Stance of the GTN Group
What we let ourselves be measured by.
Version 0.3 · As of 17 Oct 2026 · ongoing · Terms and rules: Knowledge
This page describes what guides the GTN Group. It is not advertising and no promise of perfection. It is the standard against which we can be measured, and it is corrected as we learn.
1. Four values
The four values are neither goals nor product features. They describe how we deal with what is. None ranks above the others.
Truth
The ongoing search for an understanding of reality that is as undistorted as possible. For us this means: figures, contracts and conditions are established and shown before they are interpreted. We correct our own assumptions when reality contradicts them.
Awareness
Perceiving reality, connections, our own assumptions and the consequences of our actions. Every part belongs to a larger whole, and every whole to people who are responsible for it. We see the part within the whole.
Wisdom
Combining insight, experience and judgement so that appropriate decisions emerge. Appropriate means: the fitting solution, not the biggest, fastest or most profitable for us. We do not call this wisdom when we speak about ourselves. We try to live up to it.
Appreciation
Recognising, acknowledging and honouring worth before calculating benefit. This applies to everyone we work with: we take their competence seriously and make their performance visible. And it applies to competitors, whom we do not disparage.
If one of the four is missing, the others tip over. Truth without appreciation becomes harsh, appreciation without truth becomes flattery, awareness without judgement paralyses, judgement without awareness becomes routine.
2. What connects us
The GTN Group is neither a corporation nor a holding company. It is what its companies have in common: shared values and a shared intention. It exists as long as both are carried.
GTN stands for graf trust network. Three words, three statements.
- trust: Trust is not our fifth value but the result of the four. Whoever acts truthfully, aware, appropriately and with appreciation becomes trustworthy without having to claim it.
- network: A network is the form in which companies can belong together without becoming the same. Each keeps its shape, its words and its colour. What they share lies in the connections.
- graf: The name of the founder, Nicolai Graf. It stands for the origin of the network.
Whatever the field of activity, one pattern stays the same: reality before story. Connection before detail. Appropriate before maximal. Recognising worth, including that of others. This applies in every field in which the group works, and in every field yet to come.
3. How we decide
Before every decision we ask four questions:
- Is it appropriate? Is it in proportion to goal, effort and consequences?
- Is it possible? Is it feasible with the means, the time and within the law?
- Is it dignified? Does it respect the worth of everyone affected, and could we show it openly?
- Are we all involved? Are those affected included, and do those acting stand behind it?
They are checked in this order: first possible, then dignified, then appropriate, then involved. Impossible or undignified means no, even if it would pay. Inappropriate means rebuild. Not involved means: involve first, then act.
Where values come into tension, three rules apply:
- Truth versus appreciation: truth in substance, appreciation in form. Whoever separates the two need not gloss over anything to be kind.
- Speed versus awareness: as much scrutiny as the stakes require. Reversible decisions may be made quickly, irreversible ones need time.
- Profitability versus values: a deal that fails one of the four questions is not made.
4. How we work
- Reality first. Establish before interpreting, show before telling.
- See the connection. No detail without context, no decision without regard to the consequences.
- Appropriate, not maximal. Measure is the criterion, not size.
- Recognise worth. Everyone involved has worth before they have use.
- Stay correctable. Mistakes are named, versions dated, changes made visible.
- Distinguish, do not blur. Fact from assumption, ideal from implementation, substance from form. That is why our documents carry a date and, where useful, a source.
- People remain the purpose. Processes, systems and automation serve people. Where they do not, they are changed.
- What is decided gets done. What has been decided is implemented within a named deadline or explicitly handed back. That is discipline.
- Involve those affected. Whoever is affected is included or informed before a decision takes effect.
5. What this means for you
| As | Truth | Awareness | Wisdom | Appreciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Counterpart | You see all figures, including unfavourable ones. | We see the whole, not just the single case. | We do not recommend every change, only the appropriate one. | We take your competence seriously. |
| Partner | Terms are clear, interests open. | Dependencies are named. | Contracts that carry both sides. | Performance is visibly acknowledged. |
| Team member | Mistakes may be named. | Own assumptions are checked. | Reversible quickly, irreversible slowly. | Work is honoured, not just results. |
| Public | No claim without evidence. | Context is provided: date, source. | No superlatives. | Competitors are not disparaged. |
6. How we speak
- Claims only with evidence. Uncertainty is named: “we don’t know”, “as of today”.
- No superlatives, no exclamation marks, no artificial urgency.
- The person we speak to is competent. Explanations are offers, not lectures.
- Short, concrete, active. One thought per sentence.
- Corrections are communicated, not hidden. That is why our privacy policy has a version history, and so does this page.
7. What makes a company part of the group
A company belongs to the GTN Group if it commits to the four values and to the pattern in section 2. It formulates its own values in its own language and maps them to the four. It receives its own colour. It carries the line “A company of the GTN Group”. The group itself carries no colour, because it carries them all.
Membership is reversible. A company that no longer honours its commitment leaves the network. This follows from truth, not from harshness.
Currently part of the group: GTN Energie in the field of energy and GTN Finanz in the field of finance and protection.
8. Changes
Version 0.3, 17 Oct 2026: Made fully abstract, without reference to industries or target groups. Self-understanding added: the group is what its companies have in common.
Version 0.2, 17 Oct 2026: Four decision questions reworded (appropriate, possible, dignified, involved), two rules added (what is decided gets done, involve those affected). Glossary, principles and rule base on the Knowledge page.
Version 0.1, 17 Oct 2026: First version. Values, questions and rules as a working basis. Open: wording of the vision, criteria for new companies in the group.
This is a translation. The German version is authoritative.