Leadership Keynote Speaker · Intuition · Leadership in the AI Age
Our most forgotten abilities are our most reliable AI-Anti-Code.
We often know before we can even sense it. What is dismissed as gut feeling is, in reality, millennia of condensed experience. Christian Wehner shows why deep intuition is the irreplaceable leadership competency of the AI age – and how to reclaim it.
„Christian begeisterte das durchaus anspruchsvolle Publikum mit seiner lockeren Art und sorgte durch die interaktiven Elemente in seiner Präsentation für einen inspirierenden Austausch unter den Teilnehmer*innen. Die Rückmeldungen waren durchweg positiv. Wir können Christian nur bestens empfehlen."
Dr. Petra Arends-Paltzer, Founder, Davos Digital Forum
Background
SPIEGEL Bestseller
Author & TEDx Speaker
Daily Practice
SAP SE
Senior Director Innovation Strategy
The Concept
KIDULT
Intuition as Leadership Competency
AI optimises. Intuition navigates. Each needs the other.
Christian Wehner is Senior Director Innovation Strategy at SAP, a SPIEGEL bestselling author and TEDx Speaker. He operates in an environment of permanent complexity – and he knows: the greatest leadership weakness of our time is not a lack of knowledge. It is the loss of trust in one’s own inner navigational intelligence.
There is an invisible line in the Pacific. The Wallace Line separates Asian and Australian fauna. On one side: tigers and elephants. On the other: kangaroos and koalas. No fence. No sign. And yet: mammals do not cross it. Most birds fly to the boundary and turn back. No model, no algorithm, no dataset fully explains this. Science has theories. Certainty is absent.
What all animals seem to know without ever having learned it – as children, we possessed the same ability. The AI age does not make intuition obsolete. It makes it the only leadership quality no model can replicate.
01
Intuition as competency, not character trait
This keynote does not treat intuition as a talent you either have or don’t. It reveals the childhood abilities leaders still carry – and how to reclaim them.
02
Credible through lived experience
He failed his school-leaving certificate twice – and still co-built Germany’s third-fastest-growing tech company. Today he is Senior Director at SAP and a SPIEGEL bestselling author. His secret weapon: intuition over expertise. Naivety over plan.
03
Lasting difference
Not a motivational talk. One that permanently shifts the relationship leaders have with uncertainty.
What used to count. What counts now.
Knowing what to let go
AI takes over. Those who experience that as a threat are fighting the wrong problem. The new leadership competency is not control. It is knowing what to hand over – and what not to.
Preserving beginner’s mind
Decades of expertise are retrievable in seconds. What is not retrievable: the ability to see a problem as if for the first time. That is precisely what determines whether AI receives new questions or merely confirms old ones.
Trusting decisions
AI can soon provide any rationale that justifies a choice. What it cannot do: recognise the signal that arrives before the rationale.
Holding silence
AI always responds. Instantly. Completely. Those who mirror that lose. The most capable leaders know when the answer comes – rather than forcing it.
Child and adult.
Both at once.
KIDULT combines what adults unlearn – the radical curiosity of the child – with what adults possess: experience, judgement and responsibility.
Kinder vertrauen ihrem Gespür, bevor sie die Worte dafür haben. Irgendwann haben wir gelernt, das wegzurationalisieren. Diesen Zustand zurückzugewinnen – bewusst und als Erwachsener – ist keine Regression. Es ist der nächste Entwicklungsschritt.
Intuition needs no data. It needs experience, silence and the courage to follow it.
Watch showreel
Tailored to your context.
15'
ImpulseThe Idea
A focused impulse that opens a room. Ideal as an entry point into a larger programme or as an opener between sessions.
45'
KeynoteFull impact
Keynote including an interactive ritual with the audience. Not passive listening, but a shared experience that resonates.
90'
Deep DiveThe Transfer
Deep Dive Keynote with interactive segment and Q&A. For leadership events and formats that require depth and dialogue.
30- and 60-minute formats are available on request. All formats are individually adapted to the event context.
Testimonials – 5/5 Sternen
„Christians Energie ist eine Mischung aus Enthusiasmus, Optimismus, Charisma und starken Erkenntnissen."
Thiankai Feng, Head of Product Data Governance, Adidas
„Christian ist einfach awesome. Seine Präsentationen sind lebendig und strotzen vor Kreativität und Humor. Dennoch haben sie Substanz und vermitteln faktenbasierte Informationen darüber, was man braucht, um in der sich verändernden Arbeitswelt erfolgreich zu sein. Wir haben alle viel gelernt und würden ihn immer wieder buchen."
Anna Kopp, IT Director Germany (CIO/CDO), Microsoft
„Christian Wehner hat es auf dem Lissabonner WebSummit geschafft, selbst erfahrene Innovations- und Digitalmanager zu inspirieren und mitzureißen. Christian ist eine eigene Brand, die nahbar und kreativ jedes Podium bereichert."
Benjamin Werner, Head of Group Marketing, fischerAppelt
„Christian begeisterte das durchaus anspruchsvolle Publikum mit seiner lockeren Art und sorgte durch die interaktiven Elemente in seiner Präsentation für einen inspirierenden Austausch unter den Teilnehmer*innen. Die Rückmeldungen waren durchweg positiv. Wir können Christian nur bestens empfehlen."
Dr. Petra Arends-Paltzer, Founder, Davos Digital Forum
„Christian Wehner bereichert als Speaker seit 2020 unser jährliches Programm an der EBS Universität. Die Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer der MARKENAKADEMIE SALES sind von seinen Impulsen begeistert."
Jürgen Wollenschläger, MARKENAKADEMIE SALES, Markenverband e.V. Berlin
“Mr Wehner took us on an interesting and entertaining journey into an innovative future. His creative impulses were a perfect opening for our leadership workshop.”
Dagmar Grübler, RWTH Aachen
What event organisers most often want to know.
Leadership events, annual conferences, executive retreats, kick-offs and corporate summits – across all industries. The keynote is especially powerful for audiences in decision-making roles: executives, team leaders and anyone responsible for navigating others through uncertainty.
While most leadership keynotes deliver frameworks or management methods, this one goes deeper: it reveals the childhood abilities leaders still carry – and how to reclaim them in the AI age. Not a motivational talk. One that permanently shifts the relationship to uncertainty.
Yes – and that is standard, not an add-on. Before every keynote there is a briefing call. Industry context, internal challenges, audience profile and event format are all factored in. The core message stays; the connection points are set individually.
After your enquiry you receive a proposal. An introductory call is available on request. Upon confirmation, one to three briefing and alignment calls follow – which serve an advisory function and can go well beyond simple keynote alignment. Christian Wehner brings his 10 years of event experience to bear throughout.
My fee is available on request. It is calculated consistently and at market rate for all bookings.
