The cigars are also available in the smokers lounge of the Hamburg-based Luxushotels Atlantic in the morning at nine o'clock. So early, however, even the Davidoff boss does not start to smoke - a small espresso reaches him. On the eve, he celebrated the inauguration of the German Davidoff subsidiary Davidoff of Geneva Germany GmbH (DOGG).
Manager-magazin.de: Mr. Hoejsgaard, are you looking forward to your children smoking?
Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard: For me it is a big difference, what one smokes. A cigar to enjoy has little to do with smoking. This is a ceremony. You also do not inhale. With my son and my son-in-law, I would like to smoke a cigar from time to time. They do not smoke cigarettes, but once a month a cigar - that's nice.
Mm.de: Sigmund Freud said: Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. It's not that easy, is it?
Hoejsgaard: Nothing against Freud, but for me a cigar is a catalyst. A wonderful 45-minute break from a stressful everyday life, where you can relax with friends or alone. You sit down, you are discussed, you have time to reflect.
Mm.de: Do you sometimes sit with your wife at home, and you both smoke a cigar?
Hoejsgaard: We enjoy a cigar sometimes , but then with friends on the terrace, in good weather, after a good meal, with a good glass of wine. We rarely smoke in the house.
Mm.de: How much do you smoke?
Hoejsgaard: In a normal week maybe three to four cigars. But there are not many normal weeks in my life, we have many occasions with Davidoff - so it is more of a day. So I am clearly above the average of the cigar smokers, which comes to one to three per week.
Mm.de: According to a study CEOs in the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industry earn up to half a million dollars more than in neutral sectors . So have you become Davidoff's boss?
Hoejsgaard: I do not know the study. I've also worked for other luxury companies. My family has been dealing with tobacco distribution for three generations, so the business was close to me, and I've been working in the industry for ten years at the beginning of my career. So a circle has closed.
Mm.de: What I meant was: Was money the main reason to go to Davidoff?
Hoejsgaard: Not at all. Money is, of course, a means to freedom. But if you work ten or twelve hours a day, you must also love and enjoy the work. I am a brand equity person. It motivates me to expand a good, strong brand. Davidoff was for me a very beautiful diamond, which still had to be honed.
Mm.de: You have already sanded it at first quite thoroughly.
Hoejsgaard: I was the first CEO to be a family business from outside. There was in the company the classical patriarchal system with a very large management team. We have reduced this to normal. From 39 to 9 people.