Life is like bread - it gets hard eventually / The concept of "German Angst"
Success and failure are often closely intertwined when it comes to important decisions. A corporate merger, for example, can catapult a company to the top of the world - or drive it into insolvency within a few years. At the time of the decision, the consequences are often not fully foreseeable. Jürgen Hambrecht, former CEO of BASF, formulated it in 2012 as follows: "Sustainable success is not achieved by short-term course corrections. When BASF invests today, it will only be seen in ten years whether it is successful." The fact is: we need leaders who make courageous decisions, lead the way, and take risks. The alternative would be stagnation. And even Socrates recognized that stagnation is the beginning of the end. Success is a matter of timing There are times when "the world is yours" and everyone looks appreciatively and admirably at your achievements, cheering them on to success, only to then - and this can change very quickly - label you as too risk-taking, incompetent, or as a "loser." In football, this can happen from one season to the next. In business, it may take a few years, depending on how cumbersome and opaque a company is. The fact is: success and failure are as close together as light and shadow. Success can quickly turn into failure, just as fresh soft bread can turn into hard bread that threatens to break your teeth. However, the good news lies in the realization that personal development and change only become possible from the depths. In times of crisis, we take new paths It is only through uncertainty that we have the opportunity to unleash our hidden potential, to then resurface stronger than before. Because only when it gets "hard," triggered by pressure, do we lose our mental self-control and let go, because we can no longer "grasp" the situation with our minds. We then allow various influencing factors into our brains, through which different behaviors become possible. Only when there is no way forward do we seek other ways to reach our goal and leave our familiar and ingrained "thought highways." Only in this way can we permanently develop a changed, new "inner attitude." Failure and enduring uncertainty form a phenomenon that is actually about reorganizing, tightening up, professionalizing - and starting over. Those who succeed in this, once they have failed, are infinitely richer than someone who lacks this experience. "German Angst" hinders courage and creativity In German corporate culture and mentality, mistakes simply do not seem to be provided for - unlike in the USA, where people who have once hit rock bottom and picked themselves up again are highly valued. In hardly any other country in the world are errors and failures punished as ruthlessly as they are here. According to a study by the University of Giessen under the direction of the business psychologist Michael Frese, Germany is the country with the second-highest error intolerance worldwide out of 61 analyzed countries - after Singapore. This lack of tolerance for mistakes is also reflected in the now internationally widespread concept of "German Angst." It describes a behavior of hesitation and doubt - out of fear of mistakes. But whether in sports or in business: those who are most successful in the long run are usually not the people with the greatest talent or the best grades, but those who manage to deal constructively with uncertainties and setbacks. So let failure live, because only through it do we progress. Only uncertainty and risk enable the breaking of rules and the questioning of the status quo. Only in this way can we move from a focus on results to a focus on experiences and grow as individuals.
