The People Factor

About the guest As the Chief Business Builder at Exxeta, Hannes Schmidt is a dynamic leader who empowers teams to independently arrive at optimal conclusions through his unique leadership style of freedom and responsibility. With a proven track record in driving strategic accounts, Hannes is skilled at developing and executing innovative strategies to achieve business objectives. Passionate about addressing climate change, he envisions a future with car-free cities. Hannes fosters a culture of accountability, creativity, and collaboration, empowering his teams to take ownership of their work and drive meaningful results. Shownotes 00:03:50 - Intro, Purpose 00:10:50 - Culture 00:14:50 - Engineering 00:26:50 - Climate change, cities and mobility 00:30:50 - Sports 00:43:00 - AI Links Hannes Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-schmidt-5b6269b0/ Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com pplwise: https://pplwise.com/

About the guest Andreas is a dedicated family man, experienced senior leader, and passionate advocate of human-centric leadership. With a background in basketball, he brings a unique perspective to his leadership approach. Andreas has a proven track record of driving positive change in people and culture, having led HR functions at reputable organizations such as SAP and Roche. Currently, he is spearheading the growth transformation at NanoTemper Technologies, a biotech startup. Andreas runs his own podcast - With People. For People. Shownotes 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:46 - Andreas, Nanotemper Technologies 00:11:40 - Principles vs processes 00:19:20 - Basketball teams 00:24:30 - Failures, compensation and bonuses 00:36:28 - Strategy, commercially successful organizations 00:51:17 - Executive management scope, focus and leading +300 people 0056:45 - Stack ranking, prioritization & portfolio management 01:03:52 - Recommendations Links Andreas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-schmitz-withpeople-forpeople/ Andreas Podcast: https://www.withpeople-forpeople.com/ Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com pplwise: https://pplwise.com/

About the guest Dr. Alexander Insam is a seasoned expert in remuneration and labor law and sustainable decision-making, with over 12 years of experience advising banks on compliance with laws, regulations, and guidelines for compensation systems. He helps banks balance compliance and competitiveness, drawing on his extensive experience with over 30 major institutions. Alexander also has a passion for craftsmanship and mechanical watches, which inspire his innovative approach to finding practical and sustainable solutions for his clients. He occasionally works as a mediator, particularly in the aviation industry, and shares his knowledge through LinkedIn to help navigate the regulatory complexities of BaFin, EBA, and the EU. Shownotes 00:03:03 - Intro & mechanical watches 00:22:33 - SE transformation & workers' councils 00:26:03 - Remuneration, incentivization, VSOP vs stock option vs shares 00:48:03 - ESG, climate change & gender promotion gap 01:12:48 - Recommendations Links Dr. Alexander Insam Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderinsam/ Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com pplwise: https://pplwise.com/ Book recommendations Man's Search for Meaning https://www.amazon.de/Mans-Search-Meaning-classic-Holocaust/dp/1846041244/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

About the guest She is known for advising and influencing in complex organizations, and has a reputation as a systems thinker and well-rounded leader. Her passion lies in executive leadership, mergers & acquisitions, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness, among other areas of expertise. Shownotes 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:20 - Bay Area 00:12:04 - Germany, SAP mid 90s, pre-cloud 00:18:15 - Management practice, Salesforce, Oracle 00:31:24 - Competition & organisational agility 00:43:48 - AI, management & relationships 00:52:13 - M&A, Integrations 01:06:53 - Recommendations Links Carrie Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriekrehlik/ Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com pplwise: https://pplwise.com/

About the guest Marie is a strategic and creative thinker who excels in leadership, coaching, and advisory roles. She is known for being generous and hands-on when it comes to managing people. Marie is passionate about shaping the future of work and making a positive impact on people's lives and her expertise and dedication make her a highly valuable leader in driving positive change and shaping the future of work. Shownotes 00:00 - Intro 01:43 - US Trip, Oyster & Emotions 13:49 - Shoutouts 16:32 - Growth phases from 120 - 650 people org 20:00 - Performance management 30:25 - Career, product launch learnings & remote vs hybrid 55:00 - Building remote culture & recommendations Links Marie Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-bosseur/ Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com pplwise: https://pplwise.com/

About the guest Catharina Riedl, the COO of SAP Germany, is in charge of the sales and service organization that includes ~2500 people. Catharina is a humble and creative individual who loves exploring new ideas and approaches and values transparency, honesty, and being a dependable team player. Catharina encourages having fun and embracing everyone around her to create a positive change within the organization and her passion is designing, creating, and building things. Shownotes 00:00 - Intro 03:17 - Venice Beach, conflict management & product engineering 17:51 - Management, SAP & mentoring 30:00 - Career disappointments, management track & feedback 43:00 - Youngest COO, General Manager, managing 7 - 2.500 people 50:18 - Sales & Service organization 59:50 - Hiring, Growth Mindset & Recommentations Links Catharina Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharinariedl/ Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com pplwise: https://pplwise.com/

About the guest Aki is a talent development expert who is passionate about creating learning cultures within modern, busy work environments. He believes in confronting hard truths such as disengagement and overconfidence while embracing the potential of workplace learning to develop and retain talent. Aki strives to drive initiatives prioritizing impact over glamour and creating a culture of psychological safety combined with high ambitions. Shownotes 00:00 - Intro 00:55 - Aki, music & Apple 13:10 - Meditation, impulsive control, first-time manager 22:45 - Maintaining culture during growth stages, career development 35:05 - Individual & group learning, learning ROI, measuring success 41:22 - Effectiveness of leaders 47:40 - Remote-only learning & development, Superside Book recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Some-Instructions-Writing-Life/dp/0385480016 Profiles: Thomas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ pplwise: https://pplwise.com/ Aki: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akifriedrich/

Amiel Barrimond is a Total Rewards professional who is passionate about creating solutions and problem-solving within the Rewards arena. With hands-on experience in all aspects of reward design and management, Amiel believes that the reward function should be robust and agile, yet flexible enough to move with changes in the business and regulatory environment. Amiel's expertise includes executive and general compensation, incentive design, policy, structure and governance, benefits, performance management, job evaluation, career frameworks, and pay range design. Shownotes 00:00:00 - Intro & Summary 00:02:00 - Early career, banking & Amiel 00:15:20 - Industry, affordability & measuring compensation 00:20:10 - 4 P’s of compensation 00:29:00 - Incentive & compensation 00:41:03 - Market benchmarking, reward function 00:56:00 - Compensation philosophies 01:06:10 - Next steps Amiel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amiel-barrimond/ pplwise website: https://pplwise.com/ Thomas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/

About the guest Virgile is the founder of Figures - the first product allowing start-ups and scale-ups to know if their compensation philosophy is fair. He has a diverse background of studying computer science and working as an engineer as well as did a master's in human resources and worked as an HR Director and compensation specialist. Shownotes 00:00 - Intro 01:25 - Early career 05:00 - HR Business Partnering for Tech 20:44 - Idea of Figures 27:35 - Compensation & Performance 33:00 - Designing a compensation philosophy & Fair Pay 40:00 - Employee Stock Options, Virtual Shares & Equity Compensation 47:00 - Compensation data sourcing 52:00 - Salary equality, increases & your market value Links Virgile Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vraingeard/ figures: https://figures.hr/ Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ pplwise: https://pplwise.com/

Daniel is a proven expert on the future of work, an independent "leadership developer" and (HR) organizational consultant, systemic coach, author, and guest lecturer at various universities. Through his exposed and global leadership roles at Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, and SAP, he brings in-depth experience and broad expertise in Leadership & Talent Development, Organizational Development, and Culture Change from some of the most prominent Dax corporations. He is the author of several publications and last year released his new book "Unlearning Hierarchy" - A Journey into Self-Organization. His mission: to make work, leadership, and organizations more present- and future-ready through his contribution as a consultant, org developer, facilitator, and keynote speaker - for him, that means, more adaptive, effective, and meaningful Shownotes 00:00 - Intro 01:34 - Early career, shaping childhood, shaping moments 13:10 - North star, alignment of organisations 19:45 - Strategy, competencies, and organisational effectiveness 24:50 - Maturity of organisations 30:15 - Ambidextrous organisation & compensation 33:40 - Unlearn Hierarchy, adaptability, impact, meaningfulness 37:15 - Quality of life, habits, and health workplace index 45:30 - Burnout, Self-care, trust & emotions 55:23 - Patterns of corporates, startups, and traditional companies Links Daniel Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielvonier/details/experience/ Daniel's new venture: https://www.unlearning-hierarchy.de/ Daniels book: https://www.amazon.de/Unlearning-Hierarchy-Daniel-Vonier/dp/3800666421/ref=asc_df_3800666421/?tag=googshopde-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=526621203254&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4973905034678532093&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9061132&hvtargid=pla-1323309586063&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ pplwise: https://pplwise.com/