Exactly the same, but completely different

The latter growled and shook his head. They had already issued a hiring freeze weeks ago. Two sleepless nights later, I was allowed to stay anyway. Frustrated by my unhappy start at the traditional company, I vowed to put in a performance that would prevent the company from ever letting me go again. Unaware that in doing so, I probably laid the foundation for finding myself today, exactly twenty years later, still sitting in a Condor Films chair, to my own astonishment.

My first project at Condor in 1994 was marked by three seemingly insoluble problems: Too small a budget. Too little time. And an idea that could be affectionately described as "virtuoso". Our previous projects of the current year 2014 had almost without exception ... - three problems. A tight budget. Very ambitious deadlines. And concepts that rarely wanted to fit the asking price and deadlines. But in contrast to my first years and attempts in the business, I now know that these three problems can often be solved with a playpen fence and a safety net. The playpen fence are constructive, competitive alternatives. The safety net consists of comprehensible arguments in communication with the customer, who is often sailing hard on the wind himself.
 
A few years ago, I was flown to Dubai for a meeting. The host was wearing sandals. I was wearing a suit with the awareness sewn into it that I was now a producer in the service of Condor. After brief small talk, my younger counterpart asked me: Which school of risk management do you consider more adequate for the film project under discussion? Harvard? Or rather Stanford?
 
That was the first time I really understood why humility and knowledge, along with talent, are the two most important resources in film production. Because where one's own actions are not based on a solid foundation of knowledge, unexpected developments can hardly or only with difficulty be classified and accepted. In many jobs in the communications industry, the search for meaning is part of the job description. The resulting extraordinarily high level of identification with the job is a wonderful thing. But it can also suddenly become a problem in the face of changes in the market and especially in the combination of overconfidence and ignorance. In the worst case, necessary innovations then suddenly become a threat to one's own personality, which migrates home from the office.
 
For some years now, a profound structural change has been shaping the commissioned film industry. That's not funny. But interesting. New opportunities are opening up. The change starts in the head. Just like films, which also start in the head with an idea. That's why the most valuable asset for the film industry is not the camera, but the mind. That's why we should take the greatest care of it, also with a view to Switzerland as a workplace.
 
Kristian Widmer is managing director of Condor Films, founded in 1947. The traditional Swiss company is one of the leading specialists for audiovisual productions from spots to image films to web videos, TV series, branded entertainment.