A year to remember – and to learn from

Remember 2022? What a year it has been – for the world, the global economy, for us as a company, and individually. From humanitarian and geopolitical crises and instable market environments to rising living costs: #change and insecurity have affected us in 2022. It was a year of massive challenges, successes and setbacks, but most of all, it was one of learning. Learning how to deal with disruptions. Learning how we want to work together. For me, one key take-away is that we can drive positive change when we stand together in solidarity. We can build an inclusive yet winning #culture, making a clear difference in the competition.

Now, we have already welcomed the new year. A time which embodies the spirit of beginnings. We look into the future with hope and positive expectation. I would also like to take this opportunity to stop for a moment and reflect on what we’ve accomplished in the past months. I do this without claiming completeness…

The year 2022 brought difficult conditions, but we haven’t let them paralyze us. We’ve taken the opportunity to take back the steering wheel and used our spirit and strength to tackle challenges and carry our business forward. We’ve learned that we don’t always have to know all the answers right away: the key to success is opening up to each other and create strong, diverse teams, based on trust and collaboration.

After years in “crisis mode”, we all hoped 2022 would calm down and bring back some of the “normality” we lost with the start of the Covid pandemic. And in some respects, we got what we hoped for. Many of us have returned to the office on a more regular basis, we have reconnected and experienced events again. But in many other ways, 2022 intensified the crisis mode. As an international company, with team members spread all over the globe, we faced many tense situations. Please allow me to mention Ukraine specifically: we have been shocked by the Russian invasion to Ukraine and the terrible war in the middle of Europe. It is all the more important that we continue to show strong solidarity as an international community and provide aid.

Internally, it was a year of change for us. With merging our two units Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care to one unit “Consumer Brands”, we carried out one of the most important strategic realignments for @Henkel in many years. Despite the extremely challenging environment, we’ve continued to invest in our brands, technologies, and infrastructure. We have made important progress in our #sustainability ambitions towards #climate positivity, circular economy, and social progress. And we have made the difficult but right decision to exit our business in Russia.

And through all of this, we have progressed in our #culturaltransformation. We started shaping our very own “new normal”.?

??????We rolled out our Smart Work framework, as a holistic concept covering guidelines on #mobilework, enhancing health & #wellbeing of our colleagues, and building up our digital workplace and new office environment.?

??????We reinforced our commitment to gender parity through setting up a clear ambition for 2025 and entrepreneurial drive to make this happen.

??????We turned vision into reality by living up to our company purpose and the Leadership Commitments – showing that culture is much more than just words, but a commitment we drive forward every day through our actions.?

??????We celebrated our second Global Learning Festival – a big success with over 6,000 Henkel participants worldwide.

Great ambitions and achievements! And this is exactly what we will build on this year, by introducing new high performing team journeys, which encapsulate how we want to operate as a team – with trust, passionate open debate, clear decision making and with a focus on collective results. Embracing these behaviors will serve as an additional enabler to our leadership culture.

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This is the mindset I would like to take over into this new year. Without wanting to sound gloomy – 2023 will bring its own, even bigger challenges. We are heading towards a recession with inflation remaining high, we will continue to have to deal with disruptions in our supply chain and energy supply … to name just a few. We need to be prepared for a difficult year.

Let me end on a personal note: While it was a tough year with tough decisions, 2022 was also a year from which I draw energy. I see the commitment and passion with which our team has pulled together to overcome all the challenges. That makes me very confident. 2023 is therefore also a new beginning, for our company with a new organizational and set-up and also for me personally. I am looking forward to what is to come!