WHY?

Moms and Dads with young children continuously hear those nagging “why?” and “what for?” questions from their kids. As they grow into young adults, those develop more into “how” questions: How do I get this done? How do I tackle these challenges? How do I meet my goals? Sometimes however, it makes sense to come back to those more universal and, frankly, more earth-shattering questions children ask. The big WHYs? Here’s one from my professional walk of life: Why does Mercedes-Benz exist, actually?

Typically, I prefer not to cite quotes by famous people to make my own message sound smart. But I kind of like this one from Mark Twain:

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out WHY!

Now, I don’t know the meaning of life in general terms. That topic is better left to philosophers and religion. But I do know that it’s important to define the purpose of your company. Which is a complex but certainly more doable task. People need orientation, especially in times of volatility.

So, what is the purpose of Daimler?

Just improving “KPIs” is not a holistic answer. Better return on sales only show our company is healthy – but not where it is headed and why. Last year, we launched our Leadership 2020 initiative to define a common answer and provide directions.

Here are my two cents: The car has always been more than a means to get from A to B. It is and remains also a personal Declaration of Independence – not only independence from horses or trains, but independence from distances: from the limits of your home town; from local employers and landlords; and, at a certain age, also from your parents.

But here’s the paradox: As more and more people seek that individual independence through auto-mobility, the more we realize it comes with a couple of not so great dependencies.

First is the dependency on oil, which was once cheap and abundant. Now, we have to dig ever deeper with ever higher environmental risks. And looking at the long-term effects on our climate, we now realize that oil may cost us more than what we pay at the pump.

Second is the dependency on physical space – another very scarce resource. The gridlock in Shanghai or Bombay even makes the rush-hours in LA or Berlin look like fun in comparison. And let’s face it: Billions of people in China, India and other highly populated growth countries have only begun to discover individual mobility. In other words: If there’s a challenge for the automobile it’s in its ever-growing success!

And this is where the light went on for us at Daimler. Because helping solve that paradox is our purpose. Our vision is to take everything that has made the car great to date – individual freedom, liberty, mobility – and provide the next level of independence for society as a whole. And to do the latter without sacrificing the former.

That’s why we are passionate about connectivity. That’s why we continue to push ahead with autonomous driving. That’s why we are eager to push sharing and services. That’s why we know it’s right to go electric. And that’s why we are transforming our CORE business and ramping up our CASE business.

At the same time we are looking into another fascinating idea: taking individual mobility to the third dimension. That’s why we invested in the startup behind the Volocopter.

All of this is not just triggered by external threats, but by our strong inner will to innovate in our services, our products and our company’s culture. And that exactly is our big WHY.