
Prof. Dr. Christoph Seckler is a Full Professor of Entrepreneurship at ESCP Business School in Berlin. He holds the Chair of Entrepreneurial Strategy, serves as the Academic Director of U-SCHOOL, and co-founded the Center for Design Science in Entrepreneurship. The German magazine Capital recognised him in its ‘Top 40 Under 40’ and ‘Top 10 Upcoming Business Scholars.’ Through visiting positions, he has engaged with the academic communities of the University of Oxford (UK), NUS Business School (Singapore), and UQ Business School (Australia).
His research focuses on leveraging adversity, exploring how difficult situations can lead to meaningful change, such as fostering learning, innovation, and resilience. His work has been published in top international journals, including Accounting, Organizations and Society, Journal of Management Studies, and Academy of Management Discoveries. Christoph’s contributions have earned recognition, receiving three ‘Best Paper Awards’ from the Academy of Management.
As a teacher, Christoph aims to empower individuals to embrace life and succeed. He strives to support their development in ‘thinking,’ ‘doing,’ and ‘being,’ and his teaching approach focuses on action and interaction, creating a dynamic classroom environment. His commitment to excellence has been recognised with the 'Best Teacher Award' from ESCP Business School.
Christoph is also passionate about fostering a better error culture within organisations. He believes a positive error culture is fundamental to energising organisations. He regularly writes, speaks, and consults on this topic, with his work featured in major outlets such as Financial Times, World Economic Forum, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, DIE ZEIT, and Harvard Business Manager. He co-published the Error Culture Report for Germany in collaboration with EY Germany.
For more information, please feel free to reach out to him or visit his website.
Academic Articles
2025
Trash to Treasure: Design Principles for Developing Cascading and Repurposing Business Models through Systemic Stakeholder Collaboration
PROCEEDINGS OF THE HAWAII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYSTEM SCIENCES (HICSS), 5020-5030
Media
2025
Folge #140 Fehlertoleranz als Killer-Feature
Fast & Curious Podcast
Media
2025
Identifying the drivers of change: a tool for SME digital transformation
The Choice
Other Intellectual Contributions
2025
Rigorous research with demonstrable impact
AACSB LINK
Other Intellectual Contributions
2025
Fallstudie: Fürchtet euch nicht. Wie sollte sich der CEO verhalten?
HARVARD BUSINESS MANAGER
Other Intellectual Contributions
2025
The Human Side of Digital Transformation: A Tool for Identifying Innovation Promotors
TECHNOVATION, 140, 103161
Academic Articles
2024
An institutional perspective on fear of failure and its effects across three entrepreneurship stages
INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 21(1), 34
Academic Articles
2024
Theorizing the Lean Startup Approach: Towards Well-Grounded Design Principles
LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
Conference Presentations
2024
Scheitern – wie geht das?
Intersectoral School of Governance Baden-Württemberg
Conference Presentations
2024
Researching Forward: Design Science as a Research Approach
Stockholm School of Economics