Florian Astor: If you don’t push yourself, you will be pushed. Sooner or later.
Florian Astor was a successful manager in a large global corporation with traditional structures. Today he is an entrepreneur in his own startup. In between, two years and 8,500 km on foot. What started as an outdoor challenge soon turned into something else – a fundamental change of perspective.
At the age of 30, Florian Astor was one of the youngest department heads of a renowned Dax corporation. That gave him a lot: recognition inside and outside the company, a comfortable standard of living, financial security. But also the realization that this life holds limits that are worth breaking through.
Florian Astor quits his job, gives up his apartment, sells his belongings and cuts all his safety lines.
Packed only with a backpack and tent, he sets off. Once from the southern to the northern tip of New Zealand, in South America and finally from Mexico to Canada on the famous Pacific Crest Trail on the west coast of the USA. He moves into the wilderness. A journey that fundamentally changes his perception, his thinking and his actions. Two years and 8,500km later, Florian Astor returns. Without a concrete plan and with a prescribed aimlessness, he explores his options and starts all over again. But different this time.
Florian Astor becomes an entrepreneur in his own right with the digital startup Campo Golf.
Companies invite him as a guest speaker to benefit from his experience. He gives design thinking seminars and becomes co-founder of a second company. Florian Astor is a living example of successful change of mindset and person. As an international keynote speaker he builds bridges between the old and the new working world. His lectures are pure inspiration. The Hiker vividly shows why regularly leaving the comfort zone is so important. That one should not put all one’s eggs in one basket, and why willingness to change has become an indispensable must and can be an asset at the same time. Always in his luggage: breathtaking nature photos and stories of special encounters and extraordinary hospitality.
Florian Astor Lecture topics
250 nights in a tent – a lesson in digitalization
When we think of digitization, most people think first of new technologies. Because it is these that drive digitization. But digital transformation requires much more. First and foremost, a cultural change within the company. Away from rigid hierarchies and lengthy processes, toward more openness and flexibility.
In this presentation, Florian Astor shows what can be learned from almost 8,500 kilometers on foot and 250 nights in a tent for the digitally driven working world. The founder of the startup Campo Golf takes you on a journey through spectacular landscapes and at the same time shows why prescribed aimlessness, options for action and the willingness to leave your comfort zone again and again are essential skills for creative, flexible and agile working.
8,500 km on foot – an extraordinary path to a startup
They are popping up like mushrooms: cool, agile startups that produce new ideas and innovations at breathtaking speed. With their “just do it” mentality, they are attacking established companies. It’s no wonder that they are now doing a lot to bring this startup spirit into the company.
From typical corporate employee to startup founder and 8,500 km on foot in between. Keynote Speaker Florian Astor has successfully made the transition. From tunnel vision to foresight. From tactics to action. He shows why startup spirit is not a question of coolness, but a question of attitude. What it takes to achieve this attitude. Why it is just as ambitious as it used to be. And how flexible and agile working works.
Hike to Happiness – Why it pays to leave your comfort zone.
Success. Happiness. Meaning. Most people strive for it. And yet many somehow get stuck on the way there. Because everyday life has them firmly in its grip. They run after the wrong goals. They have settled into their lives. But everyone who has experienced it knows: The truly magical moments happen when we muster the courage to leave our comfort zone. Those moments that open our eyes, that push us forward, that make us curious, more open and more courageous.
From an outdoor challenge to an open-ended hike to yourself. Almost 8,500 kilometers that changed Florian’s thinking, his needs and his actions permanently. A moving talk about self-knowledge, the courage to change, dealing with the unknown and about meaning, success and happiness.