Dr. Lysander Weiss is an author, lecturer and partner at the award-winning consultancy venture.idea, which offers forward-looking advice on strategies in eatblished companies. In his lectures and workshops, he talks about how to strategically implement measures to improve organisational capabilities. He draws his experience from academic research as well as corporate practice. In addition to speaking at meetings and conferences on change management, crisis management, innovation, organisation and strategy, he shares his expertise in lectures at renowned business schools.
Lysander Weiss in interview:
2. What are the core subjects of your keynote speeches?
In my speeches, I address the big question of how to lead companies successfully into the future and how to prepare today for tomorrow. I look at the areas of strategy, innovation, and organization, and in detail at core topics such as strategic innovation, sustainability, resilience, agility, innovation units, corporate venturing, and new work. The question is always how established companies can successfully adapt to the rapid and profound changes in the environment.
2. Which audiance or which branch do you reach with your speech?
My speeches are cross-industry and address large corporations as well as mid-sized companies. I have worked on strategy and innovation projects in Dax40, Fortune500 and mid-sized companies in more than 30 different industries. My audiences include executive and supervisory boards, entrepreneurs, investors, and innovation and strategy managers. For selected topics, such as New Work, I can also address a broader audience.
3. Are you a PREMIUM SPEAKER? Where do you get your insights from?
As a Senior Research Fellow at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, I am actively researching the topic of “strategic entrepreneurship” and am thus always at the forefront of management research. Through my role as a partner in the management consultancy venture.idea, I am able to put the insights I gain there into practice. As a result, I have first-hand knowledge of the challenges that established companies face in the areas of strategy and innovation, and I create a pragmatic link between theory and practice in the implementation of innovation and strategy projects in well-known companies. This provides valuable insights for my speeches, allowing me to give new impulses for the sustainability of companies and to offer the audience concrete examples, tools and methods for implementation.
4. What will be in the future? Does «time» play an important role in your work?
Change! Today’s business environment is characterized by high dynamics, complexity and uncertainty. This is not going to change any time soon. Change is here to stay. For organizations, this means continuously working on their own adaptability, examining their own competencies and competitive advantages, and innovating and adapting accordingly. Innovation is the key to business sustainability. The future can bring uncertainty, but it can also bring the opportunity for strategic evolution, new solutions, and creativity – not just to keep up with the times, but to lead them!
5. Tell us your life motto? What do you want to give your listeners to take with them?
“Worry only about what you know.”
This mantra from the book “Tender Bar” shows a simple way to deal with uncertainty: Unless we know something is going to go badly, we shouldn’t worry about it. This does not mean that we should ignore current developments. Rather, it allows us to look at new changes with an open mind and a sense of freedom, and to see opportunities in them. This is what I always try to convey in my lectures: The great opportunity to shape the future, rather than resigning ourselves to negative developments.