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Kolbusa’s Executive
Dialogues

A space for resonance, not agendas. Proximity, not networking. Clarity, not keynotes.
INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING?
“An excellent forum for peer-to-peer dialogue at the executive level on topics with high management relevance.”
Martina Palte,
Member of the Executive Board, Berliner Volksbank AG
Refreshingly clear perspectives on familiar challenges. Absolutely recommended!”
Wybcke Meier,
Wybcke Meier, CEO, TUI Cruises GmbH
“Speed of execution is becoming a competitive advantage in itself. Matthias Kolbusa shows how to develop this competitive capability.”
Achim Berg,
Achim Berg, Former CEO Microsoft Germany, currently Operating Partner, Viessmann Generations Group
More statements
Why This Format?

All Stage. No Space.

Your calendar is packed with responsibility: operational issues, crises, committees, decisions. When you finally have time for conferences, you’re often left feeling: lots of stage presence, little value gained.

For more than 15 years, the Kolbusa Executive Dialogues have been the countermovement for over 300 C-level participants: not just another event, but a protected space for resonance around the questions that truly matter to you. Not generic answers or best practices, but the right questions, honest peer-to-peer dialogue – and actionable next steps.

Protected Space for Resonance

No recordings, no external use – Chatham House Rules.

Depth Over Surface

Two guiding questions and collective thinking instead of a fire hose of topics and frontal presentations.

Ideas & Inspiration

Fresh perspectives and insights from genuine dialogue – not from the stage, but from the exchange itself.

Breaking Free from the Hamster Wheel

Intentional distance from daily operations – time for clarity about your role, priorities, and next steps.

Authentic Peers – A Network That Supports

10-15 leaders at eye level, connections built on trust – not business cards.

Who Is This For?

Top Executives Facing
Critical Strategic Decisions

For board members and managing directors of larger organizations (starting at approximately $330 million in annual revenue) who are responsible for growth, reorientation, or transformational change.

Complexity & Transformation

Markets, technology, and business models are shifting – you must simultaneously secure today’s success while reimagining tomorrow.

Results and Execution Pressure

Owners, boards, employees, and competitors demand more than ever.

Need for Resonance Space

You seek conversations at eye level – away from agendas, roles, and political maneuvering.

Do You Fit This Group?

  • You’re a CEO, CFO, board member, or part of executive management and want to shape the future.
  • You’re willing to share your knowledge and experience.
  • You enjoy dialogue that seeks insight and aren’t focused on being right.
  • Your organization has at least $330 million in annual revenue.
  • You’re looking for sparring partners and are open to ideas and input.
  • You value confidentiality and discretion.
What This Format Is Not

Not a conference | Not a panel | Not a fireside chat | Not a networking dinner | Not a consultant/sales format

What You’ll Take Away

Ideas. Different Perspectives. Connections.

Ideas and inspiration, new perspectives on existing challenges, and valuable relationships that endure.

Insight Generation, Not Individual Opinions

In these Executive Dialogues, it’s never about right or wrong. It’s about generating insights, challenging your own perspective, contributing to create ideas and clarity for yourself and others.

Orientation for Your Next Chapter

Not a new action plan, but sharper orientation on which questions and directions truly matter for you.

Honest Mirror from Peers

Where your organization stands in comparison – from practitioners, not from studies.

Confidential Sparring at Eye Level

Questions that have no space internally. Here they do.

Anchor Points for Strategy & Leadership

Starting points where you can continue thinking and taking action on strategy and leadership.
Beziehungen

Relationships That Support

Trust-based connections, not business cards. People you can actually call.
EXPRESS INTEREST
Areas of Discussion

What We Talk About

These aren’t agenda items, but spaces for resonance. Along these dimensions, the preliminary conversations and opening discussion surface the two guiding questions that shape and sustain the dialogue.

Strategy &
Direction

“Is the direction we’re moving in the right one?”

  • Market logic
  • Differentiation
  • Positioning

Execution & Performance

“How can we move faster?”

  • Speed
  • Prioritization
  • Accountability

Structure & Operating Model

“Does our setup support our ambition?”

  • Organization
  • Decision pathways
  • Governance

Leadership & Management

“How do we lead in this complexity?”

  • High-performance teams
  • Performance culture
  • Change & transformation

Personal
Challenges

“What does this do to me?”

  • Personal effectiveness
  • Pressure & isolation
  • Expectations
Day Structure

One Day, Two Guiding Questions

Your topics shape the guiding questions – which structure the Executive Dialogue

Before

Open Space for Resonance, Not Mandatory Prep

As a participant, you have access to an ongoing, protected digital space for resonance. In those moments when a topic won’t let you go – in the car, between meetings, in the evening after a difficult conversation – you can share thoughts or questions there, or vote on existing topics. Equally, you can simply read and arrive without any prep: Matthias brings plenty of input from his mandates and conversations anyway. From this mix emerge the two key questions that carry the dialogue day.

On the Day

The Dialogue Day – Dialogues, Insights, Inspiration, Relationships

The day follows a simple dramatic arc: two key questions, a few powerful dialogue cycles, enough time to reflect. No presentations, no minutes, no pressure to perform.
10:00 – 10:30

Arrival, Reflection, and Framing

Collective arrival, framing the space, and sharpening the two key questions.
10:30 – 12:00

Dialogue Block I

In-depth dialogue on the first guiding question – no presentations, no stage, using Bohm Dialogue.
12:00 – 13:30

Lunch Together

Time for conversations and personal connection.
13:30 – 15:00

Dialogue Block II

In-depth dialogue on the second guiding question – no presentations, no stage, using Bohm Dialogue.
15:00 – 16:00

Open Hour

Conversations and concrete anchor points – with space for what emerges during the day.

After

The Digital Space for Resonance – Your Connection to Other Participants

The digital space remains open after the dialogue day. You can use it when questions, brief reflections, or follow-up thoughts arise in daily life – but you don’t have to. This way, the Executive Dialogue remains effective beyond the day itself and builds a bridge to the next dialogue.
EXPRESS INTEREST

Here, something happens that otherwise couldn't happen.

What Fundamentally Distinguishes This Format

A Dialogue Day That Impacts You More Than Any Meeting

Instead of classic conference logic, the Executive Dialogues follow a different foundational idea:
  • not stage, but space for resonance;
  • not program, but two clear guiding questions;
  • not networking, but sustainable relationships.
Traditional Formats Kolbusa’s Executive Dialogues
Core Logic Agenda Space for resonance
Participants Audience Peer circle
Communication Roles & PR Authenticity & doubt
Relationships Contacts Trust
Atmosphere Public Protected space
Documentation Photos, social media, minutes, downloadable slides No recordings, no minutes, no external quotes
Outcome Ideas Insights & valuable relationships

If you’re primarily seeking reach and visibility, traditional formats are the better choice.

If you’re seeking a protected space for honest conversations and sustainable orientation, you’re in the right place.
EXPRESS INTEREST
Schedule & Framework

The Details

Limited series 2026/2027. Not a mass event.

6-8

sessions per year

15

executives per dialogue

5 h

hours core program + 1 hour Open Hour (optional)

HH+

Hamburg + other major cities
WHAT ELSE MAKES THIS SPACE SPECIAL

Additional Reasons for the Executive Dialogues

Confidential Future Space

A future space where only personal notes are created. Here, the truly uncomfortable questions can be put on the table.

Digital Space for Resonance & Optional Pre-Call

Between confirmation and dialogue day, you have access to a digital resonance space with your peer group – optionally supplemented by a pre-call with Matthias. You can spontaneously share thoughts or questions; one sentence is enough. Not a prep meeting, an offer: from these inputs emerge the guiding questions of the dialogue day.

No Competitive Dynamics in the Room

No internal alliances, no "us against them" – every voice stands on its own, at eye level.

Personal Reflections Afterward

Optional exclusive 1-on-1 sessions with Matthias after the dialogue to deepen topics from the day and translate them into concrete steps.

Und weitere Gründe für die Vorstandsdialoge
Locations

Upcoming Executive Dialogues Near You

The Kolbusa Executive Dialogues are intentionally held on only a few selected dates – but where your decisions are made: in Germany’s and Austria’s economic and financial centers.

Hamburg April 22 + December 1, 2026

Home of the Kolbusa Executive Dialogues

  • Location: Louis C. Jakob

Munich May 19, 2026

Industry, technology, family businesses

  • Location: Bayerischer Hof

Düsseldorf November 17, 2026

NRW hub for industry, services, and retail

  • Location: Breidenbacher Hof

Stuttgart November 4, 2026

Automotive, engineering, and mid-market

  • Location: Schloss Duttenstein

Frankfurt am Main July 14, 2026

Financial and corporate hub

  • Location: le PANTHER!

Vienna September 9, 2026

Gateway to Central and Eastern Europe

  • Location: The Stage
The dates are set, but seats are limited and allocated through curation – to ensure roles, issues, and depth of responsibility align.
EXPRESS INTEREST FOR LOCATION AND DATE
WHAT ELSE MAKES THIS SPACE SPECIAL

Why Executives Trust Matthias

After positions in classical strategy consulting, Matthias developed his own unconventional approaches to high-performance management as an entrepreneur and executive advisor.
Today he supports complex organizations – from global players and publicly traded corporations to large mid-market groups.
  • 20+ years of executive advisory & leadership development
  • 120+ C-level transformations supported
  • Background: Dipl. Computer Scientist, MBA, Harvard Graduate
  • Specialization: Demanding strategy execution and transformations in complex environments
  • 6 published books, 2 of them bestsellers
  • Publications in Harvard Business Manager, Handelsblatt, FAZ, Wirtschaftsblatt, and more
Statements

Compelling Feedback from Participants

“Speed of execution is becoming a competitive advantage in itself. Matthias Kolbusa shows how to develop this competitive capability.”
Achim Berg,
Former CEO Microsoft Germany, currently Operating Partner, Viessmann Generations Group
“If you want to change something in an hour, Matthias Kolbusa could help you. His urgency is impressive.”
Dominik Lucius,
CFO, FMS Logistics
“Refreshingly blunt about how Matthias Kolbusa puts his finger on the wound. Anyone who always knew what was right will now get moving.”
Christoph Vilanek,
Among others: Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Ströer SE & Co. KGaA, Exaring AG
“Matthias Kolbusa exposes the fallacies in our assumptions. Afterward, you look at the world differently.”
Markus Reithwiesner,
CEO, ETL Gruppe
Management done differently: no new theories, but common sense that is often neglected.”
Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer,
Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Robert Bosch GmbH
“An excellent forum for peer-to-peer dialogue at the executive level on topics with high management relevance.”
Martina Palte,
Member of the Executive Board, Berliner Volksbank AG
“Kolbusa’s executive discussions are something special: numerous genuinely good ideas paired with cross-industry dialogue at a truly high level!”
Jan Recknagel,
Managing Director, ALFRED KÄRCHER VERTRIEBS GmbH
“Whoever always points fingers at others lacks them for their own work. And that begins with oneself.”
Daniel Thomas,
Board Member, HUK Coburg
“Matthias Kolbusa consistently manages to get complex management topics to the point while giving readers impulses for reflection.”
Dr.-Ing. Leonhard Birnbaum,
Leonhard Birnbaum, CEO, E.ON SE
“Matthias Kolbusa tears down mental barriers.”
Rainer von Borstel,
Former CEO, Diehl Aviation
“Kolbusa advocates for a culture of consequences. And he’s right!”
Matthias Magnor,
CEO, BLG LOGISTICS GROUP AG & Co. KG
“Methodology, process, and facilitation competence complement each other excellently here.”
Dr. Monika Sebold-Bender,
Supervisory Board, NÜRNBERGER Versicherungsgruppe
“Matthias Kolbusa succeeds in explaining complex topics in change management clearly and comprehensibly.”
Christian Ausfelder,
Managing Director, SAACKE GmbH
“I always take away valuable insights from Kolbusa’s executive discussions for myself and the further development of our company. He has a fascinating way of occasionally swimming against the current, thereby stimulating new ways of thinking.”
stefan-leitz-headshot-93
Stefan Leitz,
CEO, Faber-Castell
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WHAT ELSE MAKES THIS SPACE SPECIAL

What Happens After an Executive Dialogue

In the weeks that follow, it’s determined whether this leads to consequences – or whether daily life overwrites the insights.
In management sparring sessions with Matthias Kolbusa, work through 1-2 topics over 90 days.
Learn more
INTERESTED?

Interested in Participating?

Participation by invitation only. Limited seats. Curated circle.
Matthias Kolbusa

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