Neil Vogler, Retired, BASF (FWB: BAS; DAX Compent)

The Caring Economy with Toby Usnik

A native of Northern Michigan, Neil Vogler is a chemical engineer professional who spent the majority of his career with German chemical conglomerate BASF SE, the largest chemical producer in the world. Spanning two decades of work that included roles in product management, sales and marketing, he and his family enjoyed the enlightened beneficence of a corporate giant in the era of boundless globalization. Neil is also Toby Usnik's stepfather who married widow Sally Usnik in 1967 and took on co-parenting her five young sons from her first marriage. The family moved every other year on average as Neil rode the corporate roller-coaster, from Ohio to Michigan to Illinois to Michigan to New Jersey to Pennsylvania and then Texas, where Neil literally and figuratively is meeting his Alamo in a valiant battle with lung cancer. In the final stages of this life, he has entered hospice care. I hope this episode portrays more than just a career journey but also a reflection on life and how far we can come as human beings.

This interview on March 27, 2021 is his last interview. In it he and Toby discuss the role of business in society, of corporations' responsibilities to their employees, and his lessons learned in life. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, BASF ran an ad campaign with the slogan, "At BASF, we don't make a lot of the products you buy, we make a lot of the products you buy better." It was, an ingenious set of ads, and one that summarized the Vogler-Usnik family experience. At the end of 2019, the company employed 117,628 people. In 2019, BASF posted sales of €59.3 billion and income from operations before special items of about €4.5 billion.

Don't forget to check out my book that inspired this podcast series, The Caring Economy: How to Win With Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).