Dear Thomas, first of all, welcome once again to KOCH! And now straight to the first ques­tion: What exactly are your duties as Managing Director at KOCH? And what does the abbre­vi­a­tion “COO” stand for?

Thank you very much for the friendly welcome. The KOCH commu­nity has given me a very warm and open recep­tion and it feels great to be here, not least because everyone in the company has helped me settle into my new duties. This has made it easier for me to get started and we have been able to make faster progress with the issues at hand. And now to my duties. Gener­ally speaking, the job of the Exec­u­tive Board is to estab­lish the essen­tial frame­work for achieving the company’s goals. Our strategy in this context is geared toward long-term success. That’s what shapes our corpo­rate culture and – in my view – is also what makes medi­um­sized compa­nies so appealing. On the Exec­u­tive Board, I and my team are basi­cally respon­sible for running busi­ness oper­a­tions in order to meet our customers’ require­ments. This is also clearly reflected in the title COO, which stands for Chief Oper­a­tion Officer. In the oper­a­tional busi­ness, for example, the depart­ments manu­fac­ture the neces­sary parts, procure numerous compo­nents, build subassem­blies and machines, commis­sion systems, and provide global customer support for the entire service life of the equip­ment. There are also many internal support func­tions required to handle these tasks, like intral­o­gis­tics, soft­ware devel­op­ment, docu­men­ta­tion, and quality and project manage­ment. My vision is that we never rest content with what we have achieved but always aspire to aim higher and continue to move our company forward.

If you had to describe your­self in just two sentences, what would they be?

I am a reli­able, honest and deter­mined guy who some­times wouldn’t mind being a little more relaxed and less driven. I value collab­o­ra­tive team­work and have little time for people with over-inflated egos. My family, my friends and my job are very impor­tant to me. I am sociable, appre­ciate good humor, and enjoy sports. I feel I have an oblig­a­tion to give some­thing back to society and to support those who are less fortu­nate. And, if I have any spare time left, I spend it on my hobbies. And some­times I just can’t manage to pack some­thing into two sentences …

What is impor­tant to you at KOCH, both in terms of strategic goals and day-to-day collab­o­ra­tion?

Manage­ment is tasked with providing strategic direc­tion so that everyone knows where we’re headed and we have a solid basis for concerted action. This, to me, already consti­tutes a key objec­tive, i.e., working with the divi­sions and depart­ments to define and imple­ment the central elements of this strategy. This may sound simple, but it’s not. Apart from tech­nical skills, successful imple­men­ta­tion also calls for effi­cient commu­ni­ca­tion at all levels, empathy and assertive­ness. Another objec­tive in this context is to ensure open and trans­parent action and to do every­thing we can to ensure that we all enjoy working together and building our company’s future. KOCH has enor­mous poten­tial that needs to be nurtured and devel­oped.

One final ques­tion: Can you tell us a bit more about your­self and what makes you tick?

Well, I prefer coffee to tea, I like choco­late, and drink either red or white wine depending on my mood. I enjoy my work and, if possible, having a lie-in on week­ends. I don’t use social media much or watch Netflix. I’m good at remem­bering numbers and faces, but not so good with names – so sorry if I do forget anyone’s name! I prefer to go on vaca­tion where there’s good food and friendly people. I prefer to drive old cars rather than new, and I enjoy listening to music and love my stereo system. I regu­larly do sports and support FC Bayern and SC Freiburg.

Thank you for talking to us, Thomas, and good luck with your new duties!

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Dear Tim, once again, a warm welcome to you, too, in the KOCH family. First of all, could you please tell us what your duties are as Managing Director at KOCH and what the abbre­vi­a­tion “CBDO” stands for?

CBDO stands for Chief Busi­ness Development Officer, and in this role, I – along with my fantastic team – am respon­sible for enhancing our appli­ca­tion fields, i.e., Services, Contact Lenses, Consumer and Health­care. Specif­i­cally, this means devel­oping our sales and account manage­ment inter­na­tion­ally, building part­ner­ships, success­fully carrying out internal and external projects, and ulti­mately strength­ening our posi­tion on the market. Basi­cally, it’s about contin­uing the KOCH success story into the future.

Why did you decide to join KOCH?

I was lucky enough to get to know the Uhlmann Group and KOCH over a period of two years. KOCH is a real gem in the pack­aging machinery industry, and I am convinced that I can make an impor­tant contri­bu­tion to its future success here. All the employees I have had the oppor­tu­nity to meet so far have confirmed that I have made a very good deci­sion. I am very happy to be part of the KOCH family.

What do you aim to achieve for KOCH and what moti­vates you?

A chance to shape our joint success, and to grow person­ally and profes­sion­ally, and the plea­sure I get from my work. I’m a very goal-driven person. Once I have set myself a solid goal, I will do every­thing I can to achieve it. And I am not one to give up easily. Setbacks and mistakes are an inte­gral part of life and only inspire me to do better next time. I think it’s so impor­tant to cele­brate every mile­stone on life’s journey – whether big or small – and the successes at KOCH. One thing I really believe in, for example, is sharing our project successes with everyone at KOCH – and that’s what we intend to do, very shortly, with our “Winning Post­cards”. For me, though, it’s really not just about cele­brating great achieve­ments, but about waking up and starting every day with enthu­siasm and energy and also appre­ci­ating the little things in life. I also believe in creating an envi­ron­ment where everyone feels comfort­able, and where everyone is moti­vated to give their best and expe­ri­ence this kind of joy and satis­fac­tion in their work.

How would you describe your lead­er­ship strengths?

My motto is to culti­vate a chal­lenging and supportive envi­ron­ment. It is impor­tant for me to under­stand where each indi­vidual stands and where they want to go. My role, as I under­stand it, is to support this approach and harmo­nize it with our company’s objec­tives. I have often encoun­tered people who are unsure about where their full poten­tial – and, indeed, their limi­ta­tions – lie. And I am happy to support anyone willing to embark on this journey. I also expect all managers to be passionate about expanding their own capa­bil­i­ties. It’s OK to make mistakes, but prefer­ably only once. Most impor­tantly, I want all our managers to embody our KOCH values each and every day and act as role models, and this is how I measure my own perfor­mance.

You hold a doctorate title. What subject did you get your doctorate in and what does the title mean to you?

Thanks for asking; I actu­ally get that ques­tion quite often. The title of my paper in English is “Busi­ness Model Design Prac­tices in Strategic Manage­ment – An Activity Theory-based Case Study Inves­ti­ga­tion.” As a grad­uate in busi­ness administration, I studied company strate­gies. And although the title may not sound like it, it was very much founded on prac­tice. But as it’s over 600 pages long, I don’t think I’d recom­mend reading it, unless you have diffi­culty falling asleep. It would make a great doorstopper, though! Joking aside: If you are inter­ested, I will gladly provide you with a short abstract. But I think this descrip­tion pretty much shows how I person­ally view my title. I wrote the thesis for myself, but it’s not a subject I find partic­u­larly impor­tant when I’m talking to other people.

How does your wife feel about you spending most of the week in the Black Forest?

My wife and our three kids are used to this way of life, and I have always trav­eled a lot during the week. I have a great wife who supports me. However, the week­ends – and Fridays, when I work from home – are sacred to me. Each and every one of us has a different lifestyle and work-life arrange­ments that require different levels of flex­i­bility. And that’s some­thing we, as a modern employer, can offer. And there are always ways and means of recon­ciling work and private life if we can work together to find flex­ible solu­tions.

What kind of person is Tim Wolf and how does he spend his leisure time? Is there enough time for hobbies?

I’m a family man through and through and have a wide range of inter­ests. And I can get enthu­si­astic about almost anything. When I do some­thing, I’m really passionate about it and deter­mined to succeed – both privately and profes­sion­ally. I enjoy both the small and the big things in life. In my spare time I do lots of different things: Playing soccer with my kids, or a game of table foot­ball, visiting rock festi­vals, building things with Lego, working in the garden, chop­ping wood in the forest, laying paving stones or tiles, listening to audio books, prac­ticing the guitar with my son, sailing or skiing, sitting by the fire, and cooking. My “secret passion” is building natural stone walls. And, just a little tip: I partic­u­larly enjoy playing table foot­ball in the KOCH-Wald – but please don’t let me win! However, going by my previous KOCH matches, there’s little chance of that happening, anyway. 🙂

Is there anything you really dislike?

Gener­ally speaking, I’m not a big fan of nega­tive formu­la­tions – even though I may occa­sion­ally use one myself. But, since you are asking me so directly: I am some­what allergic to point­less discus­sions that don’t lead anywhere, and when people fail to keep their side of an agree­ment.

What hopes do you have for the coming years?

A happy, healthy family. And a successful KOCH family that has made me feel so welcome and with whom I can help build a successful future.

And now one final ques­tion: What’s your motto in life?

I don’t really have one. But some time ago, a dear colleague of mine said this “Life’s too short for bad wine”. I like that.

Thank you for talking to us, Tim, and good luck with your new duties!