Once a large corporation, always a large corporation? There are always managers who move from large, international companies to SMEs. Their motivation: to achieve great things in small companies. Our interview partner of the month Christoph Staub has worked for years in globally active, innovative companies with foreign subsidiaries.
He then embarked on a new chapter in his career: He moved to a Swiss SME with an owner-managed board of directors. This well-considered decision fulfilled a long-cherished wish for him after 10 years of working in Germany.
Christoph Staub has been applying his international leadership experience in C-level and corporate management as CEO of the SME Allpack Group AG, part of the family-run Rhenochem Group, since the end of 2021. Allpack Group AG is a leading packaging service provider based in Reinach (BL) and employs around 100 people. Today, Christoph Staub not only works with a much smaller team of employees compared to his previous positions, he has also switched from the system solution supplier side to the supply chain service provider side. Allpack Group AG focuses primarily on the pharmaceutical, medical technology, cosmetics and food supplements sectors and counts national and international companies among its customers.
Christoph Staub has taken over the management of the company in the course of a Succession planning from its predecessor Erhard Creator who had managed the company for nine years before retiring. The handover was well planned and prepared for the long term, and Christoph Staub settled in perfectly. Driven by his ideas and ambitions, the company is developing rapidly and very positively with new management. Christoph Staub appreciates the short decision-making processes, dynamism and flexibility of an SME like Allpack Group AG. He sees himself as a manager who likes to develop and expand things. It is therefore not surprising that he has initiated major changes within a very short space of time. To achieve this vision, he also lends a hand himself operationally - another difference to the large corporations he has worked for in the past - and clearly enjoys it.
Find out more about Christoph Staub in our interview, how he likes to start the day, what his definition of success is and what career advice he takes to heart.
Mr. Staub, if you had taken a different path when you were younger, what would you have become?
"Probably pilot, as I like traveling to get to know new countries, people and cultures and still always find my way back to Switzerland. My cousin, who was born in the same year, became a Swiss pilot instead of me."
What is your favorite way to start your day?
"Early to enjoy the 'calm before the storm', take a short walk with my dog and make final plans for the day ahead, make adjustments and briefly go through the day's program again."
What would you work for free for a week?
"Basically for any kind of humanitarian support, be it in the immediate vicinity, such as for Swiss Mountain Aid, or in a distant foreign country for a development project in Africa, animal and environmental protection or simply to eliminate 'injustice & injustice'."
What does success mean to you personally?
"To create something with 'meaning and sustainability', to accompany someone or a team on the way to a desired goal and/or to receive positive feedback or a thank you for their actions and behavior."
What was the best professional advice you ever received?
"Always be open to new things, because no two days are the same."
We would like to thank Mr. Staub for his contribution to this article. This interview was conducted by telephone.
Editor: Neslihan Steiner
Batterman Consulting Basel AG
Executive Search,
Byfangweg 1a, CH-4051 Basel
T +41 58 680 55 55
basel@batterman.ch
