better boss to me.
And this takes courage because there is some risk.
Oh, you don't like me anymore because I was criticizing you.
And with all respect, our objective as leaders is not to be everybody's darling and liked by everybody.
This is not our job.
Our job is to develop companies and business and transform companies.
And part of this is critical feedback.
But this is the biggest chance and coming back to my 3C, this is a consequence.
So what I experienced that in one of the big corporates I joined, I realized that some of my members of the leadership team, they were not scoping with the job to be done and the responsibility because the environment and expectations developed faster than they did.
And I provided honest feedback.
Und sie waren sehr frustraten in der Short-Term und disappointed in der Short-Term.
Und als ein Consequenz, sie entschieden, die Unternehmen zu leave.
To andere, smaller Unternehmen, und sie hatten eine große Arbeit und eine große Arbeit.
Und in einer der anderen Unternehmen, ich habe etwas gelernt, von einem Freund, der war ein Schmerz-Metal winner in Team Sport.
Und er hat ihn gesagt, wie es sein, wie es sein, als ein Team Player und eine Silber Medal gewinnen ist.
Ich habe nie einen mit einem vorher und nach.
In den Olympics, right?
In den Olympics, ja.
In den Olympics und den Sommer Olympischen und in German Hockey.
Und er hat gesagt, listen, das am besten der Moment war in der Finale.
Wenn der Coach mich in eine sehr kritische Weise beherrte, ich konnte nicht verstehen, warum.
Ich sagte, hey Coach, ich war gut.
Warum bist du mir?
Und der Coach sagte, guess was?
Die momentan ich nicht mehr criticize, du hast keine added value und du hast es nicht wert.
Das ist hart, aber es gibt einen realen Vorteil.
Und leaders sollten sich ihre Verantwortung und wenn du sie erhalten, You should appreciate that the person took the time to provide you feedback.
They should appreciate critical feedback even more, even more than the positive one.
Yeah, awesome.
Now, you have a couple of things that are very special, Stefan, particular to you.
And one of them is in the title of this podcast.
It's this, at least assumed, between the big corporates like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Vela, Gillette, where you've been a leader, and on the other hand, family-owned businesses like Kühne and Faber-Castell.
Based on your long experience, what can those two kinds of companies learn from each other?
Well, first of all, I'm very, very thankful and grateful.
dass ich eine Chance hatte, dass ich beide kinder worlds habe.
So, big corporations, multinationals und great-run family business.
Und da ist no besser oder worse.
Es ist einfach anders.
Und eine Sache, ich denke, was corporates können und lernen, wenn Sie es so, von family-owned, mid-sized companies, ist, dass man einen stärker Fokus auf den Entwicklung von Menschen, die Menschen und Empathie haben.
Ja.
The empathy, which is getting more and more important, and creativity in times of fast-changing external environment, what's going on, starting with COVID and Russian war and the US tariffs, the Liberation Day and all these kind of things.
You have to be more creative and this is what you need in parallel to a system.
The second thing, I think it would be worthwhile.
To build careers and development of people in corporates, although remaining them longer on their current responsibility.
Sometimes job rotation is too fast.
You should run against your own cycle and your own records.
Success from today is the challenge of tomorrow and you should deliver that it's a sustainable thing.
Und thirdly, was ich manchmal in corporates miss, und ich denke, das ist anders in vielen Familien mitzischt, was ich persönlich verabschiedet.
Wenn etwas nicht funktioniert, dann muss man sich nicht hinterher und sich selbstverständlich beitragen und sich selbstverständlich als ein Leader.
Now, auf der anderen Seite, Familie von corporates, eine von den Dingen, was ich wirklich versucht, und das ist schwierig, in der ersten Zeit, As Family Businesses, we're thinking in generations, which is great.
And I'm not saying go to quarterly reports, no.
But what I'm saying is there is no long-term without a short-term.
And find the right balance.
To have a generation in business, you have to deliver short-term.
You have to deliver this fiscal year.
And if your first quarter is behind expectations, the second is planned anyway with lead times you have.
So speed up.
A fiscal year, which happens.
But work hard on the learnings and correct the course and then you recover in the second.
And this mentality and sense of urgency would help in some family business.
Another thing which I experienced, which is a big opportunity to learn and implement on an appropriate way to the size of the company is people development.
So that means a real feedback culture in a structured way.
For instance, we at Weber-Castell, we introduced a few years ago when I arrived 360 degree feedback, which was totally new.
We have an annual structured feedback approach.
We have a nine field performance metrics.
We have identified talents, which are the talent and then talent management.
We have to keep on a structured job rotation.
This is all people development programs.
When I joined, one of my set of questions was, what does good leadership mean at Weber-Castell?
And I asked 20 leaders around the world and I got different answers.
So provide clarity, communication, consequences.
We divided the quality.
What do we want to have as good leadership globally?
Then we communicated and the consequence was we initiated a global six-month leadership journey around the world with global leaders across countries and functions.
So people development is the big thing where mid-sized companies can improve the focus appropriate to their situation.
Great.
And that's brilliant and sharp and specific.
Naming of the learning that can go in both ways.
I've never heard it that clearly.
Thank you for sharing this Stefan.
Now you alluded to one point, which I think in terms of scarcity of resources is balancing.
When you and I way back then in the early nineties started working for our first employer, I remember my first budget meeting in that first budget meeting.
I was asked to sit in the corner and shut up.
und basically listen.
Pampers Europe.
Es war ein großartiges Erfahrung.
All day, großartige Business Decisions.
Wir haben viel über die Ressource-Kalt-Money.
Und Money Matters.
Ich bin nicht naif.
Aber wir haben nicht über die Ressource-Kalt-Time.
Ich liebe dieses Leben, wie Sie.
Ich appease zu Gott twice, weil ich mich, Gott, um den Tag zu 48 Stunden zu drehen.
Aber ich habe nicht mehr Antworten.
Es ist kein Weg, Stefan.
Auf der einen Seite, ich denke, dass immer mehr Möglichkeiten ist, immer mehr Informationen, aber es meets den gleichen limitations.
Es gibt 24 Stunden.
Jetzt, du hast das...
Vielen Dank.
I have a big passion for what I'm doing and I don't count hours or whatever.
And having a global responsibility in our company, someone is awake and online all the time.
So late evening, it's Latin America and early morning, Asian people send some emails or whatever, or you have an early morning call.
Now, what my guiding principle is, ist die Strategie.
Die Strategie gibt den Organisationen die Direktion, was super wichtig ist.
Und die Strategie, die Gooden Strategie, also haben die Komponenten, was wir nicht tun.
Es ist nicht nur was, was wir nicht tun tun.
Und das sollte die Nostar der General Direktionen sein.
So was ist die Strategie?
Das ist nicht viel Zeit.
Ich spende viel Zeit in Feedback.
Feedback ist nicht immer die formalen Feedback.
Es ist Spontaneus Feedback.
Es ist mein Passion.
Ich bin überzeugt, dass das Organisationen ist.
Und du hast den Talken.
Und ich habe mich gefragt, was der Mose impact auf dieses Meeting hat?
um, to drive the business results, because it is about outcome and business is tough.
Um, and competition is tough, but at the same time you have to make choices.
And one of the things which, which I realized, I just came from the OMR festival in Hamburg here this week.
And I had a pleasure to listen, uh, a couple of people and, and one who really made an impact was, uh, guess what Heidi Klum 52 or whatever.
And, uh, Tom Brady, which was phenomenal and mind-blowing.
And both were asked, what made you as successful as you?
And both said, listen, there are more beautiful ladies than I was and am, said Heidi, which by the way, she was our testimony when I was at Gillette and Brown.
And I had a day, spent a day with her in 2006 in Hamburg.
So I reminded this one.
Tom also said, I started late in my career playing football, but both said it's about discipline.
And I leave the job when the job is done.
Now I ask myself, this is my attitude as well.
It is a question of that we are a different generation.
I mean, they are 20 years younger or 10 years younger, but at the same time, having work-life balance.
Maybe it is a generational topic, but find your sweet spot.
Und find your hunger of success, whatever it is, and then you dedicate enough time and don't watch at it.
But again, I try to work hard to improve this.
Thank you for the transparency and vulnerability.
It is a tough challenge for many CEOs that I personally work with, for many people I work with.
Thank you for sharing this.
Now, I think it's obvious through Wir haben uns drei Jahre als Kollegen und Freunde.
Und es ist auch sehr klar, wie heute, Stefan, heute, wie du selbst selbst entwickelst.
So, wie du selbst entwickelst?
Ich denke, ich bin sehr gut grounded.
Ich weiß, was ich gelernt habe, meine Skills und meine Strengths und auch.
Know the impact we can have and should have on organizations.
And I also know where I need help and support.
So it's about reflection, self-reflection.
And this is more important than ever as things are changing so fast.
If I would lead like I lead teams 20 years ago, I would lead myself and nobody else.
I think people would run away.
So you have adjust as well.
Where do I get inspirations?
One of the things is...
I hear when I'm commuting and spending a lot of time in cars and planes, I listen to podcasts.
This gives me inspirations.
At the same time, I selectively go to conferences like the OMR this week or from some consultants.
But at the other side, I also get inspiration from Gen Z.
Ich versuche, wie viel Zeit mit den Menschen in der 30s, in der Unternehmen, oder in unserer Unternehmen, als mit meinen Kindern und ihren Freunden, weil sie mich mit ihnen lernen.
Ich habe mich ein paar Dinge aus dem, und habe ein paar Inspiration und Furt für Thought.
Awesome, danke.
Towards dem Schluss, unsere 5-Quick-Questions-Section.
Stefan, Quick-Questions, asking für...
Quick answer.
What's the best advice you ever received?
Tough and the best.
What came spontaneously related to business in my mind is what a former P&G and then Unilever colleague advised me when I got offered a job as a managing director in a different country and my kids were a teenager and I would have loved to do the job.
I would have loved to take it.
It would have been a next career step.
Und dann meine teenage daughter, mainly, hat das dann, sie wirklich indikten, dass sie nicht wollen, dass sie sie nicht mehr zu verlassen hat.
Und ich war struggling mit der Entscheidung und ich habe eine Entscheidung gegen die Karriere für meine Familie gemacht.
Und ich habe diese Freundin gesagt, listen Stefan, da sind viele große Unternehmen, aber für dich ist nur eine große Familie.
and take care of your family.
And this was the best advice, and I'm thankful to Gerhard still today.
Wow.
What a great piece of advice.
I currently get goosebumps all over my body.
Yeah, me as well, remembering the discussions, yeah.
Yeah, amazing.
Stefan, what is your go-to stress tool when things get stressful?
Well, luckily, from nature, I can full on and full off relatively easily.
Ich habe nicht gearbeitet, das passiert.
Ich schlafe sehr gut und all diese kinder Dinge.
Was hilft mir, ist es, um, zu spenden, zu spenden, zu spenden mit der Familie, wenn es möglich ist.
Um, zu beenden, wenn es in Mutter Natur ist, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, wenn es um, This is where I re-energize as well.
Great.
Is there a quote, book or podcast that inspired you recently?
Well, have you heard about this podcast called Light Wolf?
Yeah, I'm listening to this frequently.
I'm listening to other podcasts as well, like OMR and kind of this, everything related somewhere to leadership and strategy.
Ich habe jetzt ein Buch gefunden, in India, in einem Buchstaben, die ist super fast, Lead at Speed.
Es ist von Sophie Devonshire.
Und es hat mich inspiriert, weil Speed ist eine neue Kürzene.
Ich liebe Speed.
Ich habe das große Unternehmen und die Unternehmen in unserer Firma erlebt.
Ich habe die Schöne mit dem Schöne mit dem Schöne in der Busschraube.
Ich hoffe, dass ich neue Insights und Tipps von diesen Busschrauben bekomme.
Ich habe es an Weihnachten von meinem Assistant Steffi.
Hoffnungsslows Optimistik, so Hopelessly Optimistik, die ist ein Different Mindset, dass du auf die Dinge auf die Arbeit betreut.
Everybody bliebte über die German Railway Company, always zu late.
60% on time.
Let's talk about the 60% on the good things.
And I like this very much.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
Stefan, as we are closing this, there are thousands of people here on the call listening to you now.
If you could leave them with a key message, what would it be?
More honesty in business.
More honesty and more speed in business.
Competition doesn't leave us time for any games, internal, functional, department games, internal politics, or behave yourself at the biggest knowing everything.
This is outdated.
Be honest, be connected, and speed up.
Brilliant.
Dear Stefan, this was so insightful.
I've learned a ton.
It was exciting.
It was truly deeply interesting to listen to your path, to listen to your story.
And it's been deeply insightful for everyone who is here on the call.
So thank you very, very much for your time, for being our guest today.
Dear Stefan Leitz.
Thank you very much, Stefan, for having your dialogue and the occasion.
I appreciate it.
See you very soon.
Thank you, Stefan.