SPEAK LIKE A CEO

What’s the hallmark of a great speaker and leader in a volatile world? The ability to recenter your nervous system.  That’s because our speech has an immediate impact on the nervous systems of others. And in leadership, “what you do to other people’s nervous systems is a big deal.”  Says this week's guest on Speak like a CEO, @Caroline Goyder. She is a TEDx speaker with over 10 million views, an e...

This week’s episode is a rare behind-the-scenes interview on how a Hollywood movie gets made – and how to persuade the right people to back an impossible dream.  Torsten Ruether is a filmmaker, director and the CEO Hello Moment Productions. He has pulled off the unthinkable: to make a Hollywood movie with award-winning actors during some of the most challenging times of the film industry – first t...

“Don’t wait for the perfect story, make your story perfect.” This is the message of Karen Eber, author, storyteller and TED speaker with 2 millions views.  In her brand new book ‘The Perfect Story’, she shares the science behind how your brain processes stories and how storytelling is the best way to communicate in business. It is accessible and actionable for anyone who wants to lead, inspire and...

“Communications is more important than most CEOs and founders think,” says Yannis Niebelschütz, co-founder of CoachHub - the world’s largest digital coaching platform.  As the leader of a global tech company, he is focused on scientific research and AI, and building a holistic approach to coaching that is unparalleled.  His goal is to transform the workforce, rethink how people work together, and...

This week I share with you the podcast episode I recorded with Startup Insider (in German) about my latest book ‘Message Machine: How Communications Will Make You An Unstoppable Founder’. I share insights from decades of experience working with founder and CEO communications and provide practical tips on how to develop a growth story and how a startup can gain visibility in oversaturated markets.

Today we are sharing the repost of an insightful episode from the ⁠School of Hiring podcast⁠, hosted by Konstanty Sliwowski. Oliver and Konstanty dive into a topic that might not be the cheeriest, but it's undeniably one of the most critical aspects of running a business, especially in challenging times: letting employees go, dealing with redundancies, and navigating the turbulent waters of layoff...

How do you build a magnetic employer brand that attracts and retains new talent? In this special episode of Speak Like CEO, we are reposting the final instalment of Employer Branding: The Inside Podcast by Georgiana Ghiciuc.  Georgiana and Oliver dissect how any company can become a magnetic employer of choice by focusing on three aspects of building a great company: culture, internal communicatio...

Does your message cut through the noise? How do you achieve message-market-fit as a startup?  We are excited to bring you an episode from WHU’s The Most Awesome Founder Podcast, hosted by globally-recognised startup expert Gerrit McGowan and entrepreneurship professor Dries Faems.  In this episode, Jag Singh, Managing Director at Angel Invest, and Speak Like a CEO host Oliver Aust discuss their la...

This week's podcast guest holds an impressive list of credentials.  She is an investor, board member, speaker, and co-founder and managing director of 2hearts. She was also awarded the title Impact Entrepreneur of the Year in Germany in 2023.  Gülsah Wilke shares her unique journey in the tech & startup industry as an immigrant's granddaughter with Turkish roots. She has a simple but impactful mis...

As a CEO, you want to own your message. Thanks to technology and social media, this has never been easier.  This is according to Oliver Kaltner, the former CEO of Leica, the iconic camera brand, and current CEO of Cherry - a leading manufacturer of computer equipment. Both are listed companies at the forefront of technology and engineering.   His mantra is that business is not about talking, but a...

Erik Podzuweit is a former German Rugby Champion, and co-founder and co-CEO of Scalable Capital - one of Europe’s leading FinTechs. In this week's podcast episode he talks about how he leads and communicates with his gut!  Developing and trusting your gut feeling takes dedication and tenacity, but in turn you will have a team and clients who trusts you and a thriving business.  His approach is alw...

Founderland is Europe’s fastest growing community of women founders of colour. In this week's episode of Speak Like a CEO, Oliver hosts Stephanie von Behr, Managing Director of Founderland.  Founderland is not your average community. Stephanie, together with experienced founders Deborah Choi and Alina Bassi (our guest in E94) have been highly intentional about building the brand, deepening the com...

We have a special episode of Speak Like a CEO for you: an Ask Me Anything session with Oliver Aust.  Oliver answers five of the most frequently asked questions. How to deal with the transparency dilemma, how to make something boring sound interesting, common communications mistakes, how to inspire an audience, and the changing trends of founder communications.  Subscribe to the Message Machine new...

His company has dressed 41 out of 46 US presidents, is the oldest apparel brand in America in continuous operation, and was the first brand to introduce ready-to-wear.  Brooks Brothers is nothing short of a legendary brand, and Ken Ohashi is the man behind its revival. He took over as CEO after the company had to file for bankruptcy during Covid. After an impressive turn-around, the company had a...

Most people abhor change. But without change, your business will never succeed. This is why Jörg Hellwig puts change at the centre of everything he does – from digitalising companies, building new businesses, and adapting communication processes.   Jörg is the former CDO of multi-billion Euro revenue company LANXESS, founder of CheMondis, and angel investor.   According to Jörg, any success should...

Has a speech ever changed the way you see the world? Now imagine being able to write a speech that has this effect on people. That is what Simon Lancaster does. As one of the best speechwriters in the world, author of several books, and multiple TedX speaker, Simon knows all the secrets to captivate an audience with words. And the secret dates all the way back to ancient Greece and Rome, and the r...

How many digital tools do you use? Chances are you’ve already used at least a dozen by the time you got to the office today. Now imagine managing the digital tools for a company of several thousand people… As the company and team grow, so does the number of tools we use and need to manage. Software is now in the top 3 of expenses for many companies.  This is the problem Sven Lackinger is solving w...

80% of the global workforce are deskless employees.  They don’t have email or Slack, they don’t respond to calendar invites and won’t attend conference calls. But they are the biggest part of the workforce. Keeping them informed, engaged and aligned is a major challenge for businesses.  While working at Porsche, Benedikt Ilg noticed how hard it was to reach his colleagues in production. The soluti...

How many entrepreneurial journeys have started with a wrongly booked ticket to China? Alone in a hotel room in Beijing, Johannes Reck realised how a city is transformed when you have access to tour guides and experiences.  Two years later, with a failed student tour guiding company behind them, the two university friends took a leap of faith and launched GetYourGuide – a platform that unlocks unfo...

Viktoria Lindner is a former model, psychiatrist, CEO and founder of digital mental health startup Mindsurance. Mindsurance is an all-in-one solution for organisations to streamline their entire employee mental healthcare operations. They help to analyse employee mental health, find and match the right care provider, and deal with the bureaucratic parts of insurance providers. Improving mental hea...

What an entrepreneurial journey: three college friends decide to build a gaming company. Their two biggest challenges: they have no clue about creating games or building a startup. Games bomb, investors decline, failure seems inevitable.  Just a few short years later, Idle Miner Tycoon counts 100+ million users and the three founders sell Kolibri Games for 100 million.  Daniel Stammler - entrepren...

50% of our personal communication is non-verbal. Yet most business leaders never train their body language.  That’s a huge oversight. Boosting our body language gives us more confidence and makes us more successful in business, says Martin Brooks.  Martin is the author of Body Language Decoder and a leading expert and what our bodies say.  In this highly actionable episode, he gives founders and C...

Tim Dettmann is a former badminton champion and the founder of sports tech startup BEAT81.  He is inspired by a simple idea: to deliver happiness and lasting wellbeing to people via fitness, tech & hospitality. To make BEAT81 as big and relevant as Crossfit, Tim and his team need word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing tool there is. 90% of people are much more likely to trust...

“I'm a former academic and psychologist. Our answer to everything is ‘it depends’. But in the business world, that's just not how things work,” says Darja Gutnick, the co-founder and CEO at Bunch.  She is on the Business Punk Watchlist, a “rebel psychologist” (Forbes) & podcast host.  Her Berlin & NYC-based startup is on a mission to unlock the potential in every professional. Their aim: help you...

In this special Easter episode, we give you eggs without chickens.  Tanja Bogumil is the CEO and founder of Perfeggt, a food innovation startup that changes what people eat by taking the animal out of the food system. They created plant-based eggs that may do for eggs what Oatly did for milk - provide a true alternative and create a new product category.    Their approach is remarkable for several...