Andreas Koch – The “5 Premium Speakers Questions

22. August 2022 – Mandy Weinand

Andreas Koch calls himself “the pipe”. And although you might think the term has a negative connotation, it is his most important working utensil. At least on the hockey field. Since he was 12, Andreas Koch has been on the ice as an ice hockey referee. He has now refereed over 2500 games worldwide. Among them, the finals of the Swiss league in 2013 and 2018. Likewise, he was DEL referee from 2019 – 2021. In the process, he has learned not only to make decisions, but also how to deal with the resulting consequences. His mission is to take away people’s fear of making decisions so they can reach their full potential.

What are “right” decisions? How do I manage to remain confident and calm when making difficult decisions? Do emotions play a role? That’s what we talked about with Andreas Koch.

Andreas Koch in an interview

1. What are the core subjects of your keynote speeches?

Andreas Koch:

What can I learn from sports for business? What works and what doesn’t?

1. decision making
2. how to deal with criticism
3. how to achieve high performance in the team

For this we will deal with perception, judgment, decision making techniques, some brain research, personality profiling, coaching techniques, communication (verbal and non-verbal), dealing with emotions (recognizing and controlling), error culture, also a bit of philosophy (law/fairness) and process management

2. Which audiance or which branch do you reach with your speech?

Andreas Koch:

Everybody has to make decisions, everybody has emotions, most people have to deal with pressure, difficult situations, or other complicated people…. That’s why most people feel addressed by these topics.

I will reach the audience when they are open to it, curious, want to benefit for themselves – usually we reach this state in the first few minutes.

3. Are you a PREMIUM SPEAKER? Where do you get your insights from?

Andreas Koch:

My motto is, “If you want to impress people, make things complicated – if you want to help them, make it simple.”

On the one hand, of course, I have had numerous educations – but not all of them are from Harvard.

The other side is practical experience: both as a referee (since 1994) but also as an employee and as a manager, I have experienced numerous situations, some of them very difficult (for example, I have already had to leave the stadium under police protection). I have experienced what I am talking about – and I am talking about situations that everyone knows in a figurative sense.

I think what distinguishes me is the gift to combine science and emotions with experienced examples in such a way that it stays in the listeners’ minds and they can benefit from it for themselves.

4. What will be in the future? Does «time» play an important role in your work?

Andreas Koch:

As long as we are dealing with people, human aspects in our dealings with each other will remain important. Digitalization has an influence on this, among other things because all information is constantly available, everything can be monitored and controlled. But precisely this circumstance will (hopefully) also lead us to become even more aware of our humanity and to work on it. I think personality development is becoming more important than ever.

5. Tell us your life motto? What do you want to give your listeners to take with them?

Andreas Koch:

“Don’t do it for money – do it for people.”

I am convinced that people sense what your driver is. Whatever you do: If it corresponds to your passion, the rest (success) comes by itself!

Take care of your fellow human beings, then you can’t stop that from coming back! And decide more with your heart!

Andreas Koch

International Ice Hockey Referee, Lecturer & Entrepreneur