It's all about the spirit

Gerhard Drexel, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Spar Austria, tells the story of how the company became the number 1 Austrian food retailer after years of catching up to the competition. In doing so, he designs a modern counter-model to the spirit-free, technocratic-sterile leadership style. He shows how, with the right spirit, employees can be motivated on the path to market leadership. In Drexel's model, companies are there for the people again instead of the other way around, and that's exactly what makes them successful.



Gerhard Drexel studied business administration at the universities of St. Gallen and Innsbruck. After years as a consultant at the Malik Management Center St. Gallen, he moved to the board of Spar Austria in 1990. As a long-standing CEO, in 2020 he succeeded in making the company the market leader in the Austrian food trade with spirit and humanity. Gerhard Drexel has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Spar Austria since 2021.