Remaining Honest When Everything Becomes Difficult
There is a great difference between owning a company and feeling responsible for every person who is part of it. I felt that difference throughout my life. To me, a company was never a simple collection of computers, contracts, or offices. A company was first made up of human beings. Every colleague had a family. Every supplier had obligations of his own. Every customer relied on our word. I carried that awareness with me every day.
Not as a burden about which I complained, but as a responsibility I had chosen myself. Responsibility, however, means far more than making sure salaries and invoices are paid. It also determines how we treat people when circumstances become difficult. When everything is going well, it is easy to be honest. Promises can then be kept without great effort. The future seems predictable. The true test begins when certainty disappears.
When we no longer know what tomorrow will bring. And when every decision may have consequences for people who placed their trust in us. Perhaps that was also why I often made important decisions more cautiously than others. I did not think only about today. I thought about tomorrow. And even the day after tomorrow.
When we wanted to invest again, I did not ask only what it might bring us. I also thought about what might happen if everything went wrong. Not only for me, but for all the people who relied on us. Marco carried that same sense of responsibility within him. He rarely spoke about it.
But I saw it. In his eyes. In the way he continued working until late in the evening. In the stacks of files he took home. In telephone conversations that continued long after dinner. Someone who knew him only superficially saw a young entrepreneur full of energy. A man with ideas. With enthusiasm. With an almost limitless faith in the future. Someone who truly knew him understood how much pressure he placed on himself.
He did not want to disappoint anyone. Not our colleagues. Not our partners. And above all, not me. But I never asked that of him. Quite the opposite. I often reminded him that no company is more important than a human being. Money can be earned again. A project can be rebuilt.
But health, inner peace, and family are irreplaceable. The sad thing is that we often give advice like that to others more easily than we follow it ourselves. I too did not always succeed in living by my own words. When the worries became heavier, I tried to carry them alone. I wanted to protect my family. I wanted to protect Marco. I wanted to continue giving courage to the people around me. And so I sometimes continued moving forward when it would have been better to pause.
Only much later did I understand that no one must always be strong for everyone. A person who leads a company also has the right to doubt. To be tired. To say he does not know something. To ask for help. That is not a sign of weakness. It simply means he is human. I believe my generation found this particularly difficult to accept.
We had grown up with the conviction that we must always continue, whatever the price. Giving up was not an option. We kept our grief and worries to ourselves. We spoke about them as little as possible. That attitude may have helped us survive certain very difficult periods. But it also had a price. A price that often remained invisible. Worries cannot be measured. They do not appear on a balance sheet. They do not show up in a financial report.
They are not heard during a business meeting. And yet they are truly present. They accompany you home. They sit beside you in the car. And often, they awaken precisely when the rest of the world is asleep. I do not want anyone reading these pages to feel pity for me. That was never my intention. I simply want to show that behind every entrepreneur is also a human being.
A father. A husband. A friend. Someone who sometimes doubts and yet rises every morning. Not because he knows with certainty that everything will end well, but because he knows other people rely on him. When I look back on my journey today, the companies we built are not what make me proudest. Nor the projects we completed. I am proud of something far more important to me.
That despite all the pressure, we tried to remain honest people. That we never knowingly deceived anyone. That we did everything within our power to keep our word. And that when something proved no longer possible, we nevertheless continued searching for a solution that would cause the least possible harm to others.
That may seem very ordinary. To me, it is not. Being honest when everything is going well requires little courage. Remaining honest when difficulties accumulate... that is the true test of a human being. Honesty does not mean promising the impossible. It means daring to state clearly what you can and cannot do. Accepting responsibility for your own decisions. And continuing to treat others with respect, even in difficult circumstances.
If I could leave only one message to my children and grandchildren, it would be this: Work with passion. Dare to dream big. Have the courage to build something. Accept responsibility for those who trust you. But never lose your humanity. And in doing so, do not forget yourselves. In the end, people will not remember only what you accomplished. Above all, they will remember your ability to listen to them.
That you kept your word. And how they felt in your presence. That is the wealth no economic crisis can take away from you. And that even time can never erase completely.