Life is the sum of one’s personal decisions. I have also been lucky.
I come from a family of shipping merchants in the beautiful Hanseatic city of Hamburg in Germany.
After attending school in Germany and the USA (Medford, Oregon), I studied Business Administration at the University of Hamburg (majoring in: Marketing, International Management, and Industrial Management) as well as Economics at the University of Aix-en-Provence in France (Université de Droit d’Economie et des Sciences) and graduated with a diploma (MBA).
Early on, I realized my passion for brands, strategies and cultures and brought them together in my diploma thesis on the topic “Influence of Culture on Brand Management” for the consumer goods manufacturer Beiersdorf (Nivea).
In addition to brands, I’m very interested in music, motorcycles, and travel — preferably in just that combination. I could talk about that for hours now. And about my wife and children, with whom I live on the outskirts of Munich.
Over the past 25 years, I have worked for various leading international management consultancies, brand consultancies and media companies and have lectured on brand management at various universities and higher education institutions.
Time and again, I have observed that people and companies cannot realize their full potential because common understandings and goals are missing, structures and processes do not mesh, or there are no tools for integrated corporate and brand management. In short, strategy, culture and structures become entangled. This causes friction losses that cost joy, motivation, resources and impact.
It’s enough that social, technological and economic changes are making our lives and work more and more complex. That doesn’t have to extend to brand management. Quite the opposite. A powerful brand management system helps make everyday work easier, collaboration with colleagues and partners more enjoyable and customers more satisfied. Measurable and sustainable. Guaranteed.
I could tell you a lot more about brands and myself. But I would even rather talk to you. When is a good time for you? I look forward to talking to you.
Until then, please feel free to watch the following video or read the articles. They come from a bygone time when I was still wearing plaid shirts and Philipp Schröder (no family relationship) was the German CEO of Tesla.