Lisa Eckhardt works in environments where decisions cannot be postponed. For more than 15 years, she has guided organisations through transformation, crises and complex decision-making processes as an independent interim manager. She is currently working on a crisis management assignment within the senior management environment of the Volkswagen Group.
Companies including Porsche, Audi and Deutsche Post rely on her experience when conditions become uncertain and decisions must be made under pressure. At the same time, Lisa Eckhardt brings her leadership expertise to the stage, most recently at a top-management event hosted by Deutsche Bahn.
This is what distinguishes her from conventional keynote speakers: Lisa Eckhardt does not simply talk about leadership in dynamic times – she practises it. Nine years at Porsche, more than 15 years of interim management assignments and three years as the founder of a technology start-up have shaped her understanding of effective leadership.
In her signature keynote, she combines this experience with the surfer mindset as a clear and accessible leadership model. Wind and waves cannot be controlled. What matters is how leaders respond to them, create orientation and steer deliberately.
Her presentations are calm, clear and grounded in practice. They do not rely on motivational rhetoric, but provide guidance that can be applied in everyday leadership.
Lisa Eckhardt’s Keynote Topic
Clarity and Leadership in Dynamic Times
Many organisations currently find themselves navigating rough waters. Business environments are becoming more dynamic, competition is intensifying and external challenges such as changing markets, new regulations and technological disruption cannot simply be stopped. At the same time, organisations are expected to achieve maximum impact within increasingly short periods.
Waves cannot be controlled. Effective leadership begins with consciously managing how we respond to them.
In her keynote, Lisa Eckhardt demonstrates how leaders can remain capable of acting under dynamic and uncertain conditions. The surfer mindset becomes a practical model for clarity, orientation and precise leadership.
Topics and Insights
- Clarity in steering: Steer precisely instead of simply pulling harder.
- Courage: The wave will not wait until every condition is perfect.
- Empathy: Those who can read the wave are able to lead with greater foresight and effectiveness.
- Flexibility: Use changing conditions instead of fighting against them.
- Orientation: Staying on course requires a clear internal point of reference.
- Effectiveness: The loudest voice does not determine the direction.
What the Audience Takes Away
Participants gain a clear model for leadership under dynamic conditions and practical approaches to making decisions under uncertainty. They develop a stronger understanding of effectiveness instead of reactive activity and gain orientation for situations in which external conditions cannot be controlled.
The keynote is suitable for leadership events, executive conferences, client events and conferences focusing on leadership, transformation, dynamic environments and responsibility.
Lisa Eckhardt adapts her keynote to the organisation’s current situation and specific challenges. During a preparatory briefing, the central strategic and operational issues are identified and incorporated directly into the presentation.
This creates a keynote that connects directly with the organisation, its current situation and the everyday leadership challenges faced by the audience.
Between Headwinds and Responsibility
Lisa Eckhardt is called upon when leadership must remain effective despite strong headwinds. Raised in the Bavarian Alps and now based in northern Germany, she takes responsibility in demanding decision-making environments.
Her professional career began at Porsche AG, where she held various positions over a period of nine years. Alongside her training as Porsche’s first female IT specialist, she completed a degree in business information systems.
For more than 15 years, Lisa Eckhardt has worked as an independent interim manager in complex technology, transformation and crisis situations. She also led a technology start-up for three years and therefore understands entrepreneurial responsibility from first-hand experience.
Today, she guides organisations through periods in which uncertainty increases, decisions must be made quickly and responsibility cannot be delegated. This experience also shapes her work as a keynote speaker.
An important part of her perspective comes from kitesurfing. Dealing with wind, waves, risk and changing conditions provides a powerful model for leadership: external conditions cannot always be controlled. How we respond to them can.
“It is not the circumstances that are decisive, but the way in which they are managed.“