Most people have a pretty good idea of what bad leadership looks like. But what makes a good leader? Are good leaders born or is “leader material” something that we learn throughout our careers? Why bother taking another leadership training?
We discuss these and related questions with outstanding experts from research and practice in our newest podcast series “Leadership Matters”.
Subscribe on Spotify, Anchor.fm, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts so as never to miss an episode.
Mistakes happen, no matter how hard we try to avoid them. Worse, the same mistakes happen over and over again, making our learning curve look pretty bad. This dynamic is no different in teams, leaving leaders scratching their heads about what went wrong and what they could do differently in the future. In this episode, two leaders share their own experiences: Thomas Loosen, systemic therapist and former head of the HRO (high reliability organisation) centre at the Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland, meets actress Franziska Ball, who takes on the role of the other manager. They start by describing the problem and what helped them resolve it over time.
Artwork: Katharina Quitter
How can leaders and teams help shape a sustainable return to work after a mental health crisis? In this episode, we discuss with Ute Schröder, an expert in occupational integration management, the different phases of the reintegration process and related best practices for managers and teams. Contrary to popular belief, this process does not start on the first day back to work, but rather while the employee is still on sick leave. The active involvement of various stakeholders over a longer time period, including direct supervisors, team members, and occupational health professionals, is therefore required. Ute Schröder also reports on her research and transfer projects with the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Germany.
Why and how does the quality of leadership matter for (mental) health in general? In this episode, we speak with Prof. Dr. Harald Gündel, Medical Director of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Clinic Ulm. We learn how body and mind react to the work environment. Is resilience the key to staying healthy? Prof. Gündel offers a different perspective on resilience in the organizational context. He talks about potential limits of resilience training and explains how good leadership can contribute to both resilient teams and resilient organizations.
© Universitätsklinikum Ulm
Prof. Dr. Harald Gündel is an expert in occupational mental health research. He is Medical Director of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Clinic Ulm, certified psychiatrist, neurologist, and psychotherapist with a special qualification in pain therapy and psychoanalysis. His research focuses mainly on interventions in the workplace setting and in psychotherapy.
Ute Beate Schröder is an expert in workplace integration management, a research associate at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Germany, and a freelance evaluator, social manager and researcher.
Dr. Thomas Loosen is a systemic consultant and therapist. He completed his further training in this field at the International Society for Systemic Therapy in Heidelberg and at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. He previously set up and managed the HRO (high reliability organization) center at the Gösgen nuclear power plant in Switzerland. He developed new training programs to change the inner attitude towards oneself, the team and tasks / assignments in order to reduce misconduct. In doing so, he broke new ground in the development of the safety culture. Dr. Thomas Loosen ran his own practice for systemic therapy and consulting in Switzerland.
Franziska Ball, born and raised in Munich, received her acting and singing training in Munich and New York. For years, the actress and singer has been touring Germany with her duo BALL & JABARA with self-produced music cabaret theater pieces and has already won several cabaret awards. In addition to film and television roles, she teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich and works as a narrator for audio books, audio films and Bavarian radio. For more information: www.franziskaball.de
Combating some of the world’s biggest challenges: With TUM offices spread around the world, this series is dedicated to exploring global issues from food security in Singapore, to the future of the Amazon rainforest and bridging the cultural gap between China and Germany. How do science and technology help tackle regional issues? And how important are strong international partnerships in this?
In the debut episode of our new mini-series "TUM Global" we speak to Professor David Lapola, a research scientist at the Center for Meteorological and Climatic Research Applied to Agriculture of the University of Campinas – UNICAMP in Brazil. A key partner of TUM, we discuss the interdisciplinary and international research project AmazonFACE which Professor Lapola is coordinating to discover what the Amazon forest might look like in fifty or even one hundred years if the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continues to rise.
Could we hit a "tipping point" in the Amazon's ability to act as a carbon sink? ... and how can international cooperation help us to understand and be better prepared for the effects?
If you are keen to find out more about the AmazonFACE project, or indeed to keep up to date on news about the Amazon rainforest, please see the following resources:
In this second episode of our TUM Global series, we are joined by Dr. Alson Chng, Assistant Faculty Head of Chemistry at TUM Asia - TUM's first international Campus located in Singapore. We discuss the pressing topic of food security, and how the city state is at acute risk of disruptions in the global food supply chain. Dr. Chng also offers solutions that are being brought forward by the Singapore Government, and looks ahead to the role TUM Asia hope to play in securing sustainable food for the future through the harnessing of technology and by training the next generation as leaders in the global food system.
If you would like to find out more about food security and sustainability in Singapore, please see the following resources recommend by Dr. Chng:
In this third episode of our TUM Global series, we are joined by Professor Dr. Matteo Maestri, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, where his research group is part of Politecnico’s Laboratory of Catalysis and Catalytic Processes. We discuss the role chemistry plays in the energy sector, both in the chemical processes of carbon storage and release, and how chemists have intervened historically to progress the production and use of energy in society.
We also explore how catalysts, and the chemists behind them, will continue to play an important role in the current energy transition and the path towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral, future.
If you would like to find out more about chemistry and the energy transition, please see the following resources recommend by Prof. Maestri:
• The Age of Oil: The Mythology, History, and Future of the World's Most Controversial Resource by Leonardo Maugeri
• Energy for a Sustainable World: From the Oil Age to a Sun-Powered Future by Vincenzo Balzani and Nicola Armaroli
• CO2: Turning Lead into Gold? by Gianfranco Pachhioni (Italian only)
Music: "Beauty Inside" by Soundroll and "Celebration" by Zac Nelson
Artwork: Katharina Quitter
In this fourth episode of our TUM Global series, we are joined by Ming Huang a senior consultant, intercultural expert and executive trainer who has dedicated much of her career to developing close ties between German and Chinese enterprises, whether they are looking for investment opportunities, internationalizing their businesses or finding partners.
We discuss the importance of the German-Chinese relationship, and gives insights into how we might build fruitful and sustainable long term partnerships with businesses and contacts in China.
For further reading on the topic, please see the following resources recommended by Ming:
• The China Wave – Rise of a Civilizational State by Professor Zhang WeiWei
• Die Rätsel Chinas – Wiederaufstieg einer Weltmacht (in German) by Wolfgang Müller
• Reform: How did China Succeed? Video lecture by Nobel Prize winning Professor, Joseph Stiglitz
• Has China Won? (2020) and Has the West Lost? (2019) by Professor Kishore Mahbubani
• When China Rules the World by Martin Jacques
• Zukunft? China! and Shenzhen – Zukunft made in China (in German) by Frank Sieren
Music: "Beauty Inside" by Soundroll and "Celebration" by Zac Nelson
Artwork: Katharina Quitter
To help explore new opportunities and battle current challenges TUM and IIT Kharagpur founded the Indo-German Collaborative Research Center on Intelligent Transportation Systems in 2018, and have since extended this cooperation to IIT Bombay.
In this fifth episode of our TUM Global series we are joined by not one, but two experts in the realm of intelligent transportation systems – Professor Siddharth Mukhopadyay of IIT Kharagpur and Professor Costas Antoniou of TUM. What are the key issues they seek to tackle in this cooperation? … and how does combining Indian and German expertise help us achieve better and more sustainable transport systems?
For further reading on the topic, please see the following resources recommended by our guests:
Humans have long pondered how the workings of the human brain. Indeed evidence of holes drilled in skulls from our pre-historic ancestors suggests that attempts to heal pain, alleviate health issues and experiment with brain function is as old as we are.
Join us for this special episode with Professor Josef Rauschecker, of Georgetown University in Washington, where we explore the advancements made by neuroscience in recent years, and examine how accelerations in technology and interdisciplinary research has exciting implications for the future of human health. Josef has dedicated over forty years to the discipline of neuroscience, and was appointed as a TUM Ambassador in 2019 in recognition of his efforts. Originally a TUM graduate, and for many years a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow at the TUM Institute for Advanced Studies, we are delighted to name Professor Rauschecker as a firm member of our community.
On 27 June 2022, shortly after Prof. Josef Rauschecker’s podcast was recorded, one of Josef’s first teachers in the field of neuroscience, Sir Colin Blakemore of Oxford University passed away. Much admired all over the world for his pioneering studies in the early 1970s on the influence of early visual exposure on the development of our ability to see, Sir Colin was the youngest ever professor of Physiology at Oxford at the age of 35. Josef Rauschecker gained his first experience of single cell recordings in the cerebral cortex of young kittens in Blakemore’s laboratory at the University of Cambridge. He was invited by Blakemore to do his PhD thesis in his laboratory, but declined because his fiancée was waiting for him in Munich.
It is also important to note that Prof. Rauschecker‘s tinnitus project with Prof. Weber received an enormous boost through the arrival of Prof. Barbara Wollenberg, Director of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, at the Klinikum rechts der Isar in 2019. She and her team will collaborate in this research project, which will raise the profile of the ENT clinic in the field of tinnitus.
If you are interested to find out more about neuroscience please see the following resources recommended by Professor Rauschecker:
• “The Beatles’ Surprising Contribution to Brain Science.” by Jon Hamilton
• “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021)
• “Principles of Neural Science”, 6th Edition, by Eric Kandel (2021)
Music: "Beauty Inside" by Soundroll and "Celebration" by Zac Nelson
Artwork: Katharina Quitter
© C. Miron/AmazonFACE
Professor Lapola a research scientist at the Center for Meteorological and Climatic Research Applied to Agriculture of the University of Campinas – UNICAMP in Brazil, and coordinator of the interdisciplinary and international research project AmazonFACE. The AmazonFACE project brings together researchers from across the globe and aims to assess the impacts of increased levels of carbon dioxide on the resilience of the Amazon forest, to provide us with an outlook on how the ecosystem might look in future years should current trends continue.
© TUMAsia
Dr. Alson Chng joined TUM Asia is 2020 as Assistant Head of Faculty (Chemistry) and Project Liaison and oversees the academic operations of two Chemistry degree programs. He completed his studies in chemistry in 2015 at the National University of Singapore (NUS) before pursuing his postgraduate degree at the NUS Graduate School of Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS) in Medicinal Organic Chemistry, gaining his doctorate in 2020.
© Politecnico di Milano
Matteo Maestri is Professor of Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, where his research group is part of Politecnico’s Laboratory of Catalysis and Catalytic Processes. His research focuses on the modeling of catalytic chemical processes, microkinetic modelling and analysis as well as developing computational fluid dynamics of reacting flows. Amongst his many other roles, we are delighted to be able to name Professor Maestri amongst our TUM Ambassadors, and he has long been part of TUM’s wider family since becoming an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at TUM in 2011.
© Ming Huang
Ming Huang a senior consultant, intercultural expert and executive trainer who has dedicated much of her career to developing close ties between German and Chinese enterprises, whether they are looking for investment opportunities, internationalizing their businesses or finding partners. We are also proud to number her among some of the first graduates of the TUM Executive MBA, and she remains actively involved at TUM, lending her expert voice to our programs and further education activities.
© Siddharth Mukhopadyay
Professor Siddhartha Mukhopadyay is Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur where he also completed his studies at Bachelor, Master and PhD level. He has dedicated his life to engineering at IIT Kharagpur, winning numerous prizes for his research and teaching and now head of both Electrical Engineering and Energy Science at the university. His current research interests are in transport systems, Integrated Vehicle Health Management, Tracking and Guidance, Industrial Automation and Cyber-Physical Systems.
© Constantinos Antoniou
Professor Constantinos Antoniou is Head of TUM’s Professorship for Transportation System Engineering. Professor Antoniou has wide international experience, studying in his native Greece as well as at MIT, researching and teaching in the U.S., Greece and Switzerland before joining TUM as a full Professor in 2016. His research focuses primarily on the modelling and simulation of emerging transportation systems, intelligent transport systems (ITS), the calibration and optimization of applications, and the application of behavioral economics in transport, road safety and sustainable transport systems.
© Josef Rauschecker
Josef Rauschecker is Professor at the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University in Washington, and an expert in the fields of Physiology, Biophysics, Neurology and Neuroscience. Professor Rauschecker has dedicated forty years to investigating systems and cognitive neuroscience, is author of numerous pertinent publications in peer-reviewed journals and has held visiting appointments at several international institutions, including Harvard Medical School, Rockefeller University, The Salk Institute, and Helsinki University of Technology.
How can science give us an edge in the gladiatorial arenas of the 21st Century: This series explores the latest in sport and health science to discover where research is driving the development of sport. What motivates top-level competitors and how does technology influence the way they perform, limit their injuries and shape the disciplines in which they compete?
In this episode we speak to Dr. Vanessa Wergin, a researcher at TUM’s Chair of Sport Psychology and an expert in team psychology and emotional regulation in team sports. Dr. Wergin speaks to us about collective team collapse, a phenomenon within competitive sport that can be perceived as an entire group failing together. We explore the psychology behind this sudden dip in performance within teams, and Dr. Wergin shares insights into how it happens and some tips on how we might be better prepared to combat it.
If you would like to find out more about sports psychology and the topic of collective team collapse, please see the following resources:
In this episode we speak to Dr. Otto Kolbinger, a research associate at TUM’s Chair of Performance Analysis and Sports Informatics. We dive into one of the fastest developing and most controversial areas of sports: Technological Officiating Aids (TOAs). Dr. Kolbinger shares insights from his research on the use of technology in sport to support refereeing and umpiring decisions. We discuss the drivers behind the use of TOAs, their impact on viewer experience and how it might be optimised to better serve competitors and spectators.
... as technology takes more and more of a role in competitive sport, will human referees ever become obsolete?
If you would like to find out more about TOAs or sports informatics in general please see the following resources as recommended by Dr. Kolbinger:
In this episode we speak to Bahador Keshvari, a researcher at TUM's Professorship for Sport Equipment and Sport Material - and discuss the importance of shoes to competitive sport, and the science behind their development.
Shoes play an important role in most disciplines, and there use in athletics has become ever more controversial as materials science pushes performance of competitors beyond what was previously possible.
What drives the development of sport shoes? ... and how can they be designed to help athletes be more safe and successful?
If you would like to find out more about sport materials, or the importance of shoes in competitive (and uncompetitive!) sport, please see the following resources recommend by Bahador:
In this episode we dive into the world of sport nutrition. We speak with Helena Engel, a researcher from TUM’s Professorship for Exercise, Nutrition and Health and an active sports nutritionist working within the German Ski Association.
Helena tells us about her research in the area of “energy balance” and the importance of ensuring athletes get the right food to meet the high energy demands of Alpine skiing. Listen in to find out more about the importance of nutrition to athletes and the science behind calorie consumption during a grueling season in the mountains.
If you would like to find out more about sport nutrition, please see the following resources recommend by Helena:
In this episode we speak to Professor Henning Wackerhage, Head of TUM's Professorship for Sport Biology and a passionate Molecular Exercise Physiologist. We discuss the rather fascinating world of fat, its importance to the body in its regular use and also a new area of research that seeks to uncover the hidden thermal properties of brown fats.
What is there behind some forms of fat that we previously didn't know? ... and how can these properties be utilised to make us healthier and perform better?
If you would like to find out more about sport nutrition, please see the following resources recommend by Professor Wackerhage:
Vivian Vanessa Wergin/ Bayernwerk AG
Dr. Wergin is a sports psychologist at TUM’s Chair of Sport Psychology and an expert in team psychology and emotional regulation in team sports. Dr. Wergin has been deep in the field of Psychology for over 10 years, completing her Bachelor and Master’s studies at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, before coming to TUM in 2015 to do her doctorate, staying on within the research team of Professor Beckmann after its completion in 2019.
Chair of Performance Analysis and Sports Informatics
Dr. Kolbinger has been a Research Associate at TUM’s Chair of Performance Analysis and Sports Informatics since 2013. His research focuses on the uncharted area of the development of rules in sports, using a broad range of methods, from classical tools of performance analysis to state of the art text mining approaches to analyze reactions of stakeholders.
In his time at the Chair he has also directed projects for the evaluation of the goal line technology and the vanishing spray commissioned by Germany’s Football League (DFL) as well as leading a media enhancement project in collaboration with Spiegel Online.
© private
Bahador Keshvari is a researcher and PhD candidate at the TUM Professorship of Sport Equipment and Sport Materials. Bahador began his studies in Industrial Engineering in his native Iran in 2005, before completing his Masters at the University of Technology in Malaysia. Since 2013 Bahador has been a member of the team working under Professor Veit Senner, conducting research focused on the analysis and improvement of sports equipment, making it both safer and more competitive.
Bahador has worked in a number of projects which look at the importance of what we wear on our feet, as well as what’s beneath.
TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences
Helena Engel is a researcher in the field of sports nutrition and has been a member of TUM’s Professorship for Exercise, Nutrition and Health since the start of 2020. She completed her Bachelor’s in nutritional sciences at TUM, before going on to collect two Masters Degrees in Diagnostics and Training at TUM and then in Sport Nutrition at Liverpool’s John Moores University.
Alongside her research, Helena is an active sports nutritionist working within the German Ski Association and is the go-to consultant for the majority of their teams and individual athletes across all age levels and disciplines.
Associate Professorship of Exercise Biology
Prof. Wackerhage is a Molecular Exercise Physiologist and has published three textbooks in this field. He is specifically interested in the molecular mechanisms by which exercise improves our fitness and health. Focal points are the role of the so-called Hippo proteins in skeletal muscle, muscle aging (sarcopenia), the genetics of muscle mass, muscle fiber distribution and function, the mechanisms by which exercise influences cancer and the association between the proteome, metabolome, athletic performance and health.
Sustainability as the most pressing topic of our generation: Join us in a discussion of some of key areas within TUM’s research community and discover what steps are being taken to build the foundations of a sustainable future.
In this episode we speak with Professor Miranda Schreurs, Head of the Professorship of Environmental and Climate Policy in the TUM School of Governance. She shares her insights into the current state of climate policy, the challenges facing governments and a few tips on how we can make a difference. If you want to find out more, please explore the further resources recommended by Professor Dr. Schreurs:
(PODCAST IN GERMAN)
In this episode we speak with Professor Jakob Burger, Director of the Laboratory of Chemical Process Engineering at the Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability.
We explore the topic of alternative fuels and ask what contribution they can make to the future of energy supply and mobility. We explore Campus Straubing’s role as a serious player in the race for significant global emission reduction and climate neutrality by 2050. In doing so, we find that there might be more to the future of sustainable mobility than we think…
Further resources:
In this episode we speak with by Susanne Kurowski, a researcher at TUM’s Professorship for Innovation & Technology Management. She shares her insights into a transition to clean energy, the start-ups driving these changes and their struggles with sourcing funding and surviving the “Valley of Death”. If you want to find out more, please see the following articles recommended by Susanne during the podcast:
(PODCAST IN GERMAN)
In this episode we speak with Professor Stefan Wurster and Dr. Markus Siewert from the TUM Professorship for Policy Analysis. Within two halves of the podcast we explore ecological sustainability in autocracies and democracies, what can we learn by comparing political regimes both internationally and within federal systems? In the second half of the podcast we explore the pressing topic of "Digitainability" and how TUM looks to play a leading role in the design of digital and sustainable transformation processees, bringing together two megatrends and the promotion of sustainable digitilization. If you want to find out more, please read more about the Professorship for Policy Analysis, and the project Digitanability here:
In this episode we speak with Elias Pajares, a researcher from the TUM Chair of Urban Structure and Transport Planning and co-founder of Plan4Better, a start-up whose offering helps urban planners analyse and design easier, better, and more open urban spaces.
We explore the topic of urban mobility, the concept of the 15-minute city and find out more about Plan4Better’s key software offering “GOAT” and how it is helping urban planners and decision makers shape more sustainable cities for the future.
If you would like to find out more about sustainable urban mobility and planning, check out the following resources recommended by Elias:
In this episode we speak with Dr. Simone Linke, Research Fellow at the TUM Chair of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Design and Building, and an expert in urban design.
Dr. Linke shares insights into her current project, “Green City of the Future”, where she works in an interdisciplinary team looking at how green infrastructure can help cities be better adapted and protected in the face of climate change. How can we better plan and build cities to be more green? What are the tangible benefits? … and what is getting in the way?
To read more about the project and sustainable urban planning, please see the below:
Behind the scenes of the first TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning podcast session: Hosts Thomas Münch and John Pye with Prof. Dr. Schreurs (from left to right).
Foto: Andreas Heddergott
Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs holds the Professorship for Environment and Climate Policy at TUM School of Governance and Bavarian School of Public Policy. Schreurs’ main research areas are in international and comparative climate policy, environmental politics, and low-carbon energy transitions. She is involved in projects examining the energy transitions in Germany and Japan; climate policies of Europe, the United States, and China; and the politics of high-level radioactive waste disposal. In 2011 Schreurs was appointed by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a member of the German Ethics Commission on a Safe Energy Supply.
Foto: Andreas Heddergott
Professor Burger (b. 1984) works on the conceptual design of processes in chemistry and biotechnology. In a very impressive new demonstration plant at Campus Straubing he and his team conduct – amongst other projects – research on alternative fuels with ready for use synthetic fuel as final product – driven by the theme “Process Design for Mastering the Raw Material Change.
Foto: Professorship for Innovation and Technology Management
Susanne Kurowski is a Research Associate at the Professorship for Innovation and Technology Management at the Technical University of Munich. She joined the team of Prof. Dr. Doblinger in December 2018. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Management & Technology and a master’s degree in Sustainable Resource Management, both from the Technical University of Munich.
Foto: Astrid Eckert
Professor Wurster is the head of the TUM Professorship for Policy Analysis where he conducts research on policy analysis in areas closely linked to sustainability such as education, research, innovation, environmental policy and energy policy. His specific research interests include the comparison of democracies and autocracies as well as different instruments of policy regulation.
Foto: Astrid Eckert
Dr. Siewert is a research fellow at the TUM Professorship for Policy Analysis where he works on issues related to government performance in established democracies and its institutional and political determinants. He also has strong a methodological expertise in qualitative methods dealing with (causal) inference, inter alia, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), Process Tracing and other case study designs, as well as the integration of strategies in multimethod research.
Foto: Chair of Urban Structure and Transport Planning
Elias Pajares started working at TUM’s Chair of Urban Structure and Transport Planning in 2018. He is working in the development of sustainable mobility concepts, GIS modelling and the development of interactive accessibility instruments. One focus of his work is the development of Geo Open Accessibility Tool (GOAT), which is now a key software offering for a start-up he co-founded: Plan4Better.
Foto: © Astrid Eckert
Dr. Simone Linke, Research Fellow at the Chair of Energy Efficient and Sustainable Design and Building and an expert in urban design. She completed her studies in urban design in 2012 at the TU Berlin, and has since worked in a number of urban planning positions in both the private and public sector. Dr. Linke joined TUM as a research fellow in 2014 and successfully completing her doctorate at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen in 2018.
Dr. Anna Brzykcy is Learning and Development Expert at TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning. Her research focuses on leadership, new work, and mental health. She graduated from the University of St. Gallen with a PhD in Management and successfully completed a three-year program in systemic therapy at the International Society for Systemic Therapy in Heidelberg. Together with John Pye and Thomas Münch, she is one of the hosts of the TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning podcast.
Thomas Münch is a Senior Manager for Digital Innovations and Leadership at TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning. He is specialized in the areas of Business and Innovation Coaching, Educational Technology (EdTech), Leadership and Business Transformation. Together with John Pye, he is one of the hosts and producers of the TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning podcast.
John Pye is Manager for International Relations and Alliances at TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning. Previously, he worked as a Policy Advisor to the British Government. He holds a Masters Degree in International Relations from University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Together with Thomas Münch, he is one of the hosts and producers of the TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning podcast.
