Christoph Seckler

Christoph Seckler

Professor of entrepreneurship at ESCP Business School in Berlin.

RECOGNITION

A Top 40 Under 40 and a Top 10 Upcoming Business Scholar – Capital.

FUN FACT

Best Teacher Award – ESCP.

Ideas

Christoph’s research focuses on leveraging adversity, exploring how difficult situations can lead to meaningful change, such as fostering learning, innovation, and resilience. Known for his action-oriented teaching philosophy that emphasises thinking, doing, and being, Christoph creates experiential learning environments that have earned him ESCP’s Best Teacher Award. A leading voice on psychological safety and learning from failure, his nationally influential Error Culture Report (in collaboration with EY) has advanced conversations on how organisations can use mistakes to drive innovation and sustainable performance.

Bio

Professor of entrepreneurship at ESCP Business School in Berlin, Christoph holds the Chair of Entrepreneurial Strategy and serves as the academic director of U-SCHOOL. He is also co-founder of the Center for Design Science in Entrepreneurship. Recognised by Capital magazine as one of Germany’s Top 40 Under 40 and a Top 10 Upcoming Business Scholar, Christoph has been a visiting research fellow at Oxford’s Saïd Business School and through other visiting positions has also engaged with the academic communities of NUS Business School in Singapore and UQ Business School in Australia.

Content

‘Wie soll sich der CEO verhalten?’ (Harvard Business Manager, March 2025); ‘Das sollten Manager über Fehlermanagement wissen’ (Springer Professional, 2023); ‘Fehler-Management-Kultur: der Schlüssel zum Erfolg’ (IDWLife, 2023); ‘Why being humble is so important in the world’ (World Economic Forum, 2021); Auch Berater machen Fehler (Harvard Business Manager, 2020); Fehlertoleranz als Killer-Feature (Fast & Curious podcast, 2025); Was weiß die Forschung über die Fehler-Managament-Kultur? (Auf Jeden Fail podcast, 2023). Christoph’s work has also featured in the Financial TimesFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and DIE ZEIT.

Media picks

Icon of an open book.

Article:

Why being humble is so important in the world of work

Verdict

“Embracing mistakes as learning opportunities is fundamental to psychological safety – one of the most influential management ideas of the 21st century.”

– Thinkers50

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest and greatest ideas in business, management, and thought leadership.

*mandatory field

Thinkers50 will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide news, updates, and marketing. Please confirm that you agree to have us contact you by clicking below:


You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at . We will treat your information with respect. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our website. By clicking below, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Privacy Policy Update

Thinkers50 Limited has updated its Privacy Policy on 28 March 2024 with several amendments and additions to the previous version, to fully incorporate to the text information required by current applicable date protection regulation. Processing of the personal data of Thinkers50’s customers, potential customers and other stakeholders has not been changed essentially, but the texts have been clarified and amended to give more detailed information of the processing activities.

Thinkers50 Awards Gala 2023

Join us in celebration of the best in business and management thinking.