Off the Record with Andre Witte

Name: Andre Witte
Position, Company: Head of Corporate Security; Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA (Professional soccer club in Germany)
Hometown: Cuxhaven, Germany
Favorite homemade dish: Oldenburg green kale cabbage with grit sausage, smoked pork, and pumpkin



Right now: I am thrilled about the next UEFA Champions League trips and our upcoming marketing trip to Asia with the licensed players.

When I’m stressed, I am able to move my left leg up and down in googolplex speed.

My biggest struggle on a workday is to constantly imagine and prepare for ‘unknown’ and ‘unlikely’ events to proactively maintain options for action in case of any arising threat or danger.

I can never resist a legit glass of original Coke – no ice, one slice of lemon. Best!

My biggest motivation is the daily challenge to think dynamically with regards to all facets and determinants of risk ­perception and mitigation.

At 7 o’clock in the morning I try my best to follow my daily wake-up ­routine – push-ups with my daughter on my back. If you ask how many, I’ll answer all of them!

The natural talent I would like to be gifted with is a highly superior ­autobiographical memory.

Guaranteed to make me laugh is my snail joke: “A man sees a snail on his windowsill and throws it out of the window from the first floor. After three months, the doorbell rings. It’s the snail saying, What was that all about?”

Three characters I would like to have ­dinner with (dead or alive, fictional or non-fictional) are Carl von Clausewitz, ­Niccolò Machiavelli, and Sun Tsu.

Three things that I am most grateful for in life are family, perseverance, and health.

The best decision in my career so far was to not linger one-dimensionally without progress.

If my life was a movie, I would be ­portrayed by Vin Diesel in his best shape – haircut already fits, but he might have to gain some mass for the role.

I am entering the wrestling arena and while the crowd is calling out my wrestling name “Haeppchen – The ­Machine!”, I can hear the song T.N.T. (AC/DC 1976) playing!

At the most horrible job I ever had I was a production helper in steel and metall construction/production line, as a door frame carrier.

The language I would most like to speak is Spanish (Castellano; Kalihna, Galibi)

The biggest challenge for me at the ­moment is to combat the current recognisable dynamic chaotic developments of a digitalised BANI-world whose interactions and uncertainties are not visible and whose consequences are unpredictable – e.g. with methods such as Failure Mode Effect Criticality Analysis.

If I was trapped in a shopping mall for one night, I would throw the biggest ­Pringles-Chips, Tortillas and Gummy ­Bears-Party ever.

I would like to have the superhero ­superpower of reading others’ minds, to predict the future like Jean Grey.

My first car was a white 1995 Nissan ­Micra – classy! 

I had the opportunity to shake hands with Kiev’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.