Corporate Trend-Spotting: No Way Around It

In today’s corporate world, companies must strategically recognize and utilize trends if they want to survive. But how can they manage to keep account of what is going on in our digitalized and globalized world where information just keeps piling up? Trend researcher René Massatti and management strategist Bernhard Scherzinger explain how to discern real trends from hypes and how companies can develop professional trend management within their organization.

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Making It in Austria: What Expats Need to Know

Culture, language, surroundings: people who want to launch their career in Austria often experience a rocky start. With this in mind, the WU Executive Academy recently introduced the “Making it in Austria” initiative offering extensive support through career services and individual coaching. Regine Eitelbös, Community Engagement Manager at the WU Executive Academy, and two alumni who have in fact made it, Ema Hafner, Head of the Marketing and International Business Department at Wiener Privatklinik (Vienna Private Hospital), and Marijan Mumdziev, CEO of Amodo, explain the platform’s services and go into the areas expats should focus on.

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Salzburg Festival: When Jedermann is Audited

The Salzburg Festival is without a doubt one of the world’s most renowned classical music and performing arts festivals worldwide. However, only a few years after its inception in 1920, the festival caught the attention of the Austrian Court of Audit. Why? Because Claus Peymann only drinks French sparkling wine at rehearsals? Because expensive crystal goblets are smashed on stage or because props have to be made out of real silver? That’s definitely part of the story. In his new book, Hans Kollmann, Professional MBA Public Auditing alumnus, describes several festival audits and the associated political and administrative climates in a humorous way. He also comments on the public debate and the reactions by representatives of the Salzburg Festival. In an exclusive interview, he shared some of the highlights of his book with us.

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After the Pandemic: How Leadership Needs to Change

Trend researcher Franz Kühmayer talked about the future of leadership against the backdrop of the all-encompassing coronavirus crisis and encouraged executives to radically rethink their approach to management. At a recent, hybrid-style WU EA Lounge, the internationally sought-after leadership expert explained why leadership needs to be urgently remodeled after the crisis and what that entails for executives and enterprises in concrete terms.

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Green Finance: Investing Money to Fight Climate Change

Sustainable financial products have been booming for a while now. And there’s a good reason for that: green finance products not only offer opportunities for attractive returns but also give investors the chance to serve a higher purpose when investing, changing the economy and society for the better. Prof. Otto Randl, Academic Director of the Professional MBA Finance of the WU Executive Academy, explains how this works and why both small and large-scale investors are more and more frequently putting their money on sustainable financial products.

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Sailing Odyssey: The Leadership-Learnings of Sebastian Kummer

When WU Professor Sebastian Kummer, Academic Director of the certificate program Logistics & Supply Chain Management, set off from France for Turkey on his catamaran "Blu" in mid-February 2020, he had no idea how much self-management, coolness and strong nerves he would need in the weeks to come. Finally, 2,800 nautical miles (5,200 km) and 81 days later, his surreal sailing trip came to a happy end. Here are Sebastian Kummer's 9 most important leadership tips from the Corona Odyssey in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Keeping an Eye on Mental Health: How Managers Can Navigate the Crisis

The (resurgent) coronavirus pandemic is not only wreaking havoc on our emotional and psychological health, it also affects the productivity of employees. Neuroscientists and psychologists recently convened for the “3rd Female Power Hour” at the WU Executive Academy to discuss the psychological effects of the pandemic and the necessity to work from home as well as the steps executives can take to promote both their own and their employees’ mental health.

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Cellular Renewal for the Boardroom

When everything is getting too much, the art of letting go can be liberating – by the way a principle that does not only apply to the human body: autophagy, a biological term that denotes the cleansing and renewing of body cells. Letting go also works for companies – if done in the right way. Executive coach and best-selling author Nathalie Karré and Helga Pattart-Drexler, Head of Executive Education at the WU Executive Academy, analyzed the things 21st-century managers should best get rid of in order to benefit from this effect in their professional lives and ensure cellular renewal in their companies.

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