Michal Hornák (Forbes Top CEO 2023): Corporate culture determines performance more than any strategy.

In the next episode of the CEO on the Edge podcast, we talk to Michal Hornák about what truly determines the performance of manufacturing companies. Michal took over Witte Automotive during a crisis and managed to stabilize the company and subsequently lead it to growth at a time when most of the automotive industry was stagnating. He says that corporate culture is like Bigfoot – everyone talks about it, but very few have actually seen it in practice.

However, according to him, culture is not an abstract concept or an HR initiative. It is a way people behave under pressure, how they resolve conflicts, and what is tolerated in the company. And real change does not start with strategy or reorganization, but with the personal transformation of the leader. The biggest limit on performance can be the CEO’s own management style.

Listen to the conversation on YouTube:

In manufacturing companies, the management model has long operated through strength, pressure, and constant urgency. It is effective in a crisis. However, when a company needs to grow, the same style begins to hinder both people and performance. Michal describes his own transformation from a crisis manager to a transformational role: to stop creating pressure and start creating an environment. He realized that the only person he could truly influence was himself – and that the leadership style would eventually reflect throughout the organization.

A key theme is responsibility. Not responsibility for completing a task, but responsibility for the outcome and meaning. If management simply posts strategy and values but does not start behaving accordingly, change will never “trickle down” through the company. That’s why Michal focused on middle management and the