Kati Eismann: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Losing trust, spending too much of your working capital, and not being led by illusions rather than by facts. It all comes back to trust — difficult times are not the time to panic and throw your fundamentals out the window.

As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kati Eismann.

Kati Eismann is Global Marketing Director for all the Adam Hall Group’s marketing activities, from online and brand marketing to customer relationship management, and campaigns and advertising. Kati has gathered professional experience in A&R and marketing positions at Warner, Universal, and Virgin; marketing, sales, and brand building expertise in the fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle sectors at Eastpak and Endemol; and managerial roles as Founder, Managing Director at Idols & Brands and Client Service Director at Mindshare.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I got started in the industry early — I left school to follow my passion for music at the age of 19 when I was offered a job as a music promoter in a brand new agency for rock and darkwave music. I didn’t know anything about my job, so I jumped into the cold water and learned how to swim in the music biz. That learning process launched a journey of over a decade through the music business as a product manager and A&R for rock & pop music. When the digital revolution hit the markets, music piracy hurt the art and the business of music, and the big labels weren’t able to react fast enough. I decided to move into the fashion business, an industry that followed comparable marketing strategies and practices and hadn’t been altered as severely by digitalization yet. As I entered my forties, I found I was missing my passion for life, and I wanted to come back to music. So I came back to one of the premier global players in the entertainment and event technology industry — and here I am. At Adam Hall, I found my professional harbour, and it couldn’t be better.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

I have to go way back in my history to answer that. At the young age of 20, when I was just starting out at a Warner Music label, I was on the team responsible for the music comeback of 80s German superstar Nena. When I was a teenager, no one else eclipsed her in my mind as a pop idol.

When I started working with her, no one believed that the brilliant, successful Nena would ever come back as a star. Magazines, TV stations, and radio weren’t reporting about her any longer, and nobody booked her for concerts. She taught me everything. She has such a strong personality and brilliant mind that I was brought to the edge of my knowledge at least once a day. I never dared to say, “no,” or to admit to not knowing something, as I so wanted to prove that I am good at what I do. I failed very often, but I never gave up.

It wasn’t the most fun experience — it was serious business. I learned in those young years that if you want it, if you listen to people, if you push yourself to the right level, you can make it — and it is ok to say no. The most important thing in the early years is to try as much as possible to learn your real passion that you can turn into a professional life. And by the way — Nena did come back and sold multi platinum, award-winning albums like she’d never been gone. There’s a lot to learn from her story.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Starting at such a young age, I dedicate my early learning to two personalities: Boris Rogosch was the marketing director at the label at that time, and he gave me weekly 1:1 sessions to force me to ask him any questions I needed answers for. Boris was aligned with one of the few female superwomen in the business at that time as well — Rita Flügge-Timm. She is my all time idol, business wise. She modeled how to be brave, bold, and different, and how to fight for success. Plus, they taught me the underappreciated lesson of how to accept failure when a project is too far gone. Without these two, my career would never have gone so far.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?

Adam Hall was founded in 1975 as a manufacturer of high-quality, robust flight case fittings. Over time, our scope has evolved to include everything under the sun when it comes to event technology, from lighting to sound systems, and still, our flight cases. One of our most recent major milestones has been establishing Adam Hall North America Inc. in 2018. At the end of the day, our goal is to amplify emotions by providing our world-class event technology with a personal touch.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or difficult times?

When I started at Adam Hall almost two years ago now, we were in a hard lock down. I had to get to know the global team of 30 in a 100% remote manner. So I started. I just started with many digital team meetings and weekly 1:1 and sprints. I try to keep it very personal and mix it with, let’s say, an 80/20 serious/fun mix. Nevertheless, the interpersonal relationships can still get lost, so we give lots of options to still meet in person, both within the team or in smaller groups or one-to-ones. You need to be very focused in digital meetings since the amount of time spent in meetings has increased so much. I ask my team to only meet on-camera and to come on time and always prepared. For fun, we have established a casual breakfast coffee twice a week — just 15 mins of talking nonsense — that you would also do in the coffee kitchen. Another example is a monthly fun Friday where we celebrate the upcoming weekend with a beer and a game — laughs are guaranteed. I try to establish a meeting-free Friday every two weeks to give room for thinking — sometimes it’s hard to keep free, but it’s worth it.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

Super short answer: no. I always see light at the end of any tunnel. Life taught me that. Giving up is not worth it.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

A leader must drop the mid- & long-term view on business goals while markets are changing under special circumstances.Trying to project years into the future based on a glimpse into the crystal ball is not a good choice to guarantee success for a business. You need to work with facts and look back through business history — no crises happen for the first time, and many parallels have been already written in the past.

When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?

I might use a quote that my team gave me in a Christmas greeting card: “You are the tower of strength for us.” So despite such a hard crisis — stay honest, transparent, and work on the potential.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

Think before you act and communicate. Do it in the most honest way possible. Explain the reason behind it, and don’t leave people behind. Communication is key.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

When the future is unpredictable, look to the past for guidance. There’s no need to panic or try to reinvent the wheel when there are lessons to be learned from history.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

Trust. Trust internally. Trust in your products. Trust in your partners. Trust in the essential foundations that your business is made of.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

Losing trust, spending too much of your working capital, and not being led by illusions rather than by facts. It all comes back to trust — difficult times are not the time to panic and throw your fundamentals out the window.

Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?

It’s helpful to work with experienced minds who have best-in-class analytic skills that can help map out the future. It’s also important to always stay agile so you can adapt when and where it makes sense to do so.

Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.

• Trust: trust in yourself, your team, and your business.
• Check the facts and figures: don’t hypothesize or plan without having a firm understanding of the facts.
• Tap into experience: use the knowledge of those wiser than you to inform your actions — you don’t have to go it alone.
• Stay focused: identify your strongest business opportunities, and then pursue them to the best of your ability.
• Let go: a crisis can always strike, even if the chances are small. Again, trust in your planning and your business and in your ability to navigate out.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Confucius said: those who want to be happy in the long run need to change very often. My business career has always had ups and downs — sometimes super downs. Still, failure is the most important learning process one can go through — it leads to change and growth.

How can our readers further follow your work?

I am on LinkedIn, and you can follow the Adam Hall Group’s work on our website.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Thank you for having me!