Post by Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach

"Why don't you post weekly leadership interviews?" I hear this question quite often these days, and am grateful that many of the subscribers wait for new content. As a self-funded AI Literacy business, I have to balance between interviewing and writing, teaching and doing real AI implementations. There is no AI knowledge without practice, after all. Today, I share a story of a mid-sized European industrial champion. The workforce is retiring, and the leadership team is worried about business sustainability. Thankfully, the products are still in demand, but they are complex and require a lot of expertise to be maintained and served. Operational manuals are not digitized. There is no money to hire McKinsey and its cousins. Does it sound familiar? The Mittelstand—a mix of classic SMEs and larger family-owned midcaps—accounts for about 55% of total net value added in the German economy and employs over 60% of all workers. SMEs (including mid-sized businesses) are the backbone of the Dutch and Italian economies, comprising the overwhelming majority of businesses and accounting for a significant share of employment and value creation. SMEs represent about 99% of Swiss companies and employ two-thirds (66%) of the working population. And I am talking about countries where the workforce is in mass retirement this decade. We need solutions, and we need them fast. I am keen to learn from you, and feature you on my podcast, if you have a good story to share, a solid automation and/or AI tool to praise, or a best educational practice to highlight. Julia Zdrahal-Urbanek Thomas Markwirth Steffen Roehn Matthias Hartmann Matthias Röder Anand Chandrasekher Lorenz Beyeler Marc Lott Savvitas The ExCo Group Dr. Christian Schmeichel Anabel Fall Aleksandra Przegalinska Erik Seversen Donnacha Daly Donnetta Campbell Lyra Schramm Rebecca Jones Women Corporate Directors (WCD) Austria Chapter Tobias Becker Joachim Horn Hans-Christian Boos Denise O'Leary MBE TheSocialArchitects Isabel Knauf Paola Bonomo