Yvonne Gaissmaier
Advisory
Keynote Speaking
Growth, execution and what really holds organisations back.
I speak about the work I do, in German and English. At client events, leadership meetings and industry conferences. To customers, executive teams and sales organisations.
Every keynote is tailored for the occasion based on the briefing call, your industry context and examples that land in the room. Also available as a short talk or as a workshop with the leadership team.
What I talk about (examples)
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Executing strategy isn't that hard.
Why most strategies don't fail on quality, but on what happens between the decision and the day-to-day. -
Growth starts with not losing.
Competitors sometimes win with better products. More often they just pick up what others drop. -
Sales alone can't fix it.
If sales, product, development and service don't play together, no better sales model will save you. What to do instead. -
How to radically redefine your function's role.
From order-taker to navigator. For functions that want to be more than a pair of hands. -
Business systems as an engine for growth.
What organisations can learn from Toyota and others, without the Lean jargon.
Topics are sharpened for each occasion. If you need something else, let's talk about it.
Recent keynote
"Mitentscheiden oder Beifahrer bleiben? Global Trade als strategischer Hebel" ("A seat at the table, or a seat on the passenger's side? Global Trade as strategic lever"), AEB Get Connected 2026.
Told through global trade, but really about any function that wants to be more than an administrator: from passenger to navigator.
Listen in
The best way to get a sense of how I think and how I speak is to listen. In the LEADERS in CI Community Podcast (2024) I talk about growth with a plan and a strategy behind it, and what real change in a company actually takes.
Publications
"A Story of Growth: Kaizen in Commercial Areas“, in: The Kaizen Culture Paradox, E. Coimbra, 2025.
"Interorganizational Power in Outsourcing Relationships“, Doctoral thesis on the dynamics of complex customer-supplier relationships, Victoria University of Wellington, 2007.
How I look at things
Winning starts with not losing ("Wachstum fängt damit an, nicht zu verlieren").
The competition doesn't always win with better products. Often they simply pick up what you drop. On revenue heroes and revenue villains.
Read the post here
Revenue monkeys and silo houseshare ("Der Umsatz-Affe und die Silo-WG")
Sales is measured on revenue but has little control over the drivers that matter. Everyone delivers their piece; the whole still comes in under plan.
Read the post here
Leadership is a team sport ("Führung ist Teamsport")
Wobbly results, meeting overload, more scrambling, less ownership. It's rarely due to a lack of talent. What's missing is the operating system that turns a set of functions into a team.
Read the post here
Some posts were written in German. LinkedIn will translate them for you.