Karsten Drath

Biography

Being an entrepreneur, coach, author and speaker I am fascinated by the human potential to grow in the face of adversity and hardship. I am one of the managing partners at Leadership Choices, one of the leading providers of executive development in Europe.
As an executive coach I work with top managers of global enterprises and for organizations such as the Center for Creative Leadership in Brussels and the World Economic Forum in Geneva.
As an author I have published several books on the subject of leadership, resilience and coaching, including “Resilient Leadership".
As a speaker I share my personal experiences as a manager and coach with an international audience, combined with insights from research on resilience and leadership skills in the face of  pressure, uncertainty and complexity.
For more than 15 years I have tested the limits of my own resilience and I still do it today: As a consultant and manager of international units in organizations like Accenture, Bombardier and Dell I led large departments through periods of substantial change and was also affected by major upheaval himself. During my time as leader of the European consulting business at Dell I led the acquisition and integration of various international companies into a single new business unit. Parallel to this challenging role, I also completed a number of marathons and triathlons, among them the prestigious Ironman competition.
Since 2006 I have been supporting top managers and their teams in their development. Apart from helping them to achieve their desired goals I give special emphasis to aspects such as inner balance, flexibility and professionalism and to the conscientious use of limited resources as well as quality of life and good performance. For my the alignment of personal values with day-to-day business plays a pivotal role in achieving genuine happiness.  
In my key notes I like to create ”aha” moments - when I am looking at supposedly known facts from a different and fresh perspective. People who have listened to me describe me as an inspiring speaker with a great presence who is capable of integrating complex matters into lively stories, thus conveying difficult matters in a light-hearted and easy manner.
I am a qualified engineer, Executive MBA and psychotherapist. I work in German and in English and lives with my dynamic patchwork family near Heidelberg.

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

- Resilience
- Coping with adversity
- Leadership
- Human growth
- Self-management

Personal Interests

- My family (never enough)
- My work (too much)
- Running with my dog Nounours
- Writing

Websites

• Leadership Choices

Books

Videos