Leadership Program

Aspen Germany convenes the participants of the next edition of the Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice” from May 8-11, 2025, in the beautiful setting of Gut Klostermühle near to Berlin. Using the Socratic method and under the skillful guidance of expert moderators Dr. Carol Gluck (Columbia University) and Ruth Girardet (The University of Edinburgh), participants […]

Digitalization changes almost every aspect of our lives – how we communicate, how we consume information, how we work, how we travel. It also greatly impacts democracy. In 2024, more than 40 percent of the world’s population find themselves eligible to vote in an election. In this super election year, democracy is going to be […]

Aspen Germany convened the participants of the next edition of the Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice” from April 11-14, 2024, in the beautiful setting of Gut Klostermühle near to Berlin. Using the Socratic method and under the skillful guidance of expert moderators Dr. Carol Gluck (Columbia University) and Ruth Girardet (The University of Edinburgh), participants […]

Following the success of Aspen‘s flagship Leadership Seminar – “Philosophy and Practice” – we organized an exclusive seminar for our esteemed Board Members as well as supporters of Aspen Germany on March 21, 2024 – titled “Democracy in Danger”. It was an informative one-day seminar in which participants engaged with the philosophical issues of the […]

Aspen Germany will convene the participants of the 29th edition of the Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice” from March 9 to 12, 2023. Using the Socratic method and under the skilful guidance of expert moderators Dr. Carol Gluck (Columbia University) and Dr. Leigh G. Hafrey (MIT Sloan School of Management), participants will discuss the most […]

On December 19, Aspen Germany hosted a digital event titled “Women leading to learn: Education and Rights under Taliban Rules”. Since the Taliban took power, disregard for human and women’s rights in Afghanistan has skyrocketed. The developments are devastating for the generation of Afghans who fought for decades for more women’s rights and access to education.  What […]

Outside the city center and close to nature in of Brandenburg’s lake district, Aspen Germany will convene the participants of the 28th edition of the Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice” from October 6 to October 9, 2022. Using the Socratic method and under the skilful guidance of expert moderators Dr. Carol Gluck (Columbia University) and […]

On April 28, 2022, Aspen Germany hosted a panel discussion entitled “Leadership in Times of Crisis: Leadership in a Digital World”. The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the way most industries work, but arguably the biggest change has been a shift towards virtual work as many resorted to working from home to mitigate […]

On November 30, 2021, the Aspen Institute Germany hosted an exclusive Brown Bag Lunch on the topic of “The Future of Belonging Begins Where Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DE&I) Ends” with Cordell Carter, Executive Director, Aspen US Socrates Program. Belonging at work is defined as being wholly accepted for who you are and what you […]

On October 7, 2021, Aspen Germany hosted a virtual event “Philosophy In Crisis? The Role and Responsibility of Philosophers in Times of Crisis” with Dr. Nikil Mukerji, Philosopher, Author and Managing Director of the Philosophy Politics Economy (PPE) Degree Program at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. This is an exclusive event for our Leadership Alumni and will be moderated by Dr. Stormy-Annika Mildner, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Germany. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments and society […]

On September 29, 2021, the Aspen Institute Germany hosted a virtual panel discussion on the topic of “Leadership in Times of Crisis: Arts and Culture” with Christina März, Curator / Exhibitions, Deutsche Bank Collection; Prof. Mathilde ter Heijne, Professor of Visual Arts, Performance, and Media at the University of the Arts in Berlin and Sharese […]

In light of the Covid pandemic, we converted our Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice” to a virtual format and offered an online seminar from 12-14 November. The virtual format captured the essence and spirit of the original: In a reflective space, we embarked on a journey for pause and consideration on leadership behavior in response […]

Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Danger of a Single Story) This year’s Aspen Young European Leaders Seminar was the fourth in line after the first editions in Italy, Spain, and France. It was planned to be held at Schloss Pillnitz, […]

– c a n c e l l e d – Due to the corona crisis the seminar for June 2020 has been cancelled. The nomination and registration process for the seminar taking place on November 12-15, 2020, has already started. Please contact Ingrid Müller-Brazell. From Juni 11 to 14, 2020, the Aspen Institute Germany […]

On 30 January, 2020, The Aspen Institute Germany in partnership with Value for Good, and the Harvard Alumni Club of Berlin hosted a book discussion with Bina Venkataraman to discuss her latest book “The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age”. Observing the spread of a deadly virus, the climate apocalypse, populism, increasing polarization […]

Happy Turkey Day! On November 28, 2019, the Aspen Germany Leadership Program, the German Stanford Association and the Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin hosted an American-style Thanksgiving Dinner. More than 100 friends and family of the three organizations came together at Harnack Haus, the Max Planck Society’s conference venue and guesthouse. The impressive building […]

“Now, if happiness is activity in conformity with virtue, it is to be expected that it should conform with the highest virtue…” Aristotle set the tone for the 27th edition of Aspen Germany’s Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice”, which took place from 20 to 23 February, 2020 at Gut Klostermuehle. The seminar was moderated by […]

On September 5-8, 2019, the third Aspen Seminar for Young European Leaders took place in Annecy, France, jointly organized by the Aspen Initiative for Europe, the Aspen Institute France and the Aspen Institute Germany. The seminar brought together 26 participants, aged 25-35, from Europe and other regions around the world. On the basis of classical […]

From February 23 to 26, 2017, the Aspen Institute Germany held its 18th Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice.” Led by expert moderators Leigh Hafrey and Ruth Girardet and based on classical and modern texts of renowned philosophers and thinkers, the seminar convenes a small circle of high ranking decision-makers to reflect and discuss the most […]

The Aspen Institute in cooperation with Dr. Friedrich Kuhn of EgonZehnder International hosted its fourth Aspen Leadership Alumni roundtable featuring Dr. Raphael von Hoensbroech, Managing Director at Konzerthaus Berlin on the topic “The Conductor’s Perspective: What Business can learn from Orchestras!“ on March 16, 2017. The conductor is responsible for the performance of his team […]

From June 15 to 18, 2017, the Aspen Institute Germany held its 19th Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice.” Led by expert moderators Carol Gluck and Florian Jehle and based on classical and modern texts of renowned philosophers and thinkers, the seminar convenes a small circle of high ranking decision-makers to reflect and discuss the most […]

As part of the Leadership Alumni-Program, the Aspen Institute Germany invited participants to a journey to alpine landscapes in unpredictable climates. Leadership Alumnus (June 2017) and extreme mountain climber Florian Hill guided us through a breathtaking multimedia show about his expeditions and discussed what life at the extreme can teach us about self-reflection and leadership […]

From November 2 to 5, 2017, the Aspen Institute Germany held its 20th Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice.” Led by expert moderators Leigh Hafrey and Ruth Girardet and based on classical and modern texts of renowned philosophers and thinkers, the seminar convenes a small circle of high ranking decision-makers to reflect and discuss the most […]

From February 22 to 25, 2018, the Aspen Institute Germany held its 21st Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice.” Led by expert moderators Carol Gluck and Ruth Girardet and based on classical and modern texts of renowned philosophers and thinkers, the seminar convenes a small circle of high ranking decision-makers to reflect and discuss the most […]

On May 5, 2018 the Aspen Leadership class of November 2017 had its first Meet & Greet event in a special and non-traditional environment: on boat! A very special thank you to Dr. Friedrich Kuhn, who hosted his group on his boat and who drove with it through Berlin. This special location was perfect for […]

The Aspen Institute Germany and TheNextWe initiated the drafting of a Manifesto for Leadership-Mindset-Change. Leadership Alumna Insa Klasing (class of Nov. 2017), CEO & Co-Founder of TheNextWe, a Berlin based Startup driving mindset-change, kicked off a joint dialog on “Renewing deeply held leadership values in an ever faster changing world”. The result is a manifesto […]

On May 25, 2018, the time had come: Former Leadership Seminar participants coming from Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Cologne gathered for a philosophical roundtable which took place – for the first time – outside of Berlin in Frankfurt am Main. Starting from an excerpt of Democritus the Villa Bonn provided the optimal space not only to […]

From June 14 to 17, 2018, the Aspen Institute Germany held its 22nd Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice.” Led by expert moderators Leigh Hafrey and Ruth Girardet and based on classical and modern texts of renowned philosophers and thinkers, the seminar convened a small circle of high-ranking decision-makers to reflect and discuss the most fundamental […]

The Aspen Leadership class of February 2018 met at The Pan Am Lounge on June 17, 2018 on the occasion of a follow-up Meet & Greet event. A particular thanks to owner Natascha Bonnermann, who hosted the get-together in an entirely unique, exclusive event venue at the heart of West Berlin. Once a place of […]

On June 21, the Aspen Institute Germany hosted a Leadership Brown Bag Lunch on the topic „Is Human Rights based Leadership possible?“ with Dr. Anja Mihr, Founder and Program Director of the Humboldt-Viadrina Center on Governance through Human Rights. After a short review of selected political theorists, participants could exchange ideas and intensively discuss human-rights […]

Leadership in the everyday has many faces. It includes not only goals, visions, and values, but also direct human contact and interaction. In order to demonstrate leading qualities, one must also learn not to neglect one’s own personal needs. Our daily routine usually leaves little room to reflect our needs and our inner leadership. How […]

What marks the relationship between individual freedom and societal order? What is human nature? What are the most important aspects of ethical leadership and to what extent are they applicable? These and many other questions were heatedly discussed during the 23rd Aspen Leadership Seminar from November 8 to 11, 2018. Guided by moderators Carol Gluck and […]

What does “digitalization” really mean? What do we mean by “values-based” leadership? What marks the relationship between the two? How do we envision a future in which digitalization is a tool for values-based leadership? These questions were, among many others, discussed during an interactive workshop held on November 20, 2018. Initiated by Dr. Kay P. […]

Happy Turkey Day! On November 22, 2018, the Aspen Leadership Program, the German Stanford Association and the Harvard Alumni Club hosted an American Thanksgiving Dinner, complete with the traditional main course: turkey. However, the evening not only featured good food and celebration. Prof. Amir Eshel of Stanford University, Professor of Comparative Literature and German Studies, […]

Far from routine, the big city, and everyday work, 17 individuals took part in the 24th Aspen Leadership Seminar from February 21 to 24, 2019, contemplating topics such as human nature, the individual and society, societal order and many more. Seeking abstraction, distance, and reflection, the Aspen Leadership Seminar offers leaders the unique opportunity to […]

Outside the city center and close to nature in of Brandenburg’s lake district, Aspen Germany convened the participants of the 26th edition of the Leadership Seminar “Philosophy and Practice”. Using the Socratic method and under the skillful guidance of expert moderators Leigh Hafrey and Ruth Girardet, participants discussed the most fundamental questions of the human […]