#100K: Jörg Polzer
A sharp-witted critical mind and a subtle sense of humour - what a great mix. And this mix is simply unique to Jörg Polzer, a wonderful former colleague - whom I worked with at Ketchum and who is still a friend of mine. It might not be a coincidence that he has lived for years in a land of which provides quite a special mix as well: a country that’s quite small (size) and yet large (finance), a country that is incredibly conservative but also super progressive, a country known for fantastic basic food like cheese and fine high-tech like luxury watches. Yes, that´s Switzerland. And the perspective from a small country often opens one’s eyes to the big picture. One of the most experienced corporate communications pro there is Jörg and I am very happy that he is joining me for this interview.
Hey Jörg, the Covid pandemic is over – also in Switzerland. And this small country has managed the crisis very well. In some respects different – and better – than many other nations. Lockdowns were much looser, and overall there was much more reliance on citizen self-responsibility and society’s self-regulation. But, like everywhere else, life changed dramatically. Today, three years later, we can look back. Some people find it almost difficult looking back. It looks like they´ve forgotten everything. So time passed by without a trace, doesn’t it? How do you see this?
Yes, Switzerland is indeed very different to Germany in many aspects and also how the the Covid-Crisis was handled. But even here, in retrospect there were things that we urgently need to analyse and learn for the future. For example, how politics and society dealt with children. In my opinion, they were the ones who suffered the most, and almost no one stood up for their rights. I still wonder why parents did not fight more for their children as it was very clear from early on that children are not a key driver of the pandemic. Especially their mental well-being was extremely endangered and we see the consequences until today. Many children and young people have still not recovered from this time. Part of their youth was taken from them.
But there are certainly many positive effects as well that I want to remember and keep.
Professionally, it was amazing how fast we´ve learned that quality does not depend on physical presence. You can work even more concentrated and successfully at home, with online-meetings and virtual teams. This was one of the most important insights for me. During this time, I gained even more confidence in my team. Simply delegate responsibility and trust your people to deliver. Before Covid we talked about "management by objectives" a lot. Much of this was just lip service. Now we were forced to do it. And it worked and still does with very few exceptions.
Privately, of course, there were also lots of learnings. Spending two months tight together with your family, for me, I must confess, it was a great quality time, but also quite stressful. Close with the family, I had to learn to switch off once the work next door in our home office was done. I don't always have to be "on" for work. “Time on” is super important, but “time off” even more. However, it takes real discipline to do that. During Covid we all had to learn it the hard way and therefore it is even more important to keep this learning.
“Time off” may also be the answer to my next question. Or maybe you have a completely different one. You've been in a few companies in your career - in agencies and corporate communications departments - from luxury watches to sports marketing – and you´ve always been forced to have best ideas. I remember you as a true creative person. So here is my question: What do you need to be creative?
I personally need an audience to switch to a creative mode. Together with other people I get going best. The pressure and inspiration of being in a conversation with others – and being expected to contribute – is exactly the kind of positive impulse that gets my idea machine going.
In the agency – years ago, we used to have creative sessions with different techniques. I remember at Ketchum in Munich, we had a conference and creative room in the basement, where we did all kinds of things - we stimulated each other with images, words, associations - all these wonderful creative techniques. Years later, I tried this once with colleagues in my company. I failed miserably.
It became clear to me then that you can't be creative with people in every constellation - people who aren't used to working with creative techniques are probably overwhelmed by it.
Since that experience, I've been more cautious and anticipatory, looking more closely at my team. Because it's extremely important for me to work in a creative environment. The teammates you work with are the resonance field I need for my own creativity.
And one more thing is important: Creativity and innovation needs a direction - a vision. Only if you know where you want to go you can come up with ideas for that future. During the pandemic, we used the imposed downtime in the sports event business to create the "Brave New Sport" study, which we initiated by Infront and implemented it with the think tank W.I.R.E. (Web for interdisciplinary Research and Expertise).
This forward looking study exploring the co-evolution of sport, technology and society was aimed at initiating a stakeholder discussion around this theme. We developed future long-term scenarios for different aspects of sports, for example how it will increasingly impact future societies, how the use of artificial intelligence will affect sports, or what impact sports will have on social and environmental challenges.
The study was a quite a creative risk. Because, after all, the subject matter and the results were not directly related to our daily business. And yet it was important to stir-up the conversation to allow for some visionary, out-of-the-box thinking, exploring new directions and discuss bold new ideas within our internal and external stakeholder network (if you are curious about the sports of the future, please click here).
Talking about the future - that's a great bridge into my third question. Because the future makes us feel frightened. We live in a time of multiple crises - financial crises, energy crises, social and political crises, and above all, the climate crisis. We are challenged in so many ways. So it's up to each of us to think about where we can help to make the world a little bit better, right? How do you see this and what´s your contribution to make the world a bit better?
What worries me is that society is drifting apart. I see discussions heating up more quickly. And often because of a lack of distinction between "real issues" and "media issues” or reality versus perception.
Some people tend to take everything published by the media as “real” and react to it. Without checking whether it is real (or false) and whether it is a real issue or just something “nice to know” but not relevant?
I see an increasing lack of reflection and declining media competence. And we are missing good role models more and more. Politicians, scientists, business leaders, publishers – they all should act as role models, demonstrate how to deal best with information and how to handle different opinions mindfully.
Unfortunately, many do the opposite: Instead of acting wisely and thoughtfully, their motto seems to be: the louder the better. (That´s the „concept of attention economics“ – in the 60s this concept was first theorized by psychologist and economist Herbert A. Simon who wrote about the scarcity of attention in an information-rich world. Simon was a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, creating the Logic Theory Machine (1956) and the General Problem Solver Program (GPS) in 1957).
As a communications professional, I see it as a responsibility to do something about this. Freedom of expression is one of the highest goods that we - as a democratic society - have fought for and that we urgently need to defend. Freedom of expression not only means that we are allowed to say what we think. It also means that we strive for decent and fair discussions, that we don't escalate controversial debates, do not automatically put our opinion above the opinion of others. And it includes also that we pay attention to topics that are important and relevant but not necessarily shrill and loud.
Many discussions go in dangerous directions, not only on social media but even in private face to face situations. Very often following the same pattern: An agitated person sees a fire (get attention for reporting the fire), pours additional oil on to this fire (to keep the attention high) and then they call firefighters as the fire gets too big (which gives them again attention, because now they blame the firefighters for the fire).
I try - at my workplace and in my private life - to stop or change miserable conversations and give discussions a framework and to accompany debates for the better. Many conversations today are overheated simply because no one takes on the role of a mediator and facilitator. We all should step in to provide a structure and to help each party to understand and follow certain rules of the debate.
This is so important. Only by actively listening to each other and honestly and fairly challenging opinions we can contribute to create a more resilient and peaceful society.
Professionally, it was amazing how fast we´ve learned that quality does not depend on physical presence. You can work even more concentrated and successfully at home, with online-meetings and virtual teams. This was one of the most important insights for me. During this time, I gained even more confidence in my team. Simply delegate responsibility and trust your people to deliver. Before Covid we talked about "management by objectives" a lot. Much of this was just lip service. Now we were forced to do it. And it worked and still does with very few exceptions.
Privately, of course, there were also lots of learnings. Spending two months tight together with your family, for me, I must confess, it was a great quality time, but also quite stressful. Close with the family, I had to learn to switch off once the work next door in our home office was done. I don't always have to be "on" for work. “Time on” is super important, but “time off” even more. However, it takes real discipline to do that. During Covid we all had to learn it the hard way and therefore it is even more important to keep this learning.
“Time off” may also be the answer to my next question. Or maybe you have a completely different one. You've been in a few companies in your career - in agencies and corporate communications departments - from luxury watches to sports marketing – and you´ve always been forced to have best ideas. I remember you as a true creative person. So here is my question: What do you need to be creative?
I personally need an audience to switch to a creative mode. Together with other people I get going best. The pressure and inspiration of being in a conversation with others – and being expected to contribute – is exactly the kind of positive impulse that gets my idea machine going.
In the agency – years ago, we used to have creative sessions with different techniques. I remember at Ketchum in Munich, we had a conference and creative room in the basement, where we did all kinds of things - we stimulated each other with images, words, associations - all these wonderful creative techniques. Years later, I tried this once with colleagues in my company. I failed miserably.
It became clear to me then that you can't be creative with people in every constellation - people who aren't used to working with creative techniques are probably overwhelmed by it.
Since that experience, I've been more cautious and anticipatory, looking more closely at my team. Because it's extremely important for me to work in a creative environment. The teammates you work with are the resonance field I need for my own creativity.
And one more thing is important: Creativity and innovation needs a direction - a vision. Only if you know where you want to go you can come up with ideas for that future. During the pandemic, we used the imposed downtime in the sports event business to create the "Brave New Sport" study, which we initiated by Infront and implemented it with the think tank W.I.R.E. (Web for interdisciplinary Research and Expertise).
This forward looking study exploring the co-evolution of sport, technology and society was aimed at initiating a stakeholder discussion around this theme. We developed future long-term scenarios for different aspects of sports, for example how it will increasingly impact future societies, how the use of artificial intelligence will affect sports, or what impact sports will have on social and environmental challenges.
The study was a quite a creative risk. Because, after all, the subject matter and the results were not directly related to our daily business. And yet it was important to stir-up the conversation to allow for some visionary, out-of-the-box thinking, exploring new directions and discuss bold new ideas within our internal and external stakeholder network (if you are curious about the sports of the future, please click here).
Talking about the future - that's a great bridge into my third question. Because the future makes us feel frightened. We live in a time of multiple crises - financial crises, energy crises, social and political crises, and above all, the climate crisis. We are challenged in so many ways. So it's up to each of us to think about where we can help to make the world a little bit better, right? How do you see this and what´s your contribution to make the world a bit better?
What worries me is that society is drifting apart. I see discussions heating up more quickly. And often because of a lack of distinction between "real issues" and "media issues” or reality versus perception.
Some people tend to take everything published by the media as “real” and react to it. Without checking whether it is real (or false) and whether it is a real issue or just something “nice to know” but not relevant?
I see an increasing lack of reflection and declining media competence. And we are missing good role models more and more. Politicians, scientists, business leaders, publishers – they all should act as role models, demonstrate how to deal best with information and how to handle different opinions mindfully.
Unfortunately, many do the opposite: Instead of acting wisely and thoughtfully, their motto seems to be: the louder the better. (That´s the „concept of attention economics“ – in the 60s this concept was first theorized by psychologist and economist Herbert A. Simon who wrote about the scarcity of attention in an information-rich world. Simon was a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, creating the Logic Theory Machine (1956) and the General Problem Solver Program (GPS) in 1957).
As a communications professional, I see it as a responsibility to do something about this. Freedom of expression is one of the highest goods that we - as a democratic society - have fought for and that we urgently need to defend. Freedom of expression not only means that we are allowed to say what we think. It also means that we strive for decent and fair discussions, that we don't escalate controversial debates, do not automatically put our opinion above the opinion of others. And it includes also that we pay attention to topics that are important and relevant but not necessarily shrill and loud.
Many discussions go in dangerous directions, not only on social media but even in private face to face situations. Very often following the same pattern: An agitated person sees a fire (get attention for reporting the fire), pours additional oil on to this fire (to keep the attention high) and then they call firefighters as the fire gets too big (which gives them again attention, because now they blame the firefighters for the fire).
I try - at my workplace and in my private life - to stop or change miserable conversations and give discussions a framework and to accompany debates for the better. Many conversations today are overheated simply because no one takes on the role of a mediator and facilitator. We all should step in to provide a structure and to help each party to understand and follow certain rules of the debate.
This is so important. Only by actively listening to each other and honestly and fairly challenging opinions we can contribute to create a more resilient and peaceful society.
About #100K
In 2023 Ketchum - an international communications network - celebrates its 100th anniversary. This makes it probably the oldest communications agency in the world. I´ve worked more than 25 years at Ketchum and learned so much at this agency. I am thankful for this time and the many colleagues and friends I´ve met there. So I´ll take this as an opportunity to meet old Ketchum-friends. And ask them some fundamental questions. Thanks to Jörg, Claudia Siebert, Rod Cartwright, Robert Burnside, Lukas Adda, Linda Eatherton, Gustav Averbuj, Sabine Stadel-Strauch, Gesine Märten and Martin Dambacher.
