The six Guiding Principles of the Freudenberg Group read well on paper. But their true strength emerges only when people put them into practice every day – sometimes consciously, often without even thinking about it.
The stories that follow illustrate how these principles come to life across a wide range of roles, responsibilities, and situations – from the shop floor to the office, from engineering to customer interactions, on the shift and over a long career path.
Together, they show what the Guiding Principles look and feel like when they are truly lived.
Six stories
1 · People
When your shift becomes a second family
Nobody comes to work to be alone. But sometimes you only realize how close you’ve become as a team when things get hard.
When caring for her mother suddenly became urgent at home, Linda M. brought it up openly during her early shift. Within two days, her supervisor and the team arranged a modified shift schedule that worked for her for six weeks. Three colleagues picked up parts of her tasks — no formal request, no hesitation.
„I had no idea it could be that straightforward. But my shift really is more than just a team.“
— Linda M., production associate
→ This is what the Guiding Principle People looks like in practice: the well-being of employees isn’t a statement in a brochure — it’s a natural attitude in the team.
The Guiding Principle „People“ becomes visible here as: Solidarity
2 · Leadership
Trust means: not having to check every detail
A new line, an experienced shift — and a manager who knows how to let go.
When Marek K. took on responsibility for the start-up of a new production line, his first instinct was to check every step himself. His department head told him:
„You have the team that can handle this. Let them. I’m here when you need me — but not to look over your shoulder.“
Three weeks later, the line was running more smoothly than planned. Looking back, Marek says he learned that trust isn’t a gesture — it’s a way of working.
— Marek K., shift leader
→ This is what the Guiding Principle Leadership looks like in practice: trust isn’t a gesture, it’s a way of working. Essentially nothing different from what Carl Johann Freudenberg already put into words more than 150 years ago:
„It is better to trust a hundred times at the risk of being taken in, than to mistrust unjustly even once.“
— Carl Johann Freudenberg
The Guiding Principle „Leadership“ becomes visible here as: Trust
3 · Long-term Orientation
38 years, seven roles, one company
Careers today often look like a job change every three years. Anita S. tells a different story.
She started in 1987 as a technical draftsperson, moved into quality assurance, later into process management, took over a team lead role, spent three years on an overseas assignment, came back to a staff position, and today serves as an internal consultant for plant start-ups.
„I never left because something new kept being offered to me. Not as a promotion — but as the next role that fit me. That’s become rare.“
— Anita S., Senior Advisor
→ This is what the Guiding Principle Long-term Orientation looks like in practice: relationships — including with employees — are built over decades, not quarters.
The Guiding Principle „Long-term Orientation“ becomes visible here as: Loyalty
4 · Innovation
An idea that failed twice — and worked on the third try
Innovation sounds like aha moments. In reality it sounds more like: „Let’s try it differently.”
The team around Hiroshi T. worked for nearly two years on a new material combination for a specialized sealing application. Two prototype generations failed in the stress tests. The third version — born out of a coffee-break discussion between development and application engineering — passed every test.
„What carried us through the first two setbacks wasn’t ambition. It was the expectation that it’s okay to invest time without delivering an immediate result.“
— Hiroshi T., development engineer
→ This is what the Guiding Principle Innovation looks like in practice: new things emerge when you have the patience to take several runs at it — and the confidence that the space for that will be given.
The Guiding Principle „Innovation“ becomes visible here as: Persistence
5 · Customer Focus
Three hours of listening before the first slide
Sometimes the most important preparation for a customer meeting isn’t a PowerPoint.
When Sofia R. visited a new customer for the first time, she didn’t bring a presentation — she brought a notepad. For three hours she walked through the facility with the production manager, asked questions, listened, took notes. The solution her team proposed two weeks later was smaller than planned and less expensive than announced — but it fit the actual problem precisely.
„I wasn’t trying to sell anything. I wanted to understand what they actually need. The team takes care of the rest.“
— Sofia R., application engineer
→ This is what the Guiding Principle Customer Focus looks like in practice: not the product first, but the person and the application.
The Guiding Principle „Customer Focus“ becomes visible here as: Listening
6 · Responsibility
A near-miss report nobody had to file — and that changed everything
Responsibility doesn’t begin with big programs. It begins with one question: do I speak up, or do I let it go?
David O. was working on a packaging line when he noticed that a safety sensor was reacting with a delay under certain conditions. No accident had happened. Nobody would have expected the report. He filed it anyway — three sentences, at the end of his shift. Two days later the sensor was replaced; a week later a check was running across all identical lines.
„What mattered to me was that something doesn’t have to happen first. That’s what the report is for.“
— David O., line operator
→ This is what the Guiding Principle Responsibility looks like in practice: for yourself, for others, for what might come. Even when nobody is watching.
The Guiding Principle „Responsibility“ becomes visible here as: Paying attention
Note: The stories above are intended as illustrative examples and are entirely fictional.
