Masters of Disaster

When in a crisis situation, I would never pass up an opportunity to consider new or radical options to deal with a crisis.

Crises are emotionally unsettling; they make us more open and more vulnerable. And that is exactly the condition in which we are most able to recognize new opportunities. Most people are not particularly fond of change. But a crisis provides us with the opportunity and the external pressure to consider making changes that are long overdue. A crisis also provides us with the impulses to find approaches that we could never have come up with during the monotony of day-to-day activities.

Karl Wessely (karl.wessely@siemens.at) is the head of the Siemens Forum Vienna and is responsible for the Academy of Life, an initiative that brings young managers into contact with people who have led a life of exceptional achievement. He studied literature, philosophy, history, and theology at the University of Vienna and worked as a journalist for the Austrian Press Agency. He has worked for the past 10 years at Siemens AG Austria in public relations and advertising.