Podcast “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“
Folge #12: Max Viessmann
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Podcast Episode 12
Max Viessmann: “The biggest mistake as a successor: questioning everything “
Co-CEO Viessmann Group
Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Episode notes
The climate solutions company Viessmann is often regarded as a pioneer in transformation and digitization in the German SME sector. Viessmann is also the initiator of the Maschinenraum, where the podcast “Alles neu…? Aus dem Maschinenraum“ is recorded. Co-CEO Max Viessmann, however, thinks little of the usual buzzwords. “What got me down were consultant slides that say: We need a digital culture. That drains all the joy out of my life,“ he says in the podcast. “We don't need a digital culture.“ Instead, he says, the key is for companies to develop a strategy that connects where they came from with new opportunities and also makes shared values clear. “The biggest mistake is to question everything as a successor,“ Viessmann says. The now 32-year-old had already joined the company's management six years ago, also with the task of driving the company's transformation and change. One important element of this was the digital networking of the company's own appliances, which was also to be used to offer new services. This did not always prove easy at first. “The willingness to pay was initially very manageable,“ he says. “That did surprise us.“ Viessmann talks about the idea of the Maschinenraum as a place of exchange for SMEs, the great potential of hydrogen and the question of how important it is to remain patient - in the podcast - with Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum and Capital editor Nils Kreimeier.
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Max Viessmann
Max Viessmann is Co-CEO and member of the Executive Board of the Viessmann Group. All activities of the family-owned company follow the guiding principle: "We create living spaces for generations to come. Creating living spaces for future generations - that is the responsibility of the 12,750-strong Viessmann family worldwide. After all, heating and cooling account for over 50 percent of global final energy consumption. The 104-year-old family-owned company offers technology-leading heating and cooling solutions based on maximum energy efficiency. These include hybrid solutions based on renewable energies, solutions focusing on decentrally generated green electricity and green gases, and digital services. In addition to his role on the National Hydrogen Council, Max sits on the Advisory Council of the German Cancer Research Center. Prior to joining the family business, Max was a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group and an angel investor in Europe and Asia. Max studied industrial engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), Tonji University Shanghai and TU Darmstadt. The focus was always on energy technology solutions and the management of innovations.
About the Podcast
How can the origin and future of Mittelstand companies be courageously united? What are the challenges facing family businesses and what experiences do they gather in digital transformation? These questions are answered by “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“, the interview podcast for German Mittelstand*. Once a month, Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Nils Kreimeier, Senior Editor of the business magazine Capital, talk to thought leaders and makers from the heart of the German economy and focus on the personalities and their motivation. *The podcast is in German.
For more episodes of “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“ please click here!
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