Commendation Speech by Dr. Alexander Erdland, former CEO of Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG, for Professor Dr. Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller
The spoken word applies
Dear Lord Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed laureate, who is not yet one at this
moment, but will be shortly. I will simply anticipate that. Anyone who wishes to engage with Benedict of Nursia, the Blessed, will encounter the
two significant documents: the Regula, the Rule of Benedict, as the first and arguably
most authoritative monastic rule of the Western world, from the sixth century with influence up to
today, and the second book of the Dialogues by Pope Gregory the Great from the years
593/594, which is entirely dedicated to the instructive path of the father of monks, from Nursia in the
Umbrian Apennines to Monte Cassino in Latium, and which praises his life and actions as
exemplary in the spirit of the Christian Gospel. I would like to return to this reference to the namesake and
certainly also the inspiration for the award to be presented today to Professor Dr. Nicola
Leibinger-Kammüller later in my commendation speech for her. Here in
Mönchengladbach, whose origin is famously traced back to a Benedictine abbey on a hill
by the Gladbach.
For it is precisely with this special award that Ms. Leibinger-Kammüller is honored today,
following other honorable award ceremonies and continuous public
expressions of high esteem, which I will first summarize.
First, there is the energetic and motivating head of the leading company Trumpf in
Ditzingen near Stuttgart, founded in 1923. She regularly explains the results and
challenges of her family’s company with its executives and
employees. Trumpf comes from classical mechanical engineering and has continuously
evolved into today’s leading high-tech group with various
fields of application, for example in the automotive sector, in chip products, up to the production of
industrial lasers. And this for 21 years with a philologist with a doctorate at the helm, for whom
the far-sighted father of our laureate had at the time
expressed his wish for her to be his successor. Some, especially her husband and brother, both
trained mechanical engineers, had to come to terms with this first. This courageous personnel decision has
proven to be wise, a visibly successful experiment, although it must be fairly
acknowledged how crucial the first-class engineering knowledge around the CEO
has always been for Trumpf’s impressive successes. Mutual respect
is likely important here, by no means always a given, especially in medium-sized companies. Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller therefore does not owe her chairperson position to a
quota rule, which, incidentally, she generally does not think much of. She is not a ‘Quotilde’, as the
Süddeutsche Zeitung once wrote. In her opinion, women should and can
assert themselves independently in our society and are then more firmly established in their
self-perception. In summary, Trumpf’s astute corporate leadership has
succeeded in combining loyalty to location and global presence with a focus on quality and
stability, on jobs and training, on research and innovation, and all of this, very
importantly, embedded in a reliable ethical value orientation.
Closely connected with this, our laureate is also audible as an unmistakable, critical but
also encouraging voice for the up to three million family businesses so important for our country.
She always looks beyond her own interests to the bigger picture. Her tireless plea, indeed her wake-up call,
to politically refocus on the strengths of the social market economy, to regain the necessary freedoms and tailwinds for
our companies and businesses, so that they can fully develop their willingness to perform, their
abilities, their inventiveness; for their own future in
Germany, but at the same time, and above all, to finally get economic growth
back on track here; to secure our free, democratic, social
cohesion, also for the prosperity of future generations. Ms.
Leibinger-Kammüller repeatedly ventures forward authentically and with clear messages,
where many other business people publicly remain in cover. She advocates not
least for renewed trust between politics and business, for more mutual
understanding and consequences thereof, which will only succeed with truthful personalities on both
sides.
And then there is the cosmopolitan citizen Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, born in the USA, as
already mentioned, the philologist with a doctorate, previously a student of German Studies and Japanese Studies, who
actually lived in Japan for several years with her husband. Hence perhaps her sense
for a sympathetic strictness that flashes at the right moment, for style and tact, mostly
paired with a winking, yet unmistakable facial expression. Her
convictions are rooted in humanism, in the Enlightenment, in the reformatory
Christian faith. Through it all, she has remained deeply down-to-earth and loyal to her homeland.
For her, that means Swabian. We will surely hear it unmistakably, yet understandably, in her following speech.
This connection is accompanied by her joy in poetry, of which Swabia, with its poets from Hölderlin to
Schiller, has particularly much to offer. Our laureate is the Chairwoman of the
German Literature Archive Marbach, where Friedrich Schiller was born. His pursuit of freedom
may have become a guide for her, up to the concern for the
vulnerability of personal freedom in peace and responsibility in view of the
massive internal and external threats of our time. Ms. Leibinger-Kammüller repeatedly resists
the supposed omnipotence of the state. She relies on the power of the
people, who, however, also want to be heard and respected politically. She despises all
radicalism. She stands for adherence to principles and practical reason, which is truly refreshing in our
often uninhibitedly sprawling media debate culture today. At this point, I must not forget
the continuous active commitment of our laureate to education,
science, research, culture, and social affairs, especially as Vice President of the
Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft and as a member of the Senate of the
Max Planck Society, as well as through the family’s own Berthold Leibinger Foundation.
And now back to Benedict of Nursia. Here I must and hopefully may become a little personal,
as a long-time friend, dear Nicola. As a Protestant Christian, your
enthusiasm for Catholic saints is limited. But you know the bridge for yourself today.
Benedict is a saint of the then still undivided Christendom. Holy, i.e., “sanctus”,
as is well known, originally means “consecrated to God”. Belief in miracles is not necessarily
needed here. And “Catholic” from the Greek means “all-encompassing”, as we
all know. So may you be reconciled in your approach to this patron
of Europe, as he was later called by Pope Paul VI.
At the moment of my appointment as laudator, I knew far less about Benedict than about Nicola.
So I actually soon drove to the Benedictine monastery of Gerleve, which was easily accessible to me,
west of Münster, to hold a festive vespers for my preparation. And I came across references to words that
could be inherent in today’s award. I did not look for the references in the Rule of Benedict,
because our laureate argues against bureaucracy, but I found them in the
authoritative narratives of Pope Gregory about Benedict, for example, on humility and
modesty: In Gregory, Benedict is great because he does not need to make himself great. Or
on vigor from faith: In Gregory, Benedict’s prayer is not a retreat from
reality, but leads to action. Benedict does not take on responsibility in the
descriptions because he seeks it, but because people entrust it to him. And
finally, credibility: In Gregory, it says: Benedict could teach nothing other
than what he lived.
These virtues were probably also relevant for the decision of who will be honored with
the Benedict Prize today. And finally, on a very personal note: The
most important thing in Nicola’s and her husband Matthias Kammüller’s life is family, their
four children, in-laws, with the now five grandchildren, whom they dearly
love. Each child freely chooses their path in life, but the values of the heart
were given to them by their mother and father. In addition, there is the large, yet close
personal circle of friends from many areas of social life, to whom Nicola, despite
all the burdens over all these years, remains so generously loyal, as we could not
imagine more beautifully. No birthday is forgotten, every gift is thoughtfully chosen,
always accompanied by personal words. A wonderfully loyal person is honored today.
I thank you all for coming to this award ceremony. You honor not
only the laureate, but also the award itself. I thank the Benedikt-Preis Association of
Mönchengladbach and the City of Mönchengladbach very much for giving this
award for special societal role models such a noticeable standing.
This is important for orientation and confidence in our turbulent times.
I congratulate the Board of Trustees, the jury on their decision for this year’s
award. You have selected a personality with attitude and charisma, for whom
the Benedikt-Preis, as a sign of recognition, gratitude, and further encouragement,
is perfectly suited. Above all, however, I congratulate Professor Dr. Nicola
Leibinger-Kammüller on receiving the Benedikt-Preis Mönchengladbach 2026,
which she so worthily receives and more than deserves.
