Why Jonas Geissler is rethinking the concept of time

“Actually, everyone is given the same amount of time every day. So why do most people feel differently?”

You open your calendar in the morning. Every hour is scheduled, every gap filled. Meetings follow deadlines, deadlines follow to-do lists. The day is packed—and yet a nagging feeling creeps in: I’m not getting anything done that really matters.

This is exactly where Jonas Geissler’s work begins. Not with a time-management app. Not with a new planning system. But with an uncomfortable question: What if your problem isn’t a lack of time—but your relationship with time?

Jonas Geissler, the son of a time researcher—and how he found his own path

Jonas Geissler grew up with the topic of time. His father, Karlheinz A. Geißler, was one of Germany’s most renowned time researchers. But instead of pursuing an academic path, Jonas Geissler chose practical work. He studied sociology and media management, helped build a training company, and founded timesandmore—Institute for Time Consulting.

What drives him is the gap between knowledge and action. After all, almost everyone knows today that constant acceleration makes people sick. That constant stress hinders innovation, too. And yet organizations keep racing on—faster, more intensely, more exhausted.

Geissler positions himself right in the middle of this. And asks: Why?

The book that shook up SPIEGEL

In 2021, “Alles eine Frage der Zeit” was published—a book that Jonas Geissler wrote together with his father, astrophysicist Harald Lesch, and which promptly became a SPIEGEL bestseller. The core thesis is as simple as it is provocative: The “time is money” logic comes at a high cost to people and nature.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised it as “an entertaining history of time, complete with practical ways out of the rat race”—a verdict that captures the book’s tone: scientifically grounded, yet never dry. Depth with ease.

His earlier book, “Time is honey: Vom klugen Umgang mit der Zeit,” laid the foundation for this: a more personal plea for a more conscious, confident approach to the scarcest resource we have.

What sets Jonas Geissler apart from others

There are many time management guides. Jonas Geissler is not one of them—and that is his unique selling point.

He debunks the myth that time can simply be “managed” better. His conviction: Time cannot be controlled. But the culture of how we handle it can be shaped. And that is precisely the difference between organizations spinning their wheels—and those that truly make progress.

In concrete terms, this means: focus instead of frantic activity. Clear structures instead of constant availability. Space for genuine thinking instead of calendars filled with reflexive meetings. And—especially relevant in the age of AI—the ability not to use the speed gained through automation to get even more done in even less time.

“Those who use the speed gained merely to get even more done in even less time are exacerbating existing problems,” says Geissler—a warning that could not be more apt right now.

On stage: humorous, challenging, impactful

Jonas Geissler is not a speaker who overwhelms his audience with numbers or leaves them with abstract theories. The editor-in-chief of managerSeminare describes it aptly:

“Jonas still managed to make an impact, because he truly rethinks time management. His thoughts on the much-discussed time crunch make you ponder, and his insights have a lasting effect. I had the feeling that the audience listened spellbound, not least because Jonas is a brilliant speaker: competent, composed, and humorous.”

He holds teaching positions at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Munich University of Applied Sciences, advises renowned organizations across all industries—most recently, he guided the CARIAD board and over 200 executives through a complex transformation process for a year and a half—and is a regular guest on radio and television, including on 3sat and National Geographic.

Who is Jonas Geissler the right speaker for?

His keynotes are most effective wherever organizations realize that speed alone is no longer a recipe for success. For executives who realize that their calendar is running them—and not the other way around. For teams that want to be more productive without burning out. And for companies that want to understand why time culture is the underrated lever for innovation, health, and sustainable success.

Jonas Geissler calls himself a “time architect.” What he means by this is that, in his talks and workshops, he creates moments in which organizations look at things that would otherwise lie outside their focus. Moments that have a lasting impact—long after the applause has died down.