How I think
How I think
A few principles I lead by and use to judge products, companies and change.
Agree, then talk it through
In German we call it Absprache & Aussprache. If you squeeze leadership like a lemon, that is what remains. For me it is the core.
Responsibility comes from the agreement. When I agree to something, it holds, for me just as for everyone else. The conversation shows whether there is trust. Both words are about talking. Not writing everything down, but talking to each other.
That is how we work at Lexware, outside of support without a disciplinary hierarchy. It helps me let go.
Why do I do it this way? First, I am thoroughly lazy. Second, people take responsibility when they are part of it. Otherwise they rightly say: Christian, that was your suggestion.
Told in Digitale Vorreiter:innen, 19 January 2026, OMR Education, 31 August 2026, Entrepreneur University, 9 July 2024, Systemisch-Agil, 26 January 2021.
It always starts with the customer need
Understanding what someone really needs. To this day that is everything. Otherwise it is just playing with technology.
At Lexware Office we did nothing else for almost nine months.
Told in OMR Education, 31 August 2026, Lifeline with Sachar Klein, 8 April 2025.
The market decides what we do. We do not
Zaplive worked technically. The market was not ready, and the market is right, even when it is wrong.
Told in UNFILTERED by Unhyde, 16 May 2026, Lifeline with Sachar Klein, 8 April 2025.
That it works does not mean anyone needs it
It is great that it works, but if nobody needs it, it is of no use. That sentence cost me a company.
Told in UNFILTERED by Unhyde, 16 May 2026, Lifeline with Sachar Klein, 8 April 2025.
Autonomy needs a goal
Teams do not get better when you prescribe the path. They get better when the goal is clear and the path belongs to them. I do not know how many waterfall projects I have committed myself.
At Blue Ocean that was the whole idea. In Das Lena Prinzip it is the same idea, only now it applies to an AI as well.
Told in L'Extra Mile, 9 December 2025, Köpfe der Szene, 24 August 2025.
Brand matters more as products become copyable
AI speeds up development. Features, code and channels end up the same everywhere. Trust, attitude and community do not.
Told in brand eins podcast, 1 May 2026, UNFILTERED by Unhyde, 16 May 2026.
Failure is information
I do not romanticise it. Zaplive failed. And when we first measured how many customers would recommend us after the launch of Lexware Office, the answer came back as 16, on a scale from minus one hundred to one hundred. It dragged me down for a week.
Both changed later decisions. That is the whole value of it.
Told in UNFILTERED by Unhyde, 16 May 2026, Lifeline with Sachar Klein, 8 April 2025.
Build something that can last
A track from 1997 that still plays. A product that gives evenings back. A piece of furniture that still holds after forty years. It is the same question.
Not everything lasts. But it is only worth it if it has a chance.
And one sentence of my own that holds all of it together: Innovation is no insurance.