Time to sCore: Insights from the METRO Leadership Summit

00:00:00: Three days, one boxing ring, hundreds of leaders and a fight plan that will shape our future.

00:00:05: The Leadership Summit of the year was all about strategy, teamwork and bold moves.

00:00:11: And you can hear all that and much more in this episode.

00:00:15: So join me for the highlights of the Leadership Summit, put on your boxing gloves and let's step into the ring together.

00:00:34: Today I take you behind the scenes of Metro's most important management event of the year.

00:00:40: Over three days, more than three hundred executives gathered at the one metro campus in Düsseldorf to focus on a clear goal, turning strategy into results.

00:00:50: The summit provided updates from our management board, deep dives into priorities and practical insights on how we accelerate our multi-channel wholesale transformation.

00:01:00: In this episode, I'll share the most important messages that will guide us through the next coming months.

00:01:06: Then, let's get started with this special episode of more podcast, wholesale to the max.

00:01:16: A warm welcome to all of you.

00:01:17: dear colleagues, I am Bernd Roder from Global Internal Communications at Metro AG and responsible for this podcast.

00:01:24: In this special episode, I have once again summarized the most important statements made by our Metro Management Board at the last Leadership Summit to give you a first-hand overview of the key strategic topics.

00:01:36: Because I'm sure you feel the same way I do with all the small and large tasks and decisions in our daily business.

00:01:44: It's extremely important to keep our eyes on the North Star that guides us in the right direction.

00:01:50: And that's exactly what this episode aims to provide.

00:01:53: So look forward to hearing what Steffen Greubel, Eric Rieger, Christiane Giesen and Guillaume Derüter have to say about our score strategy.

00:02:02: I can promise you that there will be some interesting things for you to learn.

00:02:07: And there's also a sound souvenir in this episode, so be curious to find out what I've brought you today and what story lies behind it.

00:02:20: But now let's dive into this special atmosphere at the Leadership Summit, and the setting for the annual gathering of our top three hundred executives couldn't have been more fitting.

00:02:42: In the middle of the hall stands a boxing ring as a stage.

00:02:46: Blue and yellow boxing gloves hang from the ropes and behind the rows of seats quotes from famous boxers could be read on large display boards.

00:02:55: The special atmosphere in the room perfectly reflects the central message of the Leadership Summit.

00:03:01: Metro wants to continue growing and is gearing up for the next

00:03:05: punch.

00:03:08: As always, our CEO Steffen Greubel leads the way and is the first to enter the ring.

00:03:15: He opened the summit with energy and clarity, fast, focused, relentless in his execution.

00:03:21: Here are his key points in which he began by reminding us of our achievements and Metro's growth in the past financial year.

00:03:30: So the last year was a good year.

00:03:32: We are growing with six percent, five point nine to be precise.

00:03:37: pretty much the same that we grew the year before, pretty much the same that we aim to grow in this year.

00:03:42: So the company in the moment is on a speed of roughly six percent.

00:03:46: To be honest, six percent doesn't feel super, super high.

00:03:51: But when you look right and left and you look at the market conditions that we are in, you look at retail, you look at grocery, you look at other food formats, and you look at companies that have a certain size and that are focused on Europe.

00:04:04: You will not find any company that is continuously growing at the growth speed of six percent in the moment.

00:04:11: We are the growth champion of Europe to just make that very clear and we can be very proud of that.

00:04:19: So Metro is leading the pack in terms of growth, a strong foundation for everything that follows.

00:04:26: Stefan then went on to discuss Metro's growth drivers and emphasized the crucial role played by food service distribution.

00:04:35: The FSD.

00:04:37: is I think a very decisive step.

00:04:39: we did in the last year because FSD is now a true contributor to every line of the P&L.

00:04:46: We are adding more than a billion or we have added more than a billion in FSD sales in the last year at a growth of a bit of forty percent and it's a profitable business.

00:04:57: Yeah, the cash contribution, but also the EBITDA.

00:04:59: It's EBITDA.

00:05:00: EBIT break even.

00:05:01: So this is now really a serious business that we are having.

00:05:05: And last year, from my perspective, also with the efforts we all did together was really, really, really a big breakthrough.

00:05:12: So FSD is no longer just a growth engine.

00:05:15: It's profitable and strategically important.

00:05:18: And Stefan made it clear where we stand as Metro in the market.

00:05:22: We are the undisputed market leader in multi-channel wholesale.

00:05:28: Talking about pride number two.

00:05:31: Why should we be proud of what we have achieved?

00:05:34: And it's quite something.

00:05:35: actually.

00:05:35: sometimes we tend to forget in the operational stress that we are all in but I mean score really creates sustainable growth.

00:05:44: We will be the biggest FSD company in Europe.

00:05:48: We are by far the biggest cash and carry company if you would look at channel.

00:05:53: But we are now also the first year where we are the biggest FSD company on top and then of course as a consequence We also the biggest multi-channel wholesale company.

00:06:04: We are also eight billion ultra fresh company Amazing eight billion and we are adding an additional billion to it this year with the year of ultra fresh Productivity after inflation third time up in a row.

00:06:21: Not so many companies I tell you are achieving that and it's not the end, right?

00:06:26: So we are also doing a lot of good measures actually to increase productivity and You're not talking about that so much anymore, but I looked that up.

00:06:34: We are in terms of customer satisfaction on a all-time high.

00:06:39: So customers like what we are doing.

00:06:41: customers like when we are growing.

00:06:42: customers like when we are increasing productivity.

00:06:45: Customers like when we are really rolling out score and that's something that is great.

00:06:51: Now we come to what I believe is the centerpiece of the entire leadership summit and of this podcast episode, Stefan's five strategic principles for the year.

00:07:02: This is not just a list of buzzwords, it's the fight plan for our future and the mindset that will help us win every round in the boxing ring of business.

00:07:12: These principles connect everything the leadership team discussed at the summit, strategic execution, one metro spirit and the score mindset.

00:07:21: This year is going to be a decisive year for us.

00:07:24: So let's really try to bring score now to profit.

00:07:28: And I thought what would be good?

00:07:30: five motos, five claims that you carry with you and your teams when you are coming home.

00:07:39: And these are the five sentences that I would like you to remember.

00:07:44: Growth is still king.

00:07:47: Live the ambiguity.

00:07:49: Old excellence for new performance.

00:07:53: Break the shell and seek and destroy.

00:07:59: Stefan didn't just name the principles, he explained what they mean and why they matter.

00:08:04: So let's go through each one in detail.

00:08:07: First up, growth is still king.

00:08:10: In a year where we talk a lot about cost leadership and efficiency, Stefan reminds us that growth remains the ultimate knockout punch.

00:08:34: doesn't mean that we will achieve our targets only by savings.

00:08:38: We cannot save ourselves into the future.

00:08:40: It's impossible, mathematically impossible.

00:08:43: You see, we want to sit into the twenty-thirty, maybe even faster, at two billion EBITDA.

00:08:50: Without growth, no chance.

00:08:54: So, although we are talking cost, We need to focus growth.

00:08:59: It needs to be in the center of all activity.

00:09:02: Growth

00:09:03: will heal most of our problems and we need to carry that as a mantra in front of us and still work on all the efficiency measures that are out there.

00:09:14: So even while we work on cost initiatives, growth must stay in the center of all our activities.

00:09:21: And that brings us to this second principle, one that's about mindset and about embracing contradictions.

00:09:28: Because in transformation, there are everywhere.

00:09:33: Talking about ambiguity.

00:09:36: We need to live it.

00:09:38: And I know it's complicated.

00:09:40: Because our people, they ask us.

00:09:44: How is it possible that the company is reducing costs?

00:09:47: And still, as you can see in the background, we are supporting Fortuna Dusseldorf.

00:09:54: We are doing store manager of the year.

00:09:56: We are inviting our best store manager with their wives and sending them to an Ed Sheeran concert.

00:10:01: So that means it could be that people say, listen, how can it be possible that you do mess layoffs?

00:10:05: And on the other hand, you are sponsoring.

00:10:07: How can that be?

00:10:08: This is the ambiguity, ladies and gentlemen, that we need to live.

00:10:12: We will not achieve that consistency.

00:10:15: So that means this ambiguity, it will not go away.

00:10:19: I guess the main thing that we need to do is to explain our people.

00:10:25: So it's not a contradiction to save and invest at the same time.

00:10:30: We need to embrace that.

00:10:32: We need to explain that.

00:10:34: It's very important because I know we cannot resolve this inconsistency thing.

00:10:39: cost cuts and investments, efficiency and bold moves, they can and must coexist.

00:10:45: And while we embrace ambiguity, we also need to remember the basics.

00:10:50: That's principle number three.

00:10:53: Old excellence for new performance.

00:10:55: What we did is we talked to a couple of colleagues here in the room that are around for quite a bit and that know how it is to run a store based on MMS list and zero stock data.

00:11:09: and store tours, and gap checks, and zero picks, and shrinkage management, and fill rate management, and all this kind of shit.

00:11:19: This is super, super relevant and actual, I tell you.

00:11:23: We're talking a lot about digital, about this, about metro markets, about IT, AI, everything.

00:11:29: And we need to talk about it and we need to embrace it.

00:11:32: But still, this kind of word cloud that is coming from the interviews we did.

00:11:37: with the folks.

00:11:39: This is still very relevant.

00:11:40: So let's not forget what good store and process management looks like.

00:11:46: Let's not forget what being close to customers and being down to the earth and to the ground for management looks like.

00:11:53: And I think this old excellence we need to embrace because it will help you to create new performance on top of what we are doing in the multi-channel transformation of the business.

00:12:04: Building on strong basics gives us the confidence to challenge ourselves.

00:12:10: And that's exactly what the next principle is about.

00:12:13: Break the shell.

00:12:15: This is about breaking internal barriers and questioning old habits.

00:12:21: Break the shell.

00:12:22: Eighty percent of our success is internally.

00:12:28: It's not the market, it's not the rain, it's not the weather, it's not the... Competition is not the regulation is not the state is not.

00:12:37: whatever is in us.

00:12:40: I tell you, colleagues, we need to create that level of discomfort that we are really feeling that we need to cast away the shell that is hindering our growth as a company.

00:12:55: That sound may be a little bit cryptic for you.

00:12:59: But what I mean with that, we have so many regulations that we set ourselves.

00:13:03: There is such a big history of things that are still embedded in our company that need to be questioned.

00:13:10: And we need to have this level of uncomfortableness, like a lobster, like a shellfish.

00:13:16: Because without this level

00:13:18: of

00:13:19: uncomfortableness, you will never feel the need to cast that away and to grow.

00:13:25: And if you don't have that feeling, that you're getting complacent and used to things that VRR have established over the last twenty years, we will not be able to grow significantly more than now.

00:13:39: Growth starts inside by challenging what holds us back.

00:13:44: And finally, Stefan calls for boldness in the market, seek and destroy.

00:13:49: It sounds aggressive and it is, because now is the time to win market share and strike, while competitors are weak.

00:13:58: Last but not least.

00:13:59: seek and destroy.

00:14:02: We are winning market share again, as you can see in the numbers.

00:14:06: We are doing this since I'm here, and most probably before.

00:14:08: we also won it.

00:14:10: The difference that I'm observing is that you now see market share wins also physically happening in the countries and in the entities.

00:14:20: You see competition

00:14:22: now

00:14:22: weaker than ever.

00:14:24: You see now cash and carries closing sell gross Number three in Germany cash and carry operator has closed more than twenty percent of the stores.

00:14:35: They don't believe in cash and carry anymore.

00:14:36: I tell you right away There's others that have closed.

00:14:40: There's companies for sale significant companies.

00:14:43: That tells us we are in the moment of a market consolidation.

00:14:47: It's not only happening in Excel and in PowerPoint.

00:14:50: It's also happening now in reality.

00:14:53: And my point is, it's now the best moment to punch.

00:14:58: And my and our ask as the board to you guys is now to single out one competitor in every country you are operating, in every entity, and to bring him down, to call him, to really send him, you know, on the ground, because they are really weak.

00:15:19: Let's kind of agree.

00:15:21: that we try to be aggressive in the market and really, really trying to knock down one of the competitions.

00:15:30: Thank you very much.

00:15:40: Following Stefan's powerful opening, it was time for the second round of the Leadership Summit.

00:15:45: Our CFO, Erik Rieger, updated us on mastering the footwork, staying agile, controlling costs and maintaining the right balance between investment and profitability.

00:15:58: Erich didn't just share numbers, he showed how financial discipline and strategic growth go hand in

00:16:04: hand.

00:16:05: His message was clear, we fight to win, not only in sales but also in EBITDA and cash flow.

00:16:12: Let's go through his messages, each one a critical move in our fight plan.

00:16:18: Erich started with a look back at the past year and the good news that set the tone for everything that follows.

00:16:27: a towel here because actually we had a successful year and a positive outlook for next year.

00:16:34: So let's have a look on more numbers.

00:16:36: Stefan already talked about the sales.

00:16:39: Sales are five point nine percent.

00:16:40: Great.

00:16:41: And this is the underlying topic here.

00:16:43: We really have to grow without growth.

00:16:46: It doesn't work.

00:16:47: So that's a really positive development.

00:16:50: The next positive development is the EBITDA development over the last three years.

00:16:55: Our EBITDA went down.

00:16:57: So we have now achieved the first year again that we're growing again.

00:17:02: And this is a combination of certain topics, growth, but also cost consciousness and other topics.

00:17:10: So after years of decline, EBITDA is back on track.

00:17:13: and that brings us to the next point.

00:17:16: What's the plan for next year?

00:17:18: Eric laid out the targets for the coming year and they are ambitious.

00:17:24: Looking at the following years now, next year the target is to grow another six point seven percent.

00:17:30: So five point nine, six point seven percent again.

00:17:33: And then EBITDA development, two hundred twenty million on top.

00:17:38: And then even more, if you now look at the free cash flow, three hundred sixty million.

00:17:43: Of course this is our ambitious target.

00:17:46: We always say for next year we want to break even at least with our free cash flow excluding transformation costs.

00:17:52: So this will be a big swing and we have a lot of underlying KPIs confirming that we really can achieve this.

00:18:00: So everyone is contributing in this direction.

00:18:02: So really positive outlook for next year.

00:18:06: Growth, EBITDA, cash flow all moving in the right direction.

00:18:10: But what's driving this?

00:18:12: The answer is clear.

00:18:13: FSD remains the star player in our financial fight plan.

00:18:18: Next year we want to grow another fourteen percent on FSD.

00:18:23: So and this is inflation just grows mainly in FSD and then cash and carry four percent as well.

00:18:30: We have a lot of sales inflation in there.

00:18:32: So overall we want to come to close to thirty four billion in sales next year.

00:18:38: And even more important this additional sales.

00:18:41: brings us additional EBITDA.

00:18:43: and you see here and this is a really good development the FSD really contributing nearly

00:18:50: half

00:18:51: of the additional EBITDA for next year I have to say current business year already for our total EBITDA.

00:18:58: so hundred twenty million.

00:19:00: it brings a lot of income has higher costs as we know with additional delivery costs and so on But this is really contributing to this and cash and carry.

00:19:10: We have a stable business there with additional income as well.

00:19:13: So really positive development.

00:19:16: FSD is powering growth and profitability.

00:19:20: But Eric also reminded us of the bigger picture, our long term score targets.

00:19:25: And he made it clear that we are on track for our ambitions.

00:19:30: We always committed to our score target, forty billion in sales.

00:19:38: We are on track again.

00:19:40: So you can see on the lower left actually by twenty eight if we achieve our ambitious targets.

00:19:45: thirty nine point six billion EBITDA.

00:19:48: one point nine billion in twenty eight and then free cash flow.

00:19:52: like I said we want to do the turnaround this year and then we really go up to four hundred seventy million.

00:19:58: so these are ambitious targets.

00:20:00: of course longer the timeline more difficult to achieve but we are really positive now with a change in what happened actually in twenty-five now that we can achieve these numbers.

00:20:12: So really I would say round of applause to all of you because all of you contributed to

00:20:16: this.

00:20:23: Ambitious targets but achievable if we all pull together.

00:20:28: Afterwards Eric talked about a plant cashflow bootcamp, a program to make sure everyone at Metro understands the impact of their actions.

00:20:38: Free cash flow, as you heard more and more now, everyone is looking onto the real free cash flow because every time we can play around, free cash flow, you can't play around.

00:20:48: You really show the transparent numbers and everyone in the organization, Salesforce, area manager, buyers, everyone should know what are my consequences if I do something for my overall impact in the business for overall free cash flow.

00:21:05: So we decided to train everyone and get a right understanding for this.

00:21:10: And so we said, we need a cash row bootcamp.

00:21:13: So together with people in culture, we're working on digital tool, e-learning for all metro employees.

00:21:20: We will have leadership programs and then really target certain groups with certain examples, bringing that to the organization.

00:21:29: So financial knowledge becomes a superpower with the cash flow bootcamp and will create awareness and accountability because free cash flow is not just a finance topic, it's a business topic.

00:21:43: Eric's last point was about accelerating efficiency through our global service centers, a big lever for cost leadership.

00:21:52: Another topic is the GSE.

00:21:55: We have successful transfer over the last fifteen years already.

00:21:59: You have a shared service center.

00:22:01: A lot of projects and processes over to our shared service center.

00:22:05: They do a great job doing this in finance, accounting.

00:22:10: We started with marketing as well, so saving costs there and so on.

00:22:15: We want to increase this.

00:22:16: So there was really stable headcount in Shared Service Center.

00:22:20: Now we're really accelerating.

00:22:22: So we added three hundred people in the Shared Service Center.

00:22:25: We will add another three hundred people.

00:22:27: Why?

00:22:28: Because we're accelerating now.

00:22:29: This will be big savings for us overall and not all the savings, but more efficiency and easiness and more focus that you can focus on your commercial topics.

00:22:40: And the back end can really take over by Shared Service Centers.

00:22:44: Thank you very much.

00:22:51: Overall, Eric's update showed us the perfect balance between offense and defense, driving growth while controlling costs, increasing efficiency and creating a culture of financial responsibility.

00:23:06: Financial footwork is what keeps us in the game and with these moves, we are ready for the next round.

00:23:16: After the financial footwork, it was time for the third round with COO Christiane Giesen and CCMO Guillaume Derüter.

00:23:25: If Stefan gave us the fight plan and Eric showed us the footwork, Christiane and Guillaume brought the combination punches, operational excellence and commercial power.

00:23:36: Their message was clear, collaboration and focus are the keys to winning every round.

00:23:42: They spoke about how OneMetroSpirit drives results across the value chain from FSD growth to cash and carry attractiveness and digital transformation.

00:23:53: Let's go through their key points, each one a decisive move in our multi-channel strategy.

00:24:00: Exactly

00:24:01: one year ago

00:24:02: we were

00:24:03: standing here and quoting great things in business and never done by one person.

00:24:09: Great things in business can only achieved by a great team of people.

00:24:15: And today exactly now we are standing here and saying we are super proud to say we have achieved that.

00:24:26: Because for more than fifteen

00:24:29: months,

00:24:29: Guillaume and me are working in this kind of constellation together and during this time we build a strong partnership which is actually based of our first of all on trust, second on shared priorities and third on consistent delivery in terms of our priorities.

00:24:52: Our commercial and operational agendas became one joint story and the story is very simple.

00:25:03: It's about focus and it's about collaboration.

00:25:08: Trust, shared priorities and consistent delivery.

00:25:11: That's the foundation of Christianus and Guillaume's working relationship and their joint story behind it, which is all about focus and collaboration.

00:25:21: We talked a lot about collaboration last year, and when we look at the past twelve months, we have seen that collaboration focused working together, trusting each other in this work together, has delivered great value and great business improvements.

00:25:38: When we visit countries, we really see the power of collaboration, the power of working together in motion, whether it is an FSD, or in the repurposing of our stores in what we call multi-channel fulfillment centers, which are bringing efficiency.

00:25:53: when we see the improvements thanks to this availability, feel rate, the whole sale in power.

00:26:01: I mean, this is all done through collaboration, through collaboration and trusting each other in making things happening on the field.

00:26:09: Collaboration is not just a word, it's a driver of measurable impact.

00:26:14: And nowhere is it that clearer than in FSD, which remains the gross engine.

00:26:20: And Guillaume shared impressive numbers.

00:26:23: It was said earlier, FSD grew by fourteen percent, which is sixteen percent in the out of store and eight percent for the FSD specialist.

00:26:32: One point one, one point two billion more sales.

00:26:34: One point.

00:26:34: two billion means it's Bulgaria plus Croatia together done in one year.

00:26:40: I mean, it's a great achievement.

00:26:44: We were saying three years ago that we need to grow FSD to around four and a half percent, five percent, a BDA.

00:26:51: This is a benchmark.

00:26:53: And we bring this target saying every year we should try to gain one point of a BDA.

00:26:58: For the past two years, year on year, we have grown our BDA in FSD by one point.

00:27:04: We are already now at two point three percent.

00:27:06: Halfway through our target.

00:27:09: That's a great achievement.

00:27:11: And we do this.

00:27:13: By saying also now and being convinced that growth is not a trade-off against profitability or Profitability is not a trade-off against growth.

00:27:23: It can go together and We do it right, but we can even do it better Because this year for example, we have done a lot of improvement on cost to serves.

00:27:33: That's a great example of how we professionalize our FSD business.

00:27:38: but we have encephalogram flat on income and that's why we have put now profit optimization and income management into our priorities.

00:27:48: FSD is growing quickly and becoming profitable, but Christiane reminded us that cash and carry remains a key battleground.

00:27:57: Most of our people work here, so reversing the trend was a major win.

00:28:03: We reverse the trend.

00:28:04: If you're only looking at the cash and carry sales and volumes, we are coming from minus four point nine percent in twenty three up to four point four percent in twenty five.

00:28:16: So that is proving that we are regaining attractiveness for our customer that we do increase the frequency that we do also increase the share of wallet.

00:28:26: So that's actually a good story and we have achieved a lot.

00:28:30: We need to even work further on it, but we have successfully changed the trend.

00:28:38: Nevertheless, we need to translate the regain growth and talking about sales and volumes into EBIT and in the end also into a better cash flow, but therefore we need to improve our productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

00:28:56: Cash and Carry is back on track and now it's time to unlock the next big opportunity, digital.

00:29:02: Metro markets.

00:29:03: it's a huge untapped potential we do have.

00:29:06: we are online in six markets and we as a team where we are online.

00:29:12: we need to increase our B to B customer share our conversion rate and we need to do the homework in terms of optimizing the assortment we are offering our customers especially our B to B customers at the same time that we are seamlessly integrating the right pricing to get our customers really good experience online and also offline.

00:29:40: Digital transformation is not optional.

00:29:42: It's essential for our multi-channel strategy.

00:29:45: And before closing, Christiane and Guillaume had one more important message.

00:29:51: In the end, I mean, we have the experience of the last year.

00:29:55: It's all about working as one team.

00:29:59: Working into the same direction, having the same priorities and in the end it's all about collaboration.

00:30:17: This is the essence of our One Metro spirit and the key to winning every round.

00:30:23: Christian and Guillaume showed us what collaboration looks like in action, FSD growth, cash and carry recovery and digital acceleration.

00:30:32: From bell to bell, their message was clear.

00:30:35: Focus, consistency and teamwork will win this fight.

00:30:40: To wrap it up, I would say that the Leadership Summit of the year was more than an event.

00:30:46: It was a statement.

00:30:48: A statement that Metro is ready to fight for its future round after round with courage, clarity and commitment.

00:30:55: From Stefan's five principles, our fight plan for the year to Eric's financial footwork and Christiane's and Guillaume's call for collaboration, one thing became crystal clear.

00:31:07: Success is not about one punch, it's about the combination of moves.

00:31:12: For me, the most powerful takeaway is this.

00:31:16: When we fight as one Metro, we are unstoppable.

00:31:20: So let's take this energy from the ring back into our daily work.

00:31:24: Let's Keep the gloves on, stay relentless and deliver results that make us proud.

00:31:42: fruit and vegetables, everything our gastronomy customers want and value.

00:31:47: And now, we are going one step further together.

00:31:51: The big fresh is more than just a campaign, it's a movement, it's a mindset and we are making it tangable everywhere at Metro and Macro.

00:32:01: Our goal?

00:32:01: An additional three hundred million euros in the ultra-fresh assortments.

00:32:05: And we can only achieve this together as one Metro.

00:32:09: To this end, there are new training courses, best practice stories, powerful tools, a recognition program and an unforgettable incentive trip for the best ultra-fresh performers.

00:32:21: So, sell fresh and win big.

00:32:23: Make the big fresh visible.

00:32:25: Bring your ideas, energy and pride to the table.

00:32:29: Together, we transform products into experiences and experiences into growth.

00:32:35: You can find all the information and updates on The Big Fresh on United.

00:32:39: Just click on the link in the show notes of this episode.

00:32:47: So, dear colleagues, just before we finish up today's episode, I've got something to share with you my personal sound souvenir.

00:32:56: It's a sound that, for me, captures the spirit of this year's Leadership Summit, a sound that reminds me of the energy, the bold moves and the one-metre spirit the leadership team felt over these three days.

00:33:10: So, dear colleagues, listen to what sound I've brought you.

00:33:22: Yeah, that sound, the boxing gong, takes me back to the moment when my colleagues from Global Internal Communications and I first sat down together to came up with the idea for this Leadership Summit.

00:33:34: We wanted something that would break routines, something that would make everyone feel the energy of execution.

00:33:41: And that's why we choose the boxing theme, because strategy execution is a fight.

00:33:47: It's about rounds, about resilience, about hitting hard when it matters.

00:33:52: And I remember the discussions with my colleagues, how we do make this more than just presentations, how do we turn it into an experience.

00:34:01: And then someone said, Let's make it a real fight camp, with a ring, with rituals and with a boxing gong.

00:34:10: Fast forward to today.

00:34:12: It worked.

00:34:13: The energy in the room, the clarity of the messages, the commitment from the entire management team, it showed that this concept wasn't just creative, it was also powerful.

00:34:23: And for me, the gong is the sound of focus, of courage and of course also of our One Metro spirit.

00:34:36: And with that, we come to the end of this special episode of more podcast.

00:34:40: Thank you for listening and for joining me on this journey through the highlights of the Leadership Summit, two thousand twenty five.

00:34:48: If you have any requests for topics or would like to give me feedback on this podcast, please feel free to drop me an email or message me on teams.

00:34:57: Stay tuned for the next regular episode of more podcasts and please check out the previous episodes as well.

00:35:04: You can find them just like this one on United or everywhere else.

00:35:07: you listen to podcasts.

00:35:09: Subscribe to us there and most of all, recommend more podcasts to all your colleagues.

00:35:15: See you in the next round and in the next episode of more podcasts.

00:35:19: Bye bye and take care.