Transformations fail because the system protects itself.
I work alongside those who decide — and who drive real change where organizational reality meets human behavior.
My instrument: working with tension so better decisions emerge. Without paralysis. Without impulsive haste.
Anything else, in my view, is a coin toss.
I recognize structural patterns
in organizations under pressure.
Filtered information. Avoidance dynamics. Unclear incentives. These are rarely personal failings. More often, they are structural patterns. I make them visible – and work with leaders and decision-makers to shift them.
No theatrics. No moralizing.
With the clarity of someone
who knows the system from the inside — and can look at it from the outside.
If you carry responsibility, a systematic and systemic view is worth taking.
What we work on together.
Three fields where it becomes visible whether change is actually being led.
Deciding under complexity
When data, experience, and frameworks reach their limits.
Making behavioral dynamics visible
Recognizing patterns that quietly block change.
Leading under pressure
When the system evades — and you carry responsibility.
Sparring — A second pair of eyes. No filter.
Sparring is the external mirror — and the point of friction where your hypotheses either hold up or fall apart.
For C-level leaders who need honest reflection — not affirmation. I hold the mirror so that you can see what your system is hiding from you. You decide what to do with it.
A second pair of eyes. No filter. With the discretion that executive boards and managing directors should be able to expect.
Where else I work.
Clarity.
Not inspiration.
For leaders who want substantial engagement. Speaking topics from my practice:
- Behavioral dynamics in organizations — why reorganization isn’t enough
- Resilience as a leadership task — beyond the myth of endurance
- Cultural change as a question of power
- Middle management — bottleneck, or mirror of the system?
- Identity in transformation — why real change wobbles
Engagements.
Workshops.
Ongoing support.
For organizations in fundamental change: advisory, workshops and organizational development at the intersection of people, technology and organization. Engagements are contracted through the GmbH.
nusselt.gmbh →Open
formats.
A training and experience space for leadership under tension. For people who want to learn how to deal with ambiguity and ambivalence constructively — not as a method, but as a competence.
spannungsraum.com →25+ years. Inside the system,
working on the system.
My background is unusual:
information technology, leadership in large organizations, university teaching, founding my own companies — and psychotherapeutic training that has shown me how behavior in organizations actually changes.
Founder — spannungsRAUM®
Proprietary framework
A framework that helps leaders deal with tension productively — so that better decisions emerge.
Executive Sparring Partner & Strategic Advisor
Nusselt Management GmbH
- Advising C-level and senior leadership on decisions beyond standardized frameworks.
- Advising transformation initiatives to eliminate blind spots efficiently and effectively.
Psychotherapy practitioner
(Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie, German legal title)
Private practice — closed in 2026 in favor of advisory work
The practice sharpened my understanding of behavior under pressure and behavioral change.
I closed it to bring that competence fully into my advisory engagements.
Lecturer — Responsible Leadership & Innovative HR Management
OST — Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, St. Gallen
Founder & Managing Partner
lern:ma! GmbH & Co. KG
I initiated and scaled business models — and shut some of them down again, e.g. when it became clear that shared direction at the execution level was missing. The lesson: a shared vision does not replace a shared way of working.
Lecturer — Innovation, Digital Technologies, Leadership
Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Munich
Team Lead · Project Manager · Change & Transformation Lead
Siemens AG
- Led large-scale transformations across systems, processes and organizations.
- Reduced disengagement in the area of responsibility from 15 % to 6 %.
- Co-founder and scaling of an employee-driven initiative — 1,000+ people, 17 countries.
- Shaped change under cost pressure and reorganization without sacrificing engagement or stability.
Apprenticeship — IT Systems Specialist (IHK)
Brodos AG
Further training & licenses
Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy
Leadership in an Exponentially Changing World
Psychotherapy practitioner (Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie) — focus areas: behavioral change, resilience, and mental flexibility
Project Management (Level C), Leadership & Talent Programs
How I think.
Selected pieces on behavioral dynamics, leadership under pressure, and decisions under complexity.
We don't have an insight problem. We have an execution problem.
Most people know what isn't working. Still, little changes. Because organizations reward good explaining — not effective action. On know-it-alls, do-it-betters, and the question of who leadership…
When belonging creates psychological insecurity
People need psychological safety to do good work. But many organizations have implemented a flawed understanding of it.
Many boards and executive teams are asking: Where can AI agents be deployed?
But: at every level of the hierarchy, information gets smoothed, weighted, positioned.
Three perspectives. One understanding.
Transformation doesn’t happen inside individual functions.
It happens – or it gets blocked – in the interplay between them.
Behavior
Status, loyalty, fear of losing control – these dynamics act quietly, but with structural consequences. Ignore them, and you decide with blind spots.
Structure
Organizations don’t respond to appeals; they respond to incentives. Transformation rarely fails on strategy – it fails on unclear ownership and accountability.
Power
Who actually decides? Who is heard, who is bypassed? Power is the invisible layer that carries every change or tips it over – depending on whether it is looked at honestly.
Before we talk.
What does a first conversation look like?
Direct. No sales pitch, no pre-meeting before the pre-meeting. 30–45 minutes in which you sketch your situation and I tell you whether and how I might fit. If not, I’ll suggest someone else where possible.
How long does a sparring engagement run?
From single sessions to engagements over several months. A typical engagement runs three to six months, with sessions every two weeks or once a month. Form and frequency follow your reality, not a standard package.
What distinguishes sparring from coaching or traditional consulting?
Coaching works primarily on you as a person and your patterns. Traditional consulting delivers concepts and solutions. Sparring works between the two: I question your hypotheses, hold the mirror to your system, and give back what people inside the system can no longer say. You decide — I neither take over your responsibility nor sell you a concept.
How is confidentiality handled?
Standard. Anything from our conversations stays between us. On request, we put it in writing. C-level engagements are never referenced by me unless you give explicit permission.
When is sparring not the right format?
If you’re looking for a solution that someone else delivers: you need an advisor. If you want to work on personal patterns that are not primarily about your role: you need a coach or a therapist. If you only want to be heard, without anyone creating friction: you need someone other than me.
What happens after our first conversation?
If both sides see a fit, I’ll send you a lean proposal within one or two working days — format, frequency, commercial terms, data protection. No 40-page decks. You decide whether to start.
You carry responsibility – and want to know where in the system to act.
Then let’s talk. No preliminary call. No pitch. A direct conversation.