Lead Well – Successful Leadership
Attracting and Retaining Skilled Employees
Date: 3 June 2025
Format: Online session (Zoom)
Cooperation partners: German Mittelstand, mib Mittelstand in Bayern
The second session in the ‘Lead Well – Successful Leadership’ series was dedicated to one of the most pressing issues facing small and medium-sized enterprises: How can we not only attract skilled employees, but also retain them in the long term? Three thought leaders shed light on the topic from different perspectives – in a practical, controversial manner and with concrete solutions.
‘Remote teams don't fail because of distance, but because of a lack of emotional closeness.’
Fabian Ewald, EMU Works
Entrepreneur and restructuring expert Fabian Ewald knows the reality of small and medium-sized enterprises from his own experience: rising fixed costs, shrinking margins, skilled labour shortages. In his presentation, he showed how virtual collaboration can succeed even across thousands of kilometres – if emotional closeness and genuine relationships are established.
He gave participants a live tour of his company's business metaverse and demonstrated how people work together productively and personally in the virtual space every day. The technological approach becomes a cultural bridge: digital distance is compensated by emotional connection.
‘Personal branding is more important than company branding.’
Christine Schickinger, NeuroPositive
Today more than ever, managers need to lead in a visible, tangible and engaging way. In her presentation, Christine Schickinger argued in favour of consciously developing one's own personal brand - not out of vanity, but as a strategic management tool.
After all, people follow people, not logos. Those who are clearly positioned, present themselves consistently and build trust are not only perceived as leaders, but also as magnets for talent. Personal branding works both internally and externally - as a retention factor and as a competitive differentiator.
Presentation
"Innovation is possible - but in a different way than you think."
Christian Obad, Innovangelist
Innovation culture is not a soft factor, but a hard competitive factor - especially in the battle for skilled labour. Christian Obad provocatively stated: "Many existing management practices stand in the way of a genuine culture of innovation.
Employees want to help shape things, take responsibility and feel that their ideas count. However, rigid structures and outdated management logics often prevent precisely this. Mr Obad called on the participants to critically examine their own practices: Which routines and rules prevent more than they help?
His conclusion: if you want to retain talent, you don't just have to change methods - you have to change the conditions that enable the desired behaviour.
Presentation
Conclusion of the session
The discussion clearly showed that securing skilled labour in SMEs requires more than just recruiting initiatives - it starts with the management culture.
Whether through emotional closeness in remote teams, strong personal brands or an innovation-friendly environment: people stay where they feel seen, heard and effective.
Today more than ever, managers are expected to lead in a visible
