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Employees’ right attitude makes businesses successful, innovative —automotive exec


A successful, innovative business needs employees with the right attitude more than skills, a Mercedes Benz executive said Thursday.

Top notch skills are important, but instilling the right attitude is a tougher task, Heiko Nitsche, chief finance officer and Vice President of Mercedes Benz Thailand Ltd., noted during the Business Innovation Congress in Manila hosted by the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.

“Of course, you need the best people, the best skills, but people should have the right attitude. Skills can be learned, taught … but changing the attitude of a person is much more difficult,” Nitsche said.

Mercedez Benz started building a culture of innovation in its office in Cebu back in 2011 by doing away with the “Boss culture” or the penchant of Filipinos to address their superiors as boss.

“It is common for people to call somebody boss. On the one side, it is respectful, but on the other, you create a certain degree of distance. It is not the right way. And so we convinced the management to make it a hierarchy-free communication and call each other on a first name basis,” Nitsche pointed out.

“That way, we became closer, and we created an environment wherein, when something goes wrong, anybody could say something without fear of being reprimanded,” he added.

Innovation could only be achieved if employees come to work because they enjoy it, rather than because they are obliged to do so.

“An employee has to want to be a part of it. Work is not always fun. There are times when it is less fun. That’s why we need an environment that employees would want to go to every day, not just once or twice a month just because of payday,” Nitsche said.

“If money is the reason, that would be a fatal reason to go to work. People do not have to drag themselves to work if they care for each other, not just with work-related stuff, but also when it comes to personal well-being. If there is such a culture, there will always be ideas that will challenge others,” he added.

Managing risks

Innovation is also about managing risks, not just about money.

Nitsche noted the case of battery and fuel-cell powered cars, as well as self-driving automobiles.

“People will always say we need more funding. Yes, it is true that you will need more money. But it is also about managing the risks. There are batteries which caught fire, self driving cars figuring in fatal accidents,” he said.

“We have to manage those risks by negotiating with the government and having the necessary legal framework. Somebody has to be accountable if something happens.” —VDS, GMA News

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