CEO RONNY ZINGRE TEMPORARILY SAYS GOODBYE AND GOES ON FAMILY LEAVE FOR 4 MONTHS

DEAR RONNY, YOU HAVE DECIDED TO LEAVE YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE AS CEO FOR THE NEXT 4 MONTHS TO DEDICATE YOURSELF FULLY TO YOUR FAMILY. WHAT LED YOU TO THIS DECISION?

After almost 10 years as CEO, I would now like to concentrate fully on the new addition to my family. It is a great and intense anticipation to get to know my daughter. To make this mutual getting to know work, it needs this sole focus on the family. In the normal day-to-day life, in my role as owner and CEO, it is very difficult to separate business and private life. Often workdays are long and MBV is omnipresent.

WHAT IS THE RATE OF MBV EMPLOYEES WHO ALSO ENJOYED EXTENDED PATERNITY LEAVE?

Today, this rate is too low in our company. There has always been a demand from expectant mothers to take a little longer time off. We have always complied with this request, and changing working hours in combination with home office is not a problem. However, in my opinion, Swiss society is backward when it comes to parental leave. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to transfer this opinion into our own working conditions with all consistency. My goal now is to lead by example and take a clear stand. I can imagine a model that will make parental leave more flexible. With my time off, I'm setting an example of what parental leave could also look like for fathers in the future.

HOW DID PEOPLE AROUND YOU REACT TO YOUR DECISION?

Very positive. Many friends, acquaintances, work colleagues and business partners congratulated me on this step. In addition, very profound conversations about the equality of men and women arose. Many people are convinced that it will be beneficial for my daughter and me to get to know each other in a quiet way. Furthermore, the support for my wife, thanks to this time off, was commented very positively – especially by mothers who reflected back on the first months in this new situation.

However, those around me often asked the same question: Can you let go in business? And my answer has always been the same: I have spent the last ten years building a team, developing and consolidating processes, and distributing responsibility among several shoulders. I am convinced that my team will continue to deliver the usual MBV quality. I am very much looking forward to my re-entry in mid-August – maybe we’ll restart and approach some points differently. 

HOW HAVE YOU PREPARED FOR THE UPCOMING MONTHS?

I've taken my bike in for service, had my running shoes refurbished, and removed the business email account from my phone. Our collaborative tools are muted and removed from the home screen. Mentally, I prepare for cooking, which I want to deepen. My wife has already listed her favorite recipes, which I may cook for her after the birth. Let's see if reality will stick to our plans (laughs). On the business side, I have been preparing for my time out in a very structured way, especially with the management team. About a month ago we started with the operational distribution of the various tasks. As a consequence, I stayed out of the operational meetings for the last two weeks and was only available for questions.

WHAT DO YOU THINK, WHICH LESSONS YOU LEARNED IN TEN YEARS AS A CEO WILL HELP YOU MANAGE THE CHALLENGING DAY-TO-DAY LIFE WITH A BABY? 

Keeping calm in hectic situations accompanies me a lot as CEO. I often – not always – succeed in remaining calm. My own offspring will lead to situations in which calmness and over-view will certainly be an advantage. I am currently reading Dave Grohl's book "The Storyteller: Stories from Life and Music". Dave tells how he is standing in front of the door, covered in blood, due to an accident with a golf club. I can already feel myself shuddering. I hope nothing like that will ever happen, but if it does, I hope for calm, clarity, and clear, comprehensible decisions.

As CEO, I am often confronted with new situations that require me to step out of my comfort zone. I am convinced that there will also be situations in my private life that I will have to face, and I hope that to benefit from the business experience in doing so.

LEAN IS A BIG TOPIC AT MBV AND IS ACTIVELY PRACTICED. HAVE YOU ALREADY PLANNED FOR LEAN IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF YOUR BABY'S LIFE? 

I negotiated with my wife that we will put away our daughter's clothes according to a strict process. Namely from left to right and from top to bottom. From left to right in the order, they need to be put on the little one, so for example, 1st bodysuit, 2nd panties, 3rd sweater, etc. From top to bottom are then the clothes for 1-month babies at the top, below are the ones for 2 months, then 3 months, etc. (smiles). In the sense of a continuous improvement process, we will of course take a close look at this process and consistently improve it. I hope to be able to increase productivity accordingly. The first as-is analysis of the process will take place about 3 weeks after the 'delivery', i.e. the birth.

THAT SOUNDS VERY PROMISING! WE LOOK FORWARD TO LEARNING HOW THIS PROCESS PERFORMS AT HOME.

NOT EVERYONE DARES TO TAKE A BREAK AS CEO. ARE YOU CONFIDENT THAT EVERYTHING WILL RUN SMOOTHLY WITHOUT YOUR CONSTANT PRESENCE?

Our customers are always satisfied with the work we do, and it is done without my direct involvement. Our team consists of many different personalities and skills – I am simply a part of it. That makes us unique as a team.

In short, yes, I am firmly convinced that we will continue to put our customers at the center of our work in the coming months – every day anew, and even without my presence. My absence will not change the attitude of the team.

CROSS YOUR HEART, HOW OFTEN DO YOU THINK YOU WILL STILL CHECK YOUR EMAILS, THE TEAMS CHANNEL, OR FOLLOW OTHER MBV ACTIVITIES?

I believe I can do without emails and notifications quite well. It is my top priority to act as a good example and to really withdraw completely during my time off. But being a family business, the topic of MBV is always present at family reunions. So I'm sure I'll catch a bit of what's going on. But that's all right.