Executive Search C-Level in a state-owned company: time for disruption?
Disruptive headhunting needed: Kontrast in Executive Search - More Management & Strategy Competence Date: September 3, 2025Thesis 1: Closed circles prevent change
Top positions in state-owned companies such as Deutsche Bahn are usually awarded to people from the company's own milieu - or to politically well-connected men from traditional careers. The result: the existing situation is managed instead of daring to try something new.
Thesis 2: Rail expertise is not the same as management expertise
Anyone who knows the timetables is not yet a transformation manager. What is needed are managers who can master restructuring, manage stakeholders and implement change even in the face of resistance.
Thesis 3: Disruptive headhunting means consciously searching differently
Instead of always recycling "rail careers", lateral entrants should be examined:
- Transportation & Logistics Road: experience with competitive pressure, supply chains and cost efficiency.
- Aviation: dealing with safety, regulation and international complexity.
- Industry 4.0: Digitization and automation implemented on a large scale.
Thesis 4: Small, bold steps are possible - Korbutt as an example
The passenger association Pro Bahn brings Anna-Theresa Korbutt (HVV Managing Director) into play. She has shown how to simplify processes and modernize an encrusted fare system with clear management handwriting. This is not a radical break, but an example of how disruptive expertise can also come from local transport - beyond the DB inner circle.
Thesis 5: Political control remains the biggest blockade
As long as positions are awarded according to party affiliation, loyalty or rope teams, disruptive headhunting will remain wishful thinking. The "argument" - that a manager must necessarily have railroad experience - often only serves to compartmentalize power circles. Male networks and old fraternity traditions still characterize this habitus.
Conclusion:
If everything has to change, then you need someone who works and thinks differently. Disruptive headhunting means not just looking within the ranks - but bringing in real management expertise from outside. Korbutt's proposal shows that there are alternatives. The question is whether politicians and supervisory boards have the courage to break away from the old rope teams.
