){kind=icon}
Podcast „Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“
Episode #64 | Jakob Schöffel of Schöffel: Why he became CEO so young and how he deals with the pressure
)
Podcast episode 64
Jakob Schöffel of Schöffel: Why he became CEO so young and how he deals with the pressure
Jakob Schöffel, Managing Director of Schöffel
Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Episode description
Jakob Schöffel was just 26 when he took over from his father last year. He now leads the family business into its eighth generation. Schöffel is one of Germany's best-known manufacturers of ski and outdoor clothing, based in Schwabmünchen near Augsburg, with around 280 employees. The decision to take on such a senior role so early was not one Jakob Schöffel took lightly. "It was a process," he says in the podcast. "My biggest concern was that I'd be giving up my freedom and that it might not be so easy to get out again if I didn't like it." In the end, he decided to go for it because he's convinced there's no other job that would give him as much room to shape things. That said, he says it remains an open question whether he is the right person for the role. "In family businesses, there has to be the option to say: the family member might not be the right management choice," says Schöffel.
The company is currently undergoing a profound transformation. With less and less snow in the Alps, the market for ski clothing is shrinking and becoming more exclusive. Schöffel has therefore moved into new business areas, now producing functional trousers for the police and combat shirts for the German armed forces, for example. Schöffel says he spent a long time thinking about whether to expand further into the defence sector. "I had to go on a journey to reach the point where I accepted that defence capability is an absolute necessity," he says.
The entrepreneur also speaks openly about the pressure that comes with his role. "No one can prepare you for this job," he says. "The feeling of suddenly being responsible for everything — you can't read that in a book. People can tell you about it, but experiencing it yourself is a completely different story," says Jakob Schöffel in the podcast "Alles neu..? Aus dem Maschinenraum" with Tobias Rappers and Katja Michel.
)
Jakob Schöffel
Jakob Schöffel is the CEO of the Schöffel Group, one of the oldest family-run outdoor companies in the world (founded in 1804). As the eighth-generation leader, he took over the helm of the company and has since driven its strategic development—with a focus on sustainability, innovation, and new business areas in outdoor and government-issued apparel as well as workwear.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration, he completed an international double-degree master’s program and gained experience in venture capital as well as trend and future research. With his modern, entrepreneurial mindset, he is leading the traditional brand into a new era, combining family values with a forward-looking approach.
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!
