Karl Funke is the Founder and President of Amig GmbH, which is based in Munich, Germany. Karl combines his substantial technical engineering knowledge with strong business instincts to lead a multi-million dollar company. Karl has spent about 15 years in the semiconductor industry, has held several leadership roles on boards of directors, and has a new company in the sustainable energy efficiency sector. He also served on the global board of directors for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) for over three years.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Karl Funke reflects on the genesis of his entrepreneurial spirit
- Karl discusses how the start-up scene in Germany has evolved throughout his career
- Learn about the Path of Leadership within Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
- How to lead your peers by practicing influential leadership
- How EO Universities enrich its members
- Karl shares the impact EO had on him during a difficult time in his life
- What duties does EO’s global board perform?
- Karl talks about what is happening with EO that excites him most
In this episode…
Are you an effective leader in your organization? The nature of leadership and what styles work best often hinge on the context in which they are implemented. How can you lead to build an environment where people can thrive?
Implementing influential leadership is a huge step forward in helping people flourish. Modern leadership development extends not just to our companies but to our communities, our families, and human beings all around. Adopting an influential leadership strategy not only helps us to help our peers operate better but can facilitate a better understanding of ourselves in the process.
In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, John Corcoran welcomes Karl Funke to the show. Karl is the Founder and President of Amig GmbH and recently finished his tenure as a member on the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s (EO) global board. Karl takes time to explain the leadership structure of EO, reflect on his career, and discuss the nature of being an effective leader.
Resources mentioned in this episode
- Karl Funke on LinkedIn
- Amig GmbH
- Email Karl Funke: karlhfunke@mac.com
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
- EO Path of Leadership
- EO Accelerator
- EO Germany
- John Corcoran on LinkedIn
- Rise25
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:02
Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now, let’s get started with the show.
John Corcoran 0:13
Hi welcome everyone, John Corcoran. Here I am the host of this show. You know, check out some of our past interviews, we’ve got all kinds of great interviews with smart CEOs, Founders and entrepreneurs of all kinds of companies. So check out the archives. I’m also the Co-founder of Rise25 where we help b2b business owners to connect with their ideal prospects. And my guest here today, I feel very privileged to have Karl Funke. He is a longtime entrepreneur, Founder, and president at Amig GmbH, which is based in Munich, Germany. He’s spent about 15 years in the semiconductor industry, and has held a number of different leadership roles on boards of directors, has a new company that’s in the sustainable energy efficiency sector, and also he recently stepped down from serving on the global board of directors for EO Entrepreneurs’ Organization. And we’re gonna be talking a lot about his involvement in that wonderful organization, which I also am a member of here in the San Francisco chapter. And of course, this episode is brought to you by Rise25 where we help B2B businesses get clients, referrals, and strategic partnerships with done-for-you podcasts and content marketing. You can go to our website at Rise25media.com to learn more about it. All right, Karl, it’s such a pleasure to have you here today. And I know you’ve been an entrepreneur for a long time, but I want to go all the way back. I want to go back to your childhood. I want to hear what was young Karl like when you were a kid? Were you the kind of kid that was out there? You know, here in the United States, it would be, you know, doing a lemonade stand on your parents front lawn. I don’t know if that’s a big thing where you grew up. But were you were you a hustler as a kid going out there and building companies at age seven years old?
Karl Funke 1:50
No, no thanks for inviting me John. Far from that. I don’t think I ever thought of being an entrepreneur, until somebody in my university class suggests that I might be at some point. But there was an event when I was 15 that made me think I wanted to lead a company at some point. So there was an event when I was 15, I had my first summer job and I worked for three weeks, because I wanted to buy, I don’t know, a new bike or stereo, I don’t know what. And while the first week of those three was phenomenal, the second two weeks to me were hell. And at the end of those three weeks, I swore to myself, that A I would never just work for my in my life and B one day I would run a company and I would build an environment where people could thrive and have fun and not just have have to work and have the drudgery everyday. That’s, I didn’t know at the time, but that has been with me all my life.
John Corcoran 2:55
And what do you think it was? You said a classmate, when you were at university said they felt like you would be an entrepreneur? Was there something that you did or said that made them say that?
Karl Funke 3:05
Um, so I went off to engineering school, I went to college to get my MBA. And I believe people saw in me that actually, this classmate said, you know, one day you will either run Lufthansa or you will have your own company. And I thought, well, yeah, maybe who knows? I suppose they saw in me that I was a misfit, that I didn’t really fit into any organization, which is probably not far wrong.
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