MasterPlan ‘Economic Performance’: future viability, growth, prosperity

Insights instead of ideologies: While many current debates are politically polarising, a rational look at value creation and success factors takes us further. This summer, ten analyses have generated the cornerstones for a new “MasterPlan Economic Performance”.

MasterPlan ‘Economic Performance’: Securing future viability, driving growth, strengthening prosperity

Cologne, 10 September 2025 – Geopolitical upheaval, technological disruption and social polarisation. Uncertainty or even perceived threats trigger rollback desires. “Tunnel vision and a focus on the tried and tested are as understandable as they are counterproductive,” says international culture and management expert Michael Stuber. His research and experience show: Today more than ever, economic performance is based on the smart synergy of diverse perspectives and talents in open organisational cultures.

Resolving the Performance Puzzle: deep analyses with diverse perspectives

Everyone – politicians and managers alike – aims at growth, innovation and productivity. Their demands, however, often miss the point: from protection to back-to-the-office to laziness accusations or redistribution debates. Instead of populist slogans, a resilient master plan must be based on understanding the long-term development, factoring in today’s complex interdependencies and effective levers.

This is precisely what the “Diversity unites business and prosperity” series did with ten analyses – from common economic interests and management approaches to marketing and social issues.

A MasterPlan that benefits everyone

While each analysis represents a separate deep dive, five key themes emerge across the perspectives and form the cornerstones of the ‘MasterPlan Economic Performance’:

1. Productivity through talent

Core idea: Productivity can only be achieved if all employees can unleash their full potential – and are specifically encouraged and supported in doing so.

Recommendations:

  • Systematically make talents visible in their diversity, value and develop them – not just ‘high potentials’ and not just copies of former success models.
  • Make career and working models more flexible so that different life realities can be productively integrated – the benefits for all sides are clear.

2. Values as a dual backbone

Core idea: Hard economic values only unfold based on open corporate values. Those who live trust, transparency and adaptability show that they value value creation in all its forms.

Recommendations:

  • Treat corporate culture as a performance factor – with clear expectations and responsibilities for everyone.
  • Actively avoid polarisation by focusing communication on common interests rather than ideological markers.

3. Collaboration as the key to an innovative knowledge economy

Core idea: Innovation arises from intelligent intersectional collaboration – in teams, across teams and across hierarchies. Constructive inclusion is the driver for new solutions.

Recommendations:

  • Consciously create mixed teams and empower them to leverage their diverse backgrounds – the mix alone is not an advantage.
  • Empower managers to bridge, moderate and integrate complexities, apparent contradictions and concrete opposing positions instead of taking static positions or ducking away.

4. Prosperity grows through participation

Core idea: Knowledge and prosperity behave like cell division – they multiply when they are shared. Envy or guilt narratives undermine this growth dynamic both in the economy and in society.

Recommendations:

  • Increase labor force participation: Systematically activate women, migrants and older people in the national economy – the pie gets bigger for everyone.
  • Use intergenerational learning, intercultural development and gender-intelligent formats to make knowledge available, applicable and a positive impact for everyone.

5. Sustainability through context intelligence

Core idea: Companies operate in different contexts – at all times. Mastering complexities requires to intelligently recognise and utilise levers accordingly. In this, diversity is the hidden champion to ensure flexibility and resilience.

Recommendations:

  • Use scenarios and crisis simulations to strengthen context intelligence – beyond established bubbles.
  • Include local, industry and company-specific factors in strategic planning.

Conclusion: Diversity as a strategic management principle

All five pillars of the MasterPlan lead to one clear conclusion: diversity must not be a political and ideological plaything, but must be used as a strategic management principle for economic performance.

Companies that consistently manage diversity & inclusion

  • increase their productivity,
  • improve their innovation capacity,
  • foster their employer image,
  • and gain resilience in an unstable world.

Politicians must provide a supportive framework for this instead of instrumentalising the success factor of the economy in a dangerous way (see separate analysis).

“Diversity is the hidden champion in strategy and value creation. Those who understand this as a MasterPlan will win the future.” – Michael Stuber

 

Links to the series “Diversity unites business and prosperity”

* since July 2025: https://www.openpr.com/news/archive/274729/Ungleich-Besser-European-Diversity-Engineering-D-I.html

* May-July 2025: https://www.openpr.com/news/archive/272869/Ungleich-Besser-Diversity-Consulting.html