“We have every opportunity to make this world a better place.”

What are the right goals? Which role does the human factor play in times of rapid technological change - and what does a change expert actually do? Change processes raise many questions, Kai Anderson from Promerit AG gives us some answers.

With brisk steps, Kai Anderson enters the Munich STRABAG office. The slim, tall man is wearing a dark jacket and T-shirt, his hair is short and two attentive eyes look through his glasses.

As a Change Expert and founding partner of Promerit AG, Anderson accompanies organisations in transformation processes, he writes books, gives lectures – it was correspondingly difficult to find a free place in his agenda for this discussion. A few moments after the warm welcome, he and Norbert Pralle, Head of Development & Innovation in the Central Technology Department of the STRABAG Group, are already involved in a discussion on artificial intelligence.

We asked Kai Anderson seven questions on transformation topics, for example why change is often difficult for us, which role managers have to fulfil or how he himself deals with change – have a look what his answers are.

About the person

Kai Anderson was born in Münster. He studied industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe. He began his professional career as a company founder while still was still a student – and failed with his first company. Anderson calls this an “unwanted but important experience”. His lessons from this failure: You can and you may fail! But you will always get a second chance.

This chance was given him, for example, after his studies at IMG AG in St. Gallen, where he was Vice President. In 1999 he founded Promerit AG. The internationally active consulting company now has more than 150 employees and is part of the Mercer Group with more than 22,000 employees worldwide.

Kai Anderson has published several books. His most recent work, “Digital Human: Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt der Digitalisierung“ [Digital Human: Humans at the Centre of Digitalisation], was published by Campus Verlag. In this book, numerous representatives of large groups present their digital strategies that put the people at the centre. Among them: Thomas Birtel, CEO of STRABAG SE. ^[01]

References

The interview with Kai Anderson took place in the Leopold 250 office complex, owned by the investment company Hansainvest.