In a refreshing manner Gunther Fürstberger – main owner and managing director of MDI – gave an overview of the last 50 years. Supported by short glances into the musical and political events of the past, he presented the main cornerstones of MDI´s development – from the foundation in 1964 by Dr. Karl Leitner to the first outdoor trainings in Austria in the 1980s, MDI congresses with keynote speakers and guests like Bill Clinton or Naomi Campbell, the first MDI subsidiary in Malaysia until today.
As a surprise guest he welcomed the former MDI managing director Dr. Rudolf Attems who shared his very personal and inspiring input regarding leadership within the past 35 years. In the 1980s he felt that the managers had a lot of freedom regarding how they led an organization. Because of the stable environment a lot of managers were willing to experiment and try out new things. As a pioneer MDI worked with trainers like Fanita English (California), Bernd Schmid (College of Education, Heidelberg), Friedrich Cramer (Max-Planck-Institute, Göttingen), and Peter Sloterdijk on topics such as the systemic transaction analysis or chaos theory.
Today, he feels that managers have the need to steer chaos. The main challenge for current leaders is providing support within an unstable and confusing environment. His advice: “If managers are too occupied with fulfilling requirements or concentrating on models, they lose touch with reality.” In addition to planning, it is important to remain in the “here and now”.
“You were ahead of time. You were pioneering!”, said Gunther Fürstberger to Rudolf Attems. In the end, he congratulated Gunther to the fresh and energetic appearance of today´s MDI.
Gunther Fürstberger and MDI are now looking forward to an exciting future: “Where will MDI be in another 50 years? Which contribution will MDI have made for its customers and society?” The answers to these questions are provided by the new MDI vision: “We are a global solution partner creating leadership leverage with passion.”
Global describes the desire to support organizations and its employees in their development worldwide – initial steps beyond Europe have already been taken with projects in Mexico, the US and North Africa. Solutions stands for overall solutions that comprise learning transfer, blended learning, outsourcing services, consulting and much more and support the customers in reaching their organization´s goals. Partnership with all stakeholders is the basis for creating new things together and in a sustainable manner. Leadership as the main influential factor for organizations, structures, individuals and society is the main focus to create maximum leverage – with heart, fun and passion for all stakeholders involved.
Last but not least, he underlined the importance of a pleasant and motivating working environment. Finally, training, development and cooperation need to be satisfying in order to be long-lasting. “For us this means: It rocks … – then it makes a difference!”