STRI
KING
IM
PACT
To create a striking impact
For our clients and society at large.
With a truly entrepreneurial team of independent thinking personalities.
Stern Stewart & Co. is the independent strategy boutique.
Advising clients in strategy, transaction, performance and transformation.
Acting as entrepreneurs in our own industrial companies and ventures.
Taking responsibility as think tank and social entrepreneur.
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LOVE PEACE
For decades, Europe cherished its hippie existence:
Make love, not war.
But with Putin and Trump, weakness just invites aggression.
Peace can only be maintained by strength and military power.
For European businesses a trillion euro market is opening.
Steered by own rules and dynamics in funding, development,
scaling and the need for supply chain autonomy.
Incumbents must speed up time-to-market
and relearn to produce at scale.
Dual-use players can tap significant opportunities.
While new kids on the block are disrupting the ecosystem…
Are YOU joining the peace party?
NEW OWNER NEW SHINE
Open your garage.
A classic car with so much potential. A sleeping beauty covered in rust.
You always wanted to take care of it.
Be honest with yourself! You are tied up in meetings. Other priorities.
This sleeping beauty will never get the attention it deserves.
Taking care sometimes means letting go.
Passing your rusted beauty on to a new owner.
To someone with a long-term restoration vision.
To someone with the right mechanical skills.
To someone with a proven track record.
Let’s meet at your garage. Talk options.
Punk is back!
Unfortunately, we are facing declining demand
with an overall unsatisfactory market situation.
Several large order cancelations… blablabla!
When things are going great, it’s about personal credit.
But when times get tough, it’s always the market’s fault.
Well, FUCK THAT!
Faster, louder and more offensive.
That’s what we need.
There’s nothing to lose, everything to gain.
Be radical in finding new growth areas!
Be aggressive in addressing new markets!
And shameless in exploiting new opportunities!
Become a business punk, or decline with the mass!
It’s an art.
The perfect merger. It’s art.
Inspiration meets experience and craftsmanship.
Pieces and colors must come together.
While materials vary the recipe is the same: Vision. Tools.
And determination.
Overcome chaos, complexity and adversity.
Take the big picture to compose diversity into
much more than the sum of its parts.
To make it happen radically challenge the norms.
Don‘t be shy to eliminate irritations.
Finding the most value adding composition.
Your next merger – a true masterpiece!
KEEP THE FAITH!
When markets are eroding,
when restructuring measures
are hitting hard,
when all employees hear is “crisis,”
believing in future prosperity
becomes difficult.
The holy task? Keep the faith!
Yes, the CEO must be the main preacher,
but the belief unfolds on the shop floor,
in the canteen, at the coffee machine.
Restoring faith starts by fostering morale:
Yes, it’s tough, but who can make it happen if not us?
You need a comprehensive vision from top to bottom.
A clear plan. And more than twelve apostles...
Because only faith can move the mountains ahead!
Tear down this wall!
Communism is stronger than ever.
It just moved. To large corporations.
Five-year plans.
Comittees far away from reality making decisions.
Well organized vanity fairs for self-promotion.
“Not-my-money” attitude everywhere, …
It’s time for a counter-revolution!
Tear down the hierarchies!
Bring decisions to the knowledgeable!
Promote humanocracy and entrepreneurship!
Making sure the invisible hand can unfold its magic, again.
Highway to...
...the Dangerzone
When the hits are getting closer.
When all your manouvers do not bring the desired impact.
When your covenants are starting to crumble.
You are on a highway to the danger zone.
Nervous supervisory board members demand results.
The banks, the activist investors are only waiting to take over control.
Seldomly for the benefit of the company. You are at the crossroads.
Either you choose your wingman and proactively call the shots.
Jointly paving a promising path to the profitability zone.
Having your back covered while navigating the desires of your financers.
Or you become a passenger in your own business.
Whatever you do, make sure you choose ICEMAN!
Entre
PRE
NEUR
SHIP
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Periodical 31
Guarding Europe – The New Age of Defense
Roberto Cingolani Leonardo
Benedikt Franke Munich Security Conference
Ben Hodges General
Klaus Hommels Lakestar
Oleksandr Kamyshin Presidential Advisor Ukraine
Sebastian Kurz Dream Security
Tim Marshall Journalist
Oleksandra Matviichuk Human Rights Activist
Michael Schöllhorn Airbus Defence and Space
Florian Seibel Quantum Systems
Margherita Della Valle Vodafone
Sven Weizenegger Bundeswehr
Nadav Zafrir Check Point Software
Insights
Will We Miss The Boat Again?
By Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing
Board and CEO Digital Industries, Siemens
“I don’t think we’ve even seen the tip of
the iceberg. I think the potential of what
[it] will do to society (…) is unimaginable.
I think we’re (…) on the cusp of
something exhilarating and terrifying.”
A prediction that is both promising and
threatening.
Periodical 30
Livin' on a Prayer
Kiana Aran University of California San Diego
Tessa Charlesworth Kellogg School of Management
Valerie Diele-Braun IMCD
Avi Loeb Harvard University
Lucia Morselli Pininfarina
Cedrik Neike Siemens
Victoria Ossadnik E.ON
Sebastian C. Schulte Deutz
Mark Wiedman BlackRock
Insights
October 7, 2023 - and Beyond
By Ehud Olmert,
Former Prime Minister Israel
The morning of Saturday, October 7th,
2023 was not supposed to be of
any special significance in the life of
Israel. It was a Jewish holiday,
celebrated in a traditional manner by
many observant Jews, and also those
more secular who do not observe
regularly Jewish tradition. It turned
out to be different than any Saturday
in the modern history of Israel.
Insights
From Ashby’s Law to High Impact Innovation
By Belén Garijo
Chair of the Executive Board & CEO
Merck
Why we need a different mindset to
take science and technology from
incremental to groundbreaking change.