What you'll learn

• 1 (00:00) **Introduction & Setup** - Host Marco introduces guest Prof. Dr. Guido Möllering from Witten/Herdecke University, an expert on trust and cooperative relationships, setting up the episode’s central question.
• 2 (01:31) **The Practitioner’s Pull** - Möllering explains why he would choose a room of managers over academics on a conference, valuing real-world friction over familiar academic discussions.
• 3 (04:38) **Role Clarity on the Conference Floor** - Möllering describes how he presents himself as a scientist to practitioners, emphasizing a peer-to-peer exchange rather than a top-down lecture.
• 4 (06:56) **The Foundational Purpose of Business** - Möllering lays out his core economic belief: the economy exists for society, not the other way around, framing this as the essential starting point for any management discussion.
• 5 (09:48) **Blurring the Lines: Management vs. Leadership** - Möllering rejects the sharp, often hierarchical distinction between “managing” and “leading,” arguing both are essential dimensions of any modern leadership role.
• 6 (12:47) **The Situational Dance of Task and Relationship** - Möllering endorses a situational approach where leaders must fluently switch focus between the factual task and the human relationship as the situation demands.
• 7 (17:05) **The End of Pure Exploitation** - Marco argues that the “exploitation” mode of business—purely executing known processes without human consideration—is a dead end, as it is either already automated or a guaranteed path to failure.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app