– ECLF Press, Los Angeles, 2015, Soft Cover, 378 pages

Transformers combines contributions from renowned thought leaders with perspectives and experiences from dozens of global corporations, among them GE, L’Oreal, Ericsson, Fiat-Chrysler, Cisco, Allianz, Airbus, Siemens, Santander, UBS and many more – close to 100 summaries of speeches, discussions, case studies, and research results.

Browsing through Transformers is an unusual and inspiring experience – not only because of its rich and diverse content, but also because of its unique creative design which makes it an ideal coffee table book. Its contributions are a colorful kaleidoscope of thoughts, practices, experiences and insights, none of which require more than a 10 minute read. As such the book is meant to be picked up again and again as source of continuing inspiration on the subject.

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Jossey Bass /Wiley, San Francisco, 2009, Hardcover, 352 pages

Linking the domains of strategy, organizational design, and learning, this book reinvents the practice of corporate learning as a key for strategic leadership in the 21st century. After introducing a powerful new conceptual framework, the book features ten detailed case studies from leading global organizations, including Siemens, ABB, BASF, the US Army, PricewaterhouseCoopers, EADS, Novartis, and more. These studies reveal how large-scale corporations are using the power of dynamic corporate learning approaches to drive innovation, enhance cultural values, master post-merger integration, transform business models, enhance leadership culture, build technological expertise, foster strategic change processes, and ultimately increase bottom line results.

Center for the Future of Organization, CFFO Publishing November 2018

Based on in-depth conversations with more than 30 top executives from 6 major global corporations, this monograph identifies nine key challenges large organizations face in their complex journey towards digital maturity. Understanding these challenges and their interplay will help leaders to structure the complex arena of large-scale digital transformation efforts.

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– In: McKinsey Quarterly, Issue 1/2013, page 62-75

Over the last few years, social media has become an ubiquitous form of communication and collaboration, and in its wake, organizational social-media literacy is quickly becoming a source of competitive advantage. Illustrated by experiences from senior leader at General Electric, the article describes the impact of social media on leadership and organization, and it provides a six-dimensional framework of personal and organizational capabilities that are critical to leverage the potential of the new participatory media world.

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In: Developing Leaders, Issue 9, 2012, page 10-18

We are currently witnessing a renaissance of the concept of Corporate Universities (CUs) as companies recognize the importance of integrated learning architectures to assure capability requirements in changing environments. A brief look at the reality of existing CU models reveals a rich variety of approaches that can be confusing and complex. The paper attempts to structure this arena by providing a functional analysis of various CU business models, highlighting their potential contribution in the areas of Education, Cultural Integration, and Strategic Transformation.

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In: Training and Development in Australia. February 2011, page 8 -11

The ability to innovate and to learn faster than the competition has become the maybe most important element of sustainable strategic advantage. Despite this insight, issues related to learning and corporate capability development do not have an adequate voice in the Board room. To earn that voice, the practice of corporate learning needs to develop a different identity. It needs to redefine its traditional professional domain and focus not only on people excellence, but also become a key enabler of organizational and strategic excellence. The article describes the logic of these three domains and outlines the respective role of a comprehensive corporate learning function.

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Volume 28 | 1, page 18, January 2011

Strategic management, innovation, organizational design, talent management, and the ability to lead in networked organizations are all increasingly dominated by the creative paradigm. The article provides a concise summary why creative competence has become a critical success factor for leaders and organizations alike.

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In: Borensztejn, H. (Editor): Growing Talent – a Corporate Duty. Marshall Cavendish, U.K., 2010

Today’s practice of talent management focuses on identifying, recruiting, developing, placing, and retaining people that are key to the competitive success of the company. This perspective, which regards talent as an asset that needs to be controlled by the corporation, reveals its limitations in the age of globally networked organizations. The increasing importance of the creative class with its distinctive motivational patters, and the diminishing loyalties between employer and employees ask for talent management approaches that reach far beyond the current paradigm. A new and broader practice needs to think and act beyond HR and address issues such as organizational design, managing key talent clusters outside the organization, branding and reputation management, and more. The article analyzes the drivers that make creative competence a critical success factor for competing in the 21st century and discusses the managerial challenges that come with it.

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ECLF Research Report, October 2009, 85 pages

The study, which was commissioned by five corporations and conducted from June – September 2009 provides an orientation map of the territory of serious games for leadership learning. Its results are based on desk research about the current state of the serious videogame industry, phone interviews with 20+ serious game development companies as well as conversations with senior executives from 12 major global corporations about their interest and experience in using videogames as a part of their leadership learning architecture. The main chapters of the report are

• Introduction
• Basics of the Videogame Industry
• Structure of the Videogame Industry
• Serious Videogames and Their Developers
• Perspectives of Corporate Learning Executives
• The Role of the U.S. Military in Videogame-Based Training
• Conclusions & Recommendations
• Appendix (with profiles of 20 serious games development companies)

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Master Magazin, Nov 2009, 2 Pages

A high-level summary about the changing paradigm of learning and its implications for the Corporate Learning industry..

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White paper, September 2009, 13 pages

The ECLF survey is an annual effort to learn about the mindsets of Chief Learning Officers of the 200 largest European Corporations on current issues of the Corporate Learning space. In 2009, the survey focused on the interplay between the social and technological infrastructure that enables networked learning and collaboration. The paper includes 16 charts with comments about the results.

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Confidential White Paper, March 2009, 28 pages

All media today are undergoing radical disruptive change, created by digital technologies that are slowly converging individual mediums into a seamless and ubiquitous digital universe that becomes increasingly “social” and interactive. At the same time, generational shifts are likewise transforming media markets. The paper explores the state of the media, as of the beginning of 2009, and comments on the impact that current trends are likely to have in the next 5 to 7 years. After a brief discussion about the dynamics that are driving the transformation of the industry, the paper explores each medium (Music, Movies, Radio, Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Television, Internet) individually to note how it is changing and what changes can be expected in the coming years. It also examines the implications of the changing media landscape on Advertising and Branding and concludes with a remark on the growing importance of media literacy and the resulting challenges for organizations and society at large.

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White paper, July 2008, 12 pages

The ECLF survey is an annual effort to learn about the mindsets of Chief Learning Officers of the 200 largest European Corporations on current issues of the Corporate Learning space. In 2008, the survey focused on the changing challenges of leadership and the potential role that videogames can play as a tool for leadership learning. The paper includes 20 charts with comments about the results

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Excerpt from the 2007 ECLF Conference Documentation, 8 pages

This paper contains a summary of my keynote speech from the 3rd annual ECLF conference. It discusses the innovation challenges large corporations face today, and responses that may help foster the competency to master ambidexterity. It closes with some thoughts on social network architecture that fosters innovation, and the unfolding role of Corporate Learning in linking innovation process management with organizational learning.

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White Paper, July 2006, 14 pages

This white paper provides a general assessment of the current way global corporations organize their learning and development functions, with special emphasis on their activity portfolio and the way the portfolio is managed. Personal interviews were conducted with the heads of Learning and Development from 23 global corporations from the United States and Europe, which allows drawing conclusions about the current status and some major trends and dynamics in this field. The paper describes various models of structuring L&D and discusses the pros and cons of functional integration and differentiation.

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Industry study – In: The Business of Film. Cannes 2000 Special Issue, S. 12-26

I wrote this industry study at the height of the German media market craze that financed a significant portion of Hollywood’s film output at the end of the 1990ies. Three months after the publication of the paper, the dot.com bubble burst, and it took with it the German media companies that had raised billions on the German New Market (the equivalent of Nasdaq) to become mini movie moguls. The paper is a piece of business history: Practically all of the featured companies have disappeared; most of them via bankruptcy, others through acquisitions that were followed by restructuring. But the insights into the dynamics of the craze may still provide lessons in irrational exuberance that ring somehow familiar …

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