Expert in Leadership, Motivation & Management

Reinhard K. Sprenger – Career of a multi-talent

Dr. Reinhard K. Sprenger is Europe’s most distinguished leadership expert. Born in Essen in 1953, he studied philosophy, psychology, history, sports and business administration in Bochum and Berlin. His books “Mythos Motivation,” “Das Prinzip Selbstverantwortung,” “Vertrauen führt,” “Radikal führen” and “Das anständige Unternehmen” have permanently changed many managers’ understanding of leadership. With his work “The decision is yours!” he also reaches a large number of private readers. On the side, he is a rock musician who releases three albums of his own. In 1985, he earns a doctorate in philosophy and receives the Carl Diem Prize for his dissertation “National Identity and Modernization”. Sprenger lives in Winterthur/Switzerland and Santa Fe/New Mexico.

Reinhard K. Sprenger Lecture Topics

  • Magic of Conflict – Why everyone needs it and how it can help us move forward
  • Radically Digital: Because people make the difference
  • The decent company: What constitutes proper leadership – and what it leaves out
  • Radically Leading – The universal essence of successful leadership
  • The Myth of Motivation – Self-Reliance and Self-Motivation

After passing his state examinations to become a high school teacher, Sprenger becomes a scientific advisor to the Minister of Education of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. After working in the field at 3M in Germany, he became head of human resources development. He also lectured at the universities of Berlin, Bochum, Essen and Cologne. Reinhard K. Sprenger has been working as an independent management consultant since 1990 and is today one of the most sought-after experts for management development. His clients include many international corporations as well as almost all Dax 100 companies.

“Reinhard K. Sprenger writes books against the management zeitgeist” writes Die Zeit. The Financial Times calls him the “sharpest-tongued management thinker”. There is no doubt that Sprenger’s theses break with the conventional strategies of corporate management. His ideas are revolutionary because they spring from a fundamental humanism: Sprenger places people as beings of freedom at the center of his management theory.

From this he derives principles:

  • Clarity and consistency in leadership
  • Self-responsibility and self-motivation of employees
  • a smart organization that allows each individual employee to act in an entrepreneurial manner.

After passing his state examinations to become a high school teacher, Sprenger became a scientific advisor to the Minister of Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. At 3M in Germany, he becomes head of human resources development. He is also a lecturer at the universities of Berlin, Bochum, Essen and Cologne. Since 1990, he has worked as an independent management consultant and is now one of the most sought-after experts in management development. His clients include many international corporations as well as nearly all Dax 100 companies.

Reinhard K. Sprenger – The uncomfortable visionary

Motivated employees, according to Reinhard K. Sprenger, are what make a company successful, but these employees are individuals and not stimulus-response machines. Only self-confident people who challenge themselves and thus become independent of authority are capable of excellent performance. It is the task of managers to give employees room for creativity and self-responsibility and to support their entrepreneurial potential. Giving employees this space means trusting them – because the price of mistrust is too high.

Reinhard Sprenger’s theses are uncomfortable, provocative and immensely successful. A rare combination that also has to do with his rhetorical talent: In his lectures and books, he speaks and writes clearly, lively and understandable for everyone. “When Reinhard K. Sprenger has argued his way warmly, rhetorical sparks fly,” writes the Financial Times Deutschland.