Dr Andreas Föller
In my eyes, these days, it is compulsory to support the European unification process.
Some 10 years ago, the EU was like a couple who had been married for many years. Somehow, both parties had accepted that it was, in the end, mutually beneficial to stay together, but the positive emotions had calmed down.
Meanwhile, the landscape looks completely different. And to stay with this couple, the marriage is very close to a divorce. The positive emotions have not cooled down; no, the negative emotions are growing. The necessity of EU enlargement, the integration of more potential member states, and the rise of anti-Europe sentiment will not improve the situation.
At the same time, the geopolitical situation has become much clearer during the last 10 years. In my eyes, there are meanwhile four parties: China and Russia, who believe in autocratic, aggressive and very egocentric governance, and the USA, as the last and most potent fighter for freedom, however with the difficult political situation. In my eyes, the global South will be opportunistic and side with China and Russia one time and with the U.S. the next time and the fourth party in Europe. But as long as Europe doesn‘t speak with one voice, nobody will listen to the European countries in this power game.
Overview
Andreas Föller, founder and managing partner of Comites, is a German executive consultant, educated as a physician and economist. He has been working in the executive consulting field for more than 30 years, the first nearly 15 years in two leading international companies globally, first in top management consulting, then in headhunting. In 2003, he started his own company, which focuses on finding the right placements for board positions in the industry across Europe. He is on the board of curators of the Bavarian „EliteAkademie“ and a freelance lecturer in the field of business ethics at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
Approach
Already in the late 1990s, Andreas suffered from the lack of emotional support for the EU. It became more and more obvious in his eyes that the enormous benefits of the EU for every citizen were being camouflaged by technical bean-counting. And in the last years, his fears for the future of common Europe have increased after the already existing or threatened majority of right-wing populist parties in many parliaments in Europe.
Career History
Being trained as a physician, Andreas started his career as a ward physician, among others, at the University Hospital in Munich. Later, he joined the largest management consultancy of European origin at the time, Roland Berger and Partner. Here, he discovered his excitement for consulting, was quickly promoted, and became a member of the board. After having been heavily involved in recruiting at Roland Berger, he decided to pursue a career in headhunting. At Heidrick & Struggles, he became one of the youngest partners in the mid-1990s. During his time at Heidrick & Struggles, he served in various management roles; among others, he headed the global Life Science / IT group.
In the year 2003, he started working as an entrepreneur in the field of headhunting.
Personal
Andreas is excited about, if not addicted to, contemporary history. Not as an active politician but as a reader and observer of global politics. Secondly, he is excited about ethics and business. He‘s convinced that integrity and economic success are not contradictory; on the contrary, they go hand in hand in the long run. And he is quite committed to sports like skiing, running, and swimming. But he is far from being a top performer in one of these fields.