Jörg Höche, Chief Revenue Officer

At the previous ASEA 2021 European Virtual Conference and the ASEA 2021 North America and Australian Virtual Envision, Chief Revenue Officer Jörg Höche delivered a powerful message on leadership. Following are some high points of his presentation.

Adaptability

ASEA abounds in leaders, in our corporate offices as well as in tight-knit associate teams that circle the globe. We came out of 2020 stronger than before, and we plan to continue to be the leader in our industry. 

We will inevitably go through changes. Zoom has become the norm. Working from home has become the norm. Online businesses of all kinds have boomed. Change like this can be hard to take, but it always presents a new opportunity. 

Commitment

As we prepare the company now for a new way of doing business for the next decade, we must become better leaders. We must never lose sight and focus on our objectives.

The house I am living in has been in my family for more than 200 years. It was always my dream to keep that house for the family. But as my wife and I started to refurbish it, things went different than we thought. When we started to fix one thing, two other things would break. We started with the roof, then we had to fix the basement, we had to fix all the plumbing, we had to fix the outside, we had to fix the inside, and what was a dream at the beginning became kind of a nightmare. 

After a few years of this, I said, “Let’s just tear this whole thing down. For less money, we can build a new house with no issues. Let’s just start over.” 

And then again my wife reminded me of my dream to allow this home to become part of our legacy for the next generation. That reminder, during a time when I was feeling despair and was ready to give up, is what brought me back.

I’m so happy that we never gave up, that we never lost sight, and we never lost focus to follow our dreams when the days were difficult.

Leadership is a mindset. The changes we’re making now might be hard. There may be times when we want to tear it all down and start over, when going forward seems too messy or too difficult. But if we continue, we can do things better than before.

Accountability

One of the hallmarks of a great leader is to never blame others. Blame is a useless waste of time and energy, and it won’t help you. 

It is easy to sit down and blame the government and blame institutions and blame society, but as leaders, we have to find a way to press on. As business leaders, that is our role, and we have to understand this role in this fullness.

We have a responsibility to our employees, we have a responsibility to our associates, we have a responsibility to the teams we work with, we have a responsibility to society, and we have a responsibility to our families. 

I have no doubt that this company has a bright future. We have already proven together that we can adapt, and we can change, and we can grow, regardless of what the world throws at us. Let’s focus on the future and create something amazing in the year to come and beyond.