Karl Schlecht Foundation and ZU continue successful cooperation

ZU and the Karl Schlecht Foundation (KSG) continue their cooperation. Ten years after the ceremonial opening of the Leadership Excellence Institute Zeppelin (LEIZ) at ZU, they have renewed their cooperation agreement for another five years. The goal of the Institute and the successful collaboration so far has been to further develop and further establish LEIZ as a platform for interdisciplinary, intercultural and intersectoral research, teaching and knowledge transfer on the challenges of leadership.

“We would like to thank the KSG and the benefactor, Professor Karl Schlecht, for enabling LEIZ to continue the extremely successful work it has carried out over the past ten years with this generous support. Together with KSG and our partners from business, politics, and civil society, we now want to take it to a new level,” says LEIZ founding director Professor Dr. Josef Wieland, who is delighted that the cooperation will continue.

Professor Karl Schlecht had this to say: “According to Professor Heinz Maier-Leibnitz's great life experience, the ability to make the right decision in terms of leadership excellence – probably the most important leadership skill – is based on interests, emotions and values. By this token, the decision to continue funding LEIZ is definitely the right one!”

“Leadership through correct decision-making under the conditions of global developments is the supreme entrepreneurial discipline of the 21st century. As a foundation, we are extremely pleased to be able to continue to support LEIZ, an institution for which good leadership is just as important as for our founder Karl Schlecht himself,” says Dr. Philipp B. Bocks, Managing Director of Programs at KSG, explaining the reasons for the continued commitment.

LEIZ sees itself as a practice-oriented university research institute dealing with the key leadership-related topics of our time. At the same time, it is a science-based think tank that helps business, government, and civil society make global megatrends productive through consulting, training, contract research, and through the provision of thematic platforms. In addition, LEIZ represents a hub of a global network of international academic and corporate partners whose joint work sets global leadership standards on topics such as the governance of value networks, the conditions for success in transcultural cooperation, the economic-social conditions and consequences of exponential technological development, and issues of corporate/management ethics and corporate culture.

In the coming years, LEIZ will devote more attention to the topic of leadership in conjunction with correct decision-making in the face of economic transformation. As far as methods are concerned, the work will be project- and transfer-oriented with a focus on case studies. Its goal is to prepare young people for the challenges of the future through professional and character education. The future topics of the LEIZ are “Leadership and Cooperation in Regional/Global Business and Organizational Networks”, “Leadership in the Digital Transformation of Business and Society”, “Value-Oriented Leadership and Cross-Cultural Management” and “Leadership from the Perspective of Chinese Culture and Business Practice”.