Timo Meynhardt

Timo Meynhardt (2014)

Timo Meynhardt (born July 14, 1972, in Rudolstadt) is a German psychologist and business economist. He is the managing director of the Center for Leadership and Values in Society at the University of St. Gallen. From 2013 to 2015 he held the chair of management at the Leuphana University in Lüneburg. Since October 2015, Timo Meynhardt holds the Dr. Arend Oetker chair for business psychology and leadership at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management.

Biography

Meynhardt studied psychology at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, at the Oxford Brookes University (under Michael Argyle), and in Beijing, graduating from the Jena University as a M.A. in psychology (Diplompsychologe). He held a scholarship from the Study Foundation of the German People (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes). In 2003 he obtained his Doctorate at the University of St. Gallen. In 2013 he received a habilitation from the same university, qualifying as a lecturer (Venia Legendi) in business economics with a special focus on organizational and personnel management. From 1999 until 2007 he worked as a practice expert at McKinsey & Company, Inc. in Berlin.

Meynhardt is married and has two daughters and a son.

Research interests

In his research, Meynhardt combines psychological and business management topics:

• Public value (or Gemeinwohl): Meynhardt developed the St. Gallen Public Value approach in keeping with the intellectual tradition of Peter Drucker and the St. Gallen Management Model and based on the work by Hans Ulrich and Walter Krieg. The societal wealth creation of an organization is captured conceptually and examined empirically by means of philosophical value, psychological, and sociological theories. Meynhardt thus attempts to answer management’s question regarding the public value contribution of businesses, public authorities, and non-governmental organizations. Under his guidance, the first Public Value Atlas of Switzerland (GemeinwohlAtlas), which clarifies the public value contributions of the largest Swiss companies and organizations, was developed and published in 2014. A second Public Value Atlas of Switzerland as well as a German version of the study were developed and published in 2015.
• Competency management: His interest focuses on the analysis and assessment of individual competencies and their link to organizations’ core competencies.

Diagnostic tools

To date, Meynhardt has developed three social science diagnostic methods:

• “Value Knowledge Guide” (WertwissensGuide): Based on Peter Orlik's "self-concept grid," which follows in the tradition of George A. Kelly’s repertory grid, Meynhardt has developed a grid variant to analyze value knowledge in organizations.

• “My Competency Profile”: With this internet-based diagnostic method, Meynhardt developed an innovative method for the survey and automated analysis of basic competencies. The conceptual reference point is the work of John Erpenbeck and Volker Heyse.

• „Public Value Scorecard” (in collaboration with Peter Gomez): This tool transforms Meynhardt’s public value theory into a scorecard. The five available variations can be adapted to manifold corporate development issues.

Awards

• Peter Werhahn Memorial Award, University of St. Gallen (2003)
• Examination prize of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (1999).

External links

• Article by Timo Meynhardt, Peter Gomez and Markus Schweizer in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (newspaper)
• Profile and publications by Timo Meynhardt on the research platform “Alexandria” of the University of St. Gallen
• Information about Timo Meynhardt on the Lüneburg University’s website
• Radio interview contribution on the Public Value Atlas by Timo Meynhardt
• Public Value: Common Good and the Society. Movie by the University of St. Gallen.