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).

Central to Christoph’s professional work is the concept of organisational energy. He views it as an emergent property of organisations, representing their capacity for change and transformation. Entrepreneurship, in his view, is a key driver of this energy, and he is deeply interested in designing mechanisms to foster such energy—something he calls 'Designing Entrepreneurship.'

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

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85 publications

Academic Articles

2025

TRUNK, J., K. REMKE, C. SECKLER

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

SECKLER, C

Folge #140 Fehlertoleranz als Killer-Feature

Fast & Curious Podcast

Media

2025

PETZOLT, S., C. SECKLER

Identifying the drivers of change: a tool for SME digital transformation

The Choice

Other Intellectual Contributions

2025

HOR, T., G. ROMME, C. SECKLER, B. VERHOEVEN, V. RANA

Rigorous research with demonstrable impact

AACSB LINK

Other Intellectual Contributions

2025

SECKLER, C.

Fallstudie: Fürchtet euch nicht. Wie sollte sich der CEO verhalten?

HARVARD BUSINESS MANAGER

Other Intellectual Contributions

2025

PETZOLT, S., C. SECKLER

The Human Side of Digital Transformation: A Tool for Identifying Innovation Promotors

TECHNOVATION, 140, 103161

Academic Articles

2024

MESTWERDT, S., M. , J. MROZEWSKI, C. SECKLER

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

SIELSKI, K., C. SECKLER

Theorizing the Lean Startup Approach: Towards Well-Grounded Design Principles

LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

Conference Presentations

2024

SECKLER, C

Scheitern – wie geht das?

Intersectoral School of Governance Baden-Württemberg

Conference Presentations

2024

SECKLER, C.

Researching Forward: Design Science as a Research Approach

Stockholm School of Economics