Over the course of many years I have participated in shaping technology for mobile working machines that help us build our homes, roads, and bridges. Technology that drives aircraft pushback tractors or combine harvesters. Over and over again I could be part of teams that pushed for sustainability and shifted the limits of what is technically feasible. That has been exciting. I am grateful to be part of this.
My first keynote speech took place 20 years ago, in the US, in front of our own sales team. I tried to bring across that in reality it is actually so easy to work with "us Germans". I guess, you get the irony. During this speech I could experience for the very first time how powerful honest and respectful thoughts can be, when spoken out with a fine dose of humor. That very moment was my start as a keynote speaker. What makes me special? I think that it is my unique blend of international management experience, curiosity, and the passion to motivate people for perspective changes. One more thing: I love to drill down to the very bottom of things.
I like cooking, preferably homemade pasta or something from the barbecue. Every now and then I reach for the ukulele. Music is wonderfully relaxing for me. I appreciate clarity very much where it is possible. And I consciously allow grey areas where they are necessary. Our reality of life is rarely only either black or white. Developing people I see as as one of the most important tasks in leadership. My roots are in Bavaria, and I feel at home in the world.
Our time spent in the United States left a lasting impression on me and gave me a positive attitude towards life. I enjoy working with people from other cultural backgrounds: whether it's the warm hug I receive as I greet them in Sao Paulo, the constant shaking of the listeners' heads in Bangalore, which drives me to helplessness, or the very reserved reactions of the negotiating partners in Tokyo that demand my last bit of patience. People are so different. Amazing.
My career start led me into application engineering for wheel loader drive trains. When I returned to Germany after several years of working in the USA, the world had changed: our group of medium-sized companies had been taken over by vodafone. After this largest hostile takeover in the history of German industry, I experienced the dissolution of the Mannesmann concern and helped shape the transformation of a medium-sized company into a modern industrial group. As the right-hand man of the CEO of our group, I dealt intensively with leadership, strategy, and new technologies.
I orchestrated a worldwide sales organization, and led crisis teams. Over the course of many years I enjoyed the privilege of being part of a top notch management team that has led the company through crises and cultural change to self-confidence and profitability. Today we are a world market leader. As an executive and a supervisory board member of the Bosch Rexroth AG (which I consider to be one of the coolest companies on our planet), I am an active part of teams that are in the midst of digital transformation, experimenting, and learning about new forms of organizational structures for themselves.
My passion as a keynote speaker is to inspire people and make them want to shape the future of their comanies. Together. Consciously. I like to motivate teams to continuously increase the efficiency of their organizations and the satisfaction of their people. Have associates achieve top results, and have fun at the same time. I like to share my perspectives and experiences. Not everyone needs to make the same mistakes, right? I was born in 1965, studied industrial engineering in Rosenheim, was an alumnus of the Carnegie Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, PA, and graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Clemson University in the USA. Since 2021 I am "Certified Supervisory Board Member" by the Deutsche Börse AG. In the meantime, I have become a multiple book author and guest author for business magazines such as Capital, Focus and Wirtschaftswoche. I am a member of the German Speakers' Association (GSA) and the Association of German Engineers (VDI).
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