All employees of the German sites were invited. The event, which took place at the Scarabeo restaurant in Minden, promoted error acceptance and provided an opportunity for exchange among employees. "Making mistakes is part of it. The important thing is to get back up, keep going and learn from it" – this is an insight of René Korte, Managing Director of the Central Division Innovation, Digitalization and Start-ups, who gave a lecture on a personal story of the failure of the product ffeel®. But two external speakers, Angel Martinez and Florin Kutten, were also on hand and gave an authentic and inspiring insight into their very own stories of failure and their insights. Sharing fuck-up stories requires a lot of courage, but the commitment of the 40 employees from 13 divisions was very high: They encouraged each other to talk about failures and share them with each other.

The event showed how important it is to report on failures and mistakes so that they do not repeat themselves and so that many others can also take away the lessons learned. This open approach to mistakes increases the willingness to innovate and makes it clear that new paths and turning away from the familiar entail risks and that not every new path means success. "It was an afternoon full of energy, openness and valuable insights, which showed us all that failure is not the end, but an important part of our personal and professional development," says Ann-Katrin Nentwig. She also emphasized: "The atmosphere was great. The different stories and experiences have inspired us all and reminded us that we can learn from our mistakes and emerge stronger."

The core message of the Fuck-up Stories event was crystal clear: Behind every failure there is a new opportunity.