Ola Källenius
BEING A VISIONARY IN the business world means more than just planning based on predicted trends. It means working to define the future. Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group and CEO of Mercedes-Benz, does exactly this.
He leads a team of over 150,000 employees that is dedicated to moving the company that invented the car into a new era of mobility.
“Today’s auto industry is all about constantly hitting ‘refresh’ and getting your products as well as your business future-proofed. Together with the whole Mercedes team, we are 100 percent dedicated to that task. Having invented the car is fantastic. Better still is reinventing the future of mobility. Mercedes-Benz is determined to lead the way in the new automotive world as well,” Källenius told Newsweek.
Källenius has found that the best way to succeed is giving employees greater freedom.
“I’ve been with Mercedes since 1993. During this time, I was privileged to learn a lot from many different colleagues and partners—people with a wide variety of talents and all with the same passion for our cars. I’ve also experienced leadership in various cultural contexts,” he said.
“Over the years, I’ve developed my very own leadership style, which is based on empowering my direct staff and giving them a lot of freedom to do their jobs. I work this way because I’m convinced that providing greater personal freedom, instead of giving exact instructions, can pave the way for groundbreaking ideas. However, to me greater freedom goes hand-in-hand with greater accountability.”
To create next-generation vehicles, with sustainability, emissions, manufacturing, shipping, technology and performance targets in mind, it takes a village. “My approach is to gather as much information as possible along the way before we make a decision at board level. I talk and listen to a lot of people—especially to those with a differing opinion. You can say it’s about ‘less me, more we,’” Källenius said.
Planning the execution of those groundbreaking ideas takes visionary leadership. To Källenius, the target is obvious. “We have a very clear vision: We will build the world’s most desirable cars,” he said.
To do that, Mercedes drew a controversial line in the sand. The company is the architect of its “software house.” Rather than relying on another company’s technology to fit inside its vehicles, it works with specially selected partners and owns the technology ecosystem of its vehicles.
“I am really excited about our proprietary operating syste
