Look beyond the borders
Oliver Classen on leadership changes at Blick, NZZ—and soon, presumably, at Tagi as well.
Oliver Classen on the change of boss at Blick, NZZ - and soon probably Tagi, too If you believe the radio in the Glaspalast broadcasting on various frequencies these days, Maili Wolf's term of office is rapidly coming to an end. However, if the hapless head of Tages-Anzeiger also takes her leave after the publishing directors of NZZ and Blick, all three major Swiss-German daily newspapers will be facing a change of management this summer.This coincidence can be interpreted on the one hand as a further indication of a helpless industry that is increasingly sinking into self-doubt. On the other hand, however, those responsible should see the changing of the guard as an opportunity for a radical new start with new, truly innovative minds - and seize it. After all, after the reorganizers, our leafy forest urgently needs publishing lateral and forward thinkers again. In its job advertisement for the dual management of Blick and SonntagsBlick, Ringier is for the first time explicitly looking for such people from outside our industry and national borders.
A bold and necessary step in equal measure. Germany, where NZZ innovator Tobias Trevisan is unfortunately moving to, probably served as a role model here. With Klaus Lutz (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and Michael Grabner (Holtzbrinck), a high-tech and a trade manager are driving the newspaper industry forward there. Why shouldn't a similar transfer of know-how be possible and successful here in Germany?
But some old local hands are also good for new ideas. Urs Zeier, for example, who is currently working as a freelance consultant, could perhaps better immunize Blick against the 20-Minuten virus thanks to his Metropol experience. 20-Minuten boss Rolf Bollmann, with his regionalization successes, would actually be the ideal executor of the further Tagi expansion. And the NZZ is known to prefer home-grown talent anyway. Which is okay, because passion, persuasiveness and - last but not least - the courage to destroy creatively are far more important today than origin and personal history.
> Oliver Classen, Editor
A bold and necessary step in equal measure. Germany, where NZZ innovator Tobias Trevisan is unfortunately moving to, probably served as a role model here. With Klaus Lutz (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and Michael Grabner (Holtzbrinck), a high-tech and a trade manager are driving the newspaper industry forward there. Why shouldn't a similar transfer of know-how be possible and successful here in Germany?
But some old local hands are also good for new ideas. Urs Zeier, for example, who is currently working as a freelance consultant, could perhaps better immunize Blick against the 20-Minuten virus thanks to his Metropol experience. 20-Minuten boss Rolf Bollmann, with his regionalization successes, would actually be the ideal executor of the further Tagi expansion. And the NZZ is known to prefer home-grown talent anyway. Which is okay, because passion, persuasiveness and - last but not least - the courage to destroy creatively are far more important today than origin and personal history.
> Oliver Classen, Editor
