LEADERSHIP: INSPIRE & CHANGE
Down-to-earth thinker, thought leader for companies, bestselling author and radio philosopher. With his clear and understandable thinking, Christoph Quarch succeeds in making the wisdom treasures of European culture usable for the challenges of the present.
As a thought leader for companies, speaker and university lecturer, he finds the right language for every audience – a language that inspires by opening up new perspectives and surprising horizons. As a practical philosopher, Christoph Quarch is an “expert for the general”.
His topics range from innovative forms of leadership and corporate culture development to the foundations of democratic cooperation and the art of leading a good life. He always takes his audience on a journey of thought, at the end of which there are not only new insights, but also the desire to break new ground. This has to do with the fact that, as he says, he does not give “canned lectures”, but always “cooks fresh” for his audience.
LECTURES & DEEP DIVE
Dr. Christoph Quarch’s presentations are designed in such a way that they can be easily adapted to specific contexts or business areas. Here is a selection of recent keynotes:
Who is DR. CHRISTOPH QUARCH
Dr. Christoph Quarch (*1964) is a philosopher and bestselling author of numerous books on philosophical, ethical, economic, political and social topics. He supports managers in companies, teaches as a professor at the Danube Private University in Krems on the Danube and as a lecturer at the Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA), Fulda University of Applied Sciences and the University of Basel. He organizes philosophical journeys for the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. With his podcasts, articles and the weekly radio column “Frühstücksquarch” on SWR, he reaches a broad audience throughout the German-speaking world. He draws on the sources of European philosophy to find answers to the challenges of the 21st century. In 2019, he and his wife Christine Teufel founded the New Platonic Academy (www.akademie-3.org), which aims to rework the intellectual heritage of European culture for the 21st century.
As a successful author, he has written or edited over 50 books, most recently “Wacher Geist und fester Schritt. The Donkey School of Leadership” (legendaQ 2024), “Schönheit rettet die Welt” (dreizeichen 2024), “Den Geist Europas wecken” (Europa Verlag 2024), “Der Club der alten Weisen” (Finanzbuch 2023), “Begeistern! How companies grow beyond themselves (Scheffer & Pöschel 2021). He has also written communication materials for numerous companies, including dm Drogeriemarkt, Lufthansa, ggk DialogGroup, designfunktion and Wendt&Kühn.
Christoph Quarch is a member of the advisory board of the MMM Club, an honorary member of the board of the International Delphic Council and advises the global entrepreneur network The Argonauts.
WORK IS LIFE
The good life doesn’t just start after work
No matter where you look, everyone wants more free time or more quality time. A healthy work-life balance seems to most contemporaries to be an absolute prerequisite for a good life. However, they are often unable to say exactly what they mean by this. And even if they have a lot of self-determined time at their disposal, there is often a vague feeling of inadequacy. Could it be that we waste a lot of time and energy chasing goals or ideals that, on closer inspection, turn out to be inadequate? Either way, it is always worth asking anew what is really important to us – and what is really capable of fulfilling us. Christoph Quarch draws on the wisdom of philosophers and outlines a promising vision of the good life that both motivates and guides us.
Book accompanying the lecture: The big “Yes” (3rd ed. 2019)
BLOSSOM, GROW, LIVE
How to make the office an attractive place
Why go to the office when you can do your work better, cheaper and perhaps more comfortably on your laptop at home? Many people think so – and advocate spending as much time as possible working from home. However, this is not always good for companies. Not only do offices become deserted: performance also decreases and team spirit wanes. As a result, more and more employers are thinking about how they can entice their employees back into the company office. However, this requires a change in the corporate culture. Christoph Quarch suggests using a new model for change processes: the garden. Offices should become greenhouses for the development of potential, where people find a climate that combines aesthetics and functionality as well as personal and economic growth.
Books accompanying the lecture: Officina Humana (2017), Where the soul sings (2019), Where the future grows (2025)
LET IT BLOW
How to get the spirit to move.
Who doesn’t want enthusiastic employees? Who doesn’t want enthusiastic customers? Enthusiasm, it seems, is the master tool of corporate management. The only question is how to ignite it. And that’s not as easy as many an enthusiasm coach makes it out to be. Because enthusiasm cannot be generated methodically or technically. Those who try to do so may manipulate or fanatize people, but they will not inspire them. Enthusiasm only happens – our language is very clear on this point – where a good spirit blows. But as we know, the spirit only blows where it wants to. It is therefore important to open up spaces in which an inspiring spirit blows: the good spirit of a company that is expressed in its values and visions. Christoph Quarch reveals the most important prerequisites that you can create in order to unleash enthusiasm in your environment.
Book to the lecture: Inspire! How companies grow beyond themselves (2021)
ARE YOU ALREADY SAYING SOMETHING, OR ARE YOU STILL TALKING?
How communication / cooperation succeeds
Most human problems arise from faulty or bumbling communication. This makes it all the more astonishing how little thought we give to this foundation of human interaction. What does it mean to start a conversation with someone? What inner attitude should I have in order for the conversation to succeed? How do I measure the success of a conversation? What should I know about language so that I can use this master tool of communication appropriately? Christoph Quarch invites you to think about these questions and thereby create the conditions for good communication and successful cooperation.
COOL LIKE DONKEY
The art of efficient leadership
The mastery of the art of leadership lies in making yourself superfluous as a manager – or keeping yourself so far in the background that you lead without others noticing. This requires cultivating a culture of personal responsibility, which is best achieved when you internalize some of the virtues of the art of leadership: Mindfulness and curiosity, patience and trust, composure and perseverance – to name but a few. Christoph Quarch invites you to rethink the role of managers and to take unfamiliar paths.
Book to the lecture: Alert mind and firm step. The Donkey School of Leadership (2024)
THE BOAH EFFECT
Why you can change the world with beauty
“I feel responsible for the beauty of the world”? Who could have said that? An artist? An architect? Neither. It is an entrepreneur, and an extremely successful one at that. However, the quote does not come from him, but from the Roman Emperor Hadrian. What is even more astonishing, however, is that beauty is an extremely effective tool in the art of leadership. It’s not just about beautiful products and beautiful appearances, it’s also about a beautiful approach and a beautiful environment at work. Beauty motivates and stimulates. Christoph Quarch explains the magic of beauty and suggests how you can harness it.
Book accompanying the lecture: Beauty saves the world (2024)
Websites: www.christophquarch.de
Current Lunch & Learn sessions with Christoph Quarch
🤳Lunch & Learn – AI@work: Who is actually leading whom? Why AI needs clear values | Keynote & audience talk: Dr. Christoph Quarch & Karin Burger
Artificial intelligence was on everyone’s lips – but how could it be put to good use? We addressed this question in a Lunch & Learn session at 12 noon. We were delighted that Dr. Christoph Quarch was not only a talk guest but also a keynote speaker in this special edition.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Christoph Quarch
Talk with host: Karin Burger, Die Agentur für Redner
Technology: team karin burger GmbH & Verrocchio-Institute
Lunch & Learn: Enthusiasm for the earth! How can ecological change succeed?
How can we promote ecological change in the economy? What fuels it? Sustainability expert Tina Teucher will be discussing these questions with the two renowned professors Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Christoph Quarch at our virtual Lunch & Learn on April 25, 2024 – 25 years after the publication of their joint book “A New Policy for the Earth. The global partnership of economy and ecology.”
Keynotes: Christoph Quarch and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
Moderation: Tina Teucher
Head of Streaming: Thorsten Jekel
REFERENCES & CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS
Christoph Quarch succeeds in combining fundamental philosophical insights with the requirements of today’s corporate management and thus inspires. He not only talks convincingly about why companies need enthusiasm, he is also able to awaken this enthusiasm in his listeners.
We learned about exciting philosophical and historical backgrounds and were invited to place ourselves in this context. The response from our colleagues could not have been more positive. Dr. Quarch is still quoted and referred to today. His lecture has become deeply rooted in us.
YOUR INQUIRY
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80802 Munich
Tel: +49 89 21899450
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We look forward to your inquiry
