Jonas Geissler is a time management expert, Spiegel bestselling author, organisational developer and executive coach.
He is regarded as one of the most prominent experts in the German-speaking world when it comes to the conscious management of time within organisations. In his lectures, workshops and consultancy sessions, he demonstrates why time is far more than a resource that needs to be managed efficiently: it is a crucial lever for focus, innovation, health and sustainable effectiveness. With scholarly depth, practical insights and a touch of humour, Jonas Geissler challenges common myths about time and illustrates how companies can move away from constant stress, endless meetings and relentless acceleration to regain clarity and create genuine value.
His central message: It’s all a question of time. Those who consciously shape their time culture foster better collaboration, more effective leadership and greater scope for the future.
An interview with Jonas Geissler
1. What are the core subjects of your keynote speeches?
It’s all a matter of time.
Time is the one category that affects everything—yet it is surprisingly overlooked. Perhaps because we cannot fully grasp it. We cannot perceive time with our senses. We do not even know exactly what time is. And yet, it shapes our lives in very concrete ways every single day.
Time is the great unknown at the table—the factor we need to actively design. Because whether we aim to be more productive, healthier, or more innovative, it is always a question of time whether we succeed or not.
My talks show how we can consciously shape time—on a societal level, within organizations, and in our individual actions. At the core are topics such as time culture, leadership as the design of time, productivity without burnout, innovation through smart time structures, and the conscious handling of acceleration, for example through AI.
2. Which audiance or which branch do you reach with your speech?
My talks are for those who have no time.
They are designed for organizations that want to work more effectively, sustainably, and in a future-ready way—across industries. They are particularly relevant for companies and institutions facing high complexity, extensive coordination, and increasing pressure to change, such as in industry, finance, the public sector, academia, healthcare, and consulting.
Typical occasions include professional conferences and industry events seeking an inspiring and engaging keynote on a cross-cutting topic—such as medical or leadership conferences where a broader perspective is needed. They are equally relevant for organizations under strong pressure to accelerate, for example due to AI, and realizing that more speed alone does not lead to greater impact.
I work with organizations that want to become more innovative but struggle to find the time and space to do so. With companies whose productivity is declining because everyone is caught in “high-speed stagnation”—visible in the fact that leaders spend most of their time on non-value-adding activities. And with organizations that aim to work in a healthier way, as absenteeism rises and employee turnover increases.
I primarily engage leaders, HR and organizational development professionals, and decision-makers who want to sustainably improve culture, collaboration, and performance—and may not yet have realized that this is, above all, a matter of time.
3. Are you a PREMIUM SPEAKER? Where do you get your insights from?
Neuroscience shows: curiosity + joy = “freugier” (a blend of both).
I strive to stay in that state of joyful curiosity. I’m interested in many fields – and the common thread connecting them all is time.
I combine scientific rigor with practical application, translating an abstract concept like time into concrete levers for leadership, collaboration, and performance. My perspective is shaped by years of experience as an organizational consultant, coach, and speaker, as well as my research and work as a SPIEGEL bestselling author.
I work with companies, public institutions, and research organizations and see every day how time can be shaped effectively. This combination of theory, practice, and stage experience makes my talks clear, relevant, and immediately actionable.
I bring all of this together with a touch of humor, a sense of ease, and a good dose of humility.
4. What will be in the future? Does «time» play an important role in your work?
The future will not only become faster – it will become increasingly contradictory: more possibilities, more complexity, more acceleration. That is precisely why time is becoming the decisive factor. Not in the sense of “more speed,” but as the ability to consciously distinguish: What needs acceleration – and what needs time?
Time plays a central role as a meta-category: it determines whether development succeeds. Continuity becomes important where orientation, regeneration, and sustainable impact are required. The future belongs to organizations that master both – dynamics and duration – and consciously design their time.
What fascinates me about time is that we cannot not deal with it. Everything we do always has a temporal dimension. Time is both abstract and concrete. On the one hand, we do not really know what time is; on the other hand, we know very precisely what we do today and what we do not. Time is marked by both scarcity and abundance: it is never enough, even though more is created every day. And while it is distributed equally – everyone gets the same amount each day – it is profoundly unequal in how we can actually shape it.
5. Tell us your life motto? What do you want to give your listeners to take with them?
Time is our most faithful friend. It is always by our side, from birth to death.
That is why I try to treat time kindly. For whether we seek to save it, manage it or get the better of it, time probably couldn’t care less. So whatever we think we are doing to time, we are in fact doing to ourselves. Being kind to time therefore benefits us as well.
What’s more, new time is created every day. It is therefore available in abundance and invites us to be creative with it.
For ‘Time is honey’ – time is not a means of payment (money) but a foodstuff (honey) – and a sweet one at that.
Book Jonas Geissler for talks and workshops: 1 (704) 804 1054 or jonas.geissler@premium-speakers.com