Walter Böckmann

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Walter Böckmann (born May 6, 1923 in Halle (Saale) ; † October 22, 2014 in Bremen ) was a German author , sociologist , psychologist , leadership theorist and logotherapist. He has pioneered the logotherapy of Viktor E. Frankl transmitted to the economy and the working world and is considered a pioneer of mind-oriented leadership .

Live and act

Walter Böckmann was born on May 6, 1923 in Halle into a middle-class family and grew up in Wernigerode . In 1945 he began to study psychology in Munich and trained as a publishing bookseller . He worked as sales and advertising manager at Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht and Luchterhand Fachverlag , among others, and later as publishing manager and authorized signatory at Bertelsmann / Ariola . From 1947 he also studied journalism in Münster and psychology and sociology at Bielefeld University (graduated as a sociologist) and did his doctorate on a psychological topic in the field of education .

From 1961 he worked as a freelance management consultant (marketing, advertising, employee training). He held motivational and management seminars for employees and managers, including in the pharmaceutical industry (Bayer, Behring, Boehringer, etc.). Later he also offered corresponding training courses in his West German Institute for Logotherapy and Psychology of the Working World in Bielefeld .

This was followed by business sociology study trips with film accompaniment: he went to the Soviet Union, the USA, Canada, Japan, Thailand, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Kenya, Somalia and other European countries. He was a lecturer at an engineering college (leadership in companies / the engineer as a manager).

In the years 1967 to 1975, Walter Böckmann played a key role in making various industrial and documentary films, including the "UFA Werbefilm: Vorwerk"; “Your own way - art in steel. German Steel Construction Association (1967) ”; "Littera Film: Wealth for Everyone - The Entrepreneurial Challenge / Chances and Problems of Democratization in Economy and Business (1972)"; "The Soviet worker in the socialist planned economy and the decision-making processes in the factory (1973)" and "Worker self-management in the socialist market economy of Yugoslavia (1973)"; “Training and Opportunity: In-company training and further training in the Friedrich Krupp Hüttenwerke (1975; Tonbildschau)”, as well as various short films for North German Commercial TV, Hamburg.

In his literary work in the 1970s and 1980s, Böckmann also dealt with topics from evolutionary psychology and German myth and early history, and wrote several books on them.

In March 1969 he met Viktor E. Frankl in Rüschlikon near Zurich. As part of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute , a one-week international symposium on the subject of “Inhibiting structures in the economy” was held there. There were also speakers (in addition to Edward de Bono , Vance Packard and others) Viktor Frankl and Walter Böckmann, who heard the name Frankl and the term logotherapy for the first time there and then . An intensive conversation of three and a half hours took place between Viktor Frankl and Walter Böckmann, which, in his own words, gave his further résumé a “spiritual turnaround”. The then 46-year-old felt electrified by Frankl's concept of meaning . He had finally found what he was missing all along: the importance of the meaning category and values ​​for the economy and the world of work, said Böckmann later. Böckmann was impressed by the personality and the teaching of the meaning of the Viennese medical philosopher Frankl, with whom he became friends very quickly and remained spiritually and amicably connected to him until Frankl's death. In mid-July 1997, Böckmann and Frankl met for the last time and talked about the "sense of life". Frankl died six weeks later.

In 1976 Böckmann acquired the certificate at the University of Vienna : Postgratuated Courses of Logotherapy 1974–1976 . Frankl himself confirmed to him - as he had also confirmed to Elisabeth Lukas , Uwe Böschemeyer and Wolfram Kurz - that he is entitled to use logotherapy in teaching, research and advice.

In 1977 an ÖMV conference took place on Semmering, which Böckmann organized together with Viktor Frankl. The first public presentation of "Logotherapy in the world of work" took place at this symposium. Böckmann found his real topic, and under the influence of Frankl it became increasingly clear to him: Those who demand performance must offer meaning.

Böckmann was a founding member of the "German Society for Logotherapy", which was founded in 1982 and which has since become "German Society for Logotherapy and Existential Analysis". V. "(DGLE) is called and played an important role in the leading committee from 1982 to 1991.

In 1983 Böckmann founded the West German Institute for Logotherapy and Psychology of the Working World in Bielefeld , where he also had a practice for psychological counseling. As part of his work at the institute, he systematically devoted himself to the subject of "problems of the theory of meaning in the world of work" as well as the conception of meaning-oriented leadership teaching, and as a lecturer for logotherapy who was personally examined and recognized by Frankl, he also trained (approx. 150) students. Walter Böckmann himself characterized the profile of his institute in 1986 as follows: “The institute was developed from the proprietor's specialist psychological management consultancy and has been working under the name Institute for Logotherapy and Psychology of the Working World since 1983. The focus of management consultancy is on> meaning-oriented employee motivation and corporate management ‹, while the focus of individual advice is on partnership, professional and the variety of neurosis problems.

The institute offers a number of seminars: closed events on the company side for the respective client and open seminars with a general ›introduction to logotherapy‹ up to the application of logotherapy in certain professional areas (industrial personnel work, school, social work etc.). (…) A Balint group of company doctors, factory psychologists and personnel managers is just as much part of the institute's area of ​​responsibility as a ›Logotherapy working group‹ in which doctors, pastors and members of various counseling areas have come together ”.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Walter Böckmann closed his institute in Bielefeld and retired himself. He has entrusted a large number of his book publishing rights (Littera publications) to Andreas Mascha, who in 2008 also founded an Institute for Meaning-Oriented Leadership (ISF) , in which above all the meaning-oriented leadership theory founded by Böckmann is further researching for the 21st century is further developed and taught.

Böckmann is also the author of popular scientific books about Arminius and the theses of Heinz Ritter-Schaumburg on the Nibelungenlied and its connection to Soest.

Walter Böckmann was married to I. Esther and had four children.

Works

Books

  • Loss of millions through management errors , Düsseldorf, Econ Verlag, 1967
  • The spirit of interest carries. On co-ownership and joint responsibility of employees in the company , Düsseldorf, Econ Verlag, 1972
  • Message from primeval times. Roots of human behavior in our time , Düsseldorf, Econ Verlag, 1979, ISBN 978-3-43011-369-4
  • Meaning-oriented achievement motivation and leadership. A contribution to humanistic psychology, especially logotherapy according to Viktor E. Frankl on the problem of meaning in work , Stuttgart, Enke, 1980
  • The sense system. Psychotherapy of the striving for success and the fear of failure , Düsseldorf, Econ Verlag, 1981
  • Psychology of healing. Illness in industrial society , Freiburg, Herder, 1982
  • Anyone who demands performance must offer meaning. Modern leadership in business and society , Düsseldorf, Econ Verlag, 1984
  • Meaning-oriented leadership as the art of motivation , Landsberg, Moderne Industrie, 1987
  • Meaning and self. Paths to Self-Knowledge , Weinheim and Basel, Beltz, 1989
  • Success in life , Düsseldorf, Econ Verlag, 1990
  • From meaning to profit. A school of thought for managers , Wiesbaden, Gabler, 1990
  • Meaning in work, economy and society , Munich, Verlag Andreas Mascha, 2008
  • The death of the Nibelung in Soest , Econ 1981
  • When the eagles sank. Arminius, Marbod and the Legions of Varus , Lübbe 1984, 1989
  • When the Roman eagles sank. Arminius, Marbod and the Legions of Varus , Suttonverlag 2007

Magazine articles

Böckmann has also published as a co-author in various books and in various magazines, such as E.g .: Management Forum of the University of Vienna; Lower Saxony Economy Hanover; Ovfu Bulletin Zurich; THE CONSULTANT Zurich; Evening studio of the Saarländischer Rundfunk; Management Knowledge Munich; Fitness Letter Weinheim; Psychology Today Weinheim; Inquiry into finding meaning of the ÖIV Vienna; Manager Magazin Hamburg; DIAGNOSTICA Mannheim; German Institute for Business Administration CURRENT; Marketing Forum Linz; Journal of Logotherapy, Berkley California; Logotherapy (magazine of the German Society for Logotherapy) and Existence and Logos (magazine of the German Society for Logotherapy and Existential Analysis). Some of his essays are mentioned:

  • Meaning in economy and society (in: Healing meaningfully. Viktor E. Frankls Logotherapy - Soul healing on new paths, Freiburg: Herder Verlag 1984)
  • In the beginning there was the sense. Meaning as the central theorem of logotherapy and as the "basic condition" of life (in: Logotherapy, supplement 1/1986)
  • Logotherapy - critical (in: Existence and Logos. Journal for Meaning Centered Therapy - Advice - Education, Issue 14/2007).

Editing

  • Littera series "Documents - Reports - Comments" on topics in art and literature published by EW Hirsch + Co. Frankfurt am Main (6 volumes)

literature

  • Otto Zsok: Meaning-oriented leadership theory according to Walter Böckmann. Life and work of the Bielefeld sociologist , St. Ottilien 2013, ISBN 978-3-8306-7591-4 (With a contribution by Andreas Mascha: Meaning-oriented leadership philosophy in the 21st century )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary notice on the homepage of the Institute for Meaning-Oriented Leadership (accessed October 28, 2014).
  2. ^ Obituary at the Logotherapy Society
  3. ↑ See: Walter Böckmann, Viktor Frankl, close, in: Logotherapy and Existential Analysis. Special issue for the 90th birthday of Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Drs. Hc mult. Viktor Emil Frankl (Journal of the German Society for Logotherapy and Existential Analysis), March 1995, pp. 28–33.
  4. ^ In: Logotherapy. Journal of the German Logotherapy Society, Volume 1, Issue 1. 1986, p. 114
  5. ↑ In the blurb of Der Nibelungen Tod in Soest , Econ 1981, he is referred to as the author of The Meaning System and Message of Primeval Times in the same publisher.
personal data
SURNAME Böckmann, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author, sociologist, psychologist, leadership theorist and logotherapist
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 2014
Place of death Bremen