As a very young boy growing up in West Berlin, Germany, I thought every city was surrounded by a concrete wall. As I grew older, I remember feeling angry learning about the abuse of power and divisive politics that led to a concrete wall 12 feet...
A little more than a month ago, on September 24, federal elections were held in Germany. Chancellor Merkel’s party, along with its Bavarian sister party (the CDU/CSU) lost many seats in parliament but she still emerged with a mandate to form the next government and...
For corporate directors, Volkswagen AG’s “Dieselgate” is a textbook case of ineffective corporate governance that has led to worldwide criminal investigations and a loss of public confidence. Corporate directors and millions of Americans who enjoy driving VW cars, as well as Audi or Porsche vehicles...
In 2013, American technology magnate Michael Dell said that “mobile will figure out health care … before health care figures out mobile.” Initially, he was right, but during the past year the healthcare industry has started to figure it out. More than 15 years after...
Volkswagen AG (VW), with annual revenues of $244 billion in 2014 and some 600,000 employees worldwide, now stands accused of systematically circumventing and violating environmental safety rules and regulations the world over, possibly for years. News first broke in September 2015 that the German automaker...
I immigrated to the United States from Germany almost 25 years ago, so I may be a little biased when I proclaim that United States democracy (despite all its pitfalls) truly does offer the world a model of equality, freedom, and fairness. I think its...
Twenty-five years ago, I was 19 years old and living in what was then West Berlin. In my last year of German high school, I often worked as a security guard at night to earn money so I could travel. November 9th, 1989, fell on...
There was a story in the news recently about SABMiller Plc, one of the world’s largest brewers, working with 6,000 pub owners in South Africa to - among other things - significantly improve the quality of women’s toilet facilities. Why would they do that? Well,...
What does a Berliner who lives in the United States do in Hong Kong? He talks about his experience almost 25 years ago when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down! 2014 is a year of historic anniversaries: The Eiffel Tower in Paris opened 125 years ago World...
I spent the past couple of days in Washington, D.C. in advance of German Chancellor Merkel’s visit to the United States. One of the fascinating conversations I had centered on the fact that many medium-sized German companies (the German “Mittelstand”) expanded into the U.S. and...