Companies prosper when they tap into a power that everyone has — the ability to reach outside of ourselves and connect with other people. Unfortunately, modern capitalism has systematically sought to suppress our need to connect with other people. Managers and economists alike encourage businesspeople to look at the data, not the people. When we show up for work, they ask us to check our humanity at the door. Get the numbers and act to maximize shareholder value, regardless of other variables. Remember, "It's not personal... It's just business." (from Dev Patnaik, Wired to Care)

Albert Cramer, the Warsteiner Brewery owner, was a man with a great passion for his company, associates, and clients. When I met him for the first time in Buenos Aires in 1991, he explained that he had a problem. His company had enjoyed exponential growth in Germany during the previous ten years. It had achieved a stunning 8% market share in a country saturated with 1,200 breweries and 5,200 beer brands. In his view, gaining additional market share would be very expensive and could only be achieved by acquiring other German breweries. To increase sales, he wanted to build a stable export platform for his brand in Latin America, and he asked me to lead the commercial drive. I accepted the challenge, and he invited me to visit the brewery located in the German town of Warstein.  Upon arrival, to my surprise, Albert gave me the keys to one of the company cars and asked me to meet with clients all over the country. "It's the only way you will understand the philosophy of our company," he said. "When you come back in a few weeks, I want to know what you experienced."

I soon found out that Albert was a creative and smart marketeer and an empathetic leader. He saw opportunities faster than his competitors, dared to take a risk, and had the gut-level intuition to make the right decisions when the path ahead was unclear. His conviction was that to grow and prosper, he and the people working in his company had to see the world through their customers' eyes.  In his opinion, the ability to empathize with multiple cultures would mean the difference between success and failure in the long term. And he needed to know the territory, tastes, and perceptions of consumers in the South American markets.  

He was inexhaustible in his quest for market intelligence. We would often meet until late in the night in the "Bierstube" to discuss marketing and distribution strategies, bottle sizes, and labels necessary for the new business venture. During one of these marathon sessions, he explained to me the secret to his success.

When he took over the helm in 1984, he was the eighth generation to manage the family enterprise. The brewery was struggling to grow its sales outside traditional regional boundaries. To gain market share, he needed to understand the potential consumers’ needs and behaviors. Rather than hiring consumer research groups, he asked people from all levels in his company (sales, finance, technical) to travel through the country and connect with the owners of outlets (restaurants and bars) and their clients. He instilled in them the need to be empathetic, to step outside of themselves, to walk in the clients' shoes, and to see the world from the consumers' perspective. In his opinion, this was the only way to learn how Germans felt about beer in general.  

The information gathered from these visits was extremely useful.

Firstly, it confirmed that there was no national beer brand attractive enough to break with the tradition of consuming beer from local breweries.

Secondly, many breweries did not do a great job defending their brand image. They seemed to be more interested in selling the maximum amount of hectoliters than in checking on the image of the outlets' premises.

Thirdly, owners did not receive incentives to upgrade their outlets to accommodate a beer brand's house style.

Fourth, there was nothing that could be used as a basis to distinguish the quality of one beer from another. There was no such thing as a national "best" beer that could be all Germans' pride.

Based on this information, Albert saw the opportunity. He decided to go upmarket, target the premium beer niche and position his brand as Germany's best beer. To achieve these objectives he involved all employees. The company created a new, elegant, and sophisticated product presentation and house style to achieve this. A fanatical emphasis was put on the highest quality standards in the brewery and product line-up.  The brand would be sold only to high-end outlets aligned with the company's marketing strategy.

Furthermore, the company would provide financing for owners who wanted to upgrade their outlets in line with the new house style. By doing so, consumers would associate the brand as being available only in the best places. The price was increased to reinforce the product's premium image. Warsteiner would be recognized not only as Germany's best beer, but also the most expensive one.  

The strategy paid off. During the following ten years, the company enjoyed double-digit sales and revenue growth. The international demand also increased exponentially. Warsteiner is now an internationally recognized brand and sold all over Latin America and in 60 other countries. Germans love to drink Warsteiner and see it as a great beer representative of their homeland.

Albert Cramer has been one of the most inspiring and optimistic people I've had the privilege to meet and work with. Empathy provided him with context, a clear sense of the implications of what he had seen for so long. It gave life to the data that he needed for his brand to connect with consumers all over Germany. He shaped an environment where everybody felt proud about working for Warsteiner, which he labeled as "a Queen amongst Beers."

Empathy can point the way to fundamental change. The fellow-feeling it engenders towards others allows you to sense something before you can see it. Empathy is the necessary ingredient to pave the way for enhanced growth and advancement. It ensures that you're in the right place at the right time to discover your next big growth opportunity. And the more you develop empathy for ordinary people, the easier it becomes to put yourself in their shoes. The more time you spend with the people you serve, the more the line between producer and consumer blurs. Eventually, you will be able to see that your company is part of something much bigger than itself: the rest of the world.

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