Michael Jost restores vintage cameras in his spare time and manages global governance processes in his professional life. In doing so, he has discovered striking parallels between repairing old photographic equipment and modern change management.
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The hands that gently cradle the body of a Brownie, a camera over a century old, are the same hands that orchestrate global service processes on a daily basis. Michael Jost is a man of detail – both as Global Head of Enablement & Governance and as a passionate restorer of vintage cameras. What at first glance appear to be two completely different worlds turn out, on closer inspection, to be a perfect symbiosis.
‘My team and I enable service teams around the world to work with the same tools, procedures and processes,’ says Michael Jost, explaining his professional mission. His role involves supporting global teams in service CRM as well as providing assistance with complex warranty and goodwill issues and global service governance matters in general. It is a job that requires precision and a systematic approach – qualities that he has also perfected in dismantling and reassembling old cameras.
The parallels between his two passions are striking. ‘To find the cause of a problem with a camera, you simply have to try it out, figure it out and understand how it works,’ says Michael, describing his diagnostic approach. He seamlessly transfers this philosophy to his work: when service employees have difficulties with CRM systems or procedures, he takes a similar approach – understanding how the user operates the system and where the challenges lie in order to then develop targeted solutions or improvements.
What particularly fascinates Michael about vintage cameras is their timeless elegance:
These are products that are ahead of their time, but are really simple to use and set up.
This insight also shapes his approach to modern business processes. ‘We sometimes have a tendency to overcomplicate things,’ he reflects. Instead, he tries to make processes as simple and understandable as possible – and if that doesn't work, at least to document and train them as well as possible.
Documentation is a key issue for Michael, both in camera restoration and in his profession. ‘A little documentation, even in pictures or videos, often helps,’ he emphasises. He sees preserving and sharing this knowledge as one of his most important tasks. For his team, the CRM system is not only a work tool, but also a know-how tool.
‘If restoring a camera takes too long, then it's not for me,’ he admits candidly. Vintage cameras that didn't catch on were often too complicated. For him, it's the simplicity of many models that counts – ‘simple, yet incredibly innovative and reliable for their time.’ The Brownie camera was first launched in 1900 as the ‘snapshot’ camera, priced at one dollar. This camera soon became a hit with the masses because it was extremely easy to use, affordable and made of simple cardboard. What was originally intended as a children's camera became a bestseller. In its first year of production alone, 150,000 cameras were sold, and its successor, the Brownie No. 2, as well as other models at that time, were also a great success.
Vintage photos from Michael Jost
Michael Jost embodies a modern approach to leadership: he values tried-and-tested mechanisms without allowing himself to be restricted by them. Like a master mechanic who brings a vintage camera back to life after years of neglect, he understands how to identify and utilise simple, effective principles in complex systems. His philosophy is simple and effective: understand, simplify, enable – whether it's a 100-year-old camera or a global service process.
