After 19 years as a tenant, my office search in Munich began with a shock: the termination notice for our DIKT office was quietly dropped in the mailbox – two days before Christmas Eve. No phone call, no conversation, no human word. The landlord’s father had rented me the office with a handshake. A sign of a different era.
What the Office Search in Munich Reveals About Our Economy
Since then I have been searching for a new office in Munich – and what I experience along the way is a direct reflection of the state of our economy.
Landlords advertise office spaces but respond to neither calls nor emails. Many only offer short-term rental agreements, because confidence in their own economic future is lacking. Large office spaces are available at low prices – but small, functional offices for medium-sized businesses are barely to be found. And when they are, landlords can commit to neither a rental term nor a clear decision.
Graphic: Dall-E By DIKT
A Creeping Unreliability Across German Business Life
What I truly observe is an unreliability spreading through wide parts of German business life. Callbacks that never come. Order confirmations that drag on for weeks. Incorrectly issued invoices – and no one reachable to fix them. Quotes requested and then ignored without a word. Decisions pushed to tomorrow. And the day after. And next week.
Germany is hesitating.
Hesitation vs. Momentum: A Stark Contrast
And then, last night, a startup reaches out via LinkedIn. A 15-minute phone call. Decision made. Training booked for the coming week. No committee, no “we’ll get back to you”, no three-stage approval process. Simply: we know what we need. Let’s go.
That is exactly the energy Germany needs right now. Not recklessness – but the courage to decide. Not more deliberation, but the boldness to act.
The companies that will lead the next economic recovery are not waiting for certainty. They are creating it.
What are you observing in your market right now – hesitation or momentum?
Nikolai A. Behr speaking to the audience during the workshop. Photo: Anne Kaiser / GSA
Dr. Nikolai A. Behr CSP® ist Keynote Speaker, Kommunikationsexperte und Medientrainer für Führung, Vertrauen und empathische Kommunikation in Zeiten von Wandel und KI.