Leadership with style
In 2019, Martina Hacker took over the management of KPM. Her management style: female – with a lot of trust, mutual understanding and an open-office-door-policy. Journalist Sandra Winkler and photographer Gene Glover portrayed the new management of the Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur in Berlin for us.
Martina Hacker originally comes from Stuttgart.
In 2016 she joined KPM Berlin as commercial manager, since 2019 she is the managing director.
Would you describe your management style as female? "Yes", says Martina Hacker. "At KPM, we don't have the kind of testosterone behaviour which you experience in some management circles, where men are often among themselves and try to monopolize the conversation. And certainly, there is enough female power at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory: more than half of the 220 employees are female. Almost all of the sales consultants and porcelain painters are women. The same applies to the administrative level and marketing. Only in production the ratio is balanced. "We are currently focusing on our online services. Even there we have a young, tough team of women who have brought this area forward," says Hacker.
With Meggy on the leash, Martina is walking along the waterfront in the Tiergarten. While taking pictures, treats keep the dog happy. To get Meggy in the right place for the next picture, her owner quickly takes her back in her arms with her dirty paws stretched out to the sky to protect her light blue blouse and her grey blazer.
Martina Hacker has an uncomplicated and direct way of approaching things – even on the job.
She joined KPM in 2016 as commercial manager. For a year now, she has been codetermining the fate of the traditional Berlin company as Managing Director. In this position she acts as a generalist through the great support of the management team in the areas of marketing, retail, product design, production, painting, sales, online and KPM World and is a sparring partner for KPM owner Jörg Woltmann. She acts with caution: "The first year was a learning process for me".
“Our employees give me a lot. They are the experts in their fields. They usually have the best ideas.”
Martina Hacker
At KPM, Martina Hacker does not want to reinvent the wheel, but to learn from the gained experience – and continue with the already begun rejuvenation. Read the full story in the KPM WEISS Magazine Issue No.4.
Photo: Gene Glover
2017 Storyboard designed a magazine for the Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin: WEISS. The fourth issue of the yearly magazine was published in September 2020. On the cover: a whippet dog as a reminder of the royal manufactory founder Frederick the Great. His favorite dog Biche became the muse for a hand-painted cup.
