A modern workplace and flexible working hours and location are important arguments for companies to retain talent, especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers. After all, work-life balance is becoming increasingly important, especially for the younger generation. Companies are therefore quite rightly launching new work initiatives or driving forward the digitization of the workplace for their employees. Thanks to modern technology, neither of these is witchcraft, and cloud solutions, for example, can also give medium-sized companies a real advantage quickly and easily.

Common mistakes in the digitization of the workplace

Numerous companies are making some major mistakes on their way to modern work. Michael Heitz, Regional Vice President Germany at Citrix, explains which capital mistakes companies are still making in digitizing the workplace and how they can avoid them.

1. Desk Duty: It is no longer a secret that employees would like to work from different locations, from home or on the move from the train. In fact, 48 percent of executives surveyed in a Citrix study published this year said that the ability to work from anywhere has a positive impact on the so-called "employee experience," which ultimately means employee satisfaction. For companies with an unattractive location that rely on commuters, the possibility of an equivalent digital workplace is even essential in order to be able to hold their own in the market.
2. Mobile working not thought through to the end: It's not enough to hand employees a laptop or smartphone, as another Citrix study shows: A full 44 percent of German (editor's note: there are no figures for Switzerland in this regard) desk workers, for example, send documents to their private e-mail address so that they can access them outside the office. This is a disaster in terms of data protection and IT security! Companies must provide suitable hardware and software solutions to make mobile working efficient, simple and secure.
3. Password glut: Each service a different username and password. Who is supposed to remember that? One in four employees in many companies still faces this challenge. It's no wonder that employees capitulate and write down passwords. In the worst case, these are then neatly printed out and pinned to the edge of the PC screen, and any customer or visitor in the office can quickly photograph them. The remedy is a so-called single sign-on function for all services used, which is managed centrally by the IT department.
4. "We've always done it that way": Of course, the maxim "never change a running system" is justified, especially for critical systems. But Citrix found that employees are open to learning about new tools and applications. 60 percent of employees are curious when their employer replaces old tools with new ones. In addition, 44 percent say they think new technologies are important for working more efficiently. So companies should not underestimate employees and should certainly not put technological innovations on the back burner for fear of change or employee frustration.
5. Cumbersome software: Today, we are all constantly surrounded by elegant and efficient software. Especially in the private sphere: smartphone and web apps for end users regularly set the standard. This makes it all the more difficult for employees to engage with cumbersome, non-intuitive or non-purposeful enterprise software. All too often, this leads to frustration and, in the worst case, resignation. A full 28 percent of German employees (editor's note: no figures for Switzerland are known here either) have already relied on so-called "shadow IT". That means they install software on their own, bypassing the IT department, or use web services that they know from their private lives. While this solves the problem of the individual employee, it can pose a much greater problem for the company if, for example, sensitive data is lost in this way.

A change to "New Work" is certainly not easy. Above all, it needs support throughout the company. Once the HR department has defined the guard rails and set up processes with the company management, the IT department must make them possible. That means processes and tools that have been thought through to the end for a truly digital and flexible workplace. In today's world, no company can afford the negative impact on employee satisfaction or employee experience if major mistakes are made.

About the cited studies

Citrix surveyed 1,000 workers who rely significantly on IT devices/computers to perform their jobs in January 2019 and April and May 2019. In addition, executives with HR responsibilities were surveyed for a study published in June 2019. The survey was conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with Citrix Systems, Inc. as sponsor.

Source: Citrix

For which decision-making situations do companies use information from risk management? This question was the focus of this year's ERM Report 2019, which was compiled by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts together with SwissERM. It is particularly encouraging that almost nine out of ten companies use risk-relevant information for the development of corporate strategy (Figure 1). On the other hand, it is a cause for concern that only one in three companies takes a risk analysis into account when considering financing issues, and only just under one in four companies has an internal company assessment that is backed up with risk-relevant information.

Information is often not available for decisions

The study results suggest that in many companies in Switzerland, the risk management process is not aligned with the decision-making processes. Only just under one-fifth of the companies surveyed confirmed that risk information is always available for upcoming decisions (Figure 2). In still just under one-third of the study participants, risk-relevant information is partially incorporated into decision-making processes. Almost half of the companies state that they know either only partially or not at all how much uncertainty is associated with a corresponding decision.

Consequences are not known

The picture is even less favorable with regard to the sensitivity of financial ratios: More than a third of companies cannot establish a direct link between decisions and their consequences on financial management ratios. Moreover, only about one in six companies say they are aware of these sensitivities based on quantitative risk scenarios. This illustrates that risk management is often not linked to value-based management.

Inclusion of risk management in business decisions is mandatory

It is important that risk management in the company is not regarded as a separate process, but is included in the business decisions. By carrying out risk assessments for all important business decisions, the quality of decision-making can be significantly increased, as decision alternatives can be identified and rational insights can be gained as a result.

Business decisions are made on a daily basis. However, this does not correspond to the semi-annual or annual risk report that the risk manager provides to the company management. In order to meet the increasing demands on modern risk management, enterprise risk management in many companies must undergo fundamental change.

Source: Lucerne University

Globalization, digitization or artificial intelligence: Even if the long-term effects on the labor market are not completely foreseeable, new jobs with new requirements will emerge in the coming years.

Rather retraining than further training

Today, however, only 44% of Swiss employees are making themselves fit for these new requirements, which is significantly below the global average of 65%. But when we do train, it is most likely to be through self-study, "on the job" or via a traditional training institute. This is shown by the international labor market study Decoding Global Trends in Upskilling and Reskilling, for the JobCloud, the strategy consulting Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the global job board network The Network surveyed 366,000 people from 180 nations. "We observe that managers are often concerned about whether their employees are ready to acquire new skills. The survey shows that there is still a need for action by business and politics to promote lifelong learning," says Daniel Kessler, BCG's head of Switzerland.

Great readiness for complete retraining

However, when it comes to acquiring new skills for a completely different job, the Swiss are ahead: 69% would be willing to retrain in response to the new requirements. There are clear differences in the occupational groups here: While people in sales (78%), management (77%) and consulting (75%) show a high willingness to do so, professionals in science and research (59%), social services (57%) and lawyers (57%) are significantly less willing to take on a completely new job. "Certain occupational groups are much more affected by digitization and need to demonstrate greater flexibility. The willingness for lifelong learning is therefore central," says Davide Villa, CEO of JobCloud AG.

Impact of new technologies and globalization

Swiss employees feel slightly less affected by new technologies and globalization in an international comparison. Almost half (46%) expect a strong personal impact from technologies (49% global average) and 41% from globalization (45% global average).

What skills will be in demand in the future

There is one point on which all employees across countries agree: In order to successfully master the demands of increasing globalization and automation, communication skills are by far the most important competencies that skilled workers will need to possess in the future. According to the Swiss, those who also have analytical skills and problem-solving abilities will be able to hold their own.

Source: JobCloud

After Switzerland had been relatively unsuccessful in the international arena since the 1960s, the sun is now rising in the sky for the Swiss national team after around 30 years of lack of success. National coach Roy Hodgson takes the Swiss team to the 1994 World Cup and the 1996 European Championship, and the success is by no means unique. In the following noughties, our little country made it to two European and two World Cups in just one decade.

Football total in Switzerland

Under its national coach Köbi Kuhn, the Swiss national soccer team qualifies for the 2004 European Championship in Portugal and for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. At the 2008 European Championship, it is automatically eligible to participate together with Austria because the 2008 World Cup is being held in Switzerland and Austria. With Ottmar Hitzfeld, Switzerland also plays itself in the 2010 World Cup.

All coincidence, or what?

But which rules ensure that everything runs smoothly, unnoticed in the background? The ball passes through more than half a dozen standards before it reaches the goal from the soccer player's shoe. Under the standardized shin guard on the kicker's leg, it starts its journey across the standardized natural turf, past the goalkeeper's standardized glove and straight into the standardized soccer goal.

Why do the seats in the stadium not collapse even under the greatest load? And how come the goals are always the same size? Simply because there are harmonized rules for this. The various interest groups come together to agree on these rules in standards, after which they are published as Swiss standards, among other things.

Shin guards

In the duel, the midfielder goes down. The defender claims that he went for the ball. Or was he aiming for the opposing player's shin? Is the shin guard strong enough to withstand an attack? If it complies with SN EN 13061, the player will only have a bruise. Tests guarantee maximum safety. In the event of a kick, a shin guard must not slip by more than 15 millimeters or have a dent no larger than 25 millimeters!

Gloves

Without good gloves, even the best goalkeeper could only hold the ball with difficulty. If the defenders can't keep the ball out, the goalie is the last resort. He must do everything to ensure that the ball does not go into the net! But he can't just rely on his own strength, agility and ultra-fast reflexes. Good gloves comply with the European standard SN EN 16027, which stipulates that gloves must not slip by more than 20 millimeters, even under considerable force, so that they can never slip off the hands.

Football goal

How stable are the goalposts in the stadium? The spectators hold their breath. The most nerve-wracking part of the final match begins. Another penalty shootout, you can hardly believe it! The goalkeeper feels the pressure. It's all up to him now. The fans cheer as the first shot thunders against the crossbar. If it complies with SN EN 748, it gives way by no more than 1 centimeter when the ball hits it. The net extends at least 80 centimeters backwards at the top, and 1.5 meters at ground level.

The tension rises immeasurably, the next penalty decides the game! If the goalkeeper holds the ball, his team is qualified! Suddenly the goal seems huge. Can he deflect the ball when the shooter aims into the upper right corner? According to the standard, the goal must be 7.32 × 2.44 meters. So the goalkeeper can easily reach any angle. And, of course, he saves the victory. His team goes to the European Championship!

Lawn

Natural grass or artificial turf? Some prefer artificial turf, while others believe that football can only be played on natural grass. At the 2018 World Cup, half of all 12 stadiums had hybrid turf reinforced with synthetic fibers. According to the experts, the blades should ideally be 23 millimeters high. But how is that measured? If everything is to be done according to standards, the European standard SN EN 12233 comes into play. It contains a procedure for determining the height of the grass. A special tool is used, which essentially consists of a measuring rod on which a round, movable disc is mounted. The distance between the tip of the rod placed on the ground and the disc resting on the stalks is measured.

Ball is not equal to ball

A soccer ball for the World Cup must meet the strict requirements for soccer balls. The European standard SN EN 12235, for example, specifies test procedures, including for the bouncing behavior of the balls. If a ball is dropped from a height of 2 meters onto a concrete surface, it may bounce up a maximum of 1.35 meters. Therefore, it can never just bounce over a goalkeeper.

Stadium seats

Soon the game will begin, fans will flock to the stadium in search of their seats. According to SN EN 13200-4, the distance between each seat in a row and the corresponding seat in the row in front must be at least 30 centimeters. That's not exactly lavish, but once everyone is seated, only the match counts anyway. But what other rules apply to seating? According to the provisions of the standard, the seats must be able to withstand a weight of 2,000 kilograms and be at least 40 centimeters deep and 50 centimeters wide.

Football lighting

Cameras were positioned around the pitch. The spectators want to see everything in detail! That's why it's really important that the cameras can record the game properly. It is obvious that the pitch must be well lit, but SN EN 12193 also contains details about the lighting required for TV cameras. According to it, it must be 0.25 times brighter in the area where the cameras are placed than on the pitch! But there should not be too much light either. Scattering effects of light can disturb people living around a stadium: The standard specifies which light levels are permitted in which competition and in which environment - residential, natural or metropolitan - which amount of light is allowed to stream over the horizon of the floodlights.

These standards are described in the SNV online store available:

• SN EN 13061 (in German, French and English)
• SN EN 16027 (in German, French and English)
• SN EN 748 (in German, French and English)
• SN EN 12233 (in German, French and English)
• SN EN 12235 (in German, French and English)
• SN EN 13200-4 (in German)
• SN EN 12193 (in German, French and English)

More stories from 100 years of SNV can be found here, here or here.

They are - at least quantitatively - the dominant part of the Swiss SME landscape: the micro and small enterprises with fewer than ten employees. With over 90 percent
they are the most common form of SME. The Business Expo, founded and organized by Sandra Liliana Schmid, wants to give them a platform on December 7, 2019 in the Kultur-Park Zurich.

Entrepreneur Award for microenterprises

In addition to a trade fair with workshops, the focus is also on the presentation of an Entrepreneur Award. This award is intended to give small businesses fame, honor and recognition for their great achievements and tireless work. 31 entrepreneurs have been nominated, from which the top ten finalists will be selected by means of online voting.
will be. In addition, a jury looks at the various nominees and creates a separate top 10 list. The two Top 10 lists are merged and the result is
then the final top 10 list, from which the winner will be chosen on December 7.

The top 10 nominees

Currently (November 5, 2019), the following ten entrepreneurs are swinging at the top of the public's favor:

• Sale Baschi, Social Switzerland, LinkedIn & Social Selling Expert
• Haller Milena, Milena Haller, expert in performance and chanson singer
• Schmid Elena, Youth for Kenya, Founder and Ambassador
• Eugster Jörg, NetBusiness Consulting AG, Founder, CEO and Owner
• Buschor-Frei Michèle, Caramba Beneficial GmbH, Founder and Managing Director
• Ruf Daniel, careerbooster.ch, owner, application and self-marketing expert
• Sarah Zanuco, Zanuco Treuhand AG, Managing Partner
• Erci Hakan, Threeway AG, Managing Director and Owner
• Thoma Nadja, Nadja Thoma Make-up Artist, Owner
• Dietiker Melanie, Monochromel - Agency for Interior Design / MEL Marketing & Kommunikation GmbH, Owner

The Online voting runs until and including November 15, 2019.

More information: www.business-expo.ch

The forcont business technology gmbh (www.forcont.de), a software company based in Leipzig, has summarized concrete challenges and tips for HR managers in an infographic based on a survey conducted by the online job platform Stepstone among more than 22,000 specialists and managers in Germany.

Tips for HR managers on the entire employee life cycle

The infographic identifies the respective challenges for the four key phases of the employee lifecycle - recruiting, onboarding, development and offboarding - and makes suggestions on how to address them. For example, turnover is particularly high during onboarding. To avoid new employees quitting during the probationary period, it is important to take into account the changing demands of Generations Y and Z. This means, among other things, providing a well-founded onboarding and development plan. This means, among other things, offering a well-founded induction tailored to the new position, providing employees with mentors, holding regular feedback meetings, etc. After the probationary period, in addition to an appreciative corporate culture, systematic development work is important to retain employees in the long term. This includes individual development plans as well as qualification programs for specific employee groups, such as junior managers.

More time thanks to process optimization

In addition, the infographic shows for each phase which routine activities can be made more efficient through digitization and automation. This is crucial because: An informal online survey by forcont among HR managers revealed that administrative activities are the biggest time eater in the HR department. Accordingly, the survey participants identified the digitization of processes, the reduction of administrative work, and the recruitment and retention of personnel as currently the most important strategic tasks. In view of the current challenges facing the HR department, the topic of process optimization is therefore at the top of the agenda. Companies that improve their workflows in such a way that they gain significantly more time for the really important HR issues will gain an important competitive advantage in the war for talent.

Click here for the infographic

The Achilles' heel for efficient digitization is not technology. The decisive weak point is the data. If one too many zeros creep into the digitized process or important data is missing, common sense no longer has a chance to intervene. This weakness can only be eliminated with a stringent fitness program for data. Here are the ten most important questions about data quality and how to ensure it:

1) Can data quality be measured and evaluated reasonably at all?

Experts describe up to 15 theoretical dimensions of data quality. In practice, the situation is simpler: Automated process steps must first and foremost work with complete, up-to-date and, above all, unique data. This is because duplicates in the parts master or in the customer data weaken efficiency. If, for example, two data records exist for a customer, this can lead to the customer being treated as a C-customer, although it actually belongs to the B-customers.

Not all information is equally important. Different spellings of an address do not have the same effect on process fitness as a missing list of conditions for a vendor. Therefore, measuring data quality always includes an evaluation of the errors found. Particularly critical cases also require an escalation workflow to eliminate errors promptly.

2) Is it worth the effort? Isn't everything just as chaotic again after a short time as it was before a cleanup?

Anyone who has already tried to get a grip on data quality with several projects will feel like Sisyphus in the Greek myth. No sooner have you reached the top than the stone rolls back down the hill and the effort starts all over again. In fact, experience shows that the effect of a project-by-project cleanup fizzles out after a while. As with running training, you have to keep at it and implement a data quality program.

3) Where is the best place to start?

Ideally, a company starts where better data delivers the fastest added value. This can be in purchasing, because supplier addresses, conditions and replenishment times noticeably accelerate operational procurement. A start in production and logistics can also help to maintain parts masters cleanly. Parts are then fully assigned to their groups and all necessary weight data is available for shipping. Depending on the industry and company, sales and service can also benefit particularly strongly if address and contract data are up-to-date.

4) Can a data quality program be established without analysis gurus or Excel specialists?

Today, modern analysis programs do not require any programming at all. Defining the rules is not witchcraft for a user who is somewhat familiar with the system. Once the rules have been defined, the employees in the specialist department receive an indication of which data needs to be corrected. Ideally, they can click directly through to the data record concerned. This saves time. Short-term corrections also ensure a rapid learning effect. The frequency of errors is thus reduced quite naturally.

5) How quickly can such regulations be adapted to new requirements?

Today, changes can be made at very short notice. This is because modern analysis tools require neither programming by a software manufacturer nor an IT expert. However, companies must ensure that rule changes do not contradict each other or lead to problems elsewhere. Without data governance, this is not possible.

6) Do all data need to be in one system for ongoing data review and cleanup?

Anyone who postulates this is thinking outside the box. The vast majority of companies today work with more than one system. Today, inspection software, so-called data quality managers, effortlessly integrate data from several sources and inspect them together.

7) How do you get a handle on the issue internationally?

There is no way around master data management. Clear responsibilities are the be-all and end-all: who is responsible for which data, who may and who must change which data - and where, in which system. Master data management regulates which data is maintained centrally and which locally, and ensures the necessary synchronization.

8) How can progress be reliably measured and documented?

The reporting of regular analysis runs must not be limited to the identification of individual errors. It must also enable controlling in the sense of a "state of the data". This status report shows the specialist department as well as the management that data cleansing is worthwhile and that the efforts are bearing fruit - and sustainably so. Healthy competition can even develop among the departments.

9) How does a continuous data quality program work?

Data Quality Manager software checks the previously extracted parts masters, customer files or other data against a set of rules. For example, zip codes in Great Britain are alphanumeric, whereas in Germany or Austria they consist only of digits. Checks against external databases, such as those that check zip codes and streets for plausibility, are also possible. In addition to pure error detection, the software categorizes whether the errors are serious or have a minor impact. The errors found are then transferred to the target system along with an evaluation. In most cases, this is an ERP system. There, the employees can then directly clean up the data. If an exception is detected, it is noted in the rules and regulations. All this can be done today without an employee or a consultant having to program a line of code.

10) How often should data sets be audited?

There are no fixed guidelines for this. The frequency depends very much on the particular company, its processes and data sets. Like any fitness program, it is tailored to individual goals and performance parameters. The key is to continuously and regularly check and measure progress.

Most companies are now aware of their Achilles' heel and are prepared to actively do something about data quality. Those that have already started report a double training effect: On the one hand, data quality management ensures greater production and process reliability internally - and thus for well-founded decisions. In addition, reliable statements about delivery dates and availability increase customer and supplier satisfaction and accelerate collaboration.

Source: proALPHA

The chairman of the board of directors and/or family council should be able to concentrate on the essentials. Both in boards of directors and in already established family boards, it is often the chairman who spends the most time on administrative and organizational work. He is also often left alone with the pre- and post-processing tasks. In addition, the minutes are perceived more as a duty than as an important instrument.

Discharge for the Board of Directors of Family Businesses

For this reason, Continuum AG has developed new offerings that are designed to sustainably relieve the president and his members in the board, increase professionalization, and bring about a constructive outside view. Three modules are available for each board:

• The "Basic" module with basic services such as the organization of administrative and family council meetings and their follow-up or the creation and control of pending lists.
• The second module "Evaluation" includes for the Board of Directors, among other things, the GL evaluation and compensation or even the annual check and for the Family Council, for example, the revision of the family constitution as well as reflection with NextGen and key persons.
• In the Board of Directors, the "Specific" module deals with the development of a risk radar, the creation of a function diagram and provides support in the development of organizational and business regulations. In the family council, among other things, family communication is examined, conflict management is carried out by means of mediation, and workshops for the shareholder agreement are also conducted. The client can thus decide for himself with which individual elements his own needs are to be covered.

Cooperation with partners

The range is complemented by the use of Continuum AG partners who have competencies in corporate and family governance, have protocol expertise, and are also trustworthy and bring experience from their own board mandates.

www.continuum.ch

Based on security developments over the past few years, conclusions can be drawn about what is likely to happen in cybersecurity over the next twelve months. Here are the most important trends for IT security in 2020, which are Check Point expected.

Technological predictions for 2020

1. Targeted ransomware - In 2019, ransomware attacks were targeted against businesses, local governments, and healthcare facilities. Attackers spend a lot of time gathering information about their victims to make sure they can ensure maximum damage. The amount of ransom demanded is driven up accordingly. The attacks have become so effective that even the FBI has softened its stance on paying ransoms: The agency now recognizes that in some cases, affected companies must consider paying to protect shareholders, employees and customers.
2. Phishing attacks go beyond email traffic - While email remains the number one attack vector, cybercriminals also use a variety of other methods to steal personal data, credentials, or even money from their victims. Phishing increasingly includes SMS attacks on cell phones or the use of messenger solutions on social media and gaming platforms.
3. Mobile malware attacks intensify - In the first half of 2019, mobile banking malware attacks increased by 50 percent compared to 2018. Such malware can steal payment data, access information and funds from victims' bank accounts. New versions are even available on the dark net for distribution by anyone willing to pay the malware's developers - similar to a franchising process. Phishing attacks are also becoming more sophisticated, effective and lure mobile users to click on malicious web links.
4. The rise of cyber insurance - More cyber insurance policies are being taken out by companies and public institutions. Insurance companies will continue to direct their policyholders to pay ransoms, as this can be cheaper than the cost of restoring systems after an attack. This will in turn lead to more attacks on the one hand and rapid growth of the cyber insurance industry on the other.
5. More IoT devices bring more risks - With the rollout of 5G networks, the deployment of IoT devices will accelerate dramatically, but at the same time massively increase the vulnerability of networks to large-scale, multi-vector Gen V cyber attacks. IoT devices and their connections to data centers and clouds remain a weak point in security: it is difficult to get an overview of all connected devices. Furthermore, their security is designed to be very complex. All companies need to develop a more holistic approach to IoT security that combines traditional and modern controls. Only then can these ever-growing networks be protected across all industries and business sectors.
6. More personal data because of 5G - The bandwidths enabled by 5G will trigger an explosion of connected devices and sensors. So-called eHealth applications collect data about users' well-being, connected car services monitor users' movements. Smart city programs also collect information about how citizens live. This ever-growing volume of personal data must be protected from breaches and theft.
7. AI will accelerate security responses - Most security solutions are based on detection models, designed according to human logic. To make them ready for the latest threats and keep them on the cutting edge of technologies and devices, artificial intelligence (AI) is needed. AI dramatically speeds up the identification of new threats and how to respond to them. It also helps block attacks before they can spread. However, cybercriminals are also beginning to use the same techniques to effectively scan networks for vulnerabilities and develop appropriate malware.
8. Security solutions with the speed of DevOps teams - Companies already run a large part of their workloads in the cloud, but the level of knowledge about securing the cloud remains low. The principle of shared responsibility has not yet fully penetrated the consciousness of those responsible. Security solutions must evolve to new, flexible cloud-based architectures that provide scalable protection at the speed of DevOps teams.
9. Enterprises rethink their cloud approach - Due to the increasing reliance on public cloud infrastructures, enterprises are at risk of outages. As an example, Google Cloud's operational disruption in March 2019, enterprises will look at their existing data center and cloud concepts and consider hybrid environments of private and public clouds as well as data centers.

Conclusion for IT security in 2020

No one can really see into the future and actually predict which security threats will be important or which issues will become significant in 2020. But probabilities can be assessed and what is certain is that today's widely connected world creates more opportunities for cybercriminals and every IT environment becomes a potential target: local networks, cloud, mobile and IoT devices. Nothing is untouchable. Therefore, businesses and users need to arm themselves. One tool is to consider already known advanced threat intelligence to build unified security architectures. This allows companies of all sizes to protect themselves against the new attacks, automate defenses as much as possible, specialize, and look forward with more peace of mind to the threats the new year holds for them.

Author:
Sonja Meindl is Check Point Country Manager Switzerland and Austria.

Everyone else (about 99.9%) who keeps getting absorbed by the urgent before the important, and who spends too much time on reactive activities, should definitely check out the following. It can change your life.

Program the subconscious mind

Our brain is a fascinating organ: Put simply, you can use your conscious mind to program your subconscious mind, through strong emotions and ongoing repetition. This is important because our subconscious mind is responsible for over 99% of our daily decisions. This mechanism leads you to do more and more of what you have done in the past. This realization is critical to your success.

Example: If you are used to spending most of your time as a leader solving urgent problems and putting out emblematic fires, you will get more of that in the future. You multiply what you focus on.

Further examples from practice

If you spend most of your time on problem-solving and fire-fighting exercises, you will also get more and more such problems. If you keep doing the urgent before the important, there will be more and more urgent things in your life. If you spend a lot of time in meetings where neither the urgent nor the important is discussed most of the time, you will have more and more such meetings.

Learning to set priorities correctly

How can you change this negative automatism, for yourself and your team? In principle, in three steps:

1. Know what's important. Most people have a hard time deciding what is really important. You need to have defined your long-term goals and your mission.
2. Schedule the important stuff. It sounds almost too simple, but you need to schedule what's important on your calendar for each day. Many people already let themselves be controlled by others by filling their calendar with everything possible.
3. Doing the important thing. Doing the important thing usually requires creative thinking and initiative. If you don't do it, often no one else will. You are often breaking new ground. That is exhausting. You'd rather spend the next few hours in meetings again...

These insights are simple to understand, but painstaking to implement. Winning teams have their priorities in check - and produce corresponding success.

Anyone can take this path. If you start today and gradually shift your priorities with your team, you will dramatically improve performance - guaranteed!

To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch

Tomorrow's competition for SMEs are digital companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook & Co, said host Tobi Wolf in his opening keynote. The strengths of these companies - despite their size - are their willingness to take risks, their test mentality and the fact that growth is more important than profitability. They also focus more on customer orientation and less on product centricity. SMEs, on the other hand, have stable structures, trust, tradition and know-how as strengths. If you combine these with those of digital companies with their "startup mentality," SMEs become unbeatable in competition. This simply requires more courage, leadership, the right people in the right place and - especially important - simply taking a first small step. "A small step can have an enormous impact," said Tobi Wolf, using a domino as an example, where a small block was able to topple even the largest block via a chain reaction.

SME Day hemp scents

Roger Koch, founder of the only independent Swiss cigarette manufacturer, chose an unconventional approach to his presentation. He made no secret of his frustration with regulations and the increasing obsession with safety and health. This also has an impact on entrepreneurship: "If managers stop living riskily, how can they still take entrepreneurial risks? He himself set a good example as an entrepreneur: with his cigarette manufacturing company, he entered a high-risk market characterized by oligopolies, heavy regulation and declining consumption. But with the innovation of a new type of hemp cigarettes, he found a niche that may have potential for medical applications. Some of the participants tried this product themselves during the breaks - the scent of smoked hemp was for once also unmistakable at the SME Day...

Customer orientation above all

Marcus Schögel, Director of the Institute for Marketing at the University of St.Gallen, then spoke about the success factor of customer orientation. "The age of the customer has dawned," he said. Today, he said, the focus must be on thinking about new solutions from the customer's point of view. "Investments in customer centricity pay off," Schögel continued. This also involves building up customer knowledge among employees. This must be achieved by motivating employees to "always want to do the best for the customer.

Startups competing in front of the audience

In an "inspiration session" - this had less to do with the THC content of the air we breathed mentioned above and more to do with a newly introduced program item - four startups were then allowed to present their business model in the form of 8-minute pitches. Kilian Wagner of VIU showed how his company is virtually reinventing the distribution channels for eyewear, which translates into attractive pricing for customers. The company Felfel, presented by CEO Anna Grassler, is supplying more and more businesses with healthy food from a "smart fridge" that automatically reorders when something is missing. Martin Fengler of Meteomatics explained how drones can make weather forecasts even more accurate, which will become an increasingly important service, especially for weather-dependent businesses. And Susanne Dröscher founded the company CARU AG two years ago with a partner. This company has developed a device that uses sensors to monitor the living environment of mobility-impaired people and can send out emergency calls if necessary. In the end, Felfel came off best in the public's favor.

Of trust and perseverance

The last part of the SME Day was given over to speakers Monika Walser and mountaineer Stephan Siegrist. Monika Walser gave an impressive insight into the first phase of her work as the new CEO of de Sede AG. The first days were marked by mistrust and uncertainty, and it was a Herculean task to rally the workforce behind her again. What proved to be a recipe for success was their honest and transparent communication and the decision - financially risky at the time - to bring the core of production, namely the leather tailoring shop, back in-house. Stephan Siegrist, on the other hand, used the first ascent of a granite wall over 1,000 meters high in Kashmir to show what it means not to give up despite adverse circumstances and to believe in the feasibility of a project right to the end - an obviously clear message to the entrepreneurs as well.

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The quartet of authors - Urs Fueglistaller, Roger Tinner, Walter Weber and Tobias Wolf agree: "This book is essentially about the question of how we can "do justice" to all our stakeholders in small and medium-sized enterprises: the customers, the employees, the owners or shareholders, the competitors, the state, the public, the family".

This already eighth volume of the series brings - as usual compact and reader-friendly - 7×3 questions and answers on "Fairness and perception of justice in SMEs". The guidebook provides tips on how to approach justice in everyday business life and poses critical questions for SME managers, who can use them to examine and compare their own attitudes and actions.

Central role of justice

"Equity," is the authors' main thesis, "plays a central role in small and medium-sized enterprises from their foundation to succession planning. Consciously discussed and reflected upon, the topic is (still and unfortunately) too little." The aim here is not for readers to know exactly what equity is at the end (nor do the authors). Rather, they want to ask the questions that will make it easier for SME CEOs to become fairer to themselves and others in their everyday lives.

Eighth volume of a proven book series

"Fit for Justice in SMEs" encourages entrepreneurs to bring the abstract-seeming but very concrete topic of justice more into everyday life. The book "Fit für Gerechtigkeit in KMU - 7×3 Fragen und Antworten zu Fairness und Verantwortung in KMU" is published by KMU Verlag HSG and can be ordered under www.kmu-tag.ch/buchbestellung be ordered.