Team

Direct. Experienced. Close by.

More effective leadership and teams come from experienced consultants with interpersonal skill and a feel for the person across the table and the role they hold. Three partners work on every mandate personally and draw exactly the depth needed from a growing network of experienced specialists. At home in Cologne, at work across the German-speaking region.

Michael Schön
Background
Education: Business Psychology (B.A.) · General Management (M.A.) · Certified Trainer (INeKO) · Insights Discovery® Licensed Practitioner
Career: Absolventa · T-Systems · Media Broadcast
“the business psychologist”

Michael Schön

Founder & Managing Director
Quote
“Most leadership teams do not have a decision problem, they have a commitment problem. Commitment takes radical openness. That is exactly where I start.”
In essence

As a business psychologist, Michael separates the stated demand from the real need, makes the few effective levers visible and makes sure something remains that translates into action in daily work. His feel for group dynamics creates the space in which the unspoken becomes sayable, and that is exactly where the friction dissolves that has been slowing a team for months. He leads with calm presence rather than pressure: listen, reflect back, get to the point.

Focus areas
  • Brings different levels onto a shared language, from the shop floor to the executive board.
  • Establishes a feedback and performance culture in which both praise and criticism can be discussed effectively.
  • Condenses many topics into a few load-bearing priorities during facilitation.
  • Translates leadership team intentions into strategies everyone understands.
Ludger Sieverding
Background
Education: Diplom-Volkswirt (Economics) · Bank Clerk · Certified Trainer · Insights Discovery® Licensed Practitioner
Career: 1&1 · Telekom / T-Mobile · Bertelsmann · QVC
“the CEO”

Ludger Sieverding

Managing Partner
Quote
“A strategy is worth only as much as each individual has made it their own.”
In essence

Ludger led in top management for 20 years, from division head in a DAX corporation to COO. He brings the analytical sharpness to extract the few load-bearing levers from a strategy, and the experience to drive them down to the operational level. He knows the pressure under which leadership decisions are actually made, and translates between the world of numbers and the world of people. His experience in upheaval and crisis gives leadership teams the confidence that even uncomfortable decisions will hold.

Focus areas
  • Translates strategy into structures and roles that hold up in daily work.
  • Leads and develops leadership teams, including through upheaval and crisis.
  • Aligns the long-term interests of employees, customers and the company.
Christopher Prätsch
Background
Education: Business Administration (B.Sc., WHU) · Investment Fund Specialist (DekaBank) · Insights Discovery® Licensed Practitioner · Scrum / Agile
Career: Procter & Gamble · HelloFresh · Volkswagen
“the entrepreneur”

Christopher Prätsch

Managing Partner
Quote
“I know the difference between a workshop that feels good on Friday and one that actually changes something on Monday.”
In essence

Ten years as founder and managing director: Christopher brings an entrepreneur’s bias for delivery. Name the delicate topics first, then focus radically on the few real levers, then stay with it until it holds. Moving between start-up and corporation, he quickly sees which structure actually carries a system and where only symptoms are being treated. What drives him is effect rather than activity: a workshop has only succeeded once it shows up in behavior on Monday.

Focus areas
  • Combines strategic thinking with operational delivery, from having carried responsibility for growth and change himself.
  • Raises delicate topics openly and strengthens psychological safety without losing edge.
  • Moves leadership teams from many topics to clear, binding priorities.

Network · specialist topics

Experienced specialists, brought in when a mandate calls for it.

When a topic grows larger or more specific, we extend the core with exactly the expertise that counts: curated, not arbitrary.

01Strategy & transformation
Specialist topic:›Transformation
Kevin Pfander
Kevin Pfander
Managing Director, Kraus & Partner

A fearless change expert with 15 years of experience: a creative contrarian who provokes settled positions and ties solutions tightly to business reality. Change management, strategy and innovation.

Prof. Dr. Georg Kraus
Prof. Dr. Georg Kraus
Founder & CEO, Kraus & Partner

Founder and CEO of Kraus & Partner with 35 years of experience in change: professor of interpersonal skills (TU Clausthal), change lecturer at SGBS St. Gallen and author of numerous management books. Transformation and change, leadership, turnaround, strategy and innovation.

Frederic Bauerfeind
Frederic Bauerfeind
Founder, WE BUILD AI

AI implementation for mid-sized companies and corporates: from idea to productive operation, across 150+ projects. Founder and managing director of WE BUILD AI in Cologne, and a sought-after keynote speaker who explains AI without the buzzwords. AI strategy, processes & delivery.

02AI & innovation
Specialist topics:›AI for leadership›AI in processes
Jelmer Peerbolte
Jelmer Peerbolte
Venture builder · ex-McKinsey · Exponential Executives

From idea to viable business model: as a venture builder he accompanies the path from zero to product-market fit. He combines the strategic sharpness of his McKinsey years with hands-on experience from building his own ventures, across industries.

Aragorn Meulendijks
Aragorn Meulendijks
Future historian & AI expert · Exponential Executives

Makes exponential technologies like AI and the metaverse strategically tangible for leadership teams: reads technology trends through the lens of history and turns them into pictures of the future. Keynote speaker in 15+ countries, co-founder of the Innovation Network.

Patrick Willer
Patrick Willer
Innovation Catalyst · Exponential Executives

Translates technological change into concrete steps and builds the networks that carry innovation. 30 years of innovation experience at Oracle, SAP and Salesforce, founder of the Innovation Network and book author; his talks connect philosophy and technology.

03Personality & empowerment
Specialist topic:›Presence
Uwe John
Uwe John
Coach & theater director · Independent

30 years of experience-based people development: formats that interrupt familiar patterns and make personality, presence and team dynamics tangible. Theatre director, theatre pedagogue and systemic coach (ECA); combines stagecraft with modern personal development.

Tatjana Poloczek
Tatjana Poloczek
Empowerment trainer & actor · fem:up

Presence, impact, delivery: acting-based methods that lead into real experience. An actress for film, TV and stage as well as a voice actress; her trainings combine improvisation, status work, role, body and voice technique with personal development.

Anna Röser
Anna Röser
Coach & founder of fem:up

Female empowerment and presence: creates spaces where people unfold their impact. An actress (Schauspielschule der Keller) with a business degree and coach training at the INeKO institute, University of Cologne; founder of fem:up, increasingly working with mixed groups too.

04Coaching & learning
Dr. Tobias Bach
Dr. Tobias Bach
Coach & mountain guide · Independent

A sports psychologist (PhD) and state-certified mountain and ski guide: takes teams through the zone between learning and panic, and makes sure they stay at it when it gets hard. Teaches mountain psychology at the German Sport University Cologne and in Germany’s mountain-guide training; systemic coach (INeKO).

Florian Schmidt
Florian Schmidt
Systemic coach & change manager · Independent

Agile transformation and team coaching: creates the frame in which people reach results themselves. Systemic coach and change manager, guiding teams through change until new routines hold; DJ on the side.

Viola Ploski
Viola Ploski
Learning transformation expert · Kraus & Partner

A pioneer in modern learning: she connects company culture and learning culture so that people and organizations keep developing. Her best ideas arrive outdoors, running or hiking. Learning transformation, new work & change.

Contact

And what is on
your mind?

Write or call us directly. We reply within 24 hours.

Or reach a person directly:

Michael Schön
Founder & Managing Director
Ludger Sieverding
Managing Partner
Christopher Prätsch
Managing Partner