Challenge Management (englische Ausgabe)

Dr. Wladimir Klitschko is a former boxer who achieved worldwide fame as world heavyweight champion, having gained the IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA titles. Having earned a degree in Philosophy and a PhD in sports science, he is a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen as well as a successful entrepreneur. Stefanie Bilen is a journalist and author. She has worked for magazines and newspapers such as Handelsblatt, the Harvard Business Manager and the Wall Street Journal. She holds a degree in Business Studies and studied Business Journalism at the Georg-von-Holtzbrinck School for Business Journalists. She enjoys sailing and running but is yet to try boxing.

Content

Welcome, Tatjana Kiel 7
Foreword, Bill McDermott: Fight, Fall, and Rise 9
What a Fight! 13

Part I
Challenges Are the Air that We Breathe
1. How It All Began 17
2. Ergo sum: I Know Who I Am 31
3. I Am not a Dummy, I Can Walk by Myself 61
4. Knowledge Grows if We Share It 78Part II
My Twelve Ways to Respond to Challenges
Way 1: Enabling and Using Coopetition 95
Way 2: Thinking Progressively and Acting Courageously 97
Way 3: Learning from Defeats to Create New Potential 99
Way 4: Making Use of Your Successes and Letting Others Partake in Them 101
Way 5: Planning Long-Term and Continuously Demonstrating Performance 103
Way 6: Using Rest Periods to Reflect 105
Way 7: Focusing on the Essentials 107
Way 8: Trusting Your Own Competences 109
Way 9: Identifying Potential and Harnessing It 111
Way 10: Explosively Releasing Top Performance 113
Way 11: Creating Organizational Structures 115
Way 12: Knowing and Using Your Opponent's Strengths and Weaknesses 117

Part III
How Experts Use Challenge Management Practically
Way 1: Coopetition, Frank Dopheide 121
Way 2: Progressivity, Alyssa Jade McDonald-Bärtl 127
Way 3: Defeats, Rolf Schumann 134
Way 4: Successes, Ibrahim Evsan 141
Way 5: Planning and Performance, Christian Seifert 147
Way 6: Reflection, Miriam Goos 154
Way 7: Essentials, Jens Schmelzle 160
Way 8: Competences, Jean-Remy von Matt 166
Way 9: Potential, Leopold Hoesch 172
Way 10: Top Performance, Mathias Ulmann 179
Way 11: Organizational Structures, Astrid Schulte 185
Way 12: Strengths and Weaknesses, Torsten Bittlingmaier 192

Epilogue, Arnold Schwarzenegger:
Don't Listen to the Naysayers! 199
Acknowledgments 203
Index 205

Welcome

"If we make willpower an integral part of our attitude, then we can master any challenge!" That is the experience and the maxim that influenced me the most in my long-standing collaboration with Dr. Wladimir Klitschko.
It has been a great honor to work side by side with this exceptional sportsman. Every day with him allows us the chance to grow. He does not lecture; he does not instruct. Instead, he shares his know-how and his ideas with those around him as a matter of course and in a likeable, believable, and empathetic way.
With this book he is aiming to show you how a boxer's attitude can be applied to the challenges of everyday (business) life. He shares solutions that got him to where he is today: Dr. Wladimir Klitschko is one of the most respected sporting icons in the world as well as a successful businessman in charge of an international network of companies.
I hope you enjoy reading this book and wish you lots of willpower in accepting and mastering your challenges.
Tatjana Kiel
Managing Director of KLITSCHKO Ventures GmbH
t.kiel@klitschko-ventures.com

Foreword
Fight, Fall, and Rise
There are some people in this world who simply are fantastic role models. They are people who are consistent and have great power of persuasion; people who are persistent and become successful because of this.
This is the kind of person I consider Wladimir Klitschko to be. I have to say I am very proud to know him. This is a man who is characterized by a big heart, extraordinary passion, and strong integrity. He is also a wonderful friend.
In our lives so far there have been a number of similarities that connect us.
We are both modest and know our roots. Both our lives were strongly shaped by our parents. He grew up in the former Soviet Union, whereas I lived in the working-class town of Amityville in New York State.
Both of us are hungry for success. Already during our teenage years we knew that we wanted more from life. Wladimir was demonstrating his talent in the boxing ring early on in Ukraine. I was working three part-time jobs in parallel in order to be able eventually to buy my own small shop in Amityville. That was the beginning of my career as an entrepreneur.
We both owe our success to particular values that matter to us. Wladi-mir's persistence, flexibility, focus, and coordination have always been an inspiration to me. I have always been convinced that trust is the most important asset for us as humans. Especially in times like these the world needs more empathy, more trust and more love.
Lastly, we are also connected by our view that real leaders are characterized by what they give to the world and not by what is given to them.
In this sense, let me tell you about myself and introduce you to this fascinating book by Wladimir, in which he shares his worldview with us.
I remember my childhood in Long Island in New York State. The people I knew were honest, hard-working people. I delivered newspapers, packed bags at grocery shops, and worked as a waiter. I learnt a lot. Some things I learnt fast, others more slowly.
One night our family was standing in the street. We could only watch helplessly as our house was burning down. I was still small, so there would have been no shame in it if I had been scared or upset about our loss. But at that moment my mother gave me a piece of her wisdom that I often think about: "Bill, there is nothing in that house that is more important than what is out here."
Moments like that laid the foundation for my life-long optimism. I internalized that no-one and nothing can take away a person's dreams. No matter what happens. I learnt that it is dreams that are the hallmark of a winner.
Decades later-after all my youthful dreams had come true and I had built a successful career-I was taking part in a book club event in Walldorf in Germany. During the conversation a colleague got up and said something that humbled me:
"Bill, I read your autobiography Winners Dream. The a