Robin Weninger is co-founder of the Global Institute of Leadership and Technology (GILT). In recent years, he has built an outstanding reputation as a renowned leader in leadership issues. His expertise covers a wide range of topics. Among other things, his lectures and workshops focus on leadership in times of uncertainty and how this affects the future of organisations.
His profound knowledge of business and leadership models, as well as his deep understanding of the impact of exponential technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology and blockchain, has enabled him to link significant issues for businesses. In doing so, he manages to transform uncertainty factors into concrete opportunities.
Robin Weninger offers various workshop formats to provide executives with practical orientation amidst the complex jungle of technology and future topics.
Robin Weninger in an interview:
1. What are the core subjects of your keynote speeches?
It is mostly about the question: How can leaders deal with the uncertainty factors that arise from the rapid changes in our time? This includes, for example, developments in exponential technologies, social and ecological change, new economic models, but also crises and global changes.
Especially the topic of exponential technologies is my area of expertise. This includes topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum or virtual reality. However, my presentations are not about becoming an expert in these areas, but rather about finding an approach to the topics that corresponds to one’s own knowledge and personal everyday life. At the core, I deal with the questions: How can I recognize whether this or that technology is relevant to me at all (or may be in the future)? How can I analyze what effects it will have on my business or daily life? And how can I deal with the insights? No one has to become a blockchain expert or know how to program artificial intelligence in order to recognize what influence a new technology may have. It is much more about understanding the big picture – and what implications a technology can have.
Closely linked to this are also the topics of change management, and lifelong learning. In my own company, we support organizations – from startups to Fortune 500 corporations – in improving their learning and change culture or providing targeted training for their employees. In this context, I also deal intensively with questions such as: How do we learn? What influences our mindset or behavior? Why do we do what we do? How can, for example, behavioral design, nudging, gamification or generally the findings of behavioral economics be used to initiate change? When we develop learning programs for companies, or when I prepare lectures in my role as a university lecturer, this is also based on neuroscientific and neuroeducational research. I like to share the findings in this area as well as my best practices and case studies with my audience as part of my presentations. It is always fascinating what tricks our brain sometimes plays on us, what little tricks we can use to make better decisions, or how easily the behavior of your fellow human beings can be influenced with small nudges.
In terms of content, I summarize my work under the “Infinite Organization”. An approach that describes a new, dynamic and, above all, holistic organizational structure. An Infinite Organization is characterized by short-term ability to act while maintaining a long-term strategic orientation. It’s about creating value across generations.
2. Which audiance or which branch do you reach with your speech?
Mainly I speak to – and with – executives and C-levels. This has evolved from my professional everyday life and is completely cross-industry. It ranges from rather conservative companies (e.g. family-owned medium-sized traditional companies) to tech giants.
However, my heart also beats very strongly for young companies in an early phase such as startups, or for companies that are currently undergoing a transformation process, because I appreciate the spirit and simply like how fast changes happen here.
3. Are you a PREMIUM SPEAKER? Where do you get your insights from?
I gain my knowledge primarily from practice. I gained my first entrepreneurial experience at a very young age, but over the course of my career I have also been in corporate environments. Among other things, I worked as managing director of the German Tech Entrepreneurship Center (now I am on the advisory board there) and now manage the Global Institute of Leadership and Technology (GILT). In doing so, GILT sees itself not only as an executive education boutique, but also very much as a think tank and pioneer in the field of exponential technologies and transformation with the claim to work at university level. For example, we initiated the Global Blockchain Initiative, an educational program that has trained over 6,000 students in 137 countries in blockchain to this day. Or we have just brought a certified program with EBS (European Business School) to market that brings executives closer to the implications of exponential technologies. In 2018, we launched the first accredited master’s program in blockchain – just to name a few initiatives. Being at the pulse of time on the one hand, but also breaking down complex contexts and packaging them appropriately for the target group is therefore essential for me. Packaging content in a way that is fun, arouses curiosity, combines learning with fun and entertainment – that’s what it’s all about for me!
In addition, together with my team I advise a large number of companies, authorities and organizations every year on issues related to technology, business models, change and education. In order to maintain the level that our customers rightly expect, it is enormously important for me personally to continue my personal education intensively and be “one step ahead of my time” at all times. For this purpose, I am fortunate to be able to access a network that inspires me as much as it challenges me. I exchange ideas with members of Thinkers 50, the Global Shapers and European Digital Leaders of the World Economic Forum, Fortune500 board members, bestselling authors and leading scientists. Such conversations always generate a lot of exciting, controversial, inspiring and forward-looking things. I love taking my audience on the occasional thought experiment that emerged from such dialogues, or simply sharing new insights with them.
4. What will be in the future? Does «time» play an important role in your work?
The question of what the future holds is precisely the core theme of my lectures. To be clear: I don’t know. But I can show you strategies that will help you anticipate possible future scenarios and deal with the uncertainty factor.
You’re certainly familiar with the old saying “Nothing is as constant as change,” attributed to Heraclitus of Ephesus. This is as true today as it’s ever been. I experience that the rapid change, the decreasing steadiness that determines our lives, overwhelms many people. Dealing with the subjective feeling of being overwhelmed, driven, stressed and disoriented is also an important topic in my keynotes. In that sense: Yes, steadiness – or rather the absence of it – plays a major role in my field.
5. Tell us your life motto? What do you want to give your listeners to take with them?
I don’t have a personal motto, but something that drives me: Positive progress. What I mean by this is my desire to move things forward, to make a positive contribution. This motivator applies on a small and large scale, both professionally and personally. I draw energy from being able to improve things and even more so from helping people develop themselves further.
Therefore, I want to give my audience three main things:
1) Optimism for the future,
2) Clarity about the personal status quo, and
3) The courage and necessary energy to tackle things.