0:00

Are you earning and investing in the stock

0:02

market? In real estate? How

0:04

about in relationships? Are you earning

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and investing in your life?

0:09

I'm Doc G, semi-retired hospice physician

0:11

and host of the Earn & Invest podcast

0:14

where we have the 201 or next level

0:16

conversations about money and life.

0:18

Not only how you make money and grow it, but

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also how you use your wealth to create a better

0:23

and more fulfilling existence. Join

0:25

us every Monday and Thursday wherever you listen

0:27

to fine podcasts. One

0:29

of the great challenges in confronting

0:31

global climate change is the massive

0:34

amount of energy used to grow food

0:36

and the greenhouse gases produced by

0:38

the agricultural sector. That

0:41

problem is pretty familiar. What's

0:43

less obvious is the tremendous environmental

0:46

impact that comes from the food

0:48

supply chain beyond the farm.

0:51

That's where a tremendous amount of energy

0:53

is consumed and waste is produced

0:56

to get food to our tables.

0:59

A recent study found that the processing,

1:01

packaging, transport and consumption

1:03

of food are pushing the supply

1:06

chain to the top of the economic

1:08

sectors that emit greenhouse gases.

1:11

My guest this time leads a Swiss-based

1:14

multinational technology manufacturer

1:16

that is taking on these sustainability

1:19

problems and challenging its customers

1:21

to do the same.

1:23

Hi everyone, welcome to

1:25

Deep Purpose,

1:30

a

1:32

podcast about courage and commitment in

1:34

turbulent times. I'm Ranjit Gulati,

1:37

a professor of business administration at the Harvard

1:39

Business School. Stefan Scheiber

1:41

is the CEO of Bueller Group. Bueller

1:44

makes high-end food processing equipment

1:47

as well as machinery for the automobile

1:49

industry and other sectors. You

1:51

may not have heard of Bueller, but

1:53

this family-owned company dates back

1:56

to 1860 and it plays

1:58

a big role in the global food.

1:59

supply chain. The machines that Bueller

2:02

makes are used by food companies

2:04

across the globe, from Barilla pasta

2:06

to Lint chocolates. In

2:09

the summer of 2022, Bueller

2:11

brought together a thousand plus leaders

2:13

in the fields of food, mobility

2:16

and animal nutrition to talk about responses

2:18

to climate change aimed at creating

2:21

a sustainable future. They called

2:23

this unusual meeting Networking

2:25

Days. I was honored to address

2:27

the group on how to maintain clarity of

2:30

purpose in their quest for an ambitious

2:32

set of goals. Improved energy

2:34

and food security, reduced waste

2:37

and water usage, lower

2:39

CO2 emissions, improved

2:42

biodiversity, new perspectives

2:44

on mobility and more equitable

2:47

wealth distribution. When

2:49

I sat down with Bueller Group CEO

2:51

Stefan Schyber, I asked him to describe

2:53

his work at the company and how

2:55

his sense of purpose and courage guide

2:58

his leadership. Now

3:01

one thing you've done as CEO of Bueller

3:04

is really make sustainability an important

3:07

part and a pillar of Bueller.

3:10

Now in the world of greenwashing

3:13

and companies doing all this posturing

3:15

out there, you have tried to

3:17

really make this a central piece of

3:19

your story. Now when you

3:21

began this journey, you had customers

3:24

pushing back saying some pretty harsh things

3:26

to you. How did you process

3:28

that? A, why are you doing sustainability?

3:32

What's your motive company

3:34

wide and personally and how do you

3:36

deal with kind of direct pointed

3:38

criticism from some important customers? Well

3:41

to the first point, we have currently

3:43

eight billion people on this planet and

3:46

every child, every woman and every

3:48

man on the planet needs one

3:50

thing every day which is access to good

3:52

and healthy food. And this

3:55

is not the reality. Hundreds

3:57

of millions of people are suffering.

4:00

from malnutrition every day. And

4:02

then in other societies we have the problem of

4:04

obesity and both problems are

4:07

unbearable really. And then we have a situation

4:10

that, you know, a very large part

4:12

of water, energy, land

4:14

usage is actually being used to produce

4:17

food. And then 30% of all of this

4:19

food is being wasted before

4:21

it even goes to the consumers.

4:25

And the projections around JIR are that we

4:27

are going to see billions of

4:29

people more on this planet over

4:31

the next decades. So in other words,

4:34

the question of how we produce

4:36

food in a sustainable way for more

4:39

people that we generate a good living for

4:41

the generations in the future is ethically,

4:45

but societally, but also

4:47

technologically one of the key questions

4:49

of the planet. And to be able to play

4:52

a role there, even a tiny little one,

4:54

I believe is very fulfilling and also

4:57

to bring people together from science,

4:59

academia, you know, processors,

5:02

but the NGOs and suppliers

5:04

into these value chains and together

5:07

try to find solutions that how

5:09

can we tackle that? And how can industry

5:12

rather than be seen as the problem in

5:14

the society actually be seen

5:17

as the solution with

5:19

the technical solutions and the advancement

5:21

and innovations going forward? That I

5:23

believe is a very important aspect

5:26

of this sustainability

5:28

strategy, which we have because

5:30

it addresses a necessity

5:34

and an issue, which is one of the largest

5:36

ones which we have on our planet. That's

5:39

one part of the answer. And the second part

5:41

is that if you expose yourself,

5:43

if you come up with a strategy, if

5:46

you address these topics, of course

5:48

you are going to be criticized. And

5:51

I believe it's important that we are ready

5:53

and embrace the criticism. Not

5:56

of course, I not necessarily need

5:58

to agree to everything, but it's important. It's important

6:00

that we allow on

6:02

these platforms to have different opinions

6:04

and have a good and strong and robust

6:06

debate about what might be the

6:09

solution of the future. And clearly,

6:11

not everyone has the same opinion or

6:13

is on the same level of being exposed

6:15

to these problems because the discussion

6:18

is totally a different one if you are living

6:21

in Japan or Russia or United

6:23

States or Switzerland or Sudan of all

6:25

places. So we need to be

6:27

able, I believe, to bring different

6:30

opinions together and then still

6:32

try to aim at rallying behind

6:34

certain scientific facts and then do

6:37

address them in a way and it's

6:39

important to take all people along, all

6:42

those people who have a different opinion. What

6:44

do you say to somebody who says to you, Stefan,

6:48

this social impact sustainability and financial

6:50

return, they can't go together. You're

6:53

telling me to pay more for sustainability.

6:57

I don't want to pay more. I can't

6:59

afford it. Maybe in Switzerland, you guys

7:01

can do it, but in my market,

7:03

in my economic circumstances, I

7:06

need to deliver returns quarter

7:08

on quarter, year on year for

7:10

my family, for my employees.

7:13

I'm sorry. This is too far fetched

7:16

for me.

7:16

Well, that's

7:18

a good point. Of course, here the

7:20

economist in me comes out and

7:22

I give a purely economically driven argumentation.

7:27

It's very clear that over time, the

7:29

costs which are currently not part

7:31

of these value chains will be internalized.

7:34

The costs for land, for energy, for water

7:37

and gas, for not using

7:39

side streams, etc., etc.

7:42

These costs over the next decades will actually

7:44

go up and will be part of every

7:47

business line in future. The

7:49

moment that is going to be

7:52

happening, and we see that happening already today

7:55

in this current inflationary situation

7:57

or in energy shortage situations,

7:59

Then, this

8:01

becomes a very economical

8:03

line of argumentation because then you need

8:06

solutions to address that. Then you need to

8:08

have technical solutions, innovation, digitalization,

8:12

the best of the physical and digital

8:14

world such that you can do things

8:17

much more productive and much

8:19

more sustainable. I

8:22

think those are the argumentations

8:24

I would use and then it is not a

8:27

nice-to-have thing, but then it becomes a bare

8:29

necessity

8:30

and the driver for business and that is what

8:33

I'm convinced of in the long run.

8:55

Courage is an essential quality

8:58

in a successful leader and I

9:00

subscribe to the belief put forward by the great

9:02

South African leader Nelson Mandela that

9:05

courage is not the absence of fear

9:08

but the strength to take action in

9:10

the face of fear. I

9:12

asked Stephan Shiber about courageous leaders

9:15

he looks to for inspiration.

9:18

Well I would perhaps make

9:21

the link to one of my

9:23

personal heroes and also the link to

9:25

my time when I lived in South

9:27

Africa as a still relatively

9:30

young man in the times

9:32

when the political system

9:34

in South Africa changed. 1994-95

9:39

when President Mandela came into power

9:41

after 26 years on Robben

9:43

Island that courage

9:46

Mr Mandela showed when he

9:48

became the president and when he sort

9:51

of tried to embrace everybody in

9:53

the country and still stick to

9:56

his principles of one man,

9:58

one vote and of course… bring

10:00

apartheid behind them. That was very,

10:03

very impressive for me. What

10:05

was impressive? I mean, is it this idea

10:08

that he had the courage to forgive, or

10:11

was it the courage to face off opposition? What specifically

10:14

did Mandela do that leads

10:16

you to

10:21

believe that was courage? It was his

10:23

ability to be consistent

10:25

in what he experienced and what he stood

10:28

for and what he absolutely wanted

10:30

to change in the country and with the

10:32

people. But at the same

10:35

time, try to reach out

10:38

to the other parts of the people,

10:40

to his opponents, and

10:43

to somehow create

10:45

a pathway for them to have

10:47

a successful future too and have a

10:49

perspective too. And

10:52

I believe that that was so much

10:54

more courage than just to remain

10:57

one-sided and actually drive

10:59

the one message home, which is to basically

11:02

now give the indigenous

11:04

population much more power. And

11:07

that would actually then result in the other

11:09

part of the society to have to go

11:11

or to go into violent situations,

11:14

etc. So the way

11:16

he embraced the society played

11:18

an important role there. The way

11:21

many symbolic acts played an important

11:23

role, but then also the committees,

11:26

through discussions to overcome

11:28

the history and such, they could actually leave

11:31

it somehow behind it and shape a future

11:33

together. That, I believe, was

11:35

so courageous and it changed

11:38

a whole society. And it

11:40

was also then a role model for many other people.

11:43

I'd love to ask you, can you think of other

11:45

examples, personally you've encountered

11:48

in work or outside work where

11:50

you saw somebody taking action in

11:54

the face of it? Yes, of course

11:56

the pandemic created situations,

12:00

situation for me personally as leader of

12:02

a company but then also for many people

12:05

in societies but also in our organization

12:08

which we never were confronted in the past

12:11

and which was very, very stressful

12:13

I wanted to say. And remember two

12:16

years ago we had a situation in

12:18

India where really people

12:21

got ill by the hundreds and thousands

12:23

and thousands and thousands and thousands

12:25

of people passed away. It was

12:27

very critical in India at the

12:30

time in the big cities and in rural

12:32

areas at the same time and

12:35

our leader of Buhler India

12:37

in Bangalore he actually

12:39

was inspired and

12:43

passionate about trying to save

12:46

as many people he could possibly do.

12:48

He was trying to organize

12:50

test kits, he organized vaccinations

12:53

and you know he organized that for the

12:56

whole of the company then

12:58

the whole of the families of the company

13:00

and he invited customers and suppliers to

13:02

come to our place outside

13:05

of Bangalore and actually get access

13:07

to vaccinations and that

13:09

was such a display of courage

13:11

because he exposed himself, he did

13:14

something, he you know literally

13:16

changed many lives in and around

13:18

him so it was very difficult

13:22

and he did a great job there. Tell

13:24

me about a time when you personally have experienced

13:26

fear at work, maybe it was a project,

13:29

maybe it was a big decision, maybe

13:32

it was a mistake you had made

13:35

and you had to undo that mistake.

13:38

Think about a time when you actually had to

13:40

confront what looked like a scary

13:42

situation. I remember there was one

13:45

particular year in my career where

13:47

I was promoted to a new

13:49

position and at the same time I was

13:51

still in charge of the old position and

13:54

physically, geographically these were two separate

13:57

sites. So I had to somehow

13:59

try to... do too many things at the

14:01

same time. That was, I think,

14:04

the essence of the issue. And

14:06

I realized that on the one hand side,

14:09

I would not be on top of my job a new

14:11

function, and not doing the right things

14:13

there, and not be performing there. And at

14:15

the same time, I was not close enough to my

14:18

old function. And there I felt

14:21

that I would be in a lose-lose situation on

14:23

both sides. And that was a learning

14:25

for me ever since. I was afraid

14:28

that I would perhaps also lose my job

14:30

or lose my people, lose my credibility.

14:33

I was afraid that they would actually

14:35

make certain mistakes then. And

14:39

it was very important learning for me because

14:41

I learned that I needed to really

14:44

set focus and pre-plan

14:47

things much better, and

14:49

that I needed to also

14:51

plan successions much better

14:53

because that was my responsibility. I

14:56

did not do that right, and that created

14:58

that situation in the first place. And

15:00

that was a learning I will never forgive

15:03

for the rest of my life as a professional.

15:06

How did you deal with the fear? In the moment,

15:08

like you're feeling scared that you might screw

15:10

up, you might lose your job, you

15:12

know, this is going really not well.

15:14

How do you ... Fear can hijack

15:17

us, right? Sometimes fear can immobilize us.

15:19

It can also make us very emotionally charged.

15:23

How do you kind of take

15:25

control of your emotions rather

15:27

than the emotions taking control of you? And

15:30

then apply some calm thinking

15:32

to it. How do you

15:35

do that? How do you compartmentalize

15:37

that fear? Two things there, Andrzej.

15:40

I believe my wife helped me quite

15:42

a lot because she radiates stability

15:45

for me and I could vent off certain frustrations

15:47

with her. I remember that

15:49

she was a stabilization

15:52

factor for me. And the second

15:54

part, I also remember that I was

15:56

starting to do marathon running

15:59

at the same time. And this running

16:01

and the time exercising physically

16:03

taught me or gave me a way

16:06

to sort of channel the energies

16:09

and recreate energy. And ever

16:11

since I have been running. And that's

16:13

an interesting observation and learning. Let

16:15

me ask you, have there been any moments

16:19

where you observed courage and

16:21

that has transformed you as

16:23

a person? Whether it's the Mandela story

16:26

or the India story or any

16:28

other story where you felt

16:31

really or it's something you read about.

16:34

Well, if I may, Anjai,

16:36

my heroes, I adore them, but

16:39

they are big personalities and many

16:41

people know them. But I am fascinated

16:44

by the smaller stories

16:47

of ordinary people, not being

16:49

megastars or so doing

16:51

things. And I was recently in Sudan

16:55

and I met a customer of ours in

16:57

Sudan and he taught me about

16:59

his program to train

17:03

women, mothers in Sudan, how

17:06

to bake good bread and

17:08

how to prepare a good dough

17:11

in the situation these people

17:13

live, right? And Sudan

17:16

is a very harsh situation

17:18

for people and to

17:21

see these faces of

17:23

these women and with that creating

17:25

food for their families and

17:27

do that in a proper way. That for

17:29

instance, I thought like was

17:32

a fantastic display of courage

17:35

and of doing a good thing which helps

17:37

to change and improve people's

17:40

lives in a very practical way. And

17:43

I found like this entrepreneur in Sudan

17:46

touched my heart and soul with that in

17:48

a place where I not necessarily expected

17:51

it. How is that going to change you going

17:53

forward? I think

17:55

it's this aspect of whilst we have a good

17:57

relationship with the world,

17:59

I think We are all having big ambitions

18:02

and CEOs have big egos

18:04

and companies have big targets, etc.

18:07

I think it is really teaching

18:09

me the lesson. It's

18:12

the topic of which one

18:14

lives did you influence

18:16

in a positive way? Which one

18:18

practical thing did you do

18:20

and contribute that something developed in a

18:22

better way than it used to be set for? It

18:25

learns me to do things

18:28

in small changes but do it rather

18:31

than aim for a big picture and

18:34

then get stuck somewhere. My

18:36

learning is that whatever I do at the

18:38

end of the day is not about what we

18:40

say and what we aim for but

18:43

what we actually do and which

18:45

personal lives or which businesses

18:48

or we actually influence and change.

18:51

There one small step is

18:54

in many cases much more than

18:56

a big ambition. Click

19:21

Life with Adam Grant wherever you listen to podcasts.

19:50

Big ambition is a major part of

19:52

the long history at Gula. In 2011,

19:55

the company set out to make a real impact

19:58

in addressing climate change. Buehler

20:01

engineered new food processing technologies

20:03

to reduce the energy and water

20:06

used across the food supply chain. It

20:08

also targeted food waste and

20:11

Buehler set an ambitious goal of 50%

20:13

reduction in these areas by 2025. Some customers

20:18

pushed back but Stefan Schyber and Buehler

20:21

stayed the course. I

20:23

asked him about the role of courage in

20:25

this kind of tough business innovation.

20:28

It reminds me of a decision we had to take a couple

20:31

of years ago when really the automotive situation

20:33

was in a downward trend already and

20:35

then Corona hit and investments

20:38

were basically imploding

20:40

and we needed to still decide

20:43

whether in in one business line which is

20:45

linked to this automotive business

20:47

we would be still going to invest into

20:50

a new technology which we saw

20:52

somehow coming but it

20:55

was a very weird situation

20:57

because business was imploding, costs

21:00

were increasing, margins were low

21:03

but then it helped to

21:05

have a little bit of a more longer term

21:07

view and I was reminded

21:09

by our owner who always said

21:12

you can do everything in your business but

21:14

you should not reduce the rate of innovation

21:16

so I still applied this learning and we

21:19

decided we would invest large amounts

21:21

of money into this new technologies

21:23

and now in the current situation

21:26

it represents more than 50% of the

21:28

sales we are doing in that segment and

21:31

and that taught me that there are times when

21:33

as an entrepreneur you need to take decisions

21:35

and I must admit it could also have

21:37

gone sour but I think when you want

21:40

to be really innovative then you have to

21:42

also deal with failures and that's

21:44

very important and that needs a certain courage

21:47

also courage to accept failure and

21:49

then learn out of it but move on. You

21:52

also talked about change is not possible without

21:54

courage and it requires

21:57

challenging status quo How

22:00

have you embraced courage

22:03

to make changes in your organization

22:05

that maybe otherwise were not so easy

22:08

to think about? Give us an example

22:10

of something you had to change pretty

22:12

dramatically in your organization. And

22:15

really, you weren't sure it's going to work.

22:18

Well,

22:18

I'll give you one example is that we actually

22:21

came to the conclusion that we needed products

22:24

which are designed in emerging markets,

22:26

for emerging markets. And in

22:28

order to be more cost-competitive

22:31

and in order to be having products

22:33

which would meet local demands in

22:35

these markets, which are totally different than

22:37

demands which we see in

22:40

more the Western world. And that for us

22:42

was a very challenging decision

22:45

to make because, of course, it somehow

22:47

also challenged the success stories of the

22:49

past, right, which were more geared up to

22:51

good quality, high-tech, top products

22:54

and services. But now that was

22:56

different drivers, different decision-making points

22:58

there. And it was very

23:01

difficult then to convince the engineers

23:03

in Switzerland and the Western part of the world that we

23:05

would actually do that and that would be still

23:08

supporting their business and not take it away

23:10

from them, not take simply the know-how

23:12

away and the future away. And

23:15

we were not really sure whether that outcome

23:18

would actually be so good and whether

23:20

this would be a win-win or a lose-lose

23:22

situation. But we still did it

23:24

and we are very glad in hindsight that we did

23:27

it, that we now have products also

23:29

for markets which have different decision-making

23:31

criteria like for India, for Africa,

23:33

some parts of Asia. Wasn't it scary that you were

23:36

going to cannibalize possibly your

23:38

own European product? Absolutely, absolutely.

23:41

But we then came to the conclusion that

23:43

if this cannibalization happens,

23:45

then it will happen with or without us. And

23:48

if this thesis is correct, then we

23:50

rather do it ourselves than we allow

23:52

it our competitors to do and hence we did it.

23:55

And you know what? At the end of the day, we won market

23:57

share in the emerging markets. And

24:00

we actually won market share in the high-end

24:02

markets too, because it forced

24:04

us to really think even

24:07

harder of the value propositions

24:09

of the high-end applications, because now the

24:11

blur was taken away. It was

24:13

very clear where we needed to play. So

24:16

in hindsight, it was a very good decision. A

24:19

third definition of yours that I discovered

24:21

that you have used in your speaking

24:24

and talking about the word courage

24:26

is you've talked about courage as having a clear

24:28

vision, pursuing it consistently,

24:31

and not shying away from taking

24:34

bold steps. Give me an example

24:36

of that. Yes. Well, that example

24:38

I just described was a very bold step for

24:41

us, because it changed the way

24:43

we were, you know, set

24:46

up. We grew, and

24:48

that was very important. Another one which

24:50

comes to my mind was that we had

24:52

a situation whereby we were given

24:54

the possibility to acquire another

24:57

family company a couple of years ago. And

24:59

because of them being family company, they said,

25:02

we know you, you know us. It

25:04

would be right for our future to be

25:06

in your hands and in your family and

25:08

in your business setup, because

25:11

we believe we will have a stronger future in

25:13

your ecosystem. And would

25:15

you be ready to acquire us?

25:18

But they actually said, you know, you've got to be fast,

25:20

and you are not allowed to make a

25:22

detailed due diligence. You know that our

25:24

company had been around for more than 100 years,

25:26

and we have our values, and we

25:28

were profitable. So you cannot

25:31

come and actually assess our company for

25:33

a full year, and everybody is unsecure,

25:35

etc. So you have to make up your mind,

25:38

do it or don't, and come

25:40

to a conclusion. And we came to a conclusion.

25:42

I was very happy that our board

25:45

supported us in that decision. Our

25:47

chairman was very helpful there, and

25:49

the whole board, and we did it, and

25:52

the outcome was very, very positive.

25:55

So that was, in hindsight,

25:57

it was actually, I would actually say,

25:59

right? other courageous, but it was

26:01

a calculable risk

26:04

given that we knew the culture

26:06

of this company. And in that sense, it was

26:08

very, very positive that we did it. In

26:11

many instances, you've talked about having a long term vision

26:13

for Bueller. Do you think being privately

26:15

owned, a family owned business, allows

26:18

you the luxury to take a long

26:21

view on business? Or do you feel that you

26:23

also have to deliver short term results

26:26

while keeping an eye on the long term? How

26:28

does that change your perspective? I

26:31

think it is as much

26:33

a responsibility and can be

26:36

also a burden that you have

26:38

this sort of heritage

26:40

of 162 years. Then

26:43

it is also a wonderful

26:45

encouragement, a motivator and shaper

26:48

of the future. What I mean is,

26:50

of course, we don't have the pressure

26:52

of the stock exchanges where you actually

26:55

measure the value of your shares every

26:57

day, every second of the day, and

26:59

where you have an immediate sort of pressure

27:03

valve, which is an indicator of your

27:05

performance. We need as family

27:07

companies everywhere in the world, we need to create

27:10

this ambition internally. But

27:12

on the other hand, I think it's important

27:14

because, you know, if we want to be sustainably

27:17

successful, we need to generate the

27:19

profits to secure the future of

27:22

our business. We need to basically

27:24

earn the money we need to innovate

27:27

and to spend in projects for the future by

27:30

ourselves. So we also have to be ambitious.

27:32

And I think there are advantages

27:35

and disadvantages in both situations.

27:38

But I must say this combination

27:40

of having strong purpose, strong values

27:43

and the long term view on things at the same

27:45

time, having the ambition to be like

27:48

performing as an organization is

27:50

a very cool combination which

27:52

I like very much and which I believe

27:55

is a very good model not only for

27:57

Büllon, but for thousands of our

27:59

customers. and our field. So I

28:02

believe in that model and I'm very happy

28:04

to live in this world. In

28:26

the years I've spent studying and writing

28:29

about purpose and courage in organizations,

28:32

I've highlighted the need for really

28:34

effective leaders to have a deep

28:36

sense of personal purpose. Many

28:39

of the top executives I've met have

28:41

a clear inner compass. Their

28:43

personal mission is completely their

28:46

own, but it can also be a powerful

28:48

tool in helping define, articulate

28:51

and deliver on a company's deep

28:54

purpose and core values. Let's

28:57

turn back to you, Stefan. What are

28:59

your personal sources of strength?

29:02

You have a lot of demands on you, your time,

29:04

your attention, conflicting

29:07

advice, making tough

29:09

decisions. You know, this is a

29:11

hard demanding job. What

29:14

is it in either your family or

29:16

your past, your childhood,

29:19

your community, your belief

29:22

system? What are your

29:24

pillars of strength? Where do you draw

29:27

your strength from to come back

29:29

every day and do what you need to do? Well,

29:31

of course, my family is and

29:34

my friends, particularly my family, most important

29:36

to me as a source of stability

29:39

and value set by and large. That's

29:42

of course the basis of everything. But

29:44

if I take it to the next level, it

29:47

is two things I think which create

29:49

lots of energy for me. One is the interaction

29:51

with people, with people from within

29:54

Bühler. We have fantastic people, young people, more experienced people,

29:56

experts, engineers, and people who are fields

30:00

and I learn every day and I'm

30:03

so inspired by their passion of what they

30:05

are doing and that's super

30:07

cool but also by some of our

30:09

suppliers or some many of our customers

30:12

whom we have been in exchange for

30:14

generations and it's so cool

30:16

to see what they are doing and how

30:19

they are finding solutions to create

30:21

a good future for their businesses. So I'm

30:23

a people person. I draw a lot

30:25

of energy out of that. And

30:28

another aspect is by education

30:30

I'm an economist and I must say

30:33

I still have no clue

30:35

why I choose economy because I'm

30:37

fascinated by technology, by engineering,

30:40

by automation, by software. And

30:42

the reason why I, despite of being

30:45

an economist, did not go into consulting

30:47

or banking or insurance etc. which

30:50

Switzerland is very famous for but actually into a

30:52

machine building company was that

30:55

it was so cool to see that we

30:57

would be building assets which last

30:59

and produce something and which produce

31:01

for decades and create

31:04

food for people

31:07

and that food is actually so essential

31:09

for not only well-being but also

31:12

education because without food you cannot

31:14

learn etc. and you

31:16

know it also creates workplaces because

31:18

our customers have a lot of employees

31:21

and again that is a workplace for many families

31:24

etc. So that is

31:26

a tangible part, the physical part

31:29

of it to build something which

31:31

lasts, which you can see and touch

31:34

and change over time. That was always

31:36

very, very fascinating. It gives me a lot of

31:38

energy. It's interesting to see actually

31:40

our assets all over the world. It's installed

31:43

and working and producing good product

31:45

and that gives me a simple

31:48

thing but it's very

31:50

passionate and you know I'm

31:52

a proud economist but I'm actually fascinated

31:55

about technology. So, Stefan, you've talked

31:57

about purpose a lot for Bueller.

31:59

You really... embedded purpose into the organization.

32:02

What is your purpose? Wow,

32:06

that's now a very, very difficult

32:08

question. I think it's important

32:11

that I am consistent

32:14

and true to my own values as a person

32:16

per se. And I would like to

32:18

also see myself courageous

32:21

enough to implement or sort

32:23

of keep values high in businesses,

32:26

like in our business. And hopefully

32:28

also, and that's the next thing, be able

32:30

to contribute with

32:33

that to a larger scheme.

32:36

In our case now, for instance, to the food

32:38

value chain and make it better, because

32:40

look, at the end of the day, we all know that

32:43

we don't own this planet. And

32:46

to be able to now hopefully

32:48

bring people together to generate a better

32:50

world for the future is something which drives

32:52

me a lot. So that

32:55

is a little bit my purpose. And even

32:57

when I'm not going to be the CEO anymore,

33:00

that part is going to be definitely

33:03

still be around. And these are things which I'm

33:05

going to invest in the future personally as

33:07

well. So that's my purpose. Stefan,

33:11

one day you're gonna step down and

33:13

go off into the sunset leaving your job

33:16

as CEO. Yes. If

33:18

there was one word you would hope people

33:20

would use to describe you, what

33:22

word would you hope they would use for you? What

33:25

do you hope they would say about you? Oh,

33:28

I hope words like, integrity,

33:32

a people man, also certain

33:34

consistency, hopefully

33:37

good leadership, good with people.

33:39

I think that is very important to me. If

33:41

they say that, I'm very happy. And

33:44

I must also say something else. Yes,

33:49

every career comes to a certain end, but

33:51

I believe in that context,

33:53

it is not so important

33:56

to ask the question, what do you end?

33:59

But what are your star? new and

34:01

which new perspectives am I creating

34:04

for myself but also for the people

34:06

around me and perhaps that is also

34:09

a notion which I would actually say that

34:11

would be cool if if people

34:13

would remember that. Stefan

34:15

Scheiber is CEO of the Swiss-based

34:18

Bühler Group. Bühler Technologies

34:20

contributes to making the food we eat,

34:22

the vehicles we drive and

34:25

a wide variety of other applications.

34:45

For more of my conversations with leaders

34:47

in the business world navigating the

34:50

21st century business environment, visit

34:52

my Deep Purpose website. While

34:54

you're there, you can also find out about my book

34:57

titled Deep Purpose. Companies

34:59

that are serious about establishing and working towards

35:01

the Deep Purpose find that it delivers

35:03

game-changing results for the workers,

35:06

the shareholders and the larger

35:08

society. So visit

35:11

with me at deeppurpose.net. This

35:13

podcast is produced by David Shin and

35:15

Stephen Smith with help from Jen

35:18

Daniels and Craig McDonald. The

35:20

theme music is by Gary Meister. I'm

35:23

Ranjay Gulati. Thanks

35:25

for listening.