Me

The unlikely route

In the mid-1990s I was a photographer in Shoreditch, back when Shoreditch was still cheap and interesting. That led to creative direction, which led — through a series of turns that made no sense at the time and perfect sense in retrospect — to management consulting.

The thread connecting all of it: I'm drawn to situations where things are shifting, where the old rules don't quite apply, and where the ability to read a room matters more than having the right slide deck.

Germany → UK → Germany → China

Born in Germany, shaped in London, then back to Germany in 2000 — which is where consulting found me. Now approaching my tenth year in Beijing. I came to China in 2016 and found a place that matched my appetite for complexity. I stayed because it keeps teaching me things.

Credentials

• MIT Sloan — Design Thinking (online certificate)
• Henley Business School — Management Diploma
• General Manager China, CPC Consulting
• Beijing International Friendship Ambassador
• Swiss Chamber of Commerce HR Committee — Vice Chair

Beyond the work

Married to Yu, a photographer and filmmaker. Together we collect concrete art and op art — three exhibitions so far, two more in the works. I'm still drawn to design and photography, the fields I started in. Cyclist — Beijing traffic is how I developed my theory of Negotiated Flow. Skier when the mountains allow it.

Intellectually, I keep coming back to Max Frisch, Wilhelm Weischedel, Daniel Kahneman, Stafford Beer, Peter Senge, and Schulz von Thun. They don't agree with each other, which is partly why I find them useful.